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Figured I'd start a thread to document the undertaking of having my 1986 944 Turbo completely repainted. Just spoke with the bodyshop and agreed to an estimate for all glass out, fenders off paint job. His team will be going down to the original primer and spraying Guards red with clear on top. A few other minor details below.
The car was partially resprayed by a previous owner who sprayed over the stone guards . Looks okay from 10 feet but not great once you get up close. As shown in the pics, gaps and panels will need to be realigned etc.
Hood Crest will be replaced with GT3RS decal which will be cleared over (similar to image below)
Currently non-functional black headlight washers will be removed and replaced with OEM caps
Front black rocker panels will be replaced where someone improperly jacked up the car.
A lot of the bodywork will focus on the driver-side bumper and headlight as there was a previous fender-bender here that was poorly repaired by the PO (as shown in the pics)
Looking to document as many in-progress pictures as I can. Total job is expected to take up to 6 weeks.
You are re-painting this car? Wow. I'd be happy with it as is
PS. I've got the cracked stone chip guards.. very old, crusty... they're so bad that I can't tell if there's paint over them. By chance, anyone know if the factory painted over them?
You are re-painting this car? Wow. I'd be happy with it as is
PS. I've got the cracked stone chip guards.. very old, crusty... they're so bad that I can't tell if there's paint over them. By chance, anyone know if the factory painted over them?
Sadly, I can assure you that the pictures look much better than in-person. If the majority of paint were original I would definitely not respray but there is significant cracking on the sunroof, by the rear tail lights and the noted headlight/front quarter panel issues which will only get worse with time. I've invested a lot into the car mechanically so would love for it to look perfect as well. No intention to sell long-term so I think it's worth it.
As for price, I'm waiting on the final estimate before confirming but most shops I spoke with were asking 10K+ plus which is out of my budget. Based on initial conversations my max budget is 8K including new seals etc.
The painter has a small shop outside of Philadelphia and tells me he only does 1-2 full cars a year and spends most of his business on collision repair (individual panels). He was recommended by my mechanic and apparently does extremely thorough work.
Sadly, I can assure you that the pictures look much better than in-person. If the majority of paint were original I would definitely not respray but there is significant cracking on the sunroof, by the rear tail lights and the noted headlight/front quarter panel issues which will only get worse with time. I've invested a lot into the car mechanically so would love for it to look perfect as well. No intention to sell long-term so I think it's worth it.
As for price, I'm waiting on the final estimate before confirming but most shops I spoke with were asking 10K+ plus which is out of my budget. Based on initial conversations my max budget is 8K including new seals etc.
The painter has a small shop outside of Philadelphia and tells me he only does 1-2 full cars a year and spends most of his business on collision repair (individual panels). He was recommended by my mechanic and apparently does extremely thorough work.
Why base/clear...?
Take entire chip guard off rockers to factory sealer and reapply. A heat gun and a razor scraper oriented backwards of normal operation with thumb nut as guide won't even damage factory sealer.
There's no built in barrier limiter where any body man/painter can claim that he will "take car down to factory primer and stop there"..
It's a random orbital sander that will be used at #180 grit paper and it's not a precision enough tool to discriminate between 1-2 mils thickness.
Some places will be primer, some will be down to metal.
Ask your prospect; from sanded, washed and solvent wiped at ready to prime state, what are the materials (layers) that he plans to use on your car and post that back here.
I can advise on whether it's legit or whether to run.
You are re-painting this car? Wow. I'd be happy with it as is
PS. I've got the cracked stone chip guards.. very old, crusty... they're so bad that I can't tell if there's paint over them. By chance, anyone know if the factory painted over them?
If you mean the 3M stick on set, no, they were not painted over from the factory.
The chip guard on lower rockers, bottom of front fender and rear 1/4 panel lowers is a spray applied coating and those were sprayed body color.
The reason I made the comment above to totally remove this material, is most shops will sand the paint to make their primer/paint product have adhesion but while doing so, they knock off the high tops of the texture and it will not look correct when refinished.
What is a good way to tell if your paint is original?
You mean an all over or just a single panel..?
Really helps to see it in person but, you could look for bad masking, tape line or overspray. Also, numbing of body line sharpness, as more coats just round off factory sharp creases and transitions in the metal, for example the door body line.
OP said ETA of completed job would be 6 weeks. Reasonable enough time for a production shop with multiple workers.
I work during the day but can have 2 weeks of evenings just in 1 single door.
Your car looks dark but one of the moist common areas that catch overspray is the spare tire well underneath the car.
There is a mil thickness tool that can do a pretty good job at finding body filler or excessive coats of paint but I never had the reason to own one.
Waiting for the full estimate from the shop but he did mention that he wants to do everything right so that he can warranty the work. He doesn't want to apply paint on top of previous spray-jobs which I can appreciate if a good portion of the existing paint is starting to crack. As far as taking off the existing paint he said "I want to remove the existing paint down to the original primer, block everything off and then spray with primer, red and then clear." But to your point I can ask him for specifics.
As for the stone guards, I removed them cleanly with a heat gun and that's when I discovered that the car had been repainted as some point. There is a significant difference in the paint depth on the outline of the guards so one can easily see/feel where the stoneguards previously were. That and there was red paint on them.
Waiting for the full estimate from the shop but he did mention that he wants to do everything right so that he can warranty the work. He doesn't want to apply paint on top of previous spray-jobs which I can appreciate if a good portion of the existing paint is starting to crack. As far as taking off the existing paint he said "I want to remove the existing paint down to the original primer, block everything off and then spray with primer, red and then clear." But to your point I can ask him for specifics.
As for the stone guards, I removed them cleanly with a heat gun and that's when I discovered that the car had been repainted as some point. There is a significant difference in the paint depth on the outline of the guards so one can easily see/feel where the stoneguards previously were. That and there was red paint on them.
It's wise to use the factory primer. You can block sand some imperfections before you even apply the new primer making the overall film build less.
The comment on stone guards was aimed at Dan but what IO was talking about was totally removing the chip guard texture under the doors on the rockers and along the bottom of the car.
This really needs to be removed and new material reapplied.
Base/clear is not the correct finish for this car. From the factory it would have been a single stage enamel, of which today, an improved version would be single stage urethane.
In sprayable form it is a blend in measured proportions of color/reducer/hardener (sometimes called mixing clear).
It's as durable as urethane clear coat.
Like minimal coats of base coat paint (the build is in the clear), the red single stage is somewhat translucent so the final color and number of coats will affect the final shade.
This color calls for and demands a "sealer" on top of the primer coat and directly under the final paint color.
In this case, it's either light/light gray (yes there are even varying shades of gray) or white.
It's the translucence of the color coats and the underlying brightness of the sealer coat that gives this color it's pop.
If for instance, your guy uses red oxide for primer or a black or dark gray primer or sealer, you will end up with a car that is tomato red.
BTW Bmuldoon, whether it really looks like this in person, look at your first picture.
See how the guards red color glows but the add on rear diffuser side looks like another shade closer to tomato red...?
May depend on the quality of your monitor but this is what I am talking about.
T
Appreciate the detail in your post above regarding the sealer and the light gray coloring. I'll bring this up with him and definitely want to understand how he intends to treat the textured area above the rockers. Also totally agree on the rear-diffuser, whomever painted that previously did a terrible job as the color is completely flat. I'll give him a call in the morning to get more detail on exactly what his plans are and will post back.
with all the thoroughness going on I can't add a whole lot, I suppose you know how many cars this shop has done and how many Porsches they have done, etc. I'd also venture a guess that you will request full photo documentation of his work process, glass out, prepping, masking, spraying, finishing, etc. before during and after
04-12-2018, 01:03 PM
'86 944 Turbo Cosmetic Overhaul
. Looks okay from 10 feet but not great once you get up close. As shown in the pics, gaps and panels will need to be realigned etc.
