TwinsPop

Got my arctic silver 97tt almost 2 yrs ago. I knew the hood had been repainted before purchasing due to excessive rock chips. Also knew of the fresh dings already in the new paint, and a small 'wrinkle' in the front bumber. No biggie then. But now I'm tired of looking at the these imperfections.

First estimate I have in my hand is $3500, and the guy says to do it right, in addition to the bumper and hood, the front fenders and half of the doors would be sprayed for matching/blending purposes. Well, shoot, that's more than half the car. Does it make more sense re-painting the whole thing? I'm guessing that since the tt's cherry has already been popped, the 'original paint' caché is lost anyway. Hmmm... always did like blue 993s.

I'm in Camarillo (Ventura Cty, 40 miles north of LA). Recommended paint shops?

Opinions from Porsche-files wanted.

vjd3

Changing the color will seriously devalue the car.

A high-quality repaint and documenting with photos that the repaint was not due to accident damage will not necessarily devalue the car, although there are some who will refuse anything but factory paint on a low-mileage car.

On the plus side, having a 95 C4 that was repainted and clear-coated due to the Florida sun, not an accident, the car seems to be far more impervious to rock chips than the cars I've owned with factory paint. I should point out that guards red in 1995 was not clear-coated, it was single-stage with a white primer beneath and peppers easily from sand on the road, etc. Factory paint is known to be quite soft.

Personally, I'd repair the bumper cover and touch up the hood. If you spend all that $$$ to make the car perfect, the first rock chip will be a killer :-)

Vic
95 C4 cab

ca993twin

I highly recommend EPR body shop in Camarillo (Ed Palmer). They do lots of high-end cars, and took car of replacing my fender, converting the front bumper to euro style, and adding the turbo s ducts. (805)389-9574. No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.

I would second the motion for only respraying the bumper and half the hood... maybe blending a little into the fenders. I'd also recommend that you consider removing the front bumperettes, and having the holes filled/painted while you're at it. You'll need the longer turn lenses, but the S ducts are optional.

Changing colors will kill the resale, so only do that if you are keeping the car forever. Arctic Silver is nice.

hatchy

As long as it is documented that the respray was because of chips, digs, etc and not an accident, I wouldn't walk away from the car just because the paint isn't factory. In fact, I would be more impressed with a car with a fresh coat of non-factory paint than a original car with a chipped and dinged bumper.

Rob 97 993c2

proper painting would cost $9-12k as the entire car has to be disassembled .. you dont want the 'pimp my ride - 5 minute job'.
I would just respray the bumper ($400-600) and part of the hood. If you like, you can the put invisishield on the nose to protect your investment. the 3m coating will look fine with artic silver given the brown tint in the artic.

Moogle

agree, do whatever to fix, and get the 3m Coating. and never have to do it again.

PorscheDavid

just paid the same $3200 for hood, bumper and feathering in to doors and fenders...I could not be more pleased...car looks brand new again. Rob 97 is right on the $12k as a proper number for a full respray....

vjd3

Make sure you let the paint cure before that 3M film goes on, though ... I think that takes a couple of months.

Vic
95 C4 cab

fc-racer

I just had my 18k mi (28k km) 993 Turbo nose re-sprayed. They did the hood, fenders, cowl and bumper. They also replaced the headlight covers and windshield. In addition, something fell on my rear fender and I had that repaired as well. The nose had bad road chips from a roadtrip I did earlier this year on a mountain road that uses rocks instead of salt for snow clearing!

The quality and workmanship came out topnotch. I, nor a very, very picky friend of mine, can tell that it has been repainted. The car looks stunning and the paint matching seems to be perfect. They did mention that Midnight Blue Metallic was a great colour to match.

The work on my car was done at Burrard Autostrasse in Vancouver, B.C. I would highly recommend them if you are in this area.

Cliff Leve

I also have the 3m coating on my car. Only notice it when I wax the car. Also noitfce no more rock chips. I highly recomend it.

TTJunkie

Some extras to consider. There are a lot of people that can spot any respray, these guys are usually Porschephiles so be forwarned. The biggest tell-tale sign is the reflection of telephone lines in the day, and neon lights at night. The only way to avoid this is to grind the hood back down to the metal before primer and respray. A grind with no bodywork will give you a factory looking panel if the paint room is clean and the paint thickness matches to produce similar orange peel at the surface. If there are imperfections from dirt, the paint shop won't regrind and try again, they will buff it out, this will ruin the texture of the surrounding area and frame the imperfection. If the thickness doesn't match and the dimples in the surface are a different size, there will always be angles and lighting that point out the respray. The nose is another problem alltogether, it can't be ground, and chemical stripping is usually a difficult and tedious process, so if you can afford it, buy a new nose and have it painted. It will look much better than any possible respray of the existing panel since it will have the factory primer to start with. Also remember that you will get chips again, so the primer used needs to match. And one more thing, the cowl is convex and magnifys the surface from just about every angle. I don't think there are many Porsche owners that are glad they had their cowl resprayed. OK, one more thing, don't let anyone talk you into respraying nearby panels. Ask them to colorsand and polish their panel. As long as you and your paint shop have the EXACT same expectations, you should be OK. Good luck!