kgoertz

I finally found a purchased a new bumper for my 996 targa. I already had a C4S bumper on the car but it had been ripped off once and was covered with stone chips. It was due.

I luckily found a replacement bumper (including Techart lip) on kijiji and the owner said the colour was Arctic Silver which should have matched my car. But sadly it didn't. I picked it up with my truck and it looked like the right colour to me.

The bumper is in great shape and has always been wrapped. So respraying it should be relatively easy although I will have to re-wrap. I have a feeling the colour of the bumper is actually Polar Silver (L92M) instead of Arctic Silver (L92U).

The options I am considering is to just spray the bumper, paint the entire car a different colour (since I was considering that anyway), or getting it wrapped.

I went to a drive to Colour Collision in Kitchener this afternoon only to find an empty lot. It looks like Dave closed the shop permanently which is sad because they did great work. Other than Mitek I'm not sure who else in the area to trust. The last time I looked at Mitek they were extremely expensive.

Does anyone have recommendations in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area for a good paint shop and/or wrap shop?

Also has anyone priced out repainting a 996 with medium-high quality? It is my daily driver and I'm not looking for a perfect paint, but obviously still something respectful.

Thanks in advance.

993GT

I have a place or two in Brantford if you feel like coming this way..

theiceman

Check my rust thread. There are a couple places mentioned in there.

pontifex4

Silver metallic paint is brutal to match -- part of the problem is the colour, but a bigger problem is the angle of spray and cure, and what it does to the orientation of the metal flake. Bumpers are often painted facing upward on a stand, while the rest of the car is painted in its usual orientation, so even in a complete repaint with the same paint on the whole car, you can end up with bumpers that appear not to match.

The solution is for the painter to shoot the colour coats with the bumpers loosely/partially installed when the colour is shot on the car, then pull them off and shoot clear on them on the stands as usual, but it adds time and handling, which adds cost.

hoffa

Hey Kevin, try Colours Collision in Kitchener.

-Danno-

Mitek did the rust repair and bumper repaint on my 964. Good job, Mike is great to deal with. not cheap... Koebel Carstar did the accident repair on my silver F150. Good match, good work. Truck is a 2014 so I don't think much fading from new. It was an insurance job but the prices seemed reasonable. Dan

kgoertz

Thanks Alex. Colours Collision was the first place I went. Dave had painted my rear bumper years ago and did a great job. He is definitely my top choice.
However when I went to the shop last week and found it flattened. The building has been torn down and the lot is now completely empty. I left a message on the answering machine (which is still operational) but no luck.

kgoertz

Thanks Dan. I have spoken with Mitek in the past but wasn't impressed with their prices. I'll definitely check out Koebel Carstar. All of the reviews on Google were also very positive. Thanks for the tip.

kgoertz

Thanks Clive. I did read your thread before posting this and there were a few names. I was hoping for a few shops a little closer to Waterloo, but if CARSTAR doesn't work out I'll follow up with some of the ones on your thread.

theiceman

I don't mind driving for the right place but the challenge as always is balancing price and quality.

petee_c

I used koebel car star on my black 2001 boxster and was happy with how it turned out.

I did notice some machine polishing marks in the paint, but they are gone now with some work with my pc and some polish.

I had damage to my driverside door and rear quarter panel that was repaired under insurance.

Peter

kgoertz

I've done a bit of digging and have reduced my options to a few. I thought I'd update this thread for future reference

I first tried Carstar Waterloo on Colby Drive. The person at the front desk explained that they really cater to accident repairs and insurance claims. They could paint my bumper, but it really didn't seem a good fit.

I also found out that Colours Collision's shutdown may not be permanent. I don't have any first hand information yet though.

I then tried Jorge at Freiburger's Auto Body (right beside German Autotech). It gave me an excuse to speak to Mike while I was there
I really liked Jorge and I think I would trust him to paint my bumper and/or car. Especially since Jorge was willing to work with me to paint side skirts and bumpers separately, and he was very open on the effort required to finish/polish the painted car. I haven't seen any of his work yet though.

I then checked out Niko signs to investigate wrapping my entire car. They were highly recommended by a friend of mine that I trust. They had a clean shop, seemed very competent, and were doing a great job on a car that was in the shop.

So I'm currently debating between painting my bumper silver, painting my entire car (blue), or wrapping my car. The cost of painting will probably be comparable to wrapping. I considering a colour change to breath a little new life into my car. I find silver a little too boring.

Opinions are always welcome.

Kevin

Class VI

Wrap it!
Totally my personal opinion, but Silver is always last on my list when it comes to car colour.

petee_c

if you're doing a colour change, what's the advantage of wrapping it vs painting it?

kgoertz

I've been digging into that a little. My conclusions so far:

The advantages of wrapping

• non-permanent
• easy to repair any individual body panel in the future
• additional layer of protection especially for the front bumper. Avoids the need to add a clear bra
• Offers some colours and finishes that are either not feasible or not easy with paint

The advantages of paint

• possible to "fully" cover the old colour including trunks, door sills etc.
• permanent and will last longer than wrap
• looks original if done well

From what I've seen so far, a great paint job costs more than a great wrapping job. But a "good" paint job would likely only cost a bit more than a great wrap.

I'm still on-the-fence, but since I don't expect my 996 Targa to ever become a collector car I'm leaning towards a repaint so it is permanent.