got a question.

If you look at my 87 vette (my icon), the car pretty much spent its life in a garage, and as a result, the original factory paint is like-new, EXCEPT

on the top rear (near fuel door), i have clear coat pealing.

I would hate to re-paint the ENTIRE car because 95% of it is so good, just that top back looks like crap.

has anyone ever had a paint shop paint a small panel, and how did it match (my car is black), or do i really have to do the whole thing?

 

Thet should have no trouble matching the paint and refinishing the problem areas.

 

adding to this post.. I have been thinking of getting my 93 refinished in the future. There are a few nicks and chips, very minor, no damage anywhere. Has anybody experienced having a shop sanding the clear coat and respraying the base color and clear again?
The paint is in very good condition everywhere except for a few tiny chips.

 

any ballpark figure on how much something like this would cost?

basically the whole top back where the fuel door is.

 

Cost would depend upon the shop, and you would need to shop around quite a bit, some shops only want the easy insurance money. Clearcoat problems affect nearly all cars after a few years, so the fix is pretty common.

 

Sounds like it's just a clearcoat issue. I dealt with the same problem on the top of my wife's Cadillac SRX. If you want to take a shot at doing it yourself, you will be very surprised at how easy it is to do clearcoat, especially on horizontal surfaces. AutomotiveTouchup.com now sells paint and clearcoat in aerosol cans with tips that put out a spray pattern rivaling many shop spray guns. Really impressive. The section that I did came out looking like a professional shop did it. Yeah.....from an aerosol can. Local shops were asking $400 - $700 to do a 2 sq foot area; a can of clearcoat, somee 1500 grit wet or dry sandpaper and an orbital sander can get the same result with an outlay of appx $15.00
Let me know if you have an interest and I can give more detail on just how to do it.

 

The catch is clearcoat over black really can't be blended. Wherever you blend a "clearcoat repair", I'd bet money that spot will reappear within a few weeks.

Waxing/buffing can make it disappear again for awhile, but it won't be permanent.

I'd think a shop would have to paint from the gas door down to the belt molding and forward to the door.

 

Gregg, very few people can blend the clearcoat, especially on old paint. What they do is blend or panel the base coat, and then paint the whole panel with the urethane (clearcoat). Most competant shops have ability to match colors these days, but black is the one color thats not a problem, black is black, although there are problems with clearcoat discoloring.

 

just for reference, here is a pic


Pic

its that whole section just on top, the fuel door, the top, and the bottom are good.. just that top section middle.

 

Black is not just black either. I (re)painted mine black. GM black has a lot of blue in it. Brown too.

There are several shades of black -- if you look at the formulas.

It sounds like we agree the entire panel would need to be repainted....at least the clear.

Shops are very good at blending colors -- and allowing for age. It's the clear that must be "repaired" on an entire panel. I wouldn't pay anyone who thinks they can blend clear (even if there's a small chance it would work).

 

A shop can repaint that entire panel it make it look great. The cost may vary greatly between shops.

IMO, it helps to find out what your local dealership would charge. Find someone closer to their estimate than to MAACO.
I wouldn't let anyone paint mine where I couldn't see other cars they've painted.

 

also, how hard is it to remove that section.

Im not even sure what that section i called? Its one piece that wraps around. I would consider it the rear quarter panel, but its not a quarter, its a whole, contains both quarter panels....

 

If you are refering to the rear quarter panels, they are glued on,they don't come off - easily. It's not necessary to remove them to paint. The gas door just unscrews.

 

i know they don't have to be, but just out of curiosity, what if you're ever in an accident in the back end (like a around the fender).. that whole thing would have to be replaced.

im not sure if your aware, but the convertible 87 doesn't have quarter panels in the back, its a wrap around bumper, and the "quarter panels" are one piece that wraps around both wheel wells.

I just figured they would have designed a way to get that whole section off fairly easily (IE: if rear accident) like the rear bumper. it looks like its some kind of separate section (See pic)

 

I had these flares painted and installed by a local Buick dealer for less than $200. The body shop even gave me the left over paint to use as touch-up if needed. I should think your gas port area could be easily masked off and painted. The paint match on my flares came from the factory paint code and nothing else.

 

i'd say that a pretty hot car.

 

If it is just a few chips, you might get by with a Langka Kit.

I got caught in a sudden hail storm while driving my black 95 - resulting in about 100 little chips, mainly on the front to about half way up the hood.

I just "knew" I was going to have to have it repainted, but couldn't afford it at the time, so I figured I'd try the Kit and repaint it when $$ was available.

The results were fantastic**! I knew where the repairs were, and still could not see them - they blended so well! Bottom line - I never again felt the need to paint the hood. I Zaino'ed it afterwards and it looked perfect.

**Depending on the ambient temperature and humidity, the drying time for the touchup paint varies: too long and you wind up with a little raised bump that takes a looong time to buff flat and too short and the paint will "dish" in the repair. My method was to "blob" three little nicks and test for the right drying time in 10 minute intervals, starting at 20 minutes.

for what its worth, I traded the black Vette for my red ZR-1. Some bone-head with a buffer didn't tape the edges of the panels, and burned through the paint along several edges. I used the Langka kit on those areas, and you can't see where used the kit.

Repaired buffer burn along the vertical edge of the hood...



So, for tiny jobs like rock chips, etc. I found the Langka Kit was all I needed. The Kit might be an option for your chips, or at least hold you over for pocket change until you want to spring for a repaint.

As for the OP's question, that is an entirely different situation, of course - and I defer to the experts for that.

P.

 

OK here is the real answer, I have been working in a bodyshop for about three years now and two of that in the paint shop and black is black period as for the fadeing any good body shop can blend and from looking at the pic you posted that area should not be a problem they would put some black on the area where the clear is fadeing and clear to the front of the quarter pannel and put the blend right above the fuel door. All in all any good painter can blend clear but blending color is another story, no painter will ever get a 100% color match but if you have enough room to blend the average person can never tell.

 

ok, went to a shop (recommended by a friend), quote came in at about $1000 for basically painting the whole backend (I have a little spidering going on with the bumper).

that is removing the panels and painting

 

so i go to another place today.

He can do the back for $700, what i like about this guy is he pretty much just does muscle cars. he had an 89 vette there (just like my 87) that he just finished, as well as various other muscles, like old mustangs etc.

all the cars looked great, he also spent about 1/2 hour with me explaining a lot about paint (pointing out on the cars there), and showing what to expect and how it will look compared to the old paint. I guess matching up the clear coat is tough, and especially on black it shows more.

he also gave me a price of $2500 to repaint the whole car same color. Im thinking about that option as well. ($4000 to change color, but i think I'm staying black).

He is fairly new in business (2 years), so he's building his business, but i heard about him from 2 other people i know that had nothing but good things to say.