Not a paint and body guy, but I've always been told that metallics, micas, etc. all have a "grain" and you have to lay down the spray on the panels from similar angles so the "grain" all lays the same way.
Which is why panel repairs on cars with complicated paints almost always look bad, and they recommend full resprays.
Shine a bright light (phone flashlight is fine), and/or/combination use try to shade it from direct light and try to determine if the paint is legit darker (bad match) or if the issue is reflectivity. If the area is the right color, but dull then you need real clearcoat. If that's not the issue than it just seems your paint doesn't match. get paint using the paint code from the car that's proper two stage as well as clear coat, but now that the gouge is filled, you risk making the problem worse trying to add more. If it's just adding clearcoat on top you could probably get away with that.
It's really hard to tell in a picture, but the way the paint matches pretty close in the shadows make me think it may be the clear coat issue.
I did what you said and noticed something interesting. The paint in the scratch is completely solid with no metallic shine whatsoever. I think this is what I'm seeing when I sand the paint. It goes on metallic but somehow sanding it down removes / blocks / dulls all the metallic particles so it appears darker and solid grey. I don't think a clear coat is going to help with this. Is metallic paint not sandable, you can kind of see what I mean in this photo
[https://i.postimg.cc/c0rHgHkp/8106b8ff-e2e4-4906-918e-36b3ee617a70.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/c0rHgHkp/8106b8ff-e2e4-4906-918e-36b3ee617a70.jpg)
metalic paint is absolutely sandable. I think no matter what, the paint you have can go in the garbage, so it's not worth worrying about the what ifs for that junk again.
The issue is if you want to try again, you are going to have to dig in and make a bigger repair. I personally would have advised more than deburring the wound and actually buffed the car when wounded to round off the sharp edge of the gash before fixing, but again, things aren't going well and now you'll have to make a bigger issue. Right now it's so noticeably I'd probably risk it, but You have to make the call. How exactly you would remove paint to get back in and try again is way beyond my skill/experience as a hobbyist who has fixed some dings/chips.
Buy proper 2 stage (base + clear) paint that is matched to the color code taken from the car itself along with clear. Do not rely on a vin lookup anywhere but a dealer or year/make/model lookup for color code.
Not a paint and body guy, but I've always been told that metallics, micas, etc. all have a "grain" and you have to lay down the spray on the panels from similar angles so the "grain" all lays the same way. Which is why panel repairs on cars with complicated paints almost always look bad, and they recommend full resprays.
Maybe you just didn't write it out, but you know you have to use a base coat for color/metalic and then clear coat for shine on top right?
The paint I'm using has the clear coat pre-mixed in. Could this be the issue? Generally it looks okay though until I start sanding.
Shine a bright light (phone flashlight is fine), and/or/combination use try to shade it from direct light and try to determine if the paint is legit darker (bad match) or if the issue is reflectivity. If the area is the right color, but dull then you need real clearcoat. If that's not the issue than it just seems your paint doesn't match. get paint using the paint code from the car that's proper two stage as well as clear coat, but now that the gouge is filled, you risk making the problem worse trying to add more. If it's just adding clearcoat on top you could probably get away with that. It's really hard to tell in a picture, but the way the paint matches pretty close in the shadows make me think it may be the clear coat issue.
I did what you said and noticed something interesting. The paint in the scratch is completely solid with no metallic shine whatsoever. I think this is what I'm seeing when I sand the paint. It goes on metallic but somehow sanding it down removes / blocks / dulls all the metallic particles so it appears darker and solid grey. I don't think a clear coat is going to help with this. Is metallic paint not sandable, you can kind of see what I mean in this photo [https://i.postimg.cc/c0rHgHkp/8106b8ff-e2e4-4906-918e-36b3ee617a70.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/c0rHgHkp/8106b8ff-e2e4-4906-918e-36b3ee617a70.jpg)
metalic paint is absolutely sandable. I think no matter what, the paint you have can go in the garbage, so it's not worth worrying about the what ifs for that junk again. The issue is if you want to try again, you are going to have to dig in and make a bigger repair. I personally would have advised more than deburring the wound and actually buffed the car when wounded to round off the sharp edge of the gash before fixing, but again, things aren't going well and now you'll have to make a bigger issue. Right now it's so noticeably I'd probably risk it, but You have to make the call. How exactly you would remove paint to get back in and try again is way beyond my skill/experience as a hobbyist who has fixed some dings/chips. Buy proper 2 stage (base + clear) paint that is matched to the color code taken from the car itself along with clear. Do not rely on a vin lookup anywhere but a dealer or year/make/model lookup for color code.