Kioti's new paint color: charcoal grey, often mistaken for black by some...

Coyote machine · May 4, 2012

The first pic shows my DK-40se/hst with the drawbar plate MISSING the factory paint, which is evident above on the other parts of the rear end and 3PH links etc. The drawbar plate paint shows what the old light grey color was, (which was on my DK-35), (vintage mfg. in 2008). It seems that when pressure washing this area last fall the top dark color shown everywhere else, except for remaining streaks of it on the drawbar plate, washed off due to poor preparation of the surface. Now to my eyes the darker color looks like a shade of BLACK as is also clearly evident in the second pic of the front of my DK-40 where the lower portion of the hood/grille is shown under the loader's cylinder.

After much back and forth it has been determined that the latest dark color used by Kioti is in fact what they refer to as Charcoal Grey. I do not dispute that what I thought was black is in fact charcoal grey- but I think most would agree in the absence of a black as night color to compare it to it can be easily seen as black and not charcoal grey by some people- who like me maybe somewhat colorblind when it comes to dark colors like navy blue, black and charcoal grey, without a colorwheel to use for comparison.

I find it interesting that Kioti essentially chose to spray the newest color on top of what had been the previous lighter grey. It makes sense from a production standpoint- it is easier to use the old color as a base coat and the newer dark color for the top coat.

It is my understanding that Rust-Oleum #7784 is a somewhat close match for the charcoal grey that Kioti wants $15/can. See posts following this one where it becomes clear that the #7784 may NOT be as close as one might like for touch-up work, so I encourage those who have an interest in finding an accurate color match to keep looking, as I plan to do.

There seem to be some anomalies to the above, one owner, IT, says his tractor has some black frame parts, and I don't know enough about the Kioti paint sequence over the years to comment on that one way or another.

Hope this helps clear up some of the confusion about what Kioti's latest color scheme is.

Stick895 · May 4, 2012

The links didn't work for me.

k0ua · May 4, 2012

Ok lets do a test:

In my opinion the 7784 is NOT quite as dark as the original paint and the original paint is not Black as you can see by the gloss black I sprayed over it and the other black objects I have near it.

James K0UA

Coyote machine · May 4, 2012

k0ua said:
Ok lets do a test:

In my opinion the 7784 is NOT quite as dark as the original paint and the original paint is not Black as you can see by the gloss black I sprayed over it and the other black objects I have near it.

James K0UA

Nice work! In the bottom row the first #7784 Rust-Oleum is flatter and has more blue in it than the Kioti charcoal grey, and clearly beside the first two the gloss black stands out as gloss and black.
So to get a good match the 7747 might have to go darker and have a satin finish instead of flat finish, yes?

MtnViewRanch · May 5, 2012

Cool. :cool2: You guys have proven that there is no reasonably priced paint to use to match the OEM color. I am now going to only paint black and forget about trying to match the grey although it is closer to the Kubota grey. Black it is for me from now on. :thumbsup:

Coyote machine · May 5, 2012

MtnViewRanch said:
Cool. :cool2: You guys have proven that there is no reasonably priced paint to use to match the OEM color. I am now going to only paint black and forget about trying to match the grey although it is closer to the Kubota grey. Black it is for me from now on. :thumbsup:

You've made my day!

I'm glad to get some positive feedback from someone- all I've gotten to date is flack about seeing the new charcoal as black.
I will still seek out a closer match to the new color possibly in Valspar or some other spray can mfg.
Who knows maybe I'll get lucky and hit on something that is closer to the charcoal?

k0ua · May 5, 2012

Coyote machine said:
Nice work! In the bottom row the first #7784 Rust-Oleum is flatter and has more blue in it than the Kioti charcoal grey, and clearly beside the first two the gloss black stands out as gloss and black.
So to get a good match the 7747 might have to go darker and have a satin finish instead of flat finish, yes?

Agreed. If nothing else I guess a picture is worth 1000 words

I may try some other things later. I don't know why OEM paint has to cost $15 a can, I guess they charge that much because they "can"

James K0UA

MotorSeven · May 5, 2012

You guys have too much time on your hands......spray some Krylon on it and go get some seat time:tractor:

murphy1244 · May 5, 2012

Coyote machine said:
You've made my day! I'm glad to get some positive feedback from someone- all I've gotten to date is flack about seeing the new charcoal as black.
I will still seek out a closer match to the new color possibly in Valspar or some other spray can mfg.
Who knows maybe I'll get lucky and hit on something that is closer to the charcoal?

It truly is a very dark gray I'm going to take my touch up paint to home depot and get a spectrum match next week. The reason Kioti paint cost so much is who ever makes thier paint also makes the spray paint. Its a custom blend and canning. Not cheap. My company does the same thing.

grsthegreat · May 5, 2012

ya, i used Krilon to touch up rust on my bucket, but bought a real Kioti can of both colors for the important touchups.

Im not going to get too ****.

now, i need to go wax my tractor