Deuces88

Hello all this is my first post as i'm looking into buying a car. I have always loved he third gen TL. Just a little background. I'm at the point in my life where i'm going to look to buy a house or a condo. So i don't want to put alot of money into a new car. I want something that looks good and is reliable, something i can drive for 3-5 years. Which led me to the 4th gen TL.

So that leads me to my point. My cousin has a 2007 TL. It only has 95k on it. She didn't exactly take the best care of it but all i've known it has proven to be reliable. I know right away i'll need to probably do the 105k maintenance within the year (have searched this forum so i know my options).

The good thing is since were family and she just got a new job she has agreed to sell me the car for 7500 dollars. I know this is a pretty good deal because i see them selling on craigslist for at least that much with 140-150k miles on them. The only problem i have, and its a big issue to me. The paint while not being in terrible condition has scratches all over the place. Both sides of the car and the bumper needs to be repainted. Some scratches are minor, some seem a little deeper. Is there anything i can do about this?

My options would be

1. Sand and buff out myself - This is a huge risk to the pain as i don't know what the hell i'm doing.

2. Go to an indépendant shop - Could be costly. Unless someone knows a decent place in NJ

3. Go to a place like maaco - Don't do the greatest job but would eliminate the imperfections potentially.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

Do not go to Maaco. Let's see some pics of the damage your talking about? Maybe a good detailer can get rid of a lot of those issues.

Deuces88

Thx for the reply. I wasn't really planning on it. Was kind of a throw in option. I read the horror stories lol. But just wanted to know if there were any options. I'd pay 800-1000 dollars for it. Don't really want to go over that. If not it isn't worth it to me.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

Or find a different car?

KBacon

I think for $7500 you can maybe find a better deal...

As for paint correction... I just completed my 1st attempt on the TL I recently purchased... had been painted after an accident & had scratched all over three place... and some nasty orange peel... I started buffing and soon realized I needed to take more aggressive measures...

Several hours/days of work with sand paper, a Porter Cable 7424, & some pads/compounds... and lots of youtube... here's the final result!!!



If I had paid a shop it would have saved me time... but been quite costly!!!

GreenSpades

When I bought my car it was in pretty bad shape. The PO must have hit something at highway speeds that scratched the rear quater panel like it exploded against the car. There was a deep gouge in the hood. The trunk had what I thought was scratching all over the back, I thought they had placed something on there and it turned out to be tar.

With a good clay bar kit, some rubbing compound, a matching paint stick, and A LOT of time and elbow grease I was able to get all of the tar off, paint the hood chip, removed 80% of the scratching, and the compound worked its magic on a ton of swirling. Also it had this visor on the sun roof which when I took it off it baked a line of dirt into the paint. Two good rounds of compound up there and eventually it all came out.

So what Im getting at is if you put the time into it you might be able to restore a lot of the paint yourself and save some good coin. See if she will go to $7000? You say you need a cheap driver not a looker and you want a house, so look at it as a daily driver you can use and not a luxery car to restore. Trust me youre talking about a ten year old car, no one is going to look at the paint except you.

Oh Sickest TL

iTrader: (3)

do it! you should have seen my TL when I bought it lol

csmeance

With these values, CarMAX and a dealer would offer somewhere around 6k due to all the paint damage, etc. Depending on the interior and other wear it'll go between average and rough condition on trade in and retail. Just remember that retail means it's being sold by a dealer that's checked the car out and fixed a bunch of stuff already to make sure the car will run well even though it may look in "rough" or "average" shape.


Being realistic with worst case scenarios:

1. $1000 for 105K Maintenance
2. $700 TIres
3. $500 Brakes
4. 2500 Transmission (if it fails)
5. $200 Transmission fluids/switches
6. $100 Alignment
7. $500 New shocks
8. $300 Front Control Arm Bushings
9. $2100 Complete Repaint

You can save a lot of money by doing DIY maintenance and repairs. Instead of repainting you can get the whole car wrapped! Places in Orlando, Dallas, LA, etc offer whole car wraps starting at $600!

Depending on the amount of bumper paint damage, you can get the aspec kit to cover up a good chunk of it! Also read up on the detailing section!

08KBP_VA

If you can see white in the scratch and your nail catches it as you run it over it then paint correction will not fix it. Even though it won't make it perfect it would help but based on your description this car would require a good 2 stage correction and that will be in your range to correct but that blows you whole amount and you haven't even gotten to the deferred maintenance yet. And a a whole car paint job is more like $5k and up if done right.

Post some pics maybe some of us can provide better direction

Jakm123

As others have stated, can't really give you an opinion without pictures.

screaminz28

iTrader: (1)

I'd have it evaluated by a reputable paint correction detailer. Have them give you a price and estimate of the level of repair they will be able to do. When I say reputable, I'd get references. Preferably from someone that has had high end paint correction done. Ask for some pictures of the work. Any detailer that wants your business and is good at what they do will be glad to show and explain. Don't expect it to be a $150 detail. You're looking for paint correction and depending on the amount of time and level of effort, it could be $1,000 or more, depends on the area as well. If you really don't know what you're doing, don't try it, you'll just make it definitely need a repaint.

As everyone else said, pics would help. There are some defects in paint that cannot be corrected and require a respray. My car had a lot of crows feet/lacquer checking when I got it and it had to be repainted.

As for an independent shop - a repaint in NJ I wouldn't think could be done for less than $2500 or so, and that could be of questionable quality.