BMW e30 respray? Any good Bodyshops in the South?

[tomvcarter]

ok im a novice and never attempted a full respray of a car, can anyone reccomend a good bodyshop in the south (pref Hampshire) that could do a good job?
Any does anyone have any experience of the cost?

[Classic Grad 98]

same colour or different colour? good job or bad job? DIY strip/refit or do you want the bodyshop to do it?

[tomvcarter]

Classic Grad 98 said:

same colour or different colour? good job or bad job? DIY strip/refit or do you want the bodyshop to do it?

The current colour is a bit shabby as previous owner had a go a doing a paint job on his own.
i would possibly like a to do a metalic black, or keep it to the original.
But not sure what the best way to go about it is.
Its rust free and pretty imaculate so would be nice to return the paint work to a state that matched.

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

There's many good bodyshops in the south of the UK, look for ones that are accredited and approved. Start the ball rolling by looking at local similarly accredited specialists and approaching them for quotes on the job you want. As above, do you want a quick job? or a good one ? what level of finish quality do you want? the better and requests of pristine/awesome will bump the price up. When bodywork like this is done, the original paint is flatted or prepped, so it doesn't really matter on the current level of paintwork, it's the end result that you should be thinking of, so once prepped, you can 'change' colour. Keeping the 'same colour' doesn't make the job any easier overall.

What will bump the price up is if you want a complete colour change including boot and engine compartment areas and all door shuts/hinges etc etc.

Very much a ballpark - £2000+ for an 'exterior' job and perhaps door shuts. £4000+ to include engine and boot areas as well.

Anything considerably less that £2K and you'll need to see if you can live with the compromises.

I know of two excellent bodyshops - one in Kent, the Ashford area I believe, the other near Crawley/Gatwick. Both are BMW owners and fanatics as well, with their own cars looking rather spectacular!

I'm sure others will have similar recommendations.

Cheers, Dennis!

[Classic Grad 98]

tomvcarter said:

Classic Grad 98 said:

same colour or different colour? good job or bad job? DIY strip/refit or do you want the bodyshop to do it?

The current colour is a bit shabby as previous owner had a go a doing a paint job on his own.
i would possibly like a to do a metalic black, or keep it to the original.
But not sure what the best way to go about it is.
Its rust free and pretty imaculate so would be nice to return the paint work to a state that matched.

You're going to need to make your mind up about the colour and the extent of the re-spray. As he ^ said, £2k is a ballpark figure for an external re-spray, but to change the colour convincingly you'll need to strip out most of the engine bay, remove doors, boot, bonnet, wings etc and the cost can easily double.

[Dino D]

Hi Dennis, can you tell me the name of the body shop you mention in Kent?

[isleofthorns]

try Sam @ Impact
http://www.precisionporsche.co.uk/Impact-Bodywork/...
they have done full sprays on several e30's
they are in east sussex, near hayward's heath