Citroen C5 paint colour

[C4robot]

Hi guys, wondering if anyone would know what the paint colour code is for the silver roof rails on a 2012 Citroen C5 Exclusive, some mindless vandal thougt it would be a good idea to pour paintstripper on the top of the car , a victory for the panoramic roof however the roof rails did not fair so well as has stripped back to bare metal, the polished black B pillar caps were damaged and has damaged the clearcoat on the passenger door not sure what can be done with this as has not burnt all the wat through looks like watermarking can see when light is shining on car. Feeling sad

[GiveMeABreak]

Welcome to the Forum and sorry to hear about the damage, I would be gutted too.

There are a couple of possible options, as I believe the rail bars are sold as component parts and I don't think they sell the paint for them as they are made for Citroen.

The roof rail parts are available separately, including the trim covers and fixings according to Citroen service. The cost of one bar (left or right) is £68.98 inc. VAT for the Aluminium one and £54.47 for the black one, with the corner cover trim another £17.57 - £26.78 depending on colour. There are other parts available, depending on what is damaged that I can look up if needed.

Do you have comprehensive insurance and protected no claims cover, with a reasonable policy excess? Seeing as the door panel has been damaged too, it might be worth weighing up the cost of making a claim to have the paintwork professionally restored and the roof bar replaced.

Another option for the roof bar is to go to a body shop, they may be able to match the paint for you, and give you a quote to repair the lacquer coat on the door panel.

For the price of either the trim or the roof bar - it may be more cost effective and less hassle to replace the parts than try and match the paint - especially as the roof rails will have to be rubbed down and prepared for the paint to stick - as I believe they have a finish on them - which will add to the cost and time considerably in preparation. I've gone through this route on my internal door plastic trims where the paint was so thin and not finished properly it flaked off in parts. It took 3 days, 2 attempts at rubbing down to the bare plastic, priming several coats, painting with the custom paint, lacquering - ended up costing me £40+ for the paint, primer and lacquer, but the trims where £30 each new x 4 - so I was happy to do this as a project and it's now better than the originals!

Anyway - here is the diagram, so you can check which parts you should be able to replace (this is for a generic Tourer, with glass roof, but if you post up your VIN, I'll be able to confirm the exact part numbers for your car and year).

[Filberton]

I would tend to agree that the best solution may be to leave it to the insurers if you have the cover etc. but that could put up your premium

I have the saloon so separate bars but they appear to be burnished aluminium with a lacquer coat to prevent oxidation with simple black end caps. That being the case you might get away with neutralising any acids/alkali in the paint stripper, sanding any rough areas and re-applying lacquer. If the end caps are just discoloured then a matt black plastics paint may be sufficient (but needs to be plastics paint or it will later crack and peel - typical is bumper paint).

If the bars are painted then I have found Simonise Silver Wheel paint a good match (on my wheels at least) together with the lacquer coat.

Both will take an amount of elbow grease as painting is the quick easy bit but quality is based on preparation. The final decision is yours based on time, cost and quality.

Damage to the door, if limited to the top surface of lacquer coat, may be resolved by a bit of rubbing compound but if the whole lacquer coat is damaged this becomes a semi-professional job as you would need to light sand the whole panel to a trim line with 600grit or finer w&d and re-apply the lacquer. Even when done, expect under certain light you will always se a slight shade difference as you will never achieve the same thickness or spray direction of the original as was applied for the whole car......but in most cases, you are the only one who will notice.

Typically if only paint damage you may be looking at £300 to £500 for the door, I suspect, so again time/cost/quality.

A third option, these cars have ben around a bit so there are a few in scrap yards. The roof is one of the least likely areas to be damaged in a crash so may be worth an on-line enquiry to scrappies (car dismantlers) to see what price a second hand set will go for.

Mike

[GiveMeABreak]

I would tend to agree that the best solution may be to leave it to the insurers if you have the cover etc. but that could put up your premium

It's why I always protect my NCD - usually covers you for up to 2 claims in a three year period of insurance without affecting your NCD - and if the OP has this as I suggested if could be the most cost effective option as long as the excess is reasonable. They would likely replace the roof bar (s) for new anyway and the door / pillar panels would be professionally done and guaranteed for several years.

[C4robot]

Thanks for the replies much appreciated, have thought about claiming on my insurance as I have protected No claims but when I checked the small print appears my excess is £200 compulsory plus £500 voluntary so £700!! Woah don't remember this when took insurance out but never mind lesson learned. Am going to try and have the car cut and polished before I go down the respray route, You cant see the damage from a few steps back providing the light is not on it but we will have to see. I have sourced a pair of salvaged roof rails so is just the two polished black panels on the two passenger doors inbetween the two windows to source, does anyone know what the part name/numbers are for these? Can't seem to see any online, salvage or dealer perhaps?

VIN: VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]

[GiveMeABreak]

Post up your VIN so I can get the right part numbers for you.

[C4robot]

VIN: VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]

[GiveMeABreak]

Ok, so if it is Part 11, the part numbers are:

9326 AT for the left hand side
9327 A4 for the right hand side

These are £49.64 plus VAT each, so £59.57 inc. VAT from Citroen.
If it any other part let me know.

These trim parts are held in place by rivets and the side part of the side frame seal needs to be dislodged carefully to access these as shown below - so if you could find these from a breaker's yard, you'd still have to drill out the rivets to remove them.

[GiveMeABreak]

I don't know how bad the trim damage is, but there is a brilliant product I use for removing those 'white' scratch marks from acrylic and clear plastic (our Dyson is prone to getting scratched quite frequently) called Mantis scratch remover. Rubbing this into the scuffed area with a microfibre cloth literally polishes out the white marks - so I don't know if this is worth a shot first. They sell it in Wilkinson's - picture below for a few quid.

It's also great for getting out scratches and marks from the car's top lacquer coat. Somebody scraped my car in the supermarket and left me a sample of their paint on my wing. I used this and it completely got rid of the marks. You only need a very small amount though.

[splinternet]

I'm interested in getting some touch-up and/or a spray can for my C5. The V5C says it's "silver" and the label on the driver's door post seems to have a code EZRC - will these two pieces of information allow me to get the right match from somewhere like Halfords, for example? Or would I need to buy through my Citroen dealer?

[Gibbo2286]

If you want a spray can of the correct colour I'd suggest the Citroen dealer, it's not terribly expensive and comes as a two can pack, colour and lacquer.

[GiveMeABreak]

That'll be Gris Aluminium (Grey Aluminium) for EZRC