mark944turbo

I have finished all the prep work on my garnet red 951, and I am going to drop it off a Maaco tomorrow morning for a respray. I was originally going to try to paint it myself, but then my boss hooked me up with the manager of the local Maaco and I got a good discount.

My question is, should I go with the original 80s garnet red or update it to the 993 twin turbo "arena red"? I personally like arena much better but I think it is a shame to change the original color since it survives after 17 years and is not very common. I dont think there are many more garnet red 951s out there.

Also, I found two paint codes for arena red,

L84R Arena Red Metallic

L84S Arena Red Metallic

Anyone know the difference? How well do you think Maaco will be able to duplicate this factory color? Will Maaco be able to do such a nice color justice?

Thanks for the help, I will post pics of the bodywork I did later tonight. I cant wait to see it after the new paint! <img border="0" alt="[bigbye]" title="" src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" />

Red 944

Ech, I wouldn't! Unless you prepped the whole car yourself .. even then .. I've seen some nasty stuff. At least from the Maacos down south of Boston. How much are you looking to spend? The guy at a nearby shop does an awesome job

mark944turbo

The maaco I am going to is in Brockton. I think they will do a good job since my boss is a good friend of the manager. They are giving me a normally $800 job for $435, so I really cant complain. I am looking to spend less than 500, but I have already sanded, filled, etc. Tell me about this "nasty stuff". You're scaring me...

Tremelune

When I buy a car, I try to stay away from repaints, but mostly because you never know what's underneath (vats of Bondo, etc). Other than door sills and under the hood/hatch area...I dunno, if you're already going to paint it...and Maaco's gonna be the one painting it...I don't think you'll hold much value with the factory color.

For what it's worth, in my humble opinion, Arena Red is beautiful, Garnet is not at all.

Red 944

Yeah, that's not bad! - $435. I'd just go through the car first and make sure it's ready to be painted. A couple guys in the area had .. one guy had a fly painted over, the other .. not sure .. but it looked like herpes. Arena - I just searched on google and that is a beautiful color. Sorry about scaring you about the Maaco! Can't wait to see pics of the body work.
-Preston

mark944turbo

Good point Tremelune, I am probably hurting the value of the car anyway by having a cheap repaint done. Has anyone had Maaco do a successful job? It seems to me that if they were THAT bad nobody would use them and they would go out of business.. Im not looking for a perfect paint job, I just want the car to look better than it did, which was really bad.

Red 944

found this site:
<a href="http://www.landsharkoz.com/htm/colourred.htm" target="_blank">http://www.landsharkoz.com/htm/colourred.htm</a>

mark944turbo

Here are some pictures of the bodywork in vairous stages. None of these are the finished product, but they give you the idea. I used all West Systems epoxy normally used for boat repair. Its much better stuff than automotive bondo.

<img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/fenderdent.jpg" alt=" - " />

rocker panel
<img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/rocker.jpg" alt=" - " />

<img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/door.jpg" alt=" - " />

<img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/disaster.jpg" alt=" - " />

Before, even Maaco can improve on this.
<img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/before4.jpg" alt=" - " />

mark944turbo

Thanks for that 928 site, that opens up even more options!

icat

I had my original Porsche (an 83 POS) repainted by a chain shop (I think it was Fac-O-Bake or something like that). Anyway, I took off all the trim, pulled the lights, and did alot of the prep work myself. I was VERY satisfied with the paint job (Guards Red). They did an awesome job. I paid extra for additional clear coats and couldn't have been happier with the color. HOWEVER - they really messed up on the masking. I had taken off the door locks, handles, and mirrors and they failed to properly cover the holes. As a result my crappy interior was MUCH worse for the wear. Luckily it was next on the to-do-list so it wasn't a complete disaster. I did make one major mistake - I cleaned the engine a few weeks prior to the repaint. It was spotless. Unfortunately, overspray sticks quite well to a clean engine. I'd suggest giving yours a good coating of WD-40 or something prior to going in. I'd also suggest putting into the work agreement that the shop will call you after they have masked the car and BEFORE they paint. Make them put into the agreement that you have the final say as to when the car goes into the booth. I did this with Fac-O-Bake, but they still didn't follow instructions and painted without my approval. As a result they had to redo several areas, but they did them without complaining since it was spelled out in the work agreement exactly what THEY were suppose to do. All in all, you CAN get a good paint job at a chain shop - BUT not at a discount price. The shop will cut corners to make the job profitable, no matter who you are or who you know. My suggestion is to rethink your cut rate job and decide if you want a discount paint job on a Porsche. In my opinion, a crappy original paint job is far better than a screwed up repaint by someone who doesn't care.

mark944turbo

icat, you are right about the discount. While it is a great deal, I hate to think that they will rush to try to make profit. Plus, since they are already giving me a good deal, I feel bad asking them for special favors like approving the masking. Im glad to hear that they are at least capable of doing a good job. I guess I will just wait and see. Anyone know the difference between the code with the r and the one with the s?

ERAU-944

i happen to think garnet red is a beautiful color, and if i were you i'd stay with it. its up to you though, but if they match it decently it'll look very nice and match the engine bay and door sills.

my $.023325324362562146134613461
-Michael-

icat

Mark,
While you were posting the pics I was writing my post. Obviously your car will benefit by just about any paint job (not meant in a mean way ). But my comments on a cheap AND crappy paint job still stand. Might want to meet with the guy who actually does the spraying and tell him there's a 50 in it if he paints as well as you know he can.

ELLSSUU

Stay with the Garnet. Arena Red is A HIDEOUS COLOR!

<img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/pcartopostasdf.jpg" alt=" - " />

Seriously, unless you are 100% sure about these guys abilities I'd stay with Garnet. Arena has lots of different pearls and there were a few body panels on my car that were done twice to insure the best finish and joining of colors. It is not an easy color to spray!

mark944turbo

AAAAAA I want my car to look like that!! So it is a tough color to spray... Is it hard to mix or just spray? I dont know a lot about painting, maybe I will just let Maaco decide if they can pull it off or not. Nice pic ellssuu! You have the only arena red 951 i have ever seen.