Mamooguy

Here's me with my car:



The colour is pretty damn faded. There're some scratches. And some bondo (rocker panel). Worse, the genius PO "took care" of some spots on the hood with spray paint (colour doesn't match and it dribbled down to the nose, looks like utter crap).

I'm not entirely decided yet, but I'm thinking of painting it this winter. I've been told that adding a clear coat will be way cheaper and give it a nice shine, and I'm considering that (and I'd love to know if the scratches will show if they've been filled in/painted).

What I'd really like to know, though, is what kind of options are out there, and what kind of scams I should beware of.

Finally, what are my colour options? Unlimited? What looks good on a 944?

Oh and I won't be going with red. Or yellow. O pimp-neon green. Something dark, methinks.

So ... advice?

Airflite40

black 944's are sexy

xsboost90

i have beat this horse dead- search is your friend.

Mamooguy

I wasn't able to answer all my questions. Thanks for your contribution, though.

FRporscheman

I got my car painted for $600 and it looked fantastic. I was very pleased and satisfied. I did all the prep work myself (removing as many parts as possible, and sanding everything). Then I took it to Earl Scheib and just got their best package (not necessary, in hindsight). After I reassembled everything it looked like new.

A few tricks to getting this to work right:
-you have to sand through the clear coat... luckily my car was guards red and had no clear!
-you have to remove the door handles, mirrors, sunroof seal (you can put the sunroof in w/o the seal), quarter windows, door seals, etc. It's easy, but it makes it kinda tricky to drive the car to/from the paint shop. When I did it, I removed everything that wasn't red, and also many things that were red.
-This only works well with non-dark or non-metallic colors. Cheapo paint jobs can come out really really well (as it did with my 944) but when I tried the same exact thing with my dad's black 928 it came out looking OK. These fools just overspray too much, and it doesn't show with red or white or whatever but it shows with black.

Spidey944

To make your life that much easier, stick with the OE colour. Helps keep what little value some of these cars have but being original colour, and it prevents any major repainting of the engine bay and door jams, underhood ect....

alordofchaos

+1 on original color... unless you plan on painting under the hood, removing the door panels and interior trim, etc.

Todd157k

you can't just "clear coat". It's like spray painting a turd. All you end up with, is a shinny turd.
Painting can get expensive and most of these cars just aren't worth it. I did Earl Scheib too. And, just like FRporscheman, I took off most of the stuff and did the prep work myself. I didn't go to the lenghts he did though. Here's the two I did within the last couple months. Not perfect jobs, but really nice. $500 ea.
Before / After

pjburges

I did many months of body work to get my 944 up to snuff. It has shattered fiberglass fenders and dam, and a big rust hole in the hood. It took a long time and it totally wasnt worth the effort for a 3000 dollar car, but its a sweet looking 3K car now! We shot all the primer/sealer ourselves and then let a friend at Scheibs shoot the color/clear b/c they had a booth. The car hasnt been color sanded smooth yet. Im waiting for the paint to really harden up, and I may get to that this christmas.






My dads modified Z31 and my mothers chipped AWD Audi 2.7TT. We like turbocharged cars here...hehe

BeerBurner

I did the "strip it down and take it to Maaco" thing myself. It's not a perfect job, but it's pretty damn good for what I didn't spend so I'm a satisfied customer.

(check sig link for pics)

BB.

944-LT1

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...0&fpart=1&vc=1

Todd157k

That DIY $50 paint job thread has been around so many times, the inflation rate has probably escalated it to over $300.

yellowline

Sounds like my car when I bought it.

Try 3M Imperial hand glaze as a last resort. For $25, it certainly couldn't hurt. It won't fix scratches, but it fixes faded Guards Red without a problem.

IMO, nothing beats factory paint. Save it if you can.

Mamooguy

Excellent tip on keeping it the original colour.

And I gotta say, even the "so-so" paint jobs you guys are posting look pretty damned fabulous to me!

I'm a little unclear on how far I need to go in the prep department, though, if I'm keeping the colour. Does it include the hatch, bumpers and so on?

I had no idea I could get it done for five hundred clams ... I'd expected at least a thousand (though presumably it'll cost more here in Toronto).

FRporscheman

Well you can get the basic package at Earl Scheib for $200. Their top package is like $550, and there are other options you can pile onto any package. I think the basic package means you get paint, plain and simple. The higher package includes UV barriers added to the paint, and clear coat mixed into the paint (this is a bad idea). I think for like $100 extra they will do a separate clear coat. They also paint door jambs for $50 each, or something like that. But like others said, I will only paint a car the same color it was. Unless it was black, and I'm going for a non-factory color like orange.

The level of involvedness depends on how hard you want to work. You don't HAVE to do any prep at all. But the more you do, the better it will come out. There are 2 basic tasks you have. 1 - sand the paint. 2 - remove parts. How well you sand the paint (and fill dings) will determine how well the paint will stick to the car, how smoothly it comes out, and overall how "expensive" it will look from 5 feet away. However many parts you take off the car will determine how clean and original the paint will look.

For example, if you leave the door seals on the door, you will end up with a little bit of paint on the seals. Also, right at the edge of the seal, you will always see a very obvious line where the new paint stops. If you take the door seal off, then they will paint the whole area, and when you put the seal back on, the seal will be clean, and you won't see any seams or edges of paint layers.

If you want to do SOME prep, but you don't want to go CRAZY with it, I suggest you at LEAST do these:
Take off these parts (they're easy):
hood crest
bumperettes
2 end-pieces of rear bumper
4 marker lights
rear "944" or "turbo" insignia
hatch keyhole grommet
mirrors
sunroof seal (take off sunroof, remove seal, put back sunroof with no seal)
quarter windows
license plates

If you do JUST that, you will improve the quality of the job by a lot. Even if you don't do any sanding. If you want to go one step further, do these (a little more tricky:
Take off:
door handles (yes the driver's side too - get in/out of car through hatch. I'm serious)
foglights
indicator lights
tail lights
antenna
any decals you may have (like ==P O R S C H E==)
door seals
if you have a 951 rear valence, take it off
rear license plate lights
AND you really should sand the car down to a even scuff. Use some light filler to fill in rock chips (this is very easy). Filling in rock chips now, will make a difference later. It will make the paint job SOO much better.

I did all of the above on my car, and it came out superb for a $600 job. In comparison to a brand new 997 I would still rate it at 8 - 8.5.

And then, if you want to go completely all-out and do as much as you can:
remove windshield seal
remove trim around windows

You can start removing body parts to have them painted off-car... Note that most Earl Scheibs actually won't paint parts off the car for you unless you beg them AND pay them extra. In all honesty, this level of effort is really a waste for a $3000 944. Besides, the quality of Earl Scheib paint (and the low skill of their employees) makes it so it's better if you just leave most parts on the car. They can handle that better. But mirrors and the bumper end pieces have to come off, so just ask them nicely to paint those off to the side, and they will. Also, I don't think it is worth the effort to remove the hatch, but if you want to do so, don't forget to also remove the hatch seal (on the body). While the hatch is off, it's a good time to reseal it.


Finally, some extra tips. Lay a sheet of plastic over your engine before you take it in for paint. Cheap shops will pop the hood, but not open it, so that it's just sticking out enough for them to paint the edges. However this means some paint spray will get onto the engine. My beautifully rebuilt clean 944 engine became covered with red paint dust, and it wouldn't come off easily.

If you have a spare set of wheels, put those on. They WILL get paint mist all over your wheels and tires. It messed up my freshly refinished Fuchs.

Having the quarter windows out means you will have easy access to removing the rear interior panels. That means you can finally replace those junk rear speakers.

Some colors are no-nos at Earl Scheib. Black is one color that must be done professionally. You can try getting black from scheib, but you better hope you sanded well, and after it's painted you will have to wait for the paint to harden, then do a LOT of wetsanding to make it look smooth. Other no-nos are any light-colored metallic, like silver or gold. They will come out looking very cheap. My 944 was painted gold at scheib and it looks pathetic. My mercedes was painted burgundy metallic and it looks very nice.

Don't get overwhelmed. Even if all you do it remove your emblem, you are still helping improve the final outcome. Do as much as you are comfortable with and enjoy your fresh paint.