86 951 Driver

I got my car painted at Earl Schieb. I only spent $500 for the paint. I wish now that I would have primed the whole car and did all the prep work it would have come out perfect. Now it is chipping in some places. I do have a 5 year warrenty on the paint though. Also I have to say I used low quality paint. If I would have used PPG it would have been a lot more money but would look better.

Serge944

It's not a pointless thing when you're the reason for a poor driving record. And don't talk about your parents like that. Just start driving responsibly.

What your parents should be telling you is "sell the 944 - get a Civic."

As for the paint...I have some family specializing in body work and paint. A VERY good job can be done for under 500 - Assuming you have a paint gun, compressor, and a garage.

But be advised, it really is a CRAP-load of work.

Good luck.

Clowd

Hmm, I have access to a paint gun, compressor, and garage.. and I have all the time in the world, even with two jobs.. would you mind elaborating?

luckett

Just curious, how did you find the value went up if you still have the car? Did someone offer you car value+4000+extra?

luckett

You should be able to pick up a book at your local auto parts store along the lines of this book:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...50104794&itm=1

Read the whole book so you understand the scope of the project before you begin. It will take a considerable amount of time and effort. But in the long run, you will get a good paint job at a good price. Plan on spending at least $500 on just the consumable materials.

dmw44

I had a black '86 daily driver. The paint was bad, the rims looked bad, the black did not "excite" me like my other 944. I spent 1 week stripping the rims down to bare metal (I went around the car 9 times). I then spent 2 weeks hand-sanding the car with 400 grit wet/dry. All of the edges (hood etc), the door-jambs, window frames, everything. The car was then delivered to my paint/body guy (and Porsche owner) who completed the body work, removed the hatch, hood, seals etc. It was sprayed Guards Red (including jambs and window frames). He also did the rims and clear-coated them, reassembled everything, put new seals on. Total cost--$3,400. Just got the car back 1 week ago. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat-it looks like a totally different car--the red jumps out at you! pix of the whole process on my website:
groups.msn.com/porschelovers--pca Look for the pix labeled "FROM BLACK TO RED"

Serge944

The key is all in the sanding. Most ppl go up to about 600 grit and call it quits. Hit it with 1000, and then even 2000! grit and you'll get incredible depth in the paint.

You should consult a book or an expert painter, but in a nutshell - youll have to rigorously sand the car, bondo dents, sand that, primer it, check for high/low spots, sand more if necessary, remove mirrors/door handles/lights/etc, carefully mask - you're ready to paint.

tomrc

I had an "arrest me red" 16V Scirocco way back when and drove it all over NJ at 70mph for 5 years (this is when the speed limit was 55), I never got a ticket with that car. I bought a black Corrado G60 after that and drove it the same way and got 2 tickets in 2 years. Just dumb luck? yea probably.

Jfrahm

Much easier to sell the car and buy a different color. Otherwise you open up a door or hood and the RED just jumps out from everywhere. The value of the car (if any) is reduced. If you get a cheap paint job it'll chip and red will show up under every chip. Yuck.

-Joel.

CT944

mine was Maaco as well. $800 total, which included the labor to grind off stone guards and fix some dings/dents. i'm happy.

Charlie

I believe the Maaco job depends on the people at your local Maaco shop. I had a Maaco job done on my Toyota and it was terrible. Very poor prep.
I believe if your afraid of tickets the word PORSCHE is what attracts police more than red.
I had a Black 944 and got more tickets in it than I have 2 red 944's and 1 red 911. In the black 944 I was in in the middle of a group of 5 cars. I saw the partrol car coming from about 3/4 mile back. He pulled me over out of the group and gave me a ticket for following to close, which I wasn't. In another situation in the black car I was doing about 78 (70 speed limit) and got selected out of 3 or 4 cars, all of us were doing about the same speed. I ask him why he pulled me over and he said he had to pick someone and it just happened to be me. If I had been in my Audi I doubt if it would have been me.

Reece

I've paid for quality paint jobs before and been satisfied with the results. I decided to do the paint and body on my '67 911 myself and now I know what it takes to get a great finish. It is alot of work for sure. And so is doing your own roof and I'll never do that again!! I took the car down to metal because of the funky qualtiy of the material last sprayed on it. Gotta say these new paints are incredible. But you must get a good mask that fits well or don't even think about it. The ecatalyzed paint is seriously toxic and if you inhale a bunch and it locks up in your lungs, its curtains!! Prep is what gives that straight look to a finish. Block sand only. Never use just your hand and sandpaper; it will be wavy. They now sell a dab on black powder to take the place of black spray paint to see the low/high spots. Great stuff. Remember the color coat is glossy. You'll see every defect. I bought an inexpensived HVLP spray gun and i was a piece of garbage. You need a fine instrument to apply paint that way and practice sure helps. I ended up buying a $35 hi pressure gun at the urging of the guys at the paint shop (since I was only doing this one job in my driveway) It worked beautifully. Color changes demand detail work like door jambs, under the hood, hatch, etc. It is worth the extra work. Same goes with popping the glass. The seals must be replaced and it is not cheap, but leaks are a drag. And it is best to have a pro install the glass. Amature jobs tend to explode on the freeway or so I'm told. And the gentleman above spoke the truest words when he said the quality of the final finish is up to you and how through the sand and poliksh work is done. I shot the color and sanded it the next morning. After 24hrs, it can be too hard to manage unless is is very smooth. Then I shot the clear and waited overnight to sand and polish. And sand and polish I did. And after that I did some more sanding and polishing. And then I realized how lazy the hop was that had painted my card in the past! This was easily the best finish I've ever had on a car. And very durable as well. I've had body shop owners come up and ask where I got it painted. They shake their head and tell me "I would have charged you $7500 for that job." I started in the garage with the floor wet down for dust control, but it was so miserable in there I ended up spraying it outside under one of those portable picnic table sized shades and the paint crosslinks so fast that dust isn't a problem if the air is reasonablly still. It is a heck of a lot of work but I'll never have anybody else paint my cars after this. The S4 is next. And then that flat six, air cooled job to your left. Then the 79. The GMC too.

It pays to have plenty of practice with a polisher or you'll burn your paint, but I wonder if you can gwt your car back from a place like Maco 12 hours after a clear is shot. That way you can sand and polish yourself and get the absolute most out of a buget priced spray job. Anybody know what kind of paint they use? Do they use water base color and catylitic clear like Detroit? If so, make sure they pile on the clear so you don't sand through. Do the prep, R&R, and colorsand and polish and I bet you will end up with a very good finish.

seb928s

[QUOTE=As for the paint...I have some family specializing in body work and paint. A VERY good job can be done for under 500 - Assuming you have a paint gun, compressor, and a garage.

But be advised, it really is a CRAP-load of work.

Good luck.[/QUOTE]

My paint supplies cost over 500$ for both 951 and the Bettle. Just pay out for a paint job or live with the one you have. I don't think it's a good idea for him to paint the car himself. He would be getting the whole garage the same color as his car. Plus it's not like you wake up one day and know how to paint cars. If you really want to do it yourself. Pick up those things. Remove a panel like the nose panel learn how to prep and paint put on your car drive around a bit and do it over again. Once you learned how to then try the car if you really want to. If changing over color then do that right do the whole car not just the outside.

apierce918

me and my dad have been reading on painting a lot. my dad right now does most of the painting and is finsihing up a 2001 mustang this week. at a hot rodding forum, they have a lot of knowledgable people, and all this sanding stuff stirred up some comotion.

a guy did 4-5 diffierent test panels, lowest one sanded using 320, highest using 1500. and believe it or not, the 320 one came out the best.

a lot has to do with setting up your gun properly, and set it up each time you pain, set it up for primer, test it. then dont touch it until after you prime the car.

then set it up for your base coat, test it, dont touch it til you base coat your car.

then do the same with the clear coat.

now forgive me for not remembering all the techinical terms, but how you setup your gun (air pressure is critical to lay paint out well) and how the paint molocules mix with air depends on the final outlook too.

if you lay it out and it looks beatiful, wait an hour and do the next coat then wonder why you have orange peel all over the place. well it has nothing to do with sanding, its because the first coat is still evaporating some of the chemicals and when it has to evaporate through your top coats, it makes it look funny.

after seeing a few paint jobs by the do-it-youselfer in our garage. we have learned quite a bit, plumbing your compressor to maximize pressure right to your gun without moisture is all part of it.

but i will agree, a lot come from prep-work. if your prep poorly, small imperfections are magnified a ton when you lay paint on it

Porsche-O-Phile

I had a car sprayed at Maaco years ago. BIIIIG mistake. Never again. I know some shops are better than others, but it's one of those cases where one bad apple spoiled it for the bunch. They've lost my business forever.

That said, I simply went down to my local dealership and started talking with the parts guy about where the dealership sends either warranty body repairs or collision repairs since they don't do them in-house. He gave me the name of the shop. I figure if they're good enough to do someone's new 997 it's good enough for my 20-year-old 944, they understand Porsche and they (probably) won't be stupid enough to just grind through all the galvanizing like I'll bet 90% of the "Mc-Paint" shops out there do. They just pay the cheapest grunts they can find to do the prep in most cases and that's it.

I believe MOST (not all) body shops are among the most unscrupulous businesses out there - they skimp, cut corners, overcharge customers AND insurance companies and generally don't care about the quality beyond doing the minimum required to prevent a person from coming back / taking action against them. If their work lasts 3-4 years in most cases that's good enough because the owner has usually sold or lost love for the car by then anyhow. There are PLENTY of shops like this that are just cash machines for the owners. If I wanted to get rich in a hurry, I'd seriously just open a body shop. Pure profit. Anyway, the only way it seems to find a GOOD shop is to ask around like I did and get word-of-mouth referrals by others. Go in with very specific questions for the owner like what primers they use, what paints, what clearcoats, how many coats, what warranties they offer, etc. Ask for manufacturer's literature on the different paint products and generally be a pain in the ***. If they know up front that you're nitpicky and particular and still give you a price that's reasonable (not "cheap", but not clearly a deterrant either), I'd say it's a good bet. They're going to know to keep you happy.

Best of luck. Suffice to say I'm not going to be ready to repaint for at least a couple of years but it will be done eventually. Another option I've considered is going down "south of the border" where it's (1) cheaper and (2) labor quality is better. I'm still trying to find out if this is a viable option.