hello all. having a 3G TL like most of y'all, our cars have suffered years of UV and weather damage. many cars around this age have clear coat peel, rock chips, dings, etc accumulating.

i know i wont be buying a car for another 2-3 years, and my TL and TSX run perfect. my only gripe is that my TL is starting to suffer clear coat peel on the roof and trunk spoiler. i'm wondering if anyone has gone through a paint color change, and what results they had. i'm not sure whether i should go paint (i dont care about jams or engine bay being repainted) or vinyl wrap. The TL is currently silver, but i really want to go either KBP or the same blue on the newer Acuras (NSX, RDX, etc).

who has repainted their car another color, or vinyl wrapped their car? and what type of paint or vinyl did you go with? were you happy with the results? how long has it been since you did it, and how has it held up til now? thank you in advance!

 

Not the TL, but have had other cars painted, most recently a car with base/clear, not the 3 stage e.g. WDP.
I did most of the prep work, and it came out perfect, but it all depends upon the people doing the job.
You can get a full paint job for @ $400, however the price I paid was $5400, but I'm sure there are in-between prices.

 

I am in the midst of making the same decision. I have some spots of rust trying to poke through the paint. I feel like proper prep work and paint would be the best option but there are so many options for wrapping the car... Either way, I think I should deal with the rust issues first.

 

You don't want to wrap over rust..........

 

I had my entire front end, including the hood painted the stock color of CBP. I also had the trunk lid painted the same color. Next up is the roof once that starts to go. I like to keep my cars looking as new as possible because I take care of my cars. My car looks almost brand new, except for one dime-sized small dent on the rear passenger door.

I could easily get a newer car, but don't want one.

 

A proper OEM level paint job without door jambs or engine bay is going to be $3000-4000.

If you do a wrap, it may be a little less but not as much as you think. You'd need to sand down all the clear coat failure to leave a smooth surface for the vinyl.

 

Yikes, upwards of $5000 for paint is too much for me. I mean, my car has 175k on it and I only plan on keeping it another 3 years-ish. Maybe I'll start looking at wraps... heard they are about $2000-2500 and my car doesnt have terrible paint for the adhesion to be a problem. Hmmmm

 

Just like anything you’re gonna pay to do it the right way. Prep is always key to anything bodywork related. There is a member who just finished wrapping his TL with pretty damn good results. He was selling a rear bumper in the marketplace. I’ll look for it and see if he can weigh in.

juskimdh was the member, Justin, if you see this thread you’d be perfect person to weigh in on this!

 

Here you go, this is the man to talk to:

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p.../#post16479974

 

Considering you’re not looking to keep it for long-term, I’d definitely consider wrapping it. A quality 3M roll sufficient enough to wrap your whole car is about $600-800. My friend and I wrapped my car ourselves, so I saved on the labor (my friend did most of the work).

Labor cost can range, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near getting full paintwork done. The reason I wrapped my car is to save on having to paint the car. If you’re in/near NYC, I can link you up with my friend.

 

thanks for the reply and link

yah, maybe you're right. prob cheaper to save the money rather than painting it since i'm not keeping it forever. not like it'll make the value go up accordingly.

unfortunately, i'm on the west coast, but thanks for looking out!

now i have another question... what about dipping the car? anyone here that has done that??