To respray or not to respray
 

I went to get a quote to have my front bumper cover resprayed and to fix some other cosmetic things. I asked what the incremental cost would be to respray the hood and front fenders and they quoted me about $300 additional.

My initial thinking was this is worth it but I've heard many things about having the car painted and so on. Do you guys see any drawbacks in having the hood and front fenders resprayed?

It depends.

If you're having the front resprayed because of rock chips and minor nicks, probably not. If the shop does a good job and you take photos of the before/after, document the work and also keep the paperwork, I can't see how it would be a bad thing.

I would make the decision based on the condition of hood and fenders. 300 USD sounds very low. Make sure you get a quality job.

I have the same situation (5-6 obvious but not serious rock chips on hood and fenders; more serious stuff on the bumper cover) and I'm going to try paint chip repair. There's a good thread on RL on that. Lotsa good advice.

+993 couldn't have said it better. I did a total respray of the car when I did mine and it only helped. The paint was single stage (now base-clear) and faded so bad I couldn't bring it back. Plus there were dings and chips everywhere. As G-deluxe said above document with photos and have the repair order state the front end respray was for rock chips and no collision damage. A car is original once, and that's when it was new. You can boast original paint, but if it needs some attention (respray) that is just being a good owner IMHO.

Mike

No kidding. The materials should cost more than that. I needed a door resprayed on my BMW due to a blemish and they wanted $900 due to extra blending work. This was a reputable Porsche/BMW/Mercedes specialty body shop.

My previous owner had the job estimaed for repaint fenders and hood--$3000!! I still have the estimate.

Great advice so far, thanks. I know, $300 is very low. This is a local shop that works on all kinds of cars, including Porsches. I happen to know the owner so I think the $300 add'l was his way of discounting the other work (which added to close to $2K). As for the quality, I've had repairs done for two other BMWs I owned and it was top quality. They work a lot with Progressive and Geico.

Also, it's a respray w/o removing the fenders.

Another thing to consider is the condition of the paint on the surfaces that will not be painted. If it is tired, painting the fenders and hood may create a glaring difference when one looks at the car as a whole.

Yeah... I think that sounds about right (does that include the front bumper as well?)

It really depends, if you ever enter your car in PCA car shows and to which division either preservation or restoration. Preservation allows for stone chip touch-up repairs and irregularities from normal use, otherwise maintaining the origial paint. It's always better to keep as much original as possible.

I'm glad I track my car so I don't have to worry about these things...:p

On a black car, DO IT! When the bumper is perfect, you will notice all the other little issues on the hood & fenders. If you go back later it will be 3x the $300 it is now.

Goofballdelux's advice is right on the money. If a car has not been "hit" but has been repainted, having proof (besides a clean car fax) such as before and after pictures - will probably add two or even three thousand to the resale value if and when you sell it. Otherwise, no matter what you say to a prospective buyer, a repaint always means (unless you can prove it) "it's been hit".