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Hello yall! This is my first post here and I was wondering if I could get some opinions on what I should do with the paint on my 1991 convertible. I've had it for about a year and ever since I've bought it it's had quite a bit of clearcoat peel on the hood. The rest of the paint has a some scratches and swirls. The color is turquoise mettalic
I'm wondering how I should go about refinishing it, as I could stay original and keep the "patina" or go for a new look and ditch the factory paint.
Im just looking for some helpful opions.
thanks!
The answer to your question is subjective and really boils down to how much you are willing to spend. I would guess a complete repaint in same color will be in the $5K to $8K range. Maybe get an estimate to re-clear just the peeling trouble areas.
Mine had a really bad rattle can stripe on the hood and the halo was painted black, but the rest of the car looked okay. I opted to just paint the hood and halo and touch up some other small areas, my cost was below $2k and it looks really nice. Though your color might be harder to match.
The answer to your question is subjective and really boils down to how much you are willing to spend. I would guess a complete repaint in same color will be in the $5K to $8K range. Maybe get an estimate to re-clear just the peeling trouble areas.
I'd guess you need to double those numbers for a decent professional repaint, depending on where in the country OP is located. I'm hearing in CA it could approach $20k. No matter what state you are in, there's also the issue of backlog. With summer coming, do you want to be without your car for several months?
There's always the option of learning to do it yourself. May or may not be the answer for you.
You're not alone. I'm driving my '92 with a bad case of leprosy. I have not have a RECENT estimate but several years back it was going to be about $10k. If I go for that, when it's done I'll have a very nice looking $6,000 car. Somehow that math doesn't sound good to me, so for now I'll just drive it.
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Originally Posted by flannel_man
2 years ago when I was pricing here around Tulsa it was in the 10-15k range
Did it myself for less than 1k
Much better than flaking clear
I would re-paint also, but I would do all the prep (sanding and repairing) and send it out to be sprayed and I would do the cut and buff myself.
My local corvette shop charges $400 to spray only (base coat / clear coat) (we supplied all the materials and had it masked off, they just had to check our masking and fix what we had wrong)
I cut buffed it,
Total cost about $1500 and a couple of weeks of my time
(now the car really did not need cutting and buffing after paint, but I just had to go the extra step for show quality)
I would re-paint also, but I would do all the prep (sanding and repairing) and send it out to be sprayed and I would do the cut and buff myself.
My local corvette shop charges $400 to spray only (base coat / clear coat) (we supplied all the materials and had it masked off, they just had to check our masking and fix what we had wrong)
I cut buffed it,
Total cost about $1500 and a couple of weeks of my time
(now the car really did not need cutting and buffing after paint, but I just had to go the extra step for show quality)
Maybe I need to start looking at our Paint/Body section of the forum. What's involved in the masking, taping etc? I know the emblems have to come off, presume the clear targa is left on but masked off, windows etc. Weatherstrip gets taped, or removed and replaced new?
Its a damn shame that it got like that... thats a nice color.
Turquoise is a very pretty color when it's shiny and new. It kind of depends on what you want to do with car. If you're thinking about selling it anytime soon, it's not going to be worth putting the money into new paint. And if you keep it outside and drive it every day, the new paint will look like the old paint sooner or later. But if you plan to keep the car and take care of it, new paint will be worth it. It'll certainly make the car beautiful!
Turquoise Metallis is a very rare color. With that said, after some research, I found that only 5 were produced in 91 with a black interior and black top with the automatic transmission. 9 were made with a manual transmission with black interior and a black top. I think if it were my car, I would either paint it myself or save up and have it professionally painted. In my opinion, it's too rare of a color to change and discard and I feel as though it would look incredible once it were painted the original color. At the end of the day though, it's your car and you do what you feel is best, both in terms of looks and finances.
Should I repaint?
Turquoise is a very pretty color when it's shiny and new. It kind of depends on what you want to do with car. If you're thinking about selling it anytime soon, it's not going to be worth putting the money into new paint. And if you keep it outside and drive it every day, the new paint will look like the old paint sooner or later. But if you plan to keep the car and take care of it, new paint will be worth it. It'll certainly make the car beautiful!
