car respray

[John R]

Hi All

I was wondering if someone could suggest a good bodyshop preferably in the NW of England (UK) that could undertake a respray of my Europa at a reasonable price?

Many thanks
John

[S2Zetec54]

Hi John

I would talk to Richard Winter of Banks SS he does bodywork among a few other things…if he is too busy he'll recommend someone

All the best

Andrew

[jbcollier]

Refinishing fibreglass cars is a lot more involved and expensive than with metal bodied vehicles.  You might find someone to do an inexpensive job but all the imperfections will show through in short order.  Just ask me how I know, except I paid a small fortune.

[RafM]

Hi John,

A lot depends on the state of the bodywork now and what kind of end result you would be happy with and your definition
of 'reasonable'

Even cars that look reasonable to start with can very quickly rack up many hours of repair preparation once you start
looing under the surface.

Can you post a few pictures, especially of the worst areas?

[John R]

Many thanks to all for the suggestions. As the one thing I have is time and the room after having contacted various paint shops with little success,  I've decided to do the job myself. Wish me luck.....

[Pfreen]

I came up with the same decision painting my Tiger.  Not that I wanted to, but if you want it done right, do it yourself.

[dakazman]

  John,
 You will find that painting it yourself can be very rewarding.  Practice on a single piece to get use to the gun and above all temps and humidity.
Dakazman

[Pfreen]

And,,, prep is everthing.

[dakazman]

  X2 what pfreen said.
  Some other tips, stay with solid colors, metallics or translucent are finicky. Silver shows tiger stripes from being to close .
  Talk to your paint shop and ask if they can guarantee color match of the color selected.
Ask for a base color paint, which is no other color added in. PM me for a all inclusive guide with your email address so I can send it to you . It covers all problems that can surface and how to correct. The file is 6.1 mg
Dakazman
 

[Bryan Boyle]

And,,, prep is everthing.

Amen.  Shooting color takes a couple hours.  Prepping can take months. 

[Tom999w]

.
 Amen. Shooting color takes a couple hours.  Prepping can take months.
[/quote]

Months? That kid rebuilding his Europa on YouTube video used the sun and a heat gun to peel all the layers of paint (including the original paint) from the car in one or two days. With the heat, it came off in big sheets. I actually never knew original paint could be removed that easily.

[Bryan Boyle]

.
 Amen. Shooting color takes a couple hours.  Prepping can take months.

Months? That kid rebuilding his Europa on YouTube video used the sun and a heat gun to peel all the layers of paint (including the original paint) from the car in one or two days. With the heat, it came off in big sheets. I actually never knew original paint could be removed that easily.
[/quote]

120 grit on an orbital works, too.  Now...pinholes, star cracks, sanding down, priming, finding more voids, filling, smoothing, priming, repeat...then let sit in the sun for a few days to bake it...

Depends I guess on what level of job: good enough so it looks good...or local/regional shows with pride...or pebble beach.  Done the first two, no patience for the last...thinking I'm going to shoot for somewhere on this one between the first two.  Don't discount a good sand-and-squirt if you prep the existing (and mine has the original nitrocellulose lacquer finish...) well.  Especially because I want to end up with a driver, not a trailer queen...

[TurboFource]

I am with you on driver paint job Bryan! I am not paying more for paint than I paid for the car!

[Kendo]

I’m about ready to paint my car, prep almost done. And I’m hinting about whether to paint or get it painted. A friend had his done for $8000. For that price, I’d probably do it myself. What prices have others paid in the last few years?

[BDA]

$8000 doesn't seem so bad after I had mine painted in 1998 for about $6000. I thought I had given them a flat unprimed car but they kept if for a long time and I know they did some unknown amount of surface prep (I can see the filler that oozed over the water drains under the rear bumper.

If you can rig up or have access to a booth and know what you're doing, you can save a lot.