respray help

[cbclotus]

hi all as i have said just bought my 1982 s3 esprit BNE771Y looking very sorry for its self very faded red paint work . just polished the rims on the bbs wheels myself looking good . the interior is black velour .now faded green colour velour .any idieas for re colouring the velour etc. been busy wax oiling the chassis . just had anew exhaust manifold made by a friend from scratch in stainless steel and fitted . the last owner did not mention that it was cracked on the phone .did not pay a fortune for it 3750 knowing it needed a repaint etc love it thanks for a warm welcome mike .

[Guest teigan]

you can use upholstery dye for the velour, but with the age of the car, i'd suggest pulling it up and relining it with fresh fabric. painting the body is going to be tough. i have an '84 car with original paintwork. it is quite strange that some surfaces are faded while some appear factory new; often on the same body panel. my point is that the preparation of the surface makes a complete difference. pay for the best paintjob you can afford, and make sure the painter understands fiberglas materials.

[EspritMiltonKeynes]

Full resprays are expensive.

The guy who runs AutoTech Paintwork quoted me 2500GBP for the full works. A top to bottom rub down, and repaint of everything, including decal and badge renewals. He's a guy who really knows his stuff and used to work at the London Lotus Centre.

Expensive - but no doubt top notch. I'm very seriously thinking about taking him up on his offer. The quotes I have received have been around 2000GBP barring one absurd quote of 3750!

Edited August 17, 2005 by EspritMiltonKeynes

[Guest teigan]

i've been quoted roughly the same rates in the U.S. if you remove the parts yourself, that may save you some money. the new polyurethane paints have better UV protection than those available in the eighties, so provided you do it right, the finish should last a few decades.

[Evil_Dr_Fish]

Two Five?

Thast CHEAP for a proper FULL respray...

Three five is usually the starting figure for a good job with the absurd end usually finishing up aropund 5-6k... I even had one bloke quote me 10k once!! lmao

[senna21]

Two Five?

Thast CHEAP for a proper FULL respray...

Three five is usually the starting figure for a good job with the absurd end usually finishing up aropund 5-6k... I even had one bloke quote me 10k once!! lmao

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm assuming these cars run into a lot of the problems that the Ferrari 308s do when it comes to prepping the car.

The $7,000 paint job

[Evil_Dr_Fish]

$7000 that's just under

[WayneB]

Hi Mike, used some of that spray dye on velour once and found out it cameoff on my white shirt. The make I used was Sperex so maybe another brand might be more colour fast.

With a repaint you usually get what you pay for and the figure of $6000 is what I would have charged to paint my car. I think that would come out to about 3500 GBP! I would advise a Basecoat/with a urethane clearcoat for colour stability and longevity. (red is prone to fading really badly) I would find a shop who had painted another forum members car about a 1yr. to 2 yrs. ago (so you can see how its holding up)

[EspritMiltonKeynes]

I suppose it depends on just how durable you want it to last.

RE The $7000paintjob: Autotech specified to me that they wouldn't be removing the glass louvre (and would just be masking it out and then reblacking it later carefully with a spray can. All of which I'm ok with.

Personally, I'm not intent on taking my esprit to the UV tanning beds, so if the paint stays vibrant for 3 years before beginning to fade I'll be happy.

[senna21]

Personally, I'm not intent on taking my esprit to the UV tanning beds,.... 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here in Los Angeles we call that daylight. B) It comes form that big ball of fire in the sky. I know you guys in the dreary UK need to be reminded sometimes that it's up there.

I know a lot of Red gets sprayed as a single stage paint. If you do desire the car to be red go for a two stage instead. Base coat and clear coat sprayed separately. It'll hold up much, much better in the long run.

[EspritMiltonKeynes]

B) The guy at at Autotech was actually angling for three layer job! And yes, all for just 2500GBP.

He said that 'despite what people think about fibreglass cars the best finishes are achieved with an initial primer coat just like a metal car, followed by a generous base coat (which would be Calypso red in my case), and then just a standard clear lacquer' which gives it that all important sheen B)

Some paint cmpanies these days have worked out ways of putting UV blocking chemicals into their lacquers (a bit like sun block lotions) so a modern day respray could even end up being more resitant to fading than the orignal paintjob 15 years ago!