986 Full-body Repaint Questions - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Lil bastard · 02-15-2010, 09:41 PM

Hard to imagine that a car which is washed and waxed regularly would develop such a problem - to the degree you state.

If doing a near-factory quality repaint be prepared to fork out the far side of $5k, maybe more. Given Boxster resale prices, that'd be a HARD choice to make because you won't increase/maintain it's value by that amount.

But, that may not be necessary. The car could be color sanded (wet sanded through the etching), leveled and then shot with clearcoat. Figure $1500-$3000 + whatever accident damage from the scrape. This estimate can range WILDLY by region, so have 2 shops give you bids - if they're waaay apart, seek a third. Sounds like a bit of legwork, but you've stated you want perfection - that's the best guarantee of getting it.

You just cannot achieve a factory paintjob anywhere near under $10k, but with the color coat intact, a good clearcoat job will come very close. It's when you redo the color coat that you start seeing the quality degrade.

Make sure that the shop knows what they're doing, that they have experience with good clearcoating. Be sure to inspect the shop - their work will often reflect the shop condition. Make sure they have a good shooting/drying booth. Try the local Porsche Club or newsletter for recommendations.

If you're skeptical, have them color sand and clear one panel like the bumper cover. If satisfied, give them the rest of the car.

Cheers!

Johnny Danger · 02-16-2010, 07:24 AM

Above and beyond the cost, perhaps the most difficult task ahead of you is finding someone capable of doing an outstanding job of repainting your vehicle. In all of my years as an automobile enthusiast, I have seen everything from "frame off" restorations to simple collision repairs - the final results of which have run the gamut in terms of quality and perfection. Indeed, I have literally seen "concours" level work turned out of some of the most spartan and humble of shops, to absolute "crap" being pushed out the door by many so called state of the art facilities. Depending upon your level of perfectionism, to fully restore your boxster to its original finish, would venture to say that 10K might even be a little conservative. Good luck on your quest.

Perfectlap · 02-16-2010, 10:55 AM

Well I had my front end repainted when the economy first started falling off the cliff. That meant painting hood, front bumper, fenders. Actually they also agreed to install my new GT3 front bumper which they pulled out of off-site storage for me, fix two inside dings on the hood (closed the hood with something sticking up inside) and repair a small dent near one of the wheel wells. That shop unfortunately closed recently, otherwise I would have made the recommendation because they color match was perfect. I keep my paint freshly waxed year round so I guess that made it easier. The price was about $1,100.
The top body shop probably in the state (Quality in Rahway) who do all of Ray Catena Aston Martin/Porsche/Maybach's work wanted about $4K. So I figure the middle and high end figure for the complete job in this neck of the woods would be between $3.5K and $11K.

p.s.
Use an acrylic paste wax with each season change and don't wash it in those automatic car washes more than once in a blue moon like in the dead of winter.
My car is 10 years old next month and still shines like new. Installing a clear bra is also a big help which I didn't do on my new bumper and I recently hit something that took a nice quarter size chunk of paint off the lower portion. I'll have to paint it again...sigh.

Allen · 02-16-2010, 12:18 PM

Thanks Perfectlap!

At least now I have a lead. I'll contact Ray Catena. They're about 10 minutes from my office.

02-16-2010, 12:33 PM

Uh-oh....better Get Maaco!

nola911 · 02-16-2010, 12:49 PM

Take it to a paint correction detailer. Acid rain spots should buff out of the clearcoat with a good etching polish and a high speed orbital. As for your new scratches, it sounds like that paint work is inevitable.

I would sell the car and buy a new 987 before putting that kind of money into a 2004 986. You will be easily be in 987 price range if you put that paint money towards the new car.

I have a classic truck that I was pricing paint for last year and was quoted 6 thousand for a very very easy and much cheaper quality paint job.

Perfectlap · 02-17-2010, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen

Thanks Perfectlap!

At least now I have a lead. I'll contact Ray Catena. They're about 10 minutes from my office.

I might have been unclear, Ray Catena's preferred shop wanted $4K just to paint the front end. I wonder if I'm being conservative in saying they would charge $11K for the whole car. If you did understand congrats!! That's a lot of moolah..
When I visited there they had powder blue Lamborghini with matching powder blue wheels and were in the middle of fixing a AM Vantage that looked like it was damaged in shipping because it had long, deep dents going across the roof and onto the rear quarter panel!
Maybe the shop (Quality Auto Body) can refer you to a smaller shop they feed business too. Let us know because I have to repaint my rear bumper but I'm thinking about waiting until I can get my hands a Euro spec 03-04 rear bumper.

jmatta · 02-17-2010, 07:57 AM

I agree with Lil B...a competent shop should be able to wet sand the clear coat and bring it back to near perfect condition. I have seen it done by two shops in my area and the results are astounding (I had it done to one of my 911s and was amazed by the results).

I can't even begin to think of a great reason to completely repaint a six year old Boxster?

Perfectlap · 02-17-2010, 08:27 AM

yeah if the corrosion/water damage didn't penetrate to the base layer there's no need to repaint EVERYTHING. A real pro with a Makita sander could fix most of the clear coat damage and the body shop would just need to do a once over with clear. But if the base layer was chipped then the whole panel would need to be repainted. Sounds like this is the case in Allen's Boxster. At least they could limit the repainting to only those panels.
I was watching an episode of Motorweek or one of these shows and the mechanic's personal C4S Carrera had a pencil eraser sized chip in the rear quarter. I though they were going to show some method of doing a magic fix....nope. They painted the whole quarter panel again just because the chip was down to the metal.

chaiyz · 05-27-2016, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

I might have been unclear, Ray Catena's preferred shop wanted $4K just to paint the front end. I wonder if I'm being conservative in saying they would charge $11K for the whole car. If you did understand congrats!! That's a lot of moolah..
When I visited there they had powder blue Lamborghini with matching powder blue wheels and were in the middle of fixing a AM Vantage that looked like it was damaged in shipping because it had long, deep dents going across the roof and onto the rear quarter panel!
Maybe the shop (Quality Auto Body) can refer you to a smaller shop they feed business too. Let us know because I have to repaint my rear bumper but I'm thinking about waiting until I can get my hands a Euro spec 03-04 rear bumper.

I learned how to paint repainting a vette years ago. I've been going through interior parts spraying with 3 coats color and 8 coats clear. I'm almost done. Original paint/clear. The paint is expensive but it's much fun learning doing it yourself.