Paint shop Midlands recommendations please?

Paint shop Midlands recommendations please?

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DJMC

Original Poster:

3,438 posts

104 months

Thursday 10th June 2021
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Thinking about getting my front end resprayed to rid it of stone chips, scratches, etc.

Can anyone recommend a good paint shop?

I'm in south Leicestershire, so Midlands ideal.

Thanks all.

DJMC

Original Poster:

3,438 posts

104 months

Friday 11th June 2021
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Paynewright said:
Paintworx in Loughborough gets good reviews on one of the VW Transporter forums. An acquaintance uses them and is very particular about his van!

Where in South Leics are you - I’m near Lutterworth.
Thanks guys.

I'm near Lutterworth too!

DJMC

Original Poster:

3,438 posts

104 months

Thursday 17th June 2021
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Someone recommended Colourkit in Leicester so I went over, realised it wasn't far from the OPC, went to the OPC first where the dozy new girl went off to see who they use and came back with a Chartwells card, then I went to Colourkit.

Turns out they are the OPC's body shop for used cars (I double checked with the OPC afterwards - Chartwells do the new stuff, rectifications, etc.).

Estimator looked at my car and immediately said "we get a perfect colour match for this colour (Rhodium) without blending adjacent panels. We just respray each part, bumper, bonnet, etc. and that's it." He showed me around the workshop where a 911 was in progress.

I'm tempted by them being the OPCs body shop, but who's heard of not blending in?

After that I went to the folks who'd resprayed half an E-Class back in 2015. Brilliant job: https://www.citycentrecarcare.co.uk
They are JLR's rectification body shop, just down the road from them.
Nigel, who'd dealt with the Merc, said he'd not heard of any system which would allow a panel to be painted with no blending of adjacent panels.

Any comments? Should I use the one who'd impressed me so much painting the Merc, or should I use OPC Leicester's body shop who assure me I'm in safe hands. If it's good enough for an OPC to put in their showroom...?

DJMC

Original Poster:

3,438 posts

104 months

Friday 18th June 2021
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Spoke today to Harry, director and paint "guru" at Colourkit, my OPC's chosen bodyshop for used car painting.

He said that as Rhodium is now a fairly old colour they are used to its various incarnations. Over the years this colour has changed coming out of the factory but they can identify which version it is a get a perfect match, hence no need to blend into adjacent panels.

He said if it were a brand new colour to Porsche, where they don't have this experience from the hundreds of Porsches they paint each year, he too would have to blend in to surrounding panels.

They're quoting £1,140.
CCCC are quoting £4,614.

Edited by DJMC on Friday 18th June 17:40

DJMC

Original Poster:

3,438 posts

104 months

Saturday 17th July 2021
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Picked the car up from Colourkit yesterday after a week.

Perfect. Can't find any issues so far after careful inspection. And yes, no blending of adjacent panels.

I asked Harry, the paint guru (40 years in the trade) more about paint matching. Every car they paint they spray a small sample and keep this so as to build a library of different Rhodium Silver's (in my case). He explained that the factory order paint from various suppliers, whoever is cheapest, and that's why not all batches are the same.

As we left he mentioned a problem with Panameras. One this week had 25kg of mud and gravel behind each front wheel arch. But it's not alone, every one has the same issue, a hidden body cavity.