The Volvo didn't fare well through last winter's weather. SWMBO get's to park in the 1 car garage while I have to park outside. Granted I didn't drive much last winter, but things will be very different this winter, new job, new schedule, so the car won't sit for days with a small glacier on it.
Clear coat is all but gone on the hood, trunk, and some of the roof. Even where there's still clear coat the paint is pretty faded. There's no shortage of chips, scratches, dings, you might expected of a 16 year old commuter.
I want to keep the original color, mostly so I don't have to paint the door seals, under hood/trunk etc. So the typical Rustoleum, Krylon, etc. aren't going to work. In the past I've used single stage Nason (Dupont) from O'Reilly's with good results, but for some unknown reason hardly any of the O'Reilly's in OH have paint mixing stations, was the exact opposite in AR, hardly any don't carry paint there.
So what other options are there for quality, budget friendly, color match single stage paint?
PPG Omni was still available in an acrylic enamel last I looked. It's used with a temperature-specific reducer and a urethane hardener, but it doesn't need to be cleared.
That said - as a long time acrylic enamel loyalist, I shot the bed and tail gate of my Tacoma recently w/ base/clear, and it turned out fine. Nice thing about clear is that sags and debris can all be cut back and buffed out easily.
On the advice of a friend who's an exceptional painter, I shot everything with a coat of sealer immediately before shooting the base coats. It helped.
jrw1621
SuperDork
11/8/11 8:18 p.m.
The O'reillys stores here in Ohio were purchased last year. Previous to the purchase the stores were known a Murry's based out of Michigan. This may be why they are not offering paint in Ohio. I dont remembered Murry's offering paint.
To me, Murry's was always the most DIY friendly of the leading shops. In my area, As an example the O'reillys (Murry's) is the only store chain that still turns rotors.
I've bought single stage nason from napa in OH.
What color of Volvo? A friend of mine reproduced the light blue 240 color from the early 80's with some white rustoleum mixed into the blue. Its certainly close enough that you don't notice when the doors are open.
Metallics are a problem, but unless you've got a good gun and a clue, shooting metallic is a ticket to stripes.
According to the interwebz the local NAPAs carry Martin Senour, never heard of it, but I don't know a lot. Google tells me that Sherwin Williams also carries it.
I intend to sand, prime, paint, maybe sand a little more, and be done. I'm not going for concourse paint job. I can handle the 20' paint job no problem, 5' or less is my goal. 
I used O'Reilly's for the vast majority of any automotive stuff when I lived in AR, but haven't had much need for any parts stores since we moved. Back home NAPA and O'Reilly's would both turn rotors.
The Volvo is Ruby Red, paint code 414 I believe. I'm not adventurous enough to attempt mixing my own.
When I had my 89 RT4WD Civic wagon, in that distinctive Honda gold that nobody makes generic touch-up paint for, a Napa used this special thingy to literally scan my existing paint and whip up a rattle can that was a perfect match. It was even better than a match to the original paint code, because it took 20 years of weathering into account in the color match. Certainly not a high end solution, but it might work well for your purposes if you can find a Napa with that handy scanner device.
Shervin williams automotove, my local store is awesome and they can mix and sell very small quantities
I used http://www.paintscratch.com/ on the P71 (which was Oregon State Police Blue), and it matched perfectly. Not a lot of money either.
