Seth W

Hi all. I'm thinking it might be time for a little cosmetic work on the old girl. The front bumper looks like it was sandblasted and there are a couple of other little spots I'd like to tackle (otherwise my paint is actually awesome) I've gone as far as I can with polish/buffing etc. I have the dilemma, I want the best but I don't want to pay top $. So, can anyone with good experiences in the Bay Area give me some names of shops. I'd like the top $ ones as well b/c perhaps its worth the extra $ to have it done PERFECT considering how AR I am about the car. Further, as its Diamond Blue, the shop will have to custom match color. All input appreciated (and willing to travel a couple of hours in any direction on this project)

I'll tell you this though, this 15 yr old car with 106k miles is still great looking and there is NOTHING on the road today that makes me look twice like this (ok, very few things)

Pockmarked Probiscus in Pacifica. . .

Seth

Robert

Seth,

I am thinking of going the same route. The nose of my car had many chips on it so I started the prep work myself. I think that the prep stuff is probably the biggest thing that can be done to make or break a good paint job. I am taking my time and then I will probably take it to one of the local shops. I have heard really good things about Jim's Auto Body here in Walnut Creek. I am also going to have them do the tail also. I purchased a new set of rear decals from 928 International.

Just for the heck of it, I went to one of those auto paint supply stores and purchased a gray flexible primer and some SEM Silver bumper paint to try out. I did the entire paint thing... primer, sand, primer, a little less sanding and then the final coat. While the paint was just a tint darker than Silver Metallic, it wasn't bad at all. I think that a really good wet sanding, some good polish and a wax would really take it far.

I also have been thinking of possibly buying one of those HVLP paint setups and doing it myself. I think if you prep it really well, get the exact paint and take your time that it really shouldn't be that bad.

Now the electrical system, that's another matter...

Rob

Ron_H

Where are you located in the Bay Area? Is San Jose too far? <img border="0" alt="[byebye]" title="" src="graemlins/wave.gif" />

Seth W

Nope, I work in Palo Alto, so San Jose is just fine.

And though I appreciate the info, I am NOT, repeat NOT going to paint this car myself. Yikes. I can barely change oil.

Robert

Seth,

OK...OK, so you're not into doing this painting thing yourself. But I have to say, nothing brings out the neighbors and says "I fear nothing !" more than unleashing a Makita palm sander onto a Porsche 928 on a day when everyone else is mowing their lawn or washing their cars !

If you are going to be at the SITP III this year, look me up.

Rob

Seth W

Robert:

LMAO--I can just imagine the look on my neighbor's face--its that same look when I spent 100 hours with a toothbrush on the engine with nothing but a bottle of simple green (and my faithful dog) to keep me company.

Joe '87 S4

I think Nicole mentioned in a post a while back that she got an estimate from a good body shop in the bay area. Maybe e-mail her and she can fill you in or do a search on the posts for it. I also have a couple dings I want taken care of but first comes the dreaded torque tube, new shocks, and a tune up - all next week.

KBlair

Seth,

If it helps, i was quoted about $300 to remove my old front bumper cover, prep and paint the new (used) one in factory color (black), and re-install. This was by a paint shop in Atlanta recommended by most of the local independant Porsche/MB/BMW garages.

SL8GT

Hey Seth,

Here's a higher end place to check out:

CAVALLINO COLLISION REPAIR
1880 W Bayshore Rd
Palo Alto CA 94303
(650) 326-9800

Nicole has talked about a shop in Fremont (I forget which) that sounds like a good bet (and I'd trust her judgement on it).

Nicole

Seth:

There is a guy here in Newark (just across the bridge from P.A.) on Enterprise street, who has offered me to redo the whole exterior from scratch for $3,500.

He said he would only work on the car himself to ensure top quality. He strips everything to the metal, and rebuilds the whole paint with German made and mixed paint.

He showed me a Mercedes SL on which he had done a color change. It looked better than anything I've ever seen from the Mercedes factory! Soo glossy and smooth...

He has also done a few Mercedes SL from the early 60ies - cars valued at about $200,000.

The name of the shop is A&S Enterprises, I don't have the full contact info handy right now, but I believe the address is 7777 Enterprise Street, Newark, CA 94560. The guy I spoke to is Andy (one of the owners). He seems to know the 928 quite well - he walked around mine once and pointed out some details that I hadn't even noticed, yet!

He had been recommended to me by a local Auto Paint supplies store. He redid one of my rims, after it was damaged by a tire place, and also my rear spoiler. Both look great!

Hope this helps...

Jessa

For the top dollar option, Anthony's Auto Craft in San Rafael is excellent. I just has my front bumper and fenders repainted by them and blended back onto the doors. The bumper had, litterally, been sandblasted by a truck leaking sand on the freeway. Sorry, no pictures yet, but they did a beautiful job and it really makes the car look new again . The bill was a bit over $4,000 including windshield replacment. Very expensive, but these guys do very nice work and insurance liked them for being on the "AAA Direct Repair Network".

Nicole

Hmmm... Jessa, why didn't you strike a deal with them to do the whole car for a little upcharge? Then you'd have the whole car like new, rather than just the front. Just a thought...

One of the things Andy from A&S Enterprises recommended was that on a car of our cars' ages, it is often better to wait until it's worth doing the whole thing. He said that when you do sections on older cars, it is hard to match both the color and the gloss.

That is consistent with my observations when I worked in the Autohaus in Germany so many years ago. In fact, the Master Painter in our paint shop explained to me once that the darker the car is, the harder it is to match the gloss. They sometimes drove a newly painted car through the car wash, in order to make the new section look more like the old. Just polishing the old didn't quite bring it up to the gloss of the new section.

In my case, that means, I need a lot more rock chips before I start getting paint work done. Or I need to win the lottery. The problem is that I don't play...

Seth W

Thanks to all!!

$4000 for a bumper and blend sounds VERY high while $3500 for the whole things sounds quite low. Hmm. This will give me plenty to get started on though and much to think about. Perhaps I'll be at SITP (May 3rd, according to Bill) with a fresher look?

Jessa

The whole claims process I went through was a serious pain. Believe me, I would have loved to get the whole car done at once, but I had no intention of painting the car at all until it got blasted and wasn't in a position to come up with the difference to paint the whole thing.

My car had been painted within the past year or two. It was not yet dulled or faded and this made a big difference in getting a good match. I cannot find any color difference, and can only detect texture/gloss differences with my nose against the body. This is much better than having everything forward of the A-pillar serverely scratched and chipped.