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Re: paint - advice please!



Kevin Collins wrote:
> 
> I finally got off my ass today and got serious about getting my car painted.
> I had to go by and see Ron Wood at VW Specialties to make an appointment for
> suspension installation on my GTI, and I knew he had a buddy with a body
> shop.. a very high-end shop that paints a lot of Porsches and charges TOP
> dollar.  He recommended another guy who he thinks highly of that works a
> lot cheaper - like $1500 - $2500 for a quality job, vs. $4k or so for
> the Porsche dude.  So I went by and talked to the <cheaper> guy.  Here's
> where I need some advice..
> 
> He does work for the local VW dealer and has for years, so he's familiar
> with our cars - cool.  He's also familiar with dealing with the body kits,
> and says that they are virtually impossible to get off w/o damaging, then
> hard to get back on right again too.  He advises leaving it on to do the
> paint.  Couple of problems I see here - one, paint in the gaps between
> plastic and body, which will then of course crack and look like shit,
> also the issue of using a flex agent in the body kit paint, he wants
> to spray the whole thing at once, so this would not be practical.  He
> says that when the cars were new that nobody was even using flex agents
> on plastic parts yet (sounds questionable?) and he thinks the thing is
> hard enough to do ok without it.  Other than those things, he seemed
> like he ran a quality operation and was cool to rap with about the
> whole thing.  And he didn't look down his nose at it, like the one
> other German shop I took it to months back to discuss painting.
> 
> Any comments on this anybody will be most appreciated.. the bottom line is
> that I want to get it done right - I mean show quality - and will pay
> to get it a quality job.  But if I can get it done at $1k+ cheaper than
> the ultra-anal place, naturally I'd rather do that.  If it takes $4k
> to *really* do it right, so be it, I'll do it.
> 
> Oh yeah - the other thing is that this guy is so busy, the soonest he
> can start on it is a month from now, and that's not even definite -
> - paint-only work has to take a back seat to collision work.  And
> I'd rather start sooner than later if possible.
> 
> Help Mr. Wizard!
> 

Your best bet is to try to get hit and let insurance pay. Try backing up
on the off ramp or something. But seriously he's probably right about
the flex agent. I did collision repair for a year or so and although I'm
not sure how far back the use of a flex agent goes I'm sure the plastic
trim pieces don't flex enough to warrant its use. Its not like the
bumpers on Iroc's that flex bad and constantly crack the paint. The body
kits are strong on these cars as long as you don't stand on the side
skirts and shit. Or you can also mask off the body kit and then paint it
seperately afterward with a flex agent. This is how I would go. If
masked off properly you will NOT be able to tell it was done. Especially
if they later blend the clear coat. Find out. HTH.

Feenix

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