NBoost

Hey guys, I bought a "wholly original" PTS 964 recently and my mechanic said the entire car had been resprayed. My detailer put a meter on it and every panel was in double digits, 10-13 microns. And no, I didn't conduct a proper PPI. I let a very smooth sales guy and the owner of the business talk me out of it. So please laugh and point at me for that, I deserve it and I can take it.

A collector buddy of mine says sometime pearlescent PTS cars can read higher than normal but this is a metallic car and should fall into a range of 2.5-6.5 or so microns. The shop tech that did my P(ost)PI pointed out slight overspray on some of the plastic underneath as well as very faint bubbling on the door, neither common to Porsche factory paint.

My main question is, has anyone ever seen a factory early 90s car meter in double digits? Thanks guys.

02m2

Which dealer sold you the car?
I have been through this myself any I think the consensus was 4.5-6.5 from the factory and varied on same car by panel.

Spyerx

My car has some paintwork. Maybe it's been fully painted, not sure. Looks pretty good.
Question is if it looks good.
And if misrepresented and you paid the price of an all original car I'd take it out of that dealers ***.

Turbodan

I am an appraiser and have metered many 964s with my elcometer. I have never seen a factory paint reading over 10 microns. Usually between 4-9 and on older cars that have been polished for years, closer to 4.

NBoost

I'm going to hold off naming him for now because there is a chance, albeit a small one, that the car was sprayed before he acquired it without his knowledge. However, that seems highly unlikely to me given the fact that he also operates a restoration shop that routinely turns out blue ribbon cars. If anyone can spot a respray it should be this guy. Maybe he never put a meter on it?

NBoost

Thank you Turbodan. I have read as much as i can find and talked to numerous people familiar with Porsche paint and they all converged on the range you cited.

NBoost

It looks great, definitely a high quality respray. This issue is misrepresentation. I paid well above market for a car advertised as "wholly original".

u7t2p7

Any good and reputable re-seller should encourage a 3rd party independent PPI, for obvious reasons. No excuses for skipping a PPI on your part especially when paying a premium price.

NBoost

Agreed, in addition to the original question, I know there are a lot of lurkers on this site. I used to be one. And if any of them are reading this the obvious take away is a proper PPI with a paint meter is your best friend, especially if you are in love with an expensive car you don't own yet.

Thanks for all the responses guys, I'll update on the outcome regardless of what happens.

Mondrian

When it comes to buying used cars trust no one, even if car is owned by "known" rennlist member & sold by established & reputable 911 dealer & all your internet search comes up as positive - I had all that yet had a PPI done and it showed up 2 big surprises which would have cost over 10k to fix.

cobalt

Just curious I am assuming you are seeing mils and not microns?

In mils anything over 8 is usually suspect although I have seen some factory paint jobs with readings as high as 8 but it is quite rare especially if the car has ever seen a buffing wheel. Pearlescent paint or not readings should be in the 4-7 range and usually closer to 5-6 on average. Don't forget these cars were the last of the 26 stage paint process. Readings will vary from car to car and throughout a panel.

A good body shop can usually tell if a car has been resprayed no matter how good a job and without a meter. A PPI as others said is worth every penny but only if performed by someone knowledgable with these cars.

KOTYKB

Lesson learned, I'm going to buy a paint thickness gauge as I search for a 964...The model below probably isn't the most accurate device on the market but if its with 1-2 microns, it can still differentiate from OEM 4-8 and resprayed 10+

https://www.amazon.com/DBPOWER-DT-15...hickness+gauge

Mondrian

Don't know anything about paint meters but my painter told me that you need a good one and know how to use it.

KOTYKB

I'm a quality engineer by trade in the tech industry so I've had some experience with metrology devices. I would prefer a highly accurate device but in my case its looking for gross shifts in the paint thickness, which OEM to respray can be a 2X delta and the device that I selected from Amazon has the accuracy and resolution to differentiate them.

cobalt

You can spend a small fortune on these if you care to although unnecessary for this application. Most important is having a standard and knowing how to calibrate and use it. I have a 1940's vintage analog tube type I used for years in my business which met the MIL spec requirements and was extremely accurate but quirky to use. I no longer use it but purchased this instead.
http://www.graigarinstruments.com/sa...ss-tester.html
Not a bad unit and reasonably priced. Mimicked the older analog unit so it was good enough for my purposes.

I have spent a lot of time these past 4 or 5 years helping at a local body shop restore vintage cars mostly 911's and have learned a lot. A well trained eye can tell you more than you would think. Although when verifying how extensive the bodywork a meter will tell much more. Many cars I have looked at that supposedly had no work or a simple respray ended up showing much more. When you start seeing higher double digit numbers you know there is a ton of bondo lurking underneath.