I have been considering getting some money to paint my car. The interior on mine is in excellent shape while the exterior is so so. Right now my rear drivers side door has a rust spot on it from the previous owner having it poorly repaired, front bumper is cracked w/ a grape fruit sized whole from an accident, drivers side rear quarter panel has small dent and long scratch, trunk has a lot of small scratches from previous owner dragging a box over it, hood has 2 small dents, and the rear bumper is scuffed from a Mercedes rolling into it. I would like to get an S4 front bumper and lowers but modify the front bumper to have the RS4 look like this http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTb_181H...oddedgrill.jpg I would keep it the oem color Volcano Black (paint code LZ9U) as I think its the perfect color and less work. Would love to go Imola yellow or Santorin Blue but that requires a lot of stripping down that I would like to avoid and my color seems to be a rather rare one. I also want to incorporate some sort of pin stripe into the paint in a dark red not quite burgundy but close. Not sure where so that's where I would like some opinions. It's a 99.5 136000 miles love it to death. Its already got Vogtland sport springs and E-codes and this would nearly complete the look. Just not sure if I should just paint the bumper and door or do the whole car.

 

W/out question, do the entire car. Espec since it's black. Paint matching and such will be a pain in the *** for all but the best shops. And unless you REALLY know what you are doing, painting black ontop of bodywork is not a task you want to undertake, trust me.

 

do it now!!!!!!

 

Its really more of a gray gun metal color w/ a sparkle to it. Probably even harder to paint match. I need to find myself a cheap s4 bumper and sides asap. Already have a new door.

 

You have the supplies and tools to do this or is someone else going to do it?

 

if your base coat is fine you could just have it scuffed and re-cleared.

but since there is body damage repaint alll the car!!!!!

 

I do have a paint gun, sander, sand blaster, misc body cutting tools for grafting but not by any means a "full" set but enough to get me buy to paint a car in relatively good condition (as in no real body work). I have done this once before w/ my dad on his CJ me and him rebuilt from the ground up and it turned out good but I want better. It's just got minor orange peel in a few spots. I will have help on this from a 2 friends but also doing there FB and FC RX-7 haha. Estimated start is probably spring break for the high school I have no clue on what exact date that is (girl that bought the FC is still in high school lol). I am not sure what paint to get for high quality and durability. The clear coat on my dads CJ seems a little soft to me but maybe that's just the mixture. I'm really looking forward to this and it can't do anything but help my cars value!

 

It will still be very difficult. And as old as your car is, the code alone wouldn't guarantee a match. You'd have to use a spectrophotometer to be sure of an exact duplicate due to fading of the base color.

 

I want to do my whole car anyways. I think its gonna end up a lot darker then before cuz the door I got was supposed to be Volcano black but its way darker.

 

well like scg87, your paint will fade to a lighter shade over time, my altima went from a darkish **** brown to a lighter **** brown, now my car will be a darker blue and eventually in a few years (if i ever take it out of the garage) will be a lighter blue

the suns UV rays are a bitch....