Clark_rx7

I have a montego blue FD, does the original paint usually retain its color under normal conditions? I want to do some body mods and have them painted the same, or will I want to get a whole paint job to have the car match?

Miata_mx5

From what i have seen, and done on FDs....94-95 FD paint is pretty similar.

The clearcoat is pretty easy to cut, and will provide a deep shine if detailed/polished right. The colormatching will be very important.

Easiest way is to repaint the car, but in my opinion...cheap paintjobs won't match the quality of the OEM paint. A good paintjob will cost more than 3000-4000 dollars and will have a mirror finish with quality clearcoat and should look close to original.

If you repaint certain parts, i think it will be important to get a quality detail so the rest of the cars paint has been "restored", so to speak.

Supernaut

iTrader: (83)

3k - 4k to paint which part of the car? Im currently getting my car repainted and straightened out and I think its gonna cost me around 8k. Am I getting screwed?

Also, I imagine the paint from a 13 - 15 year old car would probably have lost a shade or two depending on how well the car was kept. Based on your pic though, I would say that looks pretty good haha.

Having said that, the body shop where I took my car said that they could match the colors of the new parts to the rest of the car. I just think its worth it to redo the whole damn thing though.

Miata_mx5

Each bodyshop is different and pricing is all dependant on what market value is out there. It would be a good idea to get a few referrals/customer references for the particular bodyshop, and go look at their cars and see how it was done/good customer service. That would give you a good idea. If it's 8000 dollars and there is still orange peel, fish eyes, improper prep work...etc, then yes it's a rip off. If it's a proper, perfect, professional job, then no, it's a fair price.

There are bodyshops that do 500 dollar jobs, 4000 dollar jobs, and there ones out here that do 10,000 dollar jobs. The higher price ones USUALLY will show their worth (there are always exceptions), but normally, I can tell the difference. Some people have "bro-deal" hookups to get a high quality paintjob "for cheap". But in the end, i can still see fish-eyes, and orange peel (as a detailer, i am **** about this stuff).

I would rather pay someone more, for them to take their work seriously and do it right, then get 1/2-*** work and then pay more to fix "free" work because it bugs me everyday to look at it.

There is a reason why all the ferrari, high-end, certain race-car guys out here pay 8000-10,000 for good paintjobs. The finish is perfect, the clearcoats last, and the front bumpers don't start chipping after a few months.

Clark_rx7

I wanted to keep the original color and do like a arctic silver carbon fiber interior... Ill probly have the body pieces matched for now and later get a midnight metallic blue paintjob, which will match the interior even better. Thanks for your thoughts guys.