miner

I have an '06 RL with 66XXX miles and the bumper and hood look terrible from road rash. I cannot seem to get a ball park estimate over the phone from my local body shops. I tell them I just want a quote for a complete repaint of the hood & bumper - "...well, you need to bring in so we can see". Why can't I get an answer to a simple question? I even say - give me the worse-case scenario price. Nothing. Anyone care to throw out a figure? Color is Nighthawk black pearl.

wcoy

I think my body shop told me aroud $650. Can you not take your car in?

TampaRLX-SH

I have been wondering this myself. Although my RL still looks amazing at 3 feet, the front end is peppered with small 'freckles' that show mostly on dark colors. And after getting wet, the residual wax filling these tiny chips calls them out.

I would assume typical prep sanding an primer would correct this, before new paint. But the finish on this car is so smooth, I would think there would be additional labor.

I would ask you service advisor who does the collision work for them and stop by for a quote. They should have better experience matching the OEM finish to factory standard. It can be done. I remember Mike_TX had a post restaurant bender and the side of his RL was refinished. I believe he felt the work was on par with OEM finish.

As it continues to look as I will be holding my RL several more years, I have toyed with a full repaint to not only restore OEM finish, but perhaps use a paint grade to better stand up to the road blemishes modern paints seem so fragile towards. I don't care if I need tree killing, cancer caustic paint! I want my RL coated in 20 layers of protective lead filled paint! There has to be a vendor who does show quality paint work...but at what type of cost?

At least then the finish would survive better....and I would also use my RL for shelter in nuclear holocaust.

OLD_HATCH

They need to see because depeding on how pitted/knicked up the parts it might require ore time to fill and prep.
Not to mention some cars bumpers/hoods take less time to tape off or remove bit and pieces than others.

SHop around at at leat 3 diffeent places and let them know that you are shopping for price and quality work with a warantee.


Here in the central FL area I would expect to pay around 500 for a hood/bumper with better quality paint. Depends on your area though.

TampaRL... yoyu dont think that a good cut nbuff would help your old paint and possibly just paint tthe front end? I say this because a full repaint is usually a hassle since most shops dont his might work well in some areas, but not all.

TampaRLX-SH

My finish is in great shape otherwise. For most, they think it is a new car. My detail attention level gets annoyed by these 'freckles'. I did use Ultimate Compound and it did make a great improvement, but they are indeed deeper that a cutting product can remove....at least with my apprehensive skill level.

And as discussed before, the depth of shine on the dark colors is amazing on this car. But any and every flaw in the clearcoat is called out on a sunny day. Being in Florida, you know sand is the enemy, and impossible to maintain with any cloth fiber. ONE grain of sand and you have blemishes.

I had good luck with Zymol too....but the residual powder is awful...again on a dark car. After the 1st rain, the freckles are white. It may be that is just serves as a good filler to hide the blemishes and a few months later the blemishes rise again.

I just need an 1/2 inch of clear acrylic poured over my car.

neuronbob

miner, it makes more sense to get a real estimate from a body shop seeing the car than a guesstimate, or at least that makes sense to me. It takes a lot of time to get estimates, but at the end you'll feel better about whatever shop ends up with the work.

Once you get it repainted, you might also consider a clear bra to prevent all this stuff. $600-700 investment once=no worries about bugs or tiny rocks.

Chas2

bob is thinking exactly what I was with regards to the paint protection film (I used to call it clear bra, but always got strange looks). There is a time factor, however, check into paint curing time. You may have to let the paint cure before you go and put PPF on.

BostonBob

My wife's G2 looks fantastic at 3 feet as well - but would love to get the Nighthawk Black Pearl repainted so it looks BRAND NEW! I am pretty sure a full repaint with quality paint would be 2 grand or more. Besides cost - my big concern is the brittleness of the new paint. Someone said it was nearly impossible to match OEM for toughness against road chips, etc. I have no idea.

Tampa - switch over to Zaino and there is no white residue - perfectly clear. Best stuff I have found!

neuronbob

+2 on Zaino.

Chas, you are right. 30-90 days after the paint is on is when you consider the install. You get funny looks when you say "clear bra" for your car? I thought most people get the idea about that.....I guess not.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Does it really take 30-90 days for paint to cure? I'd think a couple of days to a week would be sufficient.

Chas2

I guess that must be my problem, I don't say "for my car"!

And +3 on the Zaino. It is great stuff, especially the swirl remover on NBP!

neuronbob

After my V was rear-ended a few months ago, the rear bumper had to be replaced and repainted. I told the body shop of my plan to clear-bra the rocker panel and upper parts of the rear bumper. Their recommendation was 90 days to allow the paint to fully cure. I've heard numbers from 30-90 days from various body shop folks over my 20 years with cars. I actually completed the clear bra at 6 weeks and all is fine almost three months after the clear bra install. (I did hood, front fenders, rocker panels all the way back, side mirrors, and top of rear bumper on my V.)

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

^
I see. Got it!

TampaRLX-SH

[QUOTE=neuronbob;11592042]After my V was rear-ended a few months ago,,, [QUOTE]

*gasp*

I did NOT get the memo!

Obviously a Driver Error.....YOURS!

All you had to to was tap the torque capacitor (accelerator) and after a short burst of multicolored lights, you not only would have avoided that close encounter of the expensive kind, but you would have arrived at work 15 years in the future without grey hair and a stack of college tuition bills.

Read your manual.