[NOS2Go4Me]

It appears I have a very sweet scratch that the "charity" car wash may have donated to me Saturday... as I paid 5 bucks towards our local St John's Ambulance. Nice eh? It runs 3/4 of the length of the front passenger door, under the trim piece on the door... almost at the bottom of the door actually. There are a couple of others that run the same way, and given the weight and newness... it could only have been the carwash. I inspect this car weekly... my first real pride and joy that's less than 5 years old! (although I did miss the passenger's side rocker panel scuffing... I think. If they did that... that's just sad)

Further inspection of the ride with a fine-tooth comb (no, not really! :D ) shows a bad little stone chip on the front hood (down to the primer), plus the aforementioned scratches on the front bumper, hood scuffing from the damn block heater plug swinging around, and the passenger's side rocker panel had some pretty serious scuffing :o

So now I'm thinking... tie that in with the fact the entire trunk needs a respray due to mad scratches, driver's side rocker panel leading edge by the front tire needs a spray too... why not just get the whole damn shooting match repainted????

How much should I expect? I'd obviously take it in for estimates at different shops, but something else came to mind: clearcoat. Were our cars ever clearcoated from the factory? How much should I expect to pay for clearcoating? How many passes is reasonable? (I know more is better)

I'm going to get a price from our Ford bodyhouse, from a couple of independent boys (and going to ask for reference late-model pieces so I can see they don't just repaint hotrods)... anything else? guarantee on quality and longevity?

There's no rust to worry about, being a 2001... what about door sills? Trunk lid interior? Where else should I expect that they repaint? Inside of fender wells? (not that they need it)

Or... should I just get it touched up and partially sprayed where it needs it?

That's:

• Hood<>
• Front passenger door<>
• passenger rocker panel (s)<>
• trunk<>
• rear fenders (as they abut the trunk)<>
• front bumper<>
• driver's front section of the rocker panel<>
• rear passenger door (under the door handle)<>
• possibly the rear driver's door (if I remember correctly)<>
• roof<>
  [st]Thoughts? Paint shops whose franchises I should stay the hell away from?
  
  Thanks guys
  
  NOS

[meford4u]

well nos, as I work for FORD and I am a painter for the Freestar, I can tell you about the paint on your car.

They paint cars in the factory in a three step process.

1. The car is literally dunked in ecoat and the car and paint are electrified to get into every nook and cranny. The ecoat is the most important step. If the car has oil on it or the ecoat gets sanded to the original metal, this is where your care delaminates and casuses excessive rust. The oven dries the car.
2.The car is sent through prime for it's first colour of paint. Oven dried again.
3. The car is then sent through for the final two step stage of first it's final colour and then clearcoat all in one step. At the factory we apply the equivalent to three coats of clearcoat from a paint/body shop.

We don't get into wet sanding to fix clear and paint blemishes, but this step can make a paint job look incredible. I would not suggest this for the do-it-yourselfer.

If you are planning on keeping the car the same colour, then you really don't need to do the door jams and under hood. Not painting these areas will greatly reduce the cost of the paint job.

Ford red sucks, as does many red paints. Why?? It covers very easily and is a great colour that flows on like a dream for a painter, but it fades in the sun so easy because--it flows on easy for a painter ---ie--it takes a little amount of red paint to make a job look good. White paint in all factory paints are painted twice. It is the hardest paint coverage on a vehicle and the thickest.


As for cost to get the whole car painted, it's a case of the more you spend, the better results you can expect--usually.
The shop needs a well ventilated down draft booth, and if they have spent the money on the booth, it should be controlled with humidity through a water system.

I made the mistake years ago of having a car repainted in a mom-and-pop shop and what a mess they made. The vehicle never survived 5 years after they painted it.

Take a really good look at what you want to do with the car and what you envision the car looking like in 3-5 years. Maybe you should just consider saving your bucks for the body kit you want, if you want one that is, and doing everything when you have your vision and money in hand.

If you reply with your location, I will try and find a good paint shop near you. But do your own research too.

Hopes this answers a few questions for you.

[NOS2Go4Me]

meford4u, I thank you for your well thought-out reply! :)

I'm in North Bay, ON. I've had Sunset Ford / Stockfish Ford's Carstar bodyhouse do the rear doorjamb trailing edges on my Focus already (not long after I bought it), and for the great job they did alone... I'm really considering letting them do it again.

I rather like the Sangria red, and don't plan on body-kitting the car.

I'll audit a few places when I get back, but after talking to the better half... the running battle plan is to paint it at the end of summer, after we have a bit more cash saved.

I had forgotten that you work for Ford!

I'll appraise everyone of the final outcome. The car's scratches aren't noticeable from afar, but it can be fairly easily seen when up close. I just hate glaring imperfections :angry:

In the meantime, I ask for any other input on the matter. :)

Thanks again meford4u!

[Paparoach]

Hey if you are willing to drive to Sudbury....Superior Auto Collision.

They are the best...we deal with them and I know the workers. You will pay a pretty penny but it will be immaculate ;)

[paolo]

NOS2Go4Me: if the scratches are not too deep, but only on the top of the clearcoat of your paint, they can be Wet-sanded &amp; buffed out easily. your car can get scratched easily by handwashing if the mitten/cloth they are using has a very small rock or chip in it. Unfortunate as it is, it sucks to happen.

[Stap Boy]

Something to keep in mind from Another Ford worker...

The Metallic paints are difficult, if not impossible, to match at a Body-Shop compared to from the Factory (depending on how perfect you are looking for). The Metallics at our Plant are applied with a charge so's all the flakes line up evenly and look pretty.

Well.. ALL the paints are applied with a charge (90 K volts), but the Metallics get a special charge (Somethin' like 45K)...

[darkpuppet]

Stap Boy,May 31 2004, 05:39 PM Wrote:Something to keep in mind from Another Ford worker...

The Metallic paints are difficult, if not impossible, to match at a Body-Shop compared to from the Factory (depending on how perfect you are looking for). The Metallics at our Plant are applied with a charge so's all the flakes line up evenly and look pretty.

Well.. ALL the paints are applied with a charge (90 K volts), but the Metallics get a special charge (Somethin' like 45K)...

anyone have a 220v outlet I can borrow? I need to touch up my twilight blue metallic...

In the toronto area, I've known lots of people who use Carstar (it's a relatively large chain), and have had nothing but good luck.

But if you're going to resort to a body shop, it might not hurt to pull out the wetsand paper and/or buffer and see if you can get some of the scratches out yourself first... since the worst thing that's going to happen is that you're going to need a new paint job.

[Jays2000ZX3]

My GF got her 98 Prelude repainted a couple months ago.

She got factory skirt package painted and installed at the same time, but it's a Red Honda, it was faded...A LOT, the total price was 3700$ for painting the whole car, the skirts, and installing the skirts.

They did an AMAZING job, and we knew this as this guy is VERY reputable.

[ANTHONYD]

I'd put money on it that if you just spent a good weekend with a good wax and some elbo grease, you would get 90% of those scratches out.

Save yourself the 1000bux and see what 50bux worth of wax and a weekend of polishing can do.

You moght be pleasantly surprised.

[NOS2Go4Me]

Valid points.... BUT

I have absolutely no painting / sanding skills worth speaking of. None.

I had the scratches looked at by the bodyhouse that did the rear doorjamb respray. They said only a repaint would suffice, as they already tried to buff it out.

I dunno. I'll take pictures when I get home and maybe you guys will have a better idea of what I am talking about.