I'm going to have my front quarter panel repainted soon and was wondering if paint shops will be able to properly match the stippled textured paint on the bottom of the panel? I once tried to touch up this lower area myself but could not match the texture. Since the adjacent panel will not be repainted, painting the entire panel smooth is not an option.

 

There's a guy on here, I think his name is classicauto, he runs a body shop and should be able to help you on this topic.

 

If you are happy with the shop, please PM me with their name. I need some work done also.

Thanks.

 

I just sanded my entire car down to the metal. That paint isnt exactly stippled it's almost like a structured paper. I'm not sure how they would beable to match that exactly.

 

the "stiple" is undercoating. any body shop has the materials to replicate it, the FD isnt the only car to use it.

 

most cars have this on the underside of the side skirts. some have a smoother texture, some have a rougher texture.

 

Its just clear spray on gravel guard, its very common in shops

 

When I took my 2nd gen to the body shop they told me that they would not be able to duplicate the rock guard finish exactly....and it wasn't an exact match. Close, but not exactly the same.

 

I had that crap removed when I had my former silver fd painted. Always thought it was disgusting and pointless. It would be hard to duplicate the exact texture but your should be able to get it close.

 

its the rockguard you are talking about and its there so you dont notice the inherent damage that occurs from daily driving also it it thicker so nothing cuts through to the bare metal to prevent rusting.

I think i posted an article on paint maintenence and repair on some other forum.

 

We used to call it "body shotz" or just "shotz", but I think that was really just a supplier brand name that just became universal, at least way back. It is to reduce paint chipping and may serve a dual purpose to reduce road noise too. It's applied before color. You simply establish a mask line off the other panels and spray color over it. Most any modern shop should be able to duplicate it close enough that you'd have to lay on your back to tell any difference in texture. And if your that **** and looked that close, you'll probably notice that the factory stuff isn't entirely consistent.

 

When I had my car quoted for a repaint recently, I asked specifically about the rock-guard and if they would duplicate it, and the owner/estimator gave me this look like I was a dumbass, and just said, "The car will look better than the factory painted it, INCLUDING all features such as that...", almost as if I'd insulted him by asking...lol!