Problems with re-painting a car with perfectly good paint?
 

I'm contemplating changing the colour of my car. Current paint is in great shape in terms of no accidents. It could use some TLC as typical in a car of some years but otherwise the paint is factory.

Questions:

1) would having a new paint job affect resale value? Would people think you had an accident and had to repaint it?

2) Is it a compromise to paint over the factory paint? e.g. paint will flake off, fade. Maybe new paint can never be as good as factory?

3) cost? How much does it cost to re-paint a small car? (I can get some quotes, but if people have done so recently and can briefly respond, I'd have more info for decision-making).

3a) related, it must cost a significant additional amount of money to "do it right", e.g. door jambs, under the hood, firewall, underside of trunk lid, no? Or should I not care about these details (other than the jambs because they are so visible).

4) what about the idea of wrapping it? Here, I would not bother with the jambs, underside of hood/trunklid, etc. because it'd be obvious the car is wrapped. The fact that wrapping can be removed is a plus if I ever sell the car and the new owner wants the factory paint back. However, I'm not so keen on how I read that wraps only last about 5 years.

Honestly i would just either wrap it or plastidip it. Wrap obviously the longer lasting choice. Plastidip the cheaper option.

If i came across a car for sale that had been repainted for no apparent reason, i would be a bit suspicious.

Unless the car is an older one, then it would make sense for a repaint due to the original paint's age and wear.

If you don't do it "right" as you said, painting the door jambs, trunk, engine bay etc, anyone who goes to buy it will know it has had work done, and may suspect it was in an accident.

Depending on the car and colour you want, sell it and get the right colour.

-Unmatched engine bay would bug the shit out of me
-cost to do jambs and around seals, properly, wouldn't be worth it

In conclusion, i'm with LP700-4, vinyl wrap it.

I learned the hard way that if you aren't willing to spend 5k+ on a paint job, you might as well just throw your car in the garbage. I got cheap paint for my GTI and literally wanted to write off my car with a sledgehammer every time I looked at it. I've never in my life seen an aftermarket paint job that looks as good as a QUALITY (think porsche, bmw, benz, ferrari, audi) OEM paint. Not to say that it doesn't exist, but its rare to be willing to spend the money for it. I say wrap it. It doesn't look as good as paint, but its reversible and you will have a minty fresh OEM paint when it comes time to sell.

What color was your GTI originally? That red paint job looked pretty good imho.

It was oem tornado red, then had it repainted due to damage basically on every panel, and it looked like fucking shit after that.

Talk to orgasm_donor about Plastidipping.

[IMG]www.revscene.net/forums/attachments/18652d1380089419-plastidip-pictures-personal-experiences-plasti4.jpg[/IMG]

with so many body shops cutting corners these days... re-painting will only depreciate the car faster.

vinyl wrapping is the only way to go

^ Jaded much?

I only go to one body shop... always have. And I trust the owner to do a great job, every time. The one time it wasn't perfect, they fixed it and it was.. absolutely perfect.

I spent $5400 to paint my car, in 3-stage Mazda Velocity Mica Red. It is absolutely stunning, and worth every penny. That did not include tearing the car down - I pulled everything off, they did the scuffing, masking, ding repairs, etc.

give your car a #MAACOVER

:okay:

Painter here,

You want to do this if you want to get it painted, remove all the stuff, scuff it up and mask all your self, thats majority of the cost tbh, it takes a lot of time.

3 stage is obviously going to be more expensive than a standard base clear. If you are painting it a different color entirely it would be good to sand down to the primer or sealer otherwise you might need more base to get full coverage, more base = more paint costs. But if you are lazy scuff that shit up with 6-800 and let him keep laying down that base til you get full coverage.

One issue about vinyl wrap is how the heck would you know the glue won't stick and tear into the clear coat? Especially after 5 years?

If something like this happen? Who takes the blame? I am pretty sure the vinyl installer will say deal with the manufacturer, the manufacturer will then point finger back at the installer.

Dont get me wrong. I have nothing against traditional auto refinishing. I'm friends with a lot of bodyshop owners here in Richmond. It is just that a GOOD refinishing job is so difficult to come by. A good paint job takes a LOT of time and effort. Even after spending a lot of money sometimes the job is still not right. Shops cut corners to make profit. Lazy employees not doing 100% prep. damaged parts due to poorly removal. incompatible materials being sprayed on top of another which causes a defects half a year later. vinyl wrap is cheaper, the finish is always consistent, and most importantly, it is not permanent. so it wont affect the resale value of a vehicle. I've never had vinyl sticking to clear coat. even if it does, a good cut polish will take care of everything after vinyl removal.

i say vinyl wrap it
im not too fond of plastidip, it gets stuck between smallass gaps and weird places and is a hassle to get it all off

sell your car and buy one in the color you want. spend the 5k you save on something you actually need

Do they even make vinyl wrap in finishes that don't resemble matte? If you want an entirely different colour, I would suggest selling the car and then buying another that is the colour you want. Unelss you have the money and are going to keep the car for a LONG time, you are not going to get the money you invested in the paint, when you sell the car. So you are basically giving away 4-5 gs (that's probably how much you are going to pay, at least, for painting everything including the jams and engine bay).

Personally, I would sell the car, buy one in the colour you want, and then repaint the same colour. Unless you find one with really good paint.

I personally think body shop painting is better than oem paint. You know how thin of a clear coat the paint is off the assembly line? Also, since switching to water based paints, a lot of companies are having issues with paint defects.. Just search crows feet and Honda, and you will see what I mean.

Just like with anything, body shops have good and bad, and you pay for what you get. $1000 for a full paint job isn't going to give you the best results.

^ They make vinyl wrap in literally every color/shade you can imagine, Gloss, Metallic, Brushed, Matte, the list goes on and on.

On the OEM paint thing, my honda had huge patches of clear coat that had completely peeled off, car was only 5 years old too...

I would just sell it and re-buy it in the color you want.
Unless the car is rare, I wouldn't suggest painting it. Be ready to spent $5k+ for a proper job.

If you aren't willing to go the full mile and paint the entire chassis, don't do it at all. Stock cars with partial paint jobs look tacky, modified cars with partial paint jobs look lazy.

Nobody is going to buy a car that has different colored interior sheet metal or engine bays, no matter how nice the rest of the car is. A proper job will cost you over $5,000, that's assuming you want a basic gloss/metallic and not candy, iridescent or pearlescent. If you can do all the hard work yourself and send a paint shop a bare shell to spray, the cost will drop significantly.

New paint can be better or worse than factory paint, depends entirely on the brand you are using and attention to detail during mixing and spraying (and especially prep).

Having a different color on a car can affect resale value if the owner is observant enough to see that the spec sheet calls for (x) color and it is not that color. You might be able to get away with convincing a buyer that the job was entirely taste based and not a cover up, just keep all your receipts and take pictures of the before and after.

Unless MK3 Harlequin :troll:

Interesting topic. Somewhere down the line I plan on changing the color of my vehicle as well. A full paintjob is quite expensive. Seriously thinking about wrapping instead of plasti dipping doe.

i've seen a few cars getting vinyl pulled after 3-4 years and the original factory paint underneath was undamaged.

however, i've seen a car that was badly resprayed and then vinyl wrapped that lifted not just the clear, but the color coat as well to reveal the original finish underneath :(

My foreman painted his old 1990s f-150 with tremclad exterior paint and a cheap roller from Canadian Tire for under $20 all together