Contemplating a cheap paint job

My paint looks terrible. Black car with white primer makes the road rash look speckled. There are scratches from rubbing hay bales at the track. Nearly every panel has a ding and a scratch. I know a good paint job costs $8k-$12k. Local guy says he can clean up the body work and paint it for $3k. Sanding, clear coat, de-trim, etc. Is the only risk is that I waste $3k because it only lasts a few years? If you think it can come out worse than it is now, that's not possible. If it doesn't last or look good couldn't it be stripped down and done right at a later date? I'm never going to put $8k-$12k into a $20k car so I'm not going to "save my money and do it right". Any data based reason not to do this? I know most of you will say "I wouldn't do it, just drive it", "you get what you pay for", etc but is there a real reason outside of poor judgement in your eyes?

dr color chip it; it will make the white stuff disappear.

Not sure how much they run, but have you considered a solid color vinyl wrap? I think it would probably be in the $2-4k range...

Thoughts in the paint job? Color chip won't remove dents.

Willit fill in the dents?

With my limited experience on one car( not my Porsche) with a cheap paint job, I was able to get an acceptable result by wet sanding with 1500 grit followed by compounding with a rotary buffer and then followed by a finer polishing compound and wax. I actually get some compliments.

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This!!

So vinyl wrap proponents: you would favor doing all the body work and then wrapping? Would cost significantly more than bodywork+paint

I say fix the dents/dings with the mobile repair guys (doesn't matter if they crack the paint), then wrap the car. Also every couple of years you can re-wrap it to a different color if you want.

I've been curious about vinyl wrap myself, as my car has tons of chips and the beginnings of some flaking clear coat... can't imagine that a wrap would shine like a nicely painted car would, and I also wonder how visible all the tiny paint chips would be as small indentations in the wrap. Maybe that wouldn't be noticeable. Anyone with experience on this, or just lots of fans of the idea?

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Spending $3K paint job -- assuming the cost doesn't go up once the job's begun -- and it will almost certainly compromise the corrosion resistance of the car's original paint. Then after a few track sessions the car looks as bad or worse -- depends upon the paint job quality -- than it did before. And you're $3K poorer. Put the $3K towards track driving lessons to learn to better avoid the hay bales so when you get another nicer looking car it doesn't suffer the same fate at your current car. Leave your current car as it is. Sincerely, Macster.

Do it right, or don't do it. Of you get a crap job it will make you more unhappy than your car withs it's patina.

Shop around. You can find a decent painter in the $3k range. Ask to see a painter's work and look at several cars as they're completed. Most shops will work with you on price if it's not an insurance job and you're paying cash. Under that tree below is my wife's Escape. It needed a quarter, a rear door, roof, hood, bumpers and some glass. Every body panel on the truck was damaged. It's getting completely straightened out and an all over paint job. All the work is guaranteed for life. The total is $5,300. You don't have any body damage that'll take more than a few hours to smooth out, so your bill should be far less. You can get nice paint in your price range. It'll just take a little leg work on your end to identify the right shop.

Thanks to Macster on the data corrosion as a real fact base reason to not do this. I live in Texas so it's not an issue. The rest of the post had nothing to do with my question but thanks for the one semi-relevant comment.

Doesn't help now, but this is why I believe in Clear Bra for my cars, so that it will at least prevent the bulk of the stone chips from happening in the first place, I'd rather pay $1.5K for an excellent full front end coverage Clear Bra job than contemplating about if a $1.5K cheap paint job (for the same area) will be good enough........ For now, work out a good deal with PDR guys and wrap the car if you want to keep the cost down.

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From my experience, the vinyl wrap can cover the chips nicely, but not for the dent.

Black is a pretty easy color to match if not the easiest. You don't say, but I'd assume the chips are on the front bumper cover and hood. What I'd do to maximize the results and minimize the expense is remove the front bumper cover and hood and have them repainted. Any other really bad areas, say the trailing areas of the fender wells, have them spot painted and blended. Try for paintless dent removal to do a quick, cheap and minimally invasive repair. Remove the hood and bumper cover yourself. Have a reputable shop do the repairs. Ask some better used car dealers for recommendations, doesn't matter what they sell. There is not necessarily a correlation between price and quality of work. Many high end shops do worse work than lesser known independents that paint beaters. You should be able to do it all for under $2K and have a very good job. It will all come down to you finding the right shop. Stay away from shops that typically paint high end cars as they will tack on the Porsche tax which will typically end up costing 2X to 3X as much. Sheet metal is sheet metal. I'd forget the wrap as it will be an expensive way to go, $2k-$4k every 2 years or so. Hope this helps, I know, I'm in a related business.

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This is factually incorrect; repainting the car doesn't mean sanding to the car to the metal that would compromise the galvanization of the sheet metal. Paint sticks well to paint.

Another option ... PlastiDip spray the entire car ... http://www.allsentra.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=3491

Get a well reputed paint-less dent removal guy to take a look at ALL your dings - he should be able to get most of them out. This will run you about 500 or so dollars... then take it and get it wrapped a unique color. You will love it and it would run you about $1000-$2000 (depending on if you want your jambs done) how do I know? been doing this for 4 years. -Paul

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If to remove the dents or take care of gouges/deeper scratches filler is needed the paint would be sanded to bare metal. Years ago, I helped a car painter paint (prep) cars. The first thing I learned was unless it was absolutely necessary avoid respraying a car. If it was necessary, unless the paint job was just to make the car look better prior to selling the car, to seek out the best painter/paint shop around. However, this means that while the paint job will be (should be) very good, it will also be very expensive. Sincerely, Macster.

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Nowadays the standard is epoxy primer and filler on top of it. Filler tends to be hygroscopic, so I definitely wouldn't want it sitting on bare metal. Either way unless you're pulling with studs, there's no need to sand to bare metal.

^^^ Exactly. I don't get all this wrap crap; when did this become a recommended alternative? It's just silly. It's a great idea for advertising, but other than that, it doesn't belong on a car. Paint and painters vary in quality, but prep is essential. If you know how to prep the areas properly you can take it to just about anyone and end up with a half way decent result (a hell of a lot better result than a wrap). And as someone mentioned, doing a wet sand cut and polish will bring paint up nicely.

The vinyl is great in case you wish to try something new, however - still have the opportunity to go back to original. When guys wrap their $100K+ vehicles its a MUCH smarter alternative than to repaint... why? you can still go back to your regular factory finish which may be VERY valued on a Ferrari for example -Paul

I would shop around for a reputable facility that will do the job right and warranty for as long as you own the vehicle.

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Paul, With all due respect, youve made my point perfectly.

Paint and body work are definitely a "you get what you pay for" type of thing, but there are ways to help reduce the cost of getting the work done while still ending up with a quality end product that lasts. For the paint/bodyman aspect, ask around to local people you know who have custom painted cars. Most custom work gets done by smaller shops. You average major repair shop avoids custom work or small one-off projects because they can ship 10 insurance jobs through the door in the same amount of time. Another option is Craigslist. There are lots of very talented paint and body guys out of work right now due to the economy who have their own personal shop at home and would be more than happy to have your business. Ask to see examples of work and they usual homework on them, of course. Another good way to keep costs down is the do the prep work yourself. Stripping out any interior panels that need to come out, removing weatherstripping, trim, emblems, etc. is something you can do that adds up to several hours of work you don't have to pay for.

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Totally on the last point, though I would be weary of paint-at-home guys. Odds are they won't have proper air filtering system in whatever booth they have and certainly won't have a baking set up. You don't want mosquitos and solvent pop in your clearcoat.

Since it's not a color change -it isn't that big a deal .The key to a good job is in the prep .Two aspects dings and dents and removing pieces so that there are no masking tape lines .If it's a cabrolet the big pieces that should come off are the front and rear bumper covers,door handles ,rubber on top edge of door by the glass , the cover for the top and all the lights .For a really good job seperating the black rubber/plastic in the front bumper is also a good idea . .Some shops won't like having all those pieces to deal with . The only downside I have seen is that respray paint tends to chip more easily .Don't know why .