North Shore 911

Any fellow 997 Chicagoans have a good suggestion for some early Spring paint work for my 2010 C4S Cab? Last Fall, after year-round DD'ing my 911, I ended up buying a 2012 Cayenne S as my new winter DD (and boat/snowmobile tow rig) to give my C4S Cab a break from the nastiness of daily winter abuse. So now that I'm gonna throw less winter abuse at the 911, I think this is right time to finally tidy up some of the acne and road rash and get it covered with some high quality film. My guy here told me that you need to be very careful putting film over any pitted/repaired surfaces as the film won't lay completely flat and over time the film will bubble/wrinkle/warp. Looking at my hood, I think I have to seriously consider the respray route, which means more $$... oh well, I know I'll love the result, I just need the right reason to justify the spend!

18 months ago I got a quote from the Ultimate Paint Shop up in Highland Park that frankly seemed pretty high so I passed. But I want to move forward on this for Spring so I'm looking for suggestions if you've got somebody you trust. TIA for the help!

cosm3os

A friend just had his black 991 corrected and clear bra'd at Chicago Auto Pros Detailing. He was very happy. 224.432.5462. Ask for Greg.

hexagone

Anthony @ A&L in Palatine. Seriously the most top notch place you'll go to - and others will agree.

Between my own cars, and other cars I have recommended, no joke I may have sent him close to $75k in business. I'll happily do it again.

ezinternet

After painting by A&L, or also-recommended O'hare Auto Body in Bensenville, I suggest taking the car to be prepped by Ivan at Lustr Detail in Schaumburg and he'll have it wrapped (Ivan will arrange the wrap at Umbra next door, and then top coat the wrap with ceramic or wax).

OKB

sounds like weird opinions (repaired surfaces?) maybe not familiar with good quality paint work. but my advice is to go get your car fixed, repainted. then go to a competent clear bra installer and put clear on it(after a month or so dry time) Otherwise you leave it like it is

nwGTS

^^^This. Ivan holds Tony at A&L over the coals if he gets panels back with holograms, swirls or other inconsistencies. They have a long history together. Nino at Umbra and Ivan work in tandem and their shops are right next to each other. I've taken my 997 to all three and after visiting some other high end shops around Chicagoland I don't think I'll go anywhere else again.

North Shore 911

Gents,

I'm reviving this thread as I just got my first quote on a full front-end respray and full front Expel application. JR from the Ultimate Paint Shop in Highland Park, IL just quoted me $3,700 for the front-end respray and $2,400 for the Expel application. I'm also gonna reach out to A&L for a quote as you've suggested, but does this sound like a decent ball-park estimate from your perspective? I could cheap out and just do a full paint correction all around for $600, but I really don't want to put film on the car if I still have road rash that a simple paint correction won't sort out.

Do these prices sound reasonable to you guys ...? TIA, and I'll post up what A&L quotes me as well

ezinternet

@OP - can we see some hi-res pictures of this cratered hood surface?

The question to be answered is: Will film over road rash + correction look bad? Film covers some sins - the opinion that film would "warp" or "bubble" is new to me.

It seems that cost is a factor -- otherwise you'd be going for the 300-point concours fix. NP, and reasonable.

I suggest you ask Ivan, or another detail shop of your choice, to correct a small section of fender or hood, and then apply a sq.ft. scrap of Xpel over it and look. I suspect a lot of defects won't be as apparent. Unless you're looking for the 300 point appearance.

For extra credit and some of your time, try using Dr. Color Chip on the major chips BEFORE you correct and cover it with film.

I've done a paint-chip spot fix and cover (3M, at the time). I certainly could live it the first for driving, autocross and DE. It even shined up nicely.

jsalah

Simply put, yes. It looks terrible. I have essentially the same car. Last fall I asked similar questions here, and a few people strongly warned against this. I ignored their advice and took the car to a premier shop here, who did a detail, paint correction, some touch up, then film. Now when my black car is clean, the rock chips in my hood look even worse. The film accentuates them.

The only thing (short of a respray) that might have helped more *might* have been much more/better Colorchipping/touchup (ultimately I'm not certain the shop I used spent enough time/care with this step, but I wasn't there and don't want to make accusations), but I'm not sure at the end of the day how much difference it would have made). In fairness, even that shop told me that the result wouldn't be perfect without respray, but I'm surprised how little the film masked and how much it makes the larger rock chips "pop". Lesson learned.

earossi

Last year I had the front and rear bumpers and the front hood on my 993 repaired (significant rock chips and curb rash) and repainted. The shop I used did an excellent job on matching the color (Areana Red), and the paint work was excellent. Only issue was disassembly/reassembly of the parts since they removed them from the car. I had to come after them and re-align the hood and the bumpers. Not a big deal, but I expected better. Total cost for their work was $1500 which was reasonable to me.

The shop is Strada's Auto Body in Addison. The low pricing reflects the fact that they are not a "Porsche" shop; rather, they do mostly insurance claim work. But, the paint work was excellent. If I had taken it to a "Porsche" shop, I expect that the bill would have been 2 to 3 times what I paid. I would not hesitate to take my 997 turbo to them if it needed paint repair.

North Shore 911

Gents,

So based on the multiple suggestions from you guys, I spoke to A&L in Palatine today to get a quote for the same full front end respray and front Expel application that the Ultimate Paint Shop in Highland Park quoted me on Saturday, and there is a WHOPPING difference between them!

1) Total quote from the Ultimate Paint Shop: $6,100 ($3,700 respray and $2,400 Expel)
2) Total quote from A&L: $3,600 ($2,000 respray and $1,600 Expel)

I'm shocked at the difference in the quotes, but comparing their detailed quotes it looks like they're quoting the exact same job (both quotes detail the same steps). I'll double back with A&L tomorrow to confirm their quote, but this is closer to what I was expecting when I got the first quote from the Ultimate Paint Shop guys.

nwGTS/hexagone/ezinternet - Can I be confident that A&L will do an AWSOME job on this? I always figured the Ultimate Paint Shop guys charged a hefty "North Shore premium" for their service to squeeze the brand-conscious but non-enthusiast Porsche owner crowd, but $2,500 over the A&L guys' quote seems beyond the pale

nwGTS

Answered your PM about this.
For redundancy.... Once it's done, take it to Ivan at LUSTR. He'll go over it with a fine tooth comb and make Tony at A&L fix anything egregious. then spend the couple hours labor with Ivan to detail it to perfection. This is my standard op. Go forth.

North Shore 911

Gents,

Thanks for all the great input, this was a HUGE help in deciding on what path to take on this. Based on pretty much everyone's recommendation, I headed over to see the guys at A&L this afternoon (yup - I left work at 2pm ). After spending an hour with Val (Tony's nephew) and seeing their many high-end projects in their shop (air- and water-cooled 911's and a TON of BMW's), I was VERY impressed with their approach, their quote and their philosophy. I ended up booking this in for the full front-end respray and Expel for the $3,600 price. The ONLY downside is that they're booked until June 12th

And as suggested, I'll be taking the car to Ivan for a clean up of the rear of the car which will need it to match the work that A&L will do! Thanks again for all the advice on the forum and via the PM's, and I'll make sure to post up the results after it's all done and I'll hopefully be yet another very satisfied A&L customer!

OKB

you know you shouldnt put bra on new paint, it should dry for several weeks, even a month

Fracture

+1 on A & L, my car just came back a few weeks ago with a bumper
repsray and clear bra --- perfecto
always German muscle on that lot