100K miles, thinking of getting a "paint" tune up. Any advice?

DetroitMarauder

DetroitMarauder

2004 Black Beauty
As some of you know I purchased my MM with 98K miles on her.

She Looks gorgeous, but like most women I'm sure she would like to hide some of her insignificant flaws that no one but myself would notice.

So I'm giving her (actually I mean me) an early X-mas present and I'm planning on fixing all the rock dings and general wear and tear flaws.

She has like any other car with high mileage a few "wrinkles" in her face that I'd like to correct.

Since winter is here I'm thinking of leaving my baby at a local collision shop to repaint her face and fix a small scratch on her back bumper.

I'm wondering since my baby has a high gloss coating (not sure if it was done by the dealer or the original owner) will her front match her sides when they paint the front end?

I've had cars repainted before and so far I've been lucky, but I've never owned a car that had this "high" gloss thing. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what it is. I thought it was just a good wax, maybe it is... but the car is really shiney and I'm wondering how I could fix the small blemishes without ruining her overall look.

Any thoughts?
 
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Would a professional detail be a good place to start? This might take care of the majority of your minor issues.

Not sure exactly how bad the car is.

jeremy
 
jdando said:
Would a professional detail be a good place to start? This might take care of the majority of your minor issues.

Not sure exactly how bad the car is.

jeremy
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My baby was detailed, I just want to fix the rock dings and there really isn't that many, but I'd like her to look like brand new.

Speaking of Detailing, my baby's light covers are showing some age, is there anyway to buff them out to look like new?

My baby is in top notch condition considering her miles, I just want her to look her best.
 
Lets review, the high gloss finish you refere to is simply a base coat clear coat paint process, which is the standard now days. The trick, is to color sand the clear after painting so it matches the texture of the existing paint. A shop that has professional techs can do all that with satisfactory results. Also if your car has chips, and scratches that are deep into the clear, than a sanding, and painting is the most absolute way to make the car look new again. I'am not sure what color your car is, but if it's black this can be done by panel painting the car, any other color it might have to be blended into the adjacent panel depending on the room they have to work. Just take it to a good shop and you should have good results.
 
03blackvegas said:
Lets review, the high gloss finish you refere to is simply a base coat clear coat paint process, which is the standard now days. The trick, is to color sand the clear after painting so it matches the texture of the existing paint. A shop that has professional techs can do all that with satisfactory results. Also if your car has chips, and scratches that are deep into the clear, than a sanding, and painting is the most absolute way to make the car look new again. I'am not sure what color your car is, but if it's black this can be done by panel painting the car, any other color it might have to be blended into the adjacent panel depending on the room they have to work. Just take it to a good shop and you should have good results.
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Thanks bud :)

You obviously have skills in the "paint dept." ....Wish I did...:(

after reading your post, should I just re-paint the whole car as opposed to just having the front facia re-painted?.

BTW the car I'm talking about is the same one in my Avatar pic

Her name is Jenny.
 
A little girl ran her bicycle handle bar down the side of my car taking the paint down to the metal this summer. I made friends with the adjuster, and my paint guy got it adjusted up from $700 to $1400, so he could paint the fenders to match, as well.

He told me that if I didn't paint the entire side of the car, the re-painted areas would stick out. He was right, because I can see IF I LOOK FOR IT a difference between that side and the rest of the car. The new areas are blacker.

BTW, it came out really nice. I think if you do one area at a time, you will be satisfied. My hood has the typical checking that plagues aluminum hood with black paint on them, if I had had the dough, I would have had him do the hood, the front fascia (rocked chipped like crazy) and rear bumper cover (bad scratch). This would have been good enough for me.

But, hey, if you got the bling, go for it. Can't lose if you get the whole thing done by a good shop.

fastcar:burnout:
 
Great topic I was actually going to ask this same question. My car paint has been identified as mono chrome black. it has some minor imperfections. White bear lincoln used a buffer and black polish to successfully cover these spots. They resurface after about the 5th carwash. They are charging 100 dollars for the whole process which includes an interior cleaning.
More than fair.
I have also been told to never use WAX it leaves an unsightly residue behind.
My question..(s)
1... is mono chrome an optional paint job at the local store....REALLY?
I suspect it cannot be duplicated outside the factory.
I know what the body shops are going to say!
2 where can we find a resource to learn all about buffing??
have a happy snow day!
 
Call up J&M Collision in harrison twp. off of south river and crocker by 16 mile. Their really good with fixing paint.


DetroitMarauder said:
As some of you know I purchased my MM with 98K miles on her.

She Looks gorgeous, but like most women I'm sure she would like to hide some of her insignificant flaws that no one but myself would notice.

So I'm giving her (actually I mean me) an early X-mas present and I'm planning on fixing all the rock dings and general wear and tear flaws.

She has like any other car with high mileage a few "wrinkles" in her face that I'd like to correct.

Since winter is here I'm thinking of leaving my baby at a local collision shop to repaint her face and fix a small scratch on her back bumper.

I'm wondering since my baby has a high gloss coating (not sure if it was done by the dealer or the original owner) will her front match her sides when they paint the front end?

I've had cars repainted before and so far I've been lucky, but I've never owned a car that had this "high" gloss thing. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what it is. I thought it was just a good wax, maybe it is... but the car is really shiney and I'm wondering how I could fix the small blemishes without ruining her overall look.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
fastcar said:
A little girl ran her bicycle handle bar down the side of my car taking the paint down to the metal this summer. I made friends with the adjuster, and my paint guy got it adjusted up from $700 to $1400, so he could paint the fenders to match, as well.

He told me that if I didn't paint the entire side of the car, the re-painted areas would stick out. He was right, because I can see IF I LOOK FOR IT a difference between that side and the rest of the car. The new areas are blacker.

BTW, it came out really nice. I think if you do one area at a time, you will be satisfied. My hood has the typical checking that plagues aluminum hood with black paint on them, if I had had the dough, I would have had him do the hood, the front fascia (rocked chipped like crazy) and rear bumper cover (bad scratch). This would have been good enough for me.

But, hey, if you got the bling, go for it. Can't lose if you get the whole thing done by a good shop.

fastcar:burnout:
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I have to agree with Fast.. whatever you don't have painted you will notice. A buddy of mine just had his painted due to a little mishap and noticed a mirror not painted and a door post between the windows. also realize some parts need to be removed to be painted correctly.
Best advice I can give which was passed onto me, when picking up your freshly painted MM, BE A D*@k (male organ) about accepting it. Take nothing less than perfection, because as soon as you drive it away any imperfections you find will be blamed on you. IMHO
 
On the issue of repainting the entire car, I think it would boil down to money, and, or, does the other parts have anything wrong with them. If a car is a solid color, and some panels are painted, but they don't match the unpainted panels this is usually caused by the painter not taking the time to adjust the color. He might not be very proficient at matching so they might end up off a little. Check to make sure the shop has tech's that are good at adjusting colors. The same applies to metallics and pearls, when not painting the entire car, color matching is required.
 
03blackvegas said:
On the issue of repainting the entire car, I think it would boil down to money, and, or, does the other parts have anything wrong with them. If a car is a solid color, and some panels are painted, but they don't match the unpainted panels this is usually caused by the painter not taking the time to adjust the color. He might not be very proficient at matching so they might end up off a little. Check to make sure the shop has tech's that are good at adjusting colors. The same applies to metallics and pearls, when not painting the entire car, color matching is required.
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I don't know about that. My shop used the color code, and put the proper Ford paint on my car. They didn't try to make it 'duller black' to match the rest of my car. Said the solution was to paint all panels on that side. Not sure where you heard this about 'color matching' old faded or wax-layered paint...

fastcar:burnout:
 
Blackmobile said:
I have to agree with Fast.. whatever you don't have painted you will notice. A buddy of mine just had his painted due to a little mishap and noticed a mirror not painted and a door post between the windows. also realize some parts need to be removed to be painted correctly.
Best advice I can give which was passed onto me, when picking up your freshly painted MM, BE A D*@k (male organ) about accepting it. Take nothing less than perfection, because as soon as you drive it away any imperfections you find will be blamed on you. IMHO
Click to expand...

I had the exact same problem! The posts between doors didn't get done, and I pointed it out to the body guy. I'm fortunate, because he is a fellow MM owner, and my long time body man, so he said he'd fix it in the spring. But, I do agree 100% about being a pain when you pick up the car and DON'T GIVE ANY MONEY until you are completely satisfied. Make sure it is WASHED before you inspect it, so you can see the paint. When I picked mine up, it had been on a street for the day near a dirt road, and it was covered. I couldn't tell ANYTHING about how it came out. Discovered some problems, like two scratches beneath the clear, and they didn't jam the trunk lid, so the paint is really rough right along the edge. I'm sure that can be fixed with some wet-sanding, so not too worried. Also, my guy did a super job of taking EVERYTHING apart when he painted. NO TAPE USED ON THIS JOB. It really came out nice. Wish I had the $ to have done the hood and bumpers.

fastcar:burnout:
 
In responce to the point about "old faded or waxed-layered paint", from the factory, all vehicles with in the last 15 years or so have clear on them, the clear protects the paint from fading. Waxing does not change the color either, especially since it has the clear coat. When a painter is matching paint to your car, the first thing he does is to buff out the sample on your car, to remove any oxidation, and to brighten up that spot, each time he does a spray out, he walks outside in the sun and compares the two. Sooner or later a match is achieved, alot of times a painter will spend very little or no time at all checking black, there are two main reasons for this, 1 alot of people think that black is black, so they just grab a pitch black off the the mixing bank and go, and the 2nd reason is that it is very difficult to see the "under tones" in black. Under tones are the different "toner" colors that make each color, most solid blacks have white, yellow, blue, and some type of red in them, these are the colors that must used to adjust the color. Bottom line, if your black, or any other color is off, it's probably because a thorough job of checking and adjusting the paint was not done by the painter. I have been a car painter and have worked in body shops for 25 years.
 
Even without a superb quality respray, you don't need to repaint the whole car just to have the bumper covers repainted, unless the rest of the car really needs it. You aren't going to notice differences in the paint texture or color on a front bumper cover, like you would on a big flat panel. Go for it
 
Touch-up Paint

Do you guys recommend going to a local dealership to get a small bottle of touch-up paint? I got one for my Mustang years ago, but that was from a body shop...
 
No matter where you get touch up paint, it is lacquer that will never quite match base/clear urethane. A band-aid at best, but better than nothing. Dealership should be fine, auto paint store should be fine.
 
03blackvegas said:
In responce to the point about "old faded or waxed-layered paint", from the factory, all vehicles with in the last 15 years or so have clear on them, the clear protects the paint from fading. Waxing does not change the color either, especially since it has the clear coat. When a painter is matching paint to your car, the first thing he does is to buff out the sample on your car, to remove any oxidation, and to brighten up that spot, each time he does a spray out, he walks outside in the sun and compares the two. Sooner or later a match is achieved, alot of times a painter will spend very little or no time at all checking black, there are two main reasons for this, 1 alot of people think that black is black, so they just grab a pitch black off the the mixing bank and go, and the 2nd reason is that it is very difficult to see the "under tones" in black. Under tones are the different "toner" colors that make each color, most solid blacks have white, yellow, blue, and some type of red in them, these are the colors that must used to adjust the color. Bottom line, if your black, or any other color is off, it's probably because a thorough job of checking and adjusting the paint was not done by the painter. I have been a car painter and have worked in body shops for 25 years.
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Thanks for the education. That is very interesting. I defer to your experience, and expertise. I think my shop just went the 'black is black' route, and painted it the proper Ford color, unmodified. Thus the contrast between the new and old panels.

But, I think we are saying the same thing about 'old paint', and that old and new can look different. You admit that oxidation effects the color, which is basically the same thing as the 'fading' I spoke of. Whatever you want to call it, time and weather will effect even clear coat paint... I know, my black is not as black as most MMs I've seen. It came from the south, with lots of sun!

I still disagree about wax, though. I can't see how wax won't effect paint color. Anything you layer on top of the paint is going to have an effect. And the more layers, the more effect. Probably depends, of course, on the product, brand, thickness, etc.

VicsEvilBrother said:
Even without a superb quality respray, you don't need to repaint the whole car just to have the bumper covers repainted, unless the rest of the car really needs it. You aren't going to notice differences in the paint texture or color on a front bumper cover, like you would on a big flat panel. Go for it
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I disagree, Vic. I can see a difference between the old paint on the pillars (that the shop forgot to spray) and the doors that were redone.

fastcar:burnout:
 
Notice I said "you won't notice the difference Like You Would On A Big Flat Panel". I didn't say you wouldn't notice it at all. I still don't think it would be worth respraying a whole car over even a mediocre bumper respray. It's just a bumper, and the continuous area between the bumper and the rest of the panels is very small. Also, your original paint on the jams may not match the "new" paint, because the new paint is either not color matched perfectly, or the painter did not replicate the factory texture well enough. Lots of times, factory paint has worse texture than a good repaint, and how poor the orange peel is on the factory paint then makes the better quality repainted panel stand out. The factory paint finish on a lot of these cars is pretty mediocre in texture and durability. A good painter can replicate close enough (definitely close enough for a bumper, that should be a no brainer). Just have a decent shop respray the bumper cover, it will be more than good enough.
 
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Thanks for all the reply's guys :). I've learned alot.

I think I'm just going to get the facia, grill, hood and rear bumper painted.

The sides are without flaws and I'm thinking if the paint guy does a good job and puts a clear coat on, It should match the sides... hopefully.

Thanks for the reference to J&M Jblue21! I might check them out.

I got a lead on a place my Uncle goes to have his new cars painted at.

Yea, I said new cars... He buys a brand new car or truck every year and he takes it right to his buddy's paint shop to change the color cause he hates stock colors.

I thought I was picky...

Actually I think it's pretty cool, his rides always look good.

I'm still worried about the clear coat matching the sides, cause the sides are exceptionally shiney.

Every car I've owned for the last 20 years has been black and none of them has been as shiney as my new MM.

It's not stock, I think the dealer shined it up with something.

Oh well, doesn't matter... I gotta get the flaws fixed, I'll inform you all how it goes.

Thanks again for all the advice! :)
 
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