[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by PLP

Repainting the whole car – options and advice needed

Same colour or a slight change?

Paint on my car is neglected. A few dings here and there (no big deal), but a big scratch on the front fender (driver) and burn marks on the rear (very poor paint correction job burned through the clear and damaged the base coat) on the trunk and roof lids. Plus rear bumper problems.

Options I did not choose:
I looked at vinyl wrap, but at 2-4k USD and it will show all imperfection of the body anyway.
I considered plasti dip. I personally hate it and I know that would be the final destination of the car. Reverting it is impossible. Plus it still shows body damage.

I ended up with getting the whole car repainted and fixing all the body issues.


Now, the BIG question.
It is 2003 with body color 747 (regular flat black). It is non-metalic.
I was planning on sticking to OEM, black.
No, I am not changing into yellow… but I was wondering – maybe some metallic black, or dark blue metallic. Something what will not really show difference between door sills, but may look better.

What do you think guys?

Staying with plain black or some small change?
The body shop guy was suggesting some metallic – maybe like new Corollas have, black metallic with small hint of blue. I did not see it, so hard to say.

What I need to add here is that the car will receive a ceramic coating on the top of that so that we can retain the nice gloss.
That is also a factor in the future – which colour will show off better. I personally still think plain black has the highest gloss.

Resale? Not sure I car much about it…

ANY repaint that moves away from the factory color is going to require taking entire sections of the car apart to cover normally concealed areas, otherwise the car will scream "RESPRAY" and raise more questions at sale time than it answers. Buyers and those that conduct PPI's on these cars tend to be suspicious of why the car was repainted, and either shy away or lower their offering price.