Colour change spray-overs

[snowmuncher]

I want to change the colour of my car, what are the pitfalls of a rub-down, spray over paintjob ?

[LordGrover]

Back to white or silver to grey?

[snowmuncher]

LordGrover said:

silver to grey?

This is what the bodyshop bloke was suggesting ( although specifically metallic bronze-gold to metallic orange ).

[HustleRussell]

Well if it's just a blow over, the engine bay, undersides of panels, interior panels etc will not be painted and this is a tell-tale that the car has been sprayed and that a half-arsed job has been done. If that doesn't bother you, and so long as you notify the DVLA etc, then there aren't really any pitfalls.
Watch out for costs of things which will break upon removal- you'd be surprised how much costs of window weather strips, rubbing strips, rubber seals, membranes, trim clips etc adds up before you finish.

[The Char]

Has to be said- resprays, you get what you pay for.
95% of the cost is in labour.

[Squiggs]

The Char said:

Has to be said- resprays, you get what you pay for.
95% of the cost is in labour.

Very true .... not only resprays, but in all aspects of paint repairs.
Go for cheap and the chances are that the repairer/paint shop will be cut down on the time & labour spent on the job to ensure it's a profitable job for them.
As actual spraying is the quick part of the job - and for a given area it will always take the same amount of time (any quicker or any slower and it just doesn't work) so time can't be made up whilst spraying.
The only area where time can be made up is during the prep, and by cutting down on prep so the labour costs come down.
But as 90% of a good paint job is down to good prep it's the most important part of the job, the part where you don't want any time/labour cut out because it needs to be done properly - and the part you should really be wanting to pay for.
In short the cheaper you go the more pitfalls you're likely to encounter

[snowmuncher]

Thanks for the replies folks

Spent some time at the bodyshop yesterday. Once I'd starting speaking to the chap, he quickly understood how much time, effort & $ has been spent on the car, and the 'blow-over' idea has been dropped.

Spent some time going through paint code sheets and the like. The colours I'm toying with all require going back to primer anyway.

One of the colours I'm looking at requires 3 different base coats, before the final two top coats (Lotus B25 Chrome Orange).

The other orange on the cards is also a pearl finish, and requires starting from primer (Ford 6FSE Electric-Orange), as does the 'sensible' (cop out) colour I have in mind (Lotus B98 Storm Titanium).

All door shuts, etc will be painted. The only areas not to be painted will the engine bay and areas that will never see the light of day.

Edited by snowmuncher on Thursday 19th April 09:25

[potato muncher]

snowmuncher said:

Thanks for the replies folks

Spent some time at the bodyshop yesterday. Once I'd starting speaking to the chap, he quickly understood how much time, effort & $ has been spent on the car, and the 'blow-over' idea has been dropped.

Spent some time going through paint code sheets and the like. The colours I'm toying with all require going back to primer anyway.

One of the colours I'm looking at requires 3 different base coats, before the final two top coats (Lotus B25 Chrome Orange).

The other orange on the cards is also a pearl finish, and requires starting from primer (Ford 6FSE Electric-Orange), as does the 'sensible' (cop out) colour I have in mind (Lotus B98 Storm Titanium).

All door shuts, etc will be painted. The only areas not to be painted will the engine bay and areas that will never see the light of day.

Edited by snowmuncher on Thursday 19th April 09:25

From one muncher to another I am not sure what you mean by going back to primer, most colours these days need a wet on wet surfacer before being applied but this does not mean that the whole car needs a full prime.

[snowmuncher]

potato muncher said:

...From one muncher to another...

According to the paint computer in the bodyshop, the Lotus B25 Chrome Orange colour requires starting from white primer, then two shades of orange base paint, followed orange topcoat, then the pearl topcoat.
i.e. the existing colour coat would need to be sanded off

-I'm just repeating what the computer told me

[JulesB]

The more you strip the paintwork back the better, thicker paint means more stonechips. You want to make sure the bodyshop dont prime straight over original paintwork or your car will be shot to pieces in no time. The more layers of paint/clear/primer on a car also makes for a harder repair in future as its much harder to get it back to a flat surface!