Re-Spraying a Hardtop

Anonymous · October 13, 2004, 09:25

OK Folks, I'm buying a second-hand hardtop from a friend who's selling his '2. Lucky me!!! s:D

s:D

Only problem is the hardtop is black and the car is silver (Y-reg). s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

Can anyone please give me an idea of what I should expect to pay for a decent re-spray on a hardtop? £60? £100? £200?

And if anyone wants to offer their services or recommend somebody then I'd be very grateful... s:?: :?: s:?:

Please help!

Jono

Anonymous · October 13, 2004, 10:25

£ 150-£250 i think,

You can make it cheaper by sanding the existing paint off yourselves and removing all the rubber bits. Then the spray shop just has to spray paint.

Darth Paul · October 13, 2004, 10:53

When my old black top got damaged last year I had to have it resprayed. T'was a complete NIGHTMARE! They totally knackered all the rubber trim and the thin black plastic trim (around the rear lower edge).

They reinstalled all the trim and it looked a bloody mess. s:evil: :evil: s:evil: It was hanging off (or bent) all over the place. It looked really shabby. I insisted that they install new trim. Now I don't know if your trim would end up looking like this, or if they just removed it with a JCB, but you may well have to factor in the cost of new trim as well... s:? :? s:?

My car went back in FOUR times as the repair work was so shoddy (while buffing the bonnet they took it down to BARE METAL in one place! s:shock: :shock: s:shock: ) so it may well be that Car Clinic in Doncaster are just $hite and you'll be ok. I have pics somewhere...

Anonymous · October 13, 2004, 11:16

Or since my cars black you can sell the hardtop to me!

You can get the materials you need to do it all yourself for about £50, but i don't know how good a finish aerosols will be, plus you need somewhere very ventilated to do the spraying (the chemicals in the paint are nasty as).

It'll be a lot of work, but cheap. or like i say, do the prep work yourself and just get the pros to spray.

Anonymous · October 13, 2004, 11:26

As said matey, your best bet is to strip it down and wet and dry it flat so that all the bodyshop need to do is spray it. wouldnt try it yourself as bonnets and roofs are theworst places to show imperfections. (go pro)

would guess £150 for a good job

kanujunkie · October 13, 2004, 11:58

saw a silver 2 once with a black hardtop, looked cool with the 2 tone colour, just another thought?

Anonymous · October 13, 2004, 12:06

I've heard before that to prep any body panel yourself is a tricky job as the grade of sandpaper used is critical - (i.e. if you get it wrong and put swirls into the metal work you are as they say, Fcuked). Is this really as difficult to do as it sounds?

even £150 is a lot - was hoping for £100 quotes.

Had a quote from QVR - Daventry, that was £200. Y'Ouch. s:o

s:o

Anonymous · October 13, 2004, 12:24

finest grade wet and dry you can get and loads of water (not sand paper!)

or if you want to pop it over to me and leave it with me for a day or so I'll be happy to do it for you mate s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

see what quotes you can get with you prepping to see if its worth it locally first. but no probs if you would like a hand

Anonymous · October 13, 2004, 16:38

Any more thoughts on the actual spraying folks? s:?: :?: s:?:

Darth Paul · October 13, 2004, 16:43

Mouth Atomiser! s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anonymous · October 13, 2004, 16:44

s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
You wanna read the chemicals in auto paint, trust me you don't want to swallow any of it.

Apparently you're really meant to but a full respirator for about £100 and have disposable body suits. Not that i'm going to bother, but then my side vents are very small.

Anonymous · October 17, 2004, 08:30

Quote from: "kanujunkie"saw a silver 2 once with a black hardtop, looked cool with the 2 tone colour, just another thought?

I was going to say the same thing... I saw a red MR2 with a black top and it didn't look out of place at all.

heathstimpson · October 17, 2004, 17:56

Quote from: "Emmanuel"
Quote from: "kanujunkie"saw a silver 2 once with a black hardtop, looked cool with the 2 tone colour, just another thought?
I was going to say the same thing... I saw a red MR2 with a black top and it didn't look out of place at all.

I have seen a silver 2 with a black hood and it looks fine; just wait and save for the respray mate s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Anonymous · October 25, 2004, 00:34

Mine I bought second hand was purple! Obviously thats not the greatest colour to tone in with anything else...

My brother owns his own body shop business and my dad also used to as well, so I got mine sprayed for free! (apart from building him a pc and providing tech support for the last six weeks!).

DO NOT attempt to do it yourself, especially with aresols as a previous post mentioned. They are crap, and everyone will laugh at you.

Rubbing down can be difficult in itself and is not as easy as it sounds, especilly if you use the wrong paper, or go down to the bare metal.

If you do go to a body shop, check out that they have an oven (not the type to cook sunday roast) as a quality finish can only really be achieved with one. The trim can be taken off before hand though as this might save a few pennies. s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Quote from: "odub"Apparently you're really meant to but a full respirator for about £100 and have disposable body suits. Not that i'm going to bother, but then my side vents are very small.

Definitley if you are attempting any spray work yourself, dont bother with anything other than a disposible mask. Me and my family have been breathing it in for years and theres nothing wrong with us... woooo-wooo <dribble>

aaronjb · October 25, 2004, 01:09

Quote from: "sideysid"Definitley if you are attempting any spray work yourself, dont bother with anything other than a disposible mask. Me and my family have been breathing it in for years and theres nothing wrong with us... woooo-wooo <dribble>

Lol - last time I sprayed anything (a few engine bay trim bits on the 300ZX so used Pastikote) in the shed, my mask was holding a handkerchief over my face..

Every time I blew my nose it came out blue.. for days.. s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anyhow, back on topic.. s:)

s:)

Re-Spraying a Hardtop

Darth Paul

Darth Paul