xenon

I am currently looking to buy an FD and have been thinking.

Should I buy a mint condition low mileage FD for $20-$25,000 or buy one for much cheaper that is in rough condition and get it painted?

I always question the durability of a non-factory paint job.

Any feedback will make my decision process that much easier.

Thanks

iluvmy3rdgen

Well it's more of questioning the 93 paintjob if that's the year you buy, they chip easily and haven't held up for most people. If you're going to keep the car stock, get a 94 or 95 with liw mileage and baby it, or get a 93 for cheap work on it, paint it and then baby it.

Tim Benton

iTrader: (1)

Any custom paint job will be hard to sell if you do sell it later on since it's what you liked and more than likely not what the future buyer would like. If you go with the normal colors and not some dupont chroma color, then get a lower priced car that needs some work. I had mine entire car painted in 98, stock brilliant black, and people still think it's a new car and paint job. It just depends on the shop that paints it.

Tim

Herblenny

iTrader: (13)

Question to ask would be, one, do you have a connection to get work done to your car? or are you going to do it yourself??

Most of the time, I think you get a better deal buying a highly modded car. Save time and money in most cases..

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

Remember, a cheap car isn't in just the paint job. Ratty paint job usually goes hand-in-hand with ratty interior and ratty engine bay and shoddy mechanics.

I've found it's typically better to start with a good, clean car than a clapped-out beater that needs a lot of work. You may save some money, but it's going to take a LOT of money to make a beater a nice car again.

It's also tricky with paint jobs. The quality of the job is all in the shop that does it. It's much easier to do a crappy paint job than a good one, and the cheap paint job will likely be a crappy one.

Dale

xenon

I guess paint technology has come a long way in the past 10+ years so can I assume a non-factory paint job today is better than a factory paint job 10years ago?

I plan to paint it stock brilliant black.

pianoprodigy

xenon

Then would it be a bad idea to use factory paint code?

Tim Benton

iTrader: (1)

no, the shop that painted mine used the stock paint code for the 93 brilliant black and mine's looking great 7 years since it was painted.

Tim

broken93

I would advise always using a factory paint code if you can. This ensures that five years from now you can have any competent paint shop do a match or blend if you are in an accident, for example.

Besides, we certainly don't want you to get that damn fish-scale metal flake purple-green **** on an otherwise nice FD.

xenon

Ok so I guess I need to find an FD in decent shape and get it painted.

Does anybody know how much a good quality paint job costs? I am doing an engine swap at the same time so the engine bay will be empty when its time to paint.

broken93

Don't spend less than 2k for a whole-car paint job, if it includes full prep work. If you do your own prep, tape, etc, maybe drop that to $1250. If you know someone that has a paint shop AND you do your own prep work, maybe $850. Noticed you're in Canada. These are USD estimates for my area.

There have been numerous horror stories of people getting their cars trashed by joy-riding body shops. I advise you at least remove the EGI relay if not the entire ECU and pay the $50 or so "push charge". I know I will.

xenon

Thanks for the info.. I will be doing a swap and getting the car painted with the engine bay empty so there is no chance of any "joy rides"

I was actually thinking $4,000USD would be a decent amount for a quality paint job. We have numerous custom paint shops in my area that have loads of experence. I am sure this would be an easy job for them.

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

Dale hit the nail on the head here. Very, very few people can make restoring a FD worth while $$ wise.

Start with the cleanest, most solid car you can. Ratty interiors are just as hard or harder to restore as a old paint job.

A 93 can still have a beautiful stock paint job. Take a look at some threads with pics of low mileage cars. The paint the had the bad reputation was "Hi-Reflex" paint only used on the Touring models.

Dr Wankel

As a side note regarding the factory color chips. Most painters or shops are partial to a particular type/brand of paint. But any good shop should be able to computer match any of the factory colors. And mix the same color with any of the major brands of paint, like Dupont, HOK, PPG, etc. Like I said most painters are used to working with a certain brand of sealer/primers, paint, and clear. So finding a shop that can mix a factory color in the system of their choosing may lead to a better paint job overall.

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

Another note about the factory paint code. It does not equal one color. They have "options" for color tints within the same color. Basically there is a tolerance to the color as mixed up at the factory and the color code will have options for common tints within the same color.

I've been told Black is the easiest color to match.

poss

iTrader: (5)

I just took my car in yesterday. To prevent any abusive joy riding, I set the rev limiter to 3k.

rousu

Hey, these cars are for fun, eh? Make your Rx the color you like. If you love Montego Blue, then you save dollars and simplify your life for future repairs and touch up. Also, your own standard insurance probably does not pay for any damage to custom paint jobs.

But my colorchange dark jade paint job makes me smile, and gives a classy look, rather than what can be a shooking pink eyesore look of some of the wilder colors.

A previous owner painted mine; a colorshift color-change job is reputed to be in the vicinity of $6k to $8k including the very pricey paint.

The paint job is pretty good. The few little places where old red paint does peek out to the nitpicky careful observer detract a bit. If you change colors make sure you have a very patient careful detailed paint and detail person. A lot of trim and door and interior transition places look best after dis-assembly - paint - re-assemble time.
Painting with the engine out of a steam cleaned engine compartment will solve many hood-up little color blemishes. That would give you easy access for the mod to open air-flow to the fender vents too.
The sunroof compartment is tricky to cover all the previous color for when the sunroof is open. I'm not sure of the best solution there.
The door hinge area has some show-through, real primo would remove doors and paint the door edges especially around the door hinge side. That seems to be a hard area for the paint gun to get a good shooting angle when the doors are on the car. The side mirrors on mine seem not to be as well painted as the rest of the body. Perhaps they should be removed for being painted well with a good gun angle.

Go for it. But an Rx does look darn good in white, silver, yellow, or montego too!

importrx7

LOL, good idea..

tzbfwt

iTrader: (1)

So - I suppose the $250? Maaco Paint job I just saw advertised on TV would NOT be a good idea?

Do you think they actually stop the car in the paint booth for that price, or do they just drive by it at 20 MPH?

Seriously - has anyone on the list DONE THEIR OWN PAINT JOB? I keep falling into "CHEAP BASTARD, DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF" mode - I've done some race car fiberglass and paint work - but it only has to look good from 20 ft away going 120 MPH...

any good books/websites out there on do it yourself paint & body work? There seem to be alot more tools out now than there used to be say 20 yrs ago- HVLP system sold by Harbor Ft and the like.

I just want to do my 93 VR again - after I get all the dings/dent fixed - and I know it has been repainted before...

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

I've painted about 10 cars in my lifetime, all before the age of 21. The thing I learned is that paint materials (type, not brand) make a big difference in how long the paint lasts. I painted the first few cars in Acrylic Enamel. The paint looked good but after a couple of years it faded badly, even with waxing.

Recently I've been getting cars painted through a bodyshop, I've learned a lot that I didn't know from the body guy and painter but I knew enough about paint and body work to evaluate what quality of work they were producing, not Boyd Coddington's, but not too far off it either. Paint systems must be used correctly, experience tells painters where they can mix materials, etc or take shortcuts. They learn two ways, training and experience.

If you want a poor to decent job, you'll can do it yourself. If you want a poor to excellent job a professional will be required. Some professionals will charge more $$ and still give a crappy job, some will be able to do an excellent job.

JimmyJimboJet

how's it going down there Ryan?

are you gonna have it repainted MBM?

jimlab

Any competent painter should be able to match damn near any color you can put on a car without too much trouble. I know several who can.

Yeah, we sure don't!

poss

iTrader: (5)

With the use of a spectrometer and a good painter, you can get a near perfect match. The only problem with an FD is that it's tough to find a large enough, flat area on the car to get a good reading. Especially if your hood doesn't match the rest of the car.

I had a friend match my 12 year old montego green paint perfectly. It took him the good part of a day and a number of test strips, but he got it.


:: I know it's montego blue, but the guy that painted his car with the metal flake, purple-green **** came up with this more accurate color description....didn't ya Jim??

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

I'm no painter but with metallic colors isn't it difficult to get the metal flakes to lay down the same? For example, paint a car in the winter and try to use the same paint in the summer. Are lighter colors more difficult to match than darker colors?

The paint match on this 12yr old MB car turned out PERFECT. You couldn't tell even if you were a painter.

http://community.webshots.com/album/69912816VsRYvb