My paint is hopeless.

[GutlessSupreme]

On every upward facing surface on the TGP, there is severe oxidation and discolorment. Besides scratches and such, the sides are fine. I decided I'd break out the sand paper today briefly to see where it may get me.

 

1500 grit wetsand. After three seconds, the paper was covered in watery red paint.

 

Thanks for the Maaco job Dan.

 

I can literally see the original layers of paint in places were there are large cracks/chips. Definetly a Maaco job right over the original. Prep work? HA!

 

So, pretty much I can't use anything abrasive on the paint to even attempt to clean it up, because I'm pretty sure there's no clear coat layer to speak of.

 

F' that s'

 

So it's looking like my options are.. repaint, repaint, or repaint.

 

Quite frankly I hate red. So needless to say, once it does happen it won't be red again. I'm heavily leaning towards black, but I may try another dark color (perhaps gun metal or navy blue).

 

In any case.. how far do shops go when it comes to color changes? I know obviously it depends on the $$ paid, but is it standard practice for a good shop to nearly completly strip a car? So that not just the exterior surfaces are the new color? And how much more would a color change run? I know of course $$ vary big time but I'm just trying to get an idea of how much I need to work my ass off this summer.

 

If it wasn't a color chage, I might have even dared try to repaint it myself. But i'm truly not into pulling that much hardware to try to get every visible surface the new color.

 

Until that point, is there any thing I can do to make it look any less like ass? I still have to buy some compounds etc and see what I can do, but I don't have high hopes.

[slick]

Hell... my car looks like ass as well. Pretty much the front fenders back on my car need to be fixed and repainted. My paint is cracked, faded, and clearcoat going bye-bye. I have soo many door dings, it looks like my doors are black swimming pools. My rear wheel wells have rusted like hell too. Luckily, I should be getting new rear quaters here sometime soon, so that will be fixed.

 

I say deal with it until you can afford it. As for a decent to good paint job, I'd gladly spend $2000-$3000.

[5speedz34]

Obviously, changing colors on a car is going to be more $$$ then just getting it repainted. Your best bet is to call around or go to, a few places by you and see what a basic paint job is going to cost you. I would like to say stripping the car down is going to be in a good job but it depends on the shop. You can also save alot of money doing the stripping yourself. It's all going to vary on how much money you're willing to shell out.

 

Also about making it look good now, I would use some kind of polish/cleaner wax to get it clean up nicely.

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

I'm currently repairing the rust around the fenders (front 2 fenders, one rear) cause the stupid B4U ground FX trap salt and shit in... at least the rust isn't holes so I just gotta touch it up. I need to repaint my spoiler as well cause 80% of the clearcoat has peeled off

[J]

ahh if you can spare the time, take the glass out of the car.

take the interior out

pretty much disassemble as much as you can to save labor costs, the doors will have to come off, and for the engine compartment you can just spray the firewall and oter parts flat black. It'd prolly be around 2-3k for a good paint job that is done right with a little body work.

[1990lumina]

Well, if you are changing colors, please do yourself a favour and spend some money. I mean you need to get the engine bay painted, the inside of thrunk lid, inside of the door wells, and stuff...do the whole works.

 

- Jeff L.

[J]

like i said he can just disassemble most everyhthing himself and take it there to get painted. Like what i had listed above plus removing the bumper covers, moldings, decklid and spoiler wheel flares etc etc etc and then he can save $$$$$$$$

[3pt1lumina]

like i said he can just disassemble most everyhthing himself and take it there to get painted. Like what i had listed above plus removing the bumper covers, moldings, decklid and spoiler wheel flares etc etc etc and then he can save $$$$$$$$

 

 

That is exactly true! When I had my 77 Chevelle repainted in fall of 2k1, I did all of the stripping of parts and re-installation of parts. The paint turned out mint and what I was originally quoted ($5,300) ended up only being $2900 and that was with the doorjams sprayed as well.

 

Changing the color costs a lot more but if you can swing it, navy blue is a sweet color on just about anything. If you want to make your paint look better, try this stuff called "Colinite." It's hard to find ( in Western NY it is anyways) but if you can find that, try it. It brought my Lumina's original paint back and it was beat. Usually auto finishing stores have this stuff, Advance or Autozone won't have it. In fact, Autozone didn't even have 2 1/4" exhaust clamps the other night. wtf? :x

[LukeZ34]

Early GM red paint did not have clearcoat. It was just single stage paint which is why you are getting the red paint when you sanded.

Single Stage can shine like no other with the proper tools and chemicals to clean and polish it. I jumped on the http://www.autopia.org forums and started reading up on the ins and outs of detailing. I bought myself a Porter cable Dual Action Polisher on ebay and then went looking for pads. Picked up some cutting, polishing and finishing pads from http://www.exceldetail.com, and then found Menzerna Intensive Polish and Menzerna Final Polish to polish the paint.

After multiple passes w/ the Intensive Polish and a cutting pad, I got rid of ALL of the oxidation on the TGP's finish (clean your pads often, lol). Went over it a few times w/ the final polish and a polishing pad, and then topped it off with 3M's Liquid Carshow Wax applied w/ a finishing pad and removed w/ a microfiber polishing cloth.

End result was a gleaming finish that was scratch free and hurt your eyes in the sun.

It's not perfect by any means, but that little amount of work brought the paint back to life better than anything else I had tried.

[sonyman87]

i got a quote once from a body shot to change the color of my car they wanted 3Grand as an est. in my town. thats like 4-5grand in st louis.

[GnatGoSplat]

You'll probably come out ahead just buying a car that's already the right color and selling yours.

 

I would try polishing it first like Luke explained.