Is it just me, or is getting your car painted the longest, and most frustrating process of owning one of these cars???

I swear, I've had my FD almost a year now, and I've gone through almost the entire car (new interior, new engine & wiring, new brake system) but the body work and paint process sucks.

I've had my car at the bodyshop now for over 3 weeks, and they have barely touched it. It sucks because this is the one part of the process I can't do myself, so far no one but me has worked on the car at all so I get things done quick. At the rate they are going, they'll have my car for 2 months before it is done.

It's driving me nuts.

 

The shop I took mine too had a good reputation for quality. Their shop is new and beautiful. Looks more like a big house than a body shop. They told me it would be 6 weeks, it ended up being 12 weeks. Why? Because mine was not an accident claim, thus they took their time even with me complaining after 8 weeks. They do the job quicker for accident claims because everyone wants the settlement completed ASAP.

Yes, it SUCKS!

 

Yup. Blazin remembers when I had my fender bender. It was covered by insurance and I had my car back in 5 days.

Remember Mike, goods things come to those who wait Just kidding, that blows!

 

there's been a few experiences like that..

one of the owners here left his car at the body shop for almost one year, another left it there for 8 months...

I guess it boils down to checking out the shop and seeing if they are busy, or have enough staff to work on your car, otherwise, if it's a one-man-show then be prepared to wait a long time

 

Take it to another shop that can do the job at a garanteed time ..
I painted my car in 5 days 3 hrs a day after work in our body shop and that was a full stripdown base coat graphics and then 5 layers of laqure then a full flat, buff and rebuild so long as they scedual it proply there is no reason why a full repaint should take more than 5 days.
We can fully paint 3 Miatas/MX5's a week and there is only 1 fulltime bodyshop man and 1 part time.

 

I've had my car in the shop for around 9 months now. Reason being? It's one of my friend's shop and he's giving me a good deal but as one of the other members have said, if it's not an insurance claim, they take their time on it. If you have another car to drive around like I do, it's not as frustrating, but albeit it is annoying at times when you really feel the itch to drive the 7 around. I think I'll be picking it up next week though...I'll post some pics when I do.

 

See I've been to this painter many times before, and usually they are VERY fast about doing what I need done. They re-painted half of my old blazer in about 6 days.


I waited for them to call me for about 2 months to bring the car down, I originally got my estimate in the middle of July. They called me, said they had time and space for my car, and I brought it down expecting they would start on it.

Now today is 3 weeks and 1 day since I dropped it off, and they haven't touched it. I drove by today to see if it was outside, and sure enough it's sitting in the parking lot un-touched.

 

Had mine done in 2003. It took forever and then some to get it back. So I did it myself the second time.

 

Had mine done in 2004. It had a blown motor at the time, so I wasn't in a hurry to get it back. It turned out better than I could have ever hoped

 

I did a color change on mine. Took about 3 months I believe, and that included fitting on a new 99 spec bumper. I shouldn't say "I did", since I didn't do it myself, but a body shop. Cost $2,600 I believe, including the bumper fitment and random ding removals. The guy did an excellent job.

 

I'm waiting to do the body work myself on mine but have been waiting for the frame shop for over a month to tug on the frame. I'm getting irritated.

 

Doing it myself, while doing everything else too. 7 months, I hate body work with a passion.

 

Why? It's not supposed to be fun. That's why they call it body "work."

Plus, it's the best time to beat and break anything you want. This is where the cutting and welding become a needed talent. Bondo here, bondo there. Sand finish here, primer here. Matching colors. Paint at some point..... Done.

 

Damn that's cheap! Can't get that done around here for anywhere near that. Maybe everyone is overpriced.

 

I painted mine in 3 days, completely torn down and put back together. But, it's my job. A good paint job is always worth it though.

If they have had your car for that long and haven't touched it I would take it to someone who will get it done, thats what you are paying them to do.

 

^i would think it would take longer for you, simply because it IS your job. id be completely **** about the paint and body being absolutely PERFECT... i would do and re-do it 100 times.

 

Give them the time they need. It will lead to better results in the end.

 

I think they've had more than enough time to atleast start it.

I'm not going to rush once started, I just want them to start.

 

I took my car to two shops before it got painted. The first place had a great reputation, and I talked with them several times, yada, yada... they said two weeks.

Dropped it off, and after about 10 days started calling because the place was on my way home from work and I could see it sitting out front doing nothing.

Finally on a Friday, I called, and the manager told me it was in being prepped. On my way home from work (after hours) that day, I saw it sitting in the EXACT same place, dust and dirt on the tires still as it had obviously not moved.

I parked my daily driver at a nearby 7-11, and took out my spare key, started up the RX7, and drove it home. Picked the DD up later. Why should I sit around another weeked with no RX7 so the can do nothing with it? After i'd thought about it for the weekend, I decided not to drop it back off.

THE BEST was when the manager from the shop called me at work Monday morning (first call back i'd gotten from them), and was like, "uh, you're car isn't here..." I acted like I knew nothing and was pissed off for a couple minutes, let him fall all over himself, and then busted his *** royally for lying to me about the progress on Friday, and asked him how he could be so stupid as to say things like that when the car is parked in plain view out front on a major road a mile from my house.

Always remember, YOU are the customer. There is no excuse for a car being in for a repaint more than a month or so. If they aren't ready to work on it, they shouldn't make your appointment.

 

Hands down...i think this is the cleanest FD. Very nice!

 

Mine was done about a month ago. Took 4 days, but two men STRICTLY working on my car for very long hours.

MB is a great color freshly painted!

Pics of the process.........

 

my paint job took about a month but i can't complain, i only spent money on supplies like sandpaper masking tape buffing compounds/pads and some other supplies and $100 for a pro to spray the car.

bodywork/prep-----------------------------$0 - uncle does autobody
spray booth------------------------------ - $0 - ucles boss hooked it up
painter to spray the car----------------- $100 - and a six pack of beer
paint/clear/thinner/hardner/.... --------$)$0 - another uncle is a territory manager for PPG

 

Which is great to hear, because they did a terrible job painting my bumper and headlights. They did a great job on the doors though.

 

My plan when I get mine repainted is to do all the trim removal, etc myself, then haul the car over on a flatbed. I'll give the shop all winter to do it, but put it in writing that if it's not done by Mar 1 that something happens (price lowers, etc). The other perk of this approach is that out here it gets humid much of the year, so if that the primer can have plenty of time to cure and you get the best, hardest finish.

Dave

 

I'm going down there today to go talk to them.