Paint Question

My 911 Cabriolet (84) has many little paint chips on the front spoiler,hood, below
headlights and r/v mirrors. This would equate as the previous owner spent
99% of his time driving on highways to Alberta and California.

I went to a "specialist" shop and the guy told me that my car had been
re-painted several times and in several spots. Now I know the previous owner
and he never had it done (he was original) the car has never been hit, and
oh yes, he wanted CAD$10,000 to re-paint it. He told me the car has to be
stripped down to do it right. Needless to say I gave him a kind word and
left.

Question: How good was the quality of Porsche's painting from the factory in
1984 and I can't beleive this kind of money for a paint job. It appears pretty good to me for a original factory paint. After all,
we're not talking about Custom show cars with flames here!

Am a correct? Should I be running from the guy or am I in for a reality check?

Rgds/Brian

Your instincts are good, runaway!

I can't comment on the paint process from Porsche, however your car should certainly not require a full strip and repaint.

To successfully repair the kind of damage you are refering to, a refinisher would have to rub back the colour to undercoat, lay a filler primer to fill the remaining chips, and he would then repaint the sections of the car that have been repaired.

The critical part of this kind of repair (and the reason to research your tradesman) is in the colour match. Knowing that your original coloured Porsche came from the factory with Glasuriut 2 part paint, it shouldn't be too hard for a professional to match the codes.

Cost for this kind of work varies, however expect to have to pay around the $3000 mark for good work.

Try another shop. Sounds like your paying the Porsche premium tax. Your car has a single step paint application rather then the base coat - clear coat that now all manufactures use. Maybe this guy doesn't know this? If you were going to have the hood, front quarters, mirrors and maybe the bumpers, I would be ball parking it here, but $2 to 3 thousand.

------------------
8 9 9 1 1, The last of the line.

I do all of my paint and body in my own shop but I have heard of people spending anywhere from $2000 - $8000 for a factory quaility repaint. There are many parts of the car that need to be removed to do a quality job. These parts must also be put back on properly to achieve the best results. Body shops love to take it apart but when it comes time for reassembly look out becouse many parts may not make it back on and if they do they may end up installed incorrectly. I know from previous experiences. Take your time choosing a paint and body shop and ask others where they had theirs done. You can waste much money quick otherwise....Hope this helps...TargaEuro

By 2 part paint, I was refering to a colour+hardner combination. Your car would not have been Clear-over-Base originally

------------------
John Forcier
69 911T

Brian,
I can help you out here as you are not too far away from *the best* Porsche auto body and paint shop in our little corner of the world.

I speak of, John Riecken, at Burrard Autostrasse Collision, Vancouver, a very knowlegible, approachable and nice guy: 731-4123
(As a matter of fact, John was the 2nd owner of my SC.)
Every Porsche owner in the area who knows and expects quality, deals with John. Ask him about your painting questions. Mind you, John's is no Macco-type
outfit, but what he'll tell you is the straight goods. His reputation is second to no one.

------------------
Doug
'81 SC Coupe (aka: "Blue Bomber")
Canada West Region PCA
members.home.net/zielke/911SC.htm

If the paint is original a good shop will sand and featherend all the stone bruised areas, if the chips are down to bare metal a small amount of body filler over the chips should be applied and block sanded, next apply a high build primer over the area extending lightly into nondamaged area. The primer should be block sanded by hand and then its ready for color coat then clear (if applicable). This is just an overview of what is done. There is much more involved but this give you an idea of what to look for..if you have more questions feel free to let me know. Paint is my favorite subject...TargaEuro

[This message has been edited by TargaEuro (edited 04-09-2001).]

[This message has been edited by TargaEuro (edited 04-09-2001).]

Wait a minute, guys! All metallic shades have been base/clearcoat on Porsche cars since '72-'73 and the service manuals document that very clearly! so, without knowing the color involved here ... you can't make any assumptions!

But, to the point, the paintshop here does seem to be trying to pull a con job for a few extra kilobucks, so run! And do some checking/complaining at the BBB!

------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa