Jer

I had my car repainted in July.

In June I hit the lower half of the passenger door on a wood retaining wall. I had the body shop pull the dent, and instead of just painting the door and a few other things, I elected to do the whole car for $2,500. Now here's the clincher... it was done by a Ford dealership!



Previously my parents brought their F-150 to them for body work, and even their Mercedes ('00 E320 and '00 C280) for minor touch-ups. They always did good work, so I brought my car to them in November 2001 for a dent in the front pass. side fender. Then I went again to have the car repainted. They did I nice job overall, but I've found a few swirl marks from what I assume was sanding. They cured the paint in a hot paint booth and the outside temp. LCD cracked. I'm disappointed to say the least, and I don't think I'll be going back there in the future.

Nonetheless, I have a nice new paint job with 4 coats of clear that will last a long time. I finished it off with Meguiar's Gold Class wax.

Please note the car is a little dirty (hence the spots). I plan to take more beauty shots once I wash it again and clean the carpets.

pifcat2

Jer,
How's the paint holding up? Did you remove any parts before painting (door handles, moulding, antenna)? Did they sand down to primer or metal before painting? I thought the factory paint quality is hard to duplicate. Why did you opt for a whole car repaint? My belief is most painters using quality paint can do a great job but the quality or durability of the work is dependant on the how much time is spent on surface prep.
Felix

Jer

The paint is holding up great! I'm quite pleased.

They sanded down to the metal and applied primer, paint, and 4 coats of clear. They also removed the door handles, door bumper guards, front grille, headlights, badges, antenna seal (which was almost deteriorated anyway), and rear taillights. The only bit of overspray is on the window seals and the roof mouldings.

I elected to repaint the entire car because of lots of little dings, scratches, and stains all around. I expect to keep her for another 231K miles, so I'd say it's wise to invest for a long, healthy future!

pifcat2

Jer,
Glad to hear you did it right. $2500 seems awfully reasonable for that level of work. You must have got a discount or maybe I'm just used to California pricing with all the EPA restrictions and high labor rates. It cost over $9k to repair my wife's '91 after she hit a stationary car pulling out of a left turn lane and this didn't include a complete repaint!
Felix

Jer

The job would've been $4500, but since my family has been a good customer, he gave me a huge discount! It's good knowing people in the right places!

Jim's500E

Always loved the rauschsilber paint...looks good J.

Please tell us that pinstripe is painted on and not a sticker !!

Jer

Oops... the pinstripe is a sticker! Oh well. Still looks good, though.

Luokyio

You have got quite expensive painting there. Here in Finland you can get your car painted with about 500-1000 euros. And the result is good...

pifcat2

Was the pinstrip factory applied or a dealer option? When my wifes car was repaired, they also used sticker stripes even after I asked for paint. When I checked it more closely the rest of the car had sticker stripes. It's hard to tell after they spray the clear over them.

Jer

The original pinstripes were stickers, and clear is not sprayed over them. At least not after I got this paint job.

pifcat2

If I was sure they didn't leave marks, I'd remove them from both my cars. They are like the cheap pinstripes that many dealers sold in the 70's and 80's and don't do much to the design.