Silver Sky Metallic - Who knew there were different shades from the factory

As the title states, I was surprised to find that there are definitely subtle variances in the color of these trucks from the factory.

Untitled by Mike M, on Flickr

This is a photo of my truck, with my new cap. I purchased the cap second hand from someone with a 2016 Limited. As you can see, there is a subtle, but yet noticeable shade difference in the color of the cap versus the color of my truck. It doesn't bother me all that much, but it is definitely there.

I had honestly figured it was just a simple case of the cap was painted by ARE and the color they used was slightly off. The cap itself actually has the model information including the 1D6 color code.

However, when I was going to get a pizza one day, there was a stock Silver Sky Metallic truck next to my truck and I was curious to see what how much my truck had changed compared to a stock truck, so I decided to park near it and see and that's when I noticed that truck was definitely a subtle shade of silver different than my truck.

My truck came right off the carrier and I have no reason to believe it has had any paint work. My color is even and is uniform. I actually had a scratch repaired on my driver's side bedside which I can only assume resulted in a light blend respray on the bedside and the color match is perfect to my truck and this was done when the truck was 2-3 months old.

As a final interesting note, I have factory Toyota 1D6 touch-up paint. I put my first bad scratch into the truck (insert primal scream here) and when I hit it with the touch-up paint, the match isn't great and it's definitely slightly darker (just like my cap and the truck behind me).

Could this be a Baja / San Antonio thing? Am I simply crazy? I'll eventually get my bumper re-sprayed to repair the scratch but I'll need to warn the body shop that there is a distinct shade difference (although they were the ones who matched me dead-on last time).

EDIT:

To clarify, this isn't a complaint thread or anything like that. I'm pleased with how the paint is on my truck, it's more a "hey check this out" thread than anything.

 

Any metallic colors will vary slightly, Metal flake size and amount can cause different appearances. Also, different batches of paint will vary ever so slightly, even though it’s the same paint code. The way paint lays on plastics, metals, etc. will vary too. No worries, it’s common, as long as one door isn’t silver and another inferno, no biggie.

 

Oh absolutely, it was just interesting actually seeing it in person. I know the photos don't show it quite as well, but at first I thought to myself that the cap paint just wasn't a dead on match, but to see another truck made me realize there has to be variances.

 

Air pressure at the gun and humidity will change it too.