D.I.Y. or Pay??

Anonymous · March 27, 2004, 18:37

I am about to buy a rear spoiler for my 2 but am finding it hard to justify paying about £100 for the spraying when I could do it myself for £15 and have enough paint left over to do the vents.

The real question is, can you get a quality finish if you do it yourself?

I have watched D.I.Y. programs that claim you can get a good finish if you take your time and do the job properly, but how true is this?

Has anyone done it by hand (no pun intended) and if you have do you have any pics or advice?

I have searched and can't find any advice other than fitting.

Many thanks in advance.

Anonymous · March 27, 2004, 18:51

£100, I had my spoiler and side vents done for £95.00, if I were you I'd try another paint shop.

Anonymous · March 27, 2004, 18:57

£100 was an estimate but £95 is still more than I would like to pay.

I will if it is the only choice though.

Tem · March 27, 2004, 21:40

Quote from: "Ian Rowburrey"I am about to buy a rear spoiler for my 2 but am finding it hard to justify paying about £100 for the spraying when I could do it myself for £15 and have enough paint left over to do the vents.

The real question is, can you get a quality finish if you do it yourself?

You can, but probably not on the first time. But the good news is you can try it again and again till you get it right s;)

s;)

Get good quality paint though, it makes the job so much easier. Even a pro couldn't get decent finish with the cheapest paints...I bought a spray can from Toyota and I was happy with it.

And one more thing. If you're painting plastic, you NEED a flex primer, or the paint won't hold. (or at least a paint meant for plastic, that contains the flex in itself)

Anonymous · March 27, 2004, 22:37

I need to re-spray my hardtop during the summer and not sure whether to do it myself or get it done s:? :? s:?

Been quoted £250 plus VAT which seems a fortune for just a hardtop s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Has anybody paid to get this done if so, how much s:?: :?: s:?:

Tem · March 27, 2004, 22:51

Quote from: "roadsterman99"Been quoted £250 plus VAT which seems a fortune for just a hardtop s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Ask the painter how much would it be, if you sand it, covered the window and interior and removed the seals...so he only has to paint it. Generally the paintjob itself isn't that much, it's the pre&after-stuff that takes time (=money)...

Anonymous · March 28, 2004, 00:10

Its also the prep work that makes the job, so if your confident at doing a good job then fine, but most sprayers wouldnt be keen on their finished work being judged following potentially shoddy prep work.

The bonnet and roof are large areas that are viewed in the least atractive light scenarios so are consequently are the hardest bit to get a good finish on. Unless your expereinced then I would advise you to go prefessional on these pieces at least.

Spraying takes practice, start small and work your way up, that would be my advice

aaronjb · March 28, 2004, 00:29

Just to second what Perry said..

Man I wish they wouldn't advertise pr0n between the films on Sky - most distracting! Anyway, back to the point..

The prep will make or break a job on a large area.. I also wouldn't even consider spraying something as big as the roof unless you've got access to a (fairly large capacity) compressor and half decent spray gun (and mask etc). You could probably get away with canned stuff on something as small as a wing, but not (IMHO) a roof..

And if you can get hold of all that stuff, you probably have a mate who's a sprayer anyway .. d'oh! s:)

s:)

FWIW, £250 probably isn't too far off for a whole roof - it's a disproportionately large amount of prep work.. I've known people get full spray jobs for ~4x that, so I guess it's not a bad deal.

FWIW, I know one place that comes highly recommended and would probably do a slightly better deal - but you'd have to travel to Newcastle s:? :? s:?

All this has reminded me that I really need to take an angle grinder to the Nissan to kill the rust before it eats the car s:? :? s:?

I'm rambling. Back to the films & rum!

Anonymous · March 28, 2004, 00:54

Well i served my younger days as an apprentice accident and repairer, then moved on to spraying.

If youv've never done it then please, please don't..... Though you have got a black car , you could basically put alot of coats of paint on then use a fine wet and dry paper(wet) and sand any bits and runs you have, then use a cutting paste to bring the shine up.

I guess if you have some paint and you prime it using a flexible(plastic) primer you have nothing to loose. A bodyshop will cost the same even if you do mess it up. s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Anonymous · March 28, 2004, 11:11

Quote from: "aaronjb"FWIW, I know one place that comes highly recommended and would probably do a slightly better deal - but you'd have to travel to Newcastle s:? :? s:?

aaronjb, who is the firm in Newcastle?

Like Roadsterman99 I was quoted approx £300 to spray my black hardtop (red car) & Newcastle is really close to me s:D

s:D

(Unless you were talking Newcastle-under-Lyme)

aaronjb · March 28, 2004, 12:12

Quote from: "Roadblade"aaronjb, who is the firm in Newcastle?

I was talking about upon Tyne s:)

s:)

The company is (was, possibly) called Performance Paint 'n' Styling, however their website appears to have disappeared and I can't find them on Yell anymore :/

Might be worth asking around on http://www.300zx.co.uk to see if they're still around.

HTH,
Aaron

Anonymous · March 28, 2004, 12:20

Cheers, I will have a look around

Anonymous · March 28, 2004, 13:33

Yes, perry190 is correct the prep work maketh the job, even if you prep it yourself most piantshops I know would still do the prep work again so hand it over to the professionals.
Their work is based on what others see, if people see a good paint job they always ask"who did the spaying". Would you go somewhere that put out shoddy work?

aaronjb · March 28, 2004, 17:42

Quote from: "cartell"Yes, perry190 is correct the prep work maketh the job, even if you prep it yourself most piantshops I know would still do the prep work again so hand it over to the professionals.

Wish my local sprayers were that good - the two local ones I went to both turned the work down with the ol'

Quote from: "Sprayer"<sucks air thru' teeth>Oooh, looks like that's been worked on before..
You never really know what might be under there..
To be honest it's not really the kind of thing we're set up to do..

All I wanted was a bit o' rust taking out of the rear arches and then blowing over s:cry: :cry: s:cry: