To Repaint? To Polish? Or to Wrap?

As the title says. That is the question. I have a Black 996 Coupe w/ Aerokit (non factory XAA), and the paint is in pretty bad condition. tons of swirls/scratches. ive gotten it polished once before when i first purchased about 2 years ago. but the swirls are coming back to life. I've been debating if i should repaint it, or wrap it. i dont expect to sell the car to make a profit of any kind. or even get my money back. What does an outsider think of these options?

Quotes source post: 19513227

Depends on the amount of money you are willing to spend. I was thinking about a flat dark green wrap non aero 996.1,,,, $$$ was 4-5.5k depending on the vinyl. Suburban shop outside Chicago. Not sure what geo location has on price, I decided that I�ll pass.

How much do you drive it? Keep it stored indoors? I have a wrap on my truck (Ram 2500)and it sits outside full time. The wrap is 4 years old and starting to fade some (I did a black/white/gray cammo design). I wash it 3x a year at most. I probably should have waxed it to make it last longer. If your car is kept indoors and used as weekend warrior, I'd wrap it. It will last 6+ years easily IMO. Find a cool color and a reputable shop and do it Probably around $5-6k. Another option? Get it paint correction/buffed if the paint is not that bad and have it ceramic coated. I did that on my black 996 and it's worked out well. Re-paint is nice, but spendy to have it done right.

This was less than $3k installed. Shop around

See if there's a good liquid wrap shop in your area, and if so what they're pricing it at compared to vinyl.

I vote no on wraps. I'd never wrap a car. Wrapping always makes a car look "cheap", in my humble opinion. No offense to those with wraps. I'm just offering my view on the matter. I've seen in-person dozens (if not over a hundred) mid to high-end cars that have been wrapped either in car shows, meetups, or even dealer lots where I was considering purchasing one (I've never made an offer on a car with a wrap). Maybe you haven't found the right detailer. I've seen detailers work wonders on cars (via YouTube). Check out https://www.youtube.com/@AMMO-NYC/videos to see what's possible. Further, these cars are 20-25 years old. It's OK for them to have blemishes and even patina. If you have a badass car that's restored to full working order with tasteful mods, the aged paint is sorta like a greying hair on a good looking middle-aged person (man or woman). To extend the analogy, the wrap is "trying to look younger than I am, and it's obvious". Wraps look great in pics, but you can always tell in person (just like with people who are trying to look younger). My suggestion (since you are open to them): - Fully restore the car to working order. - Catch up on all maintenance. - Restore all of the leather. - Get great tires. - Restore the wheels. - Spend a grand or two having a pro do their best with the paint (with the understanding that it'll never be perfect...and that's OK). - Fix everything that's broken. Every switch, button, etc... Once you've done all of that, proceed to tasteful mods: - Replace old speakers. Maybe install a modern head unit with BT audio. - Maybe lower it a bit (sport springs or coilovers). - Wheel spacers. Then enjoy the hell out of it along the way. Oh, and I forgot to ask, care to post a few pics of the car in its current state?

Yeah, unless the paint is not correctable and you can't live with it, I would correct it and ceramic coat it. But it's tough to tell without any pictures.

I just repainted my car and it already has chips in it. I am thinking if I will have Arctic Silver forever, I am considering to wrap it (either solid color or livery) so i can enjoy a new color or style for a few years (while also protecting the paint), then coming back when i have to remove the wrap. Give you some flexibility =)

Quotes source post: 19516299

Man, chips are part of car ownership and signify that the owner has enjoyed the car. Let's not worship or baby these machines. Let's drive the hell out of them! I don't buy the whole, "Wraps protect the paint!", thing that the wrap sellers say. Who are you saving the paint for, the next owner? Wraps will never be better than high quality paint, proper polishing, and coating (wax and/or ceramic). Great in pics, yes. In person, no. Same goes for PPF over great paint. Your car looks great. Enjoy it!

Quotes source post: 19513227

I guess the first thing to do would be to examine your wash/polish routine. If the swirls were truly removed in the prior polish (versus filled in with polish, though that's difficult anyway, particularly on black), then they shouldn't come back if you are very careful in your wash/polish routine (a necessity for a black car because it reveals everything). I'd first answer how the swirls got there, then think about options. If the swirls were preventable, then another polish and more careful maintenance would be the most cost-effective option by a wide margin.

Quotes source post: 19516522

I agree with Pete here. If polished and the swirls came back, you�ll need to examine why. If you wrap the car and you still have the same practices, the vinyl will swirl as well. The only thing to consider is paint thickness after two polishing sessions so you might be limited in how aggressive you can go.

Vinyl wrap is a low-investment low-return solution, even the best stuff only lasts 3-5 years in regular direct sunlight. Clearcoat fails over time but you can polish it out and slap layers on layers of coatings on top of it to basically replace clearcoat with a sacrificial, UV-protectant clear layer on top of the clear. Coatings basically come in two strategies, either "as hard as possible" (typical Ceramic Pro and competitors) for scratch resistance or "as thick as possible" (Ikon Rocklear, "liquid PPF") for impact/chip resistance. Which one works better for you depends on what you're driving through daily and how often/how you wash the car. I slapped two thick layers of Rocklear on mine, if I did a few more it would basically be as thick as PPF. It fills in scratches in the original clearcoat, and we basically polish the crap out of my car the day before any scheduled show.

Quotes source post: 19516522

This ^ Sounds like who ever did the paintwork rectification last time didn�t use an aggressive enough compound, and rather than using the necessary coarse compound and subsequently finer compounds, used a finer compound with lots of fillers in it, which as the name suggests, fills the scratches. Subsequent washing detailing removes the filler/polishing compound and reveals the old scratches. Find a good detailer and seek their advice before respraying or wrapping the car.

Quotes source post: 19519518

Self install? interesting. Does it need to be baked on?

Since you're soliciting opinions, I'll add mine. I think that a nice "real world" patina on a 911 is the right look. It's great to polish the factory paint but I'd be reluctant to repaint or to wrap, and my perspective is a little different from some of the others in the thread. I'd be reluctant to repaint because my anxiety for the first scratch or dent would steal a lot of the joy of driving for me. I wouldn't toss the car around anymore, I probably would never track it, and I'd otherwise be way too fussy to enjoy it. I'd sweat the first rock chip. I'm on the fence with wraps. Dropping a few grand for a clearly temporary "solution" just seems like a waste of money. I'd rather have a "patina-ed" 911 on sweet wheels, top-of-the-line suspension and brakes, with everything mechanically dialed in. If I was looking to spend, I'd spend there and on the interior and leave the exterior to show the well-earned battle scars of a life well lived. I'd let someone else have the garage queen.

If you�re dead set on a wrap, take a look at colored PPF. It�s more durable than vinyl and a dry application with air release so the install is smoother. I�m a detailer so my bias will always fall on proper paint correction and maintenance, the PPF vs Vinyl is legit.

I just repainted my car in the garage. Zero prior experience. It�s looks awesome and I�ve actually been complimented on it. If the body is straight, and the paint itself is in good nick, how about a re-clear?

Quotes source post: 19519598

+1. My black �99 had bad swirl marks that all disappeared after paint correction and ceramic coating $1500 cost. Except for the front bumper and hood, as each had/has rock chips and had prior resprays. I don�t like the way the front of my car looks, and if I fix it, rock chips will come back anyway. However, if one does repaint, and they do a combo of PPF and ceramics on top of the PPF, any chips will be on the PPF and save the paint. However, it won�t look great, and the cost to fix the PPF is nearly the same cost as a repaint.