On Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:32:45 -0700, Oren wrote:

Are the colors on the spring (blue) the same as on the old spring?
Yes. it matters. I got lost in this thread

Hi Oren,
I'm a bit confused by your question, because, I don't think it matters what
color the huckleberries (um, I mean, springs) are.

We actually covered this at one point in the old DIY thread. Painted colors
are, essentially, an old wives tale, which, like all half truths, has some
merit, but enough fiction so as to actually be meaningless in the end.

What I mean by that is that, sure, *some* companies use, say, gold paint
for spring size 0.225; and, say, green paint for size 0.243; and,
say, blue paint for size 0.250 (wire diameter, in inches).

This is the "truth" part of the old wives tale.

The problem is that there is *no universal color convention*. So, while a guy
who owns his own garage door repair business knows all *his* 0.250 springs
are painted blue, the actual color on someone elses' springs may use an
entirely different color convention.

The color only means something to *him* because, to him, especially when time is
money, he knows his previous (now broken) spring was painted gold, so he can
then replace one of his old (gold) springs with the same color (gold), since
he would know that his springs followed one particular color convention.

Since his time means his money, he can match gold-for-gold, and he doesn't have
to measure anything. He saves a few minutes. Plus, even if he measured, he has
a doublecheck (nothing wrong with that).

So, for FOUR good reasons, spring color is meaningless to me:
1. There is no color standard; so, to rely on color is folly.
2. I measured my spring wire diameter; so, I have no need to rely on color.
[and most important]
3. I'm UPGRADING my wire diameter, so, I'd never match color anyway
[and, besides]
4. My springs are so old that there is no color paint visible anyway.

Note: The "red" used for the bolts on the winding cones "supposedly" means
"danger"; but, again, anyone relying on paint to tell them what's dangerous
doesn't really understand what they're doing.

Likewise, the red on stationary cones is often used to indicate right-hand
threads; however, again, anyone relying on the color of a cone to tell them
the direction of a thread doesn't really understand what they're doing.

Color paint is fine as a doublecheck; but not as a primary indicator of anything.