NyCrAzY

The past owner seems like they never took care of the rx300. The fading paint isnt really noticable unless you look at the roof of the car.

Also ... somebody keyed my engine hood and its really bugging me.

Its a 1999 black rx300.

Ive heard of a company called MACCO. Are they reliable since i heard they do paint jobs for cheap prices?

bob2200

Sorry to hear about your paint problems. Black may be an easier color to touchup than the others. If you provide a photo of the fading, we might be able to see if it could be corrected, short of repainting.

MAACO paint shops are individually owned and operated franchises. Some are not bad and some are terrible. I used them a couple of times on a previous car. I went around and inspected cars they had just finished, and finally found one that wasn't too bad. There was still a lot of overspray I had to clean up myself.

From what I read on other ClubLexus forums, good paint jobs start at about $2,000, even down in south Florida, which is a lot cheaper than Virginia. Down here, you can get a panel repainted for maybe $300 (e.g., hood, roof). That's just an educated guess. I recently got an estimate for repainting a whole bumper and it was $250. The guy I go to (The Touchup Company) can do perfect spot repairs, so I just had the bumper scuff repainted for $124.

hypervish

NO!!!! Don't go to MACCO.... Those cheap pain jobs will be worse than what you have now.

You might want to take it to a detailer first and see what they can do about the scratches on the hood. Also, if your paint hasn't really faded, the wax will make it shiny once again.

carguy07

X2 A good detail guy can work magic even on some key-marks. Unless you have a buddy that is hooking you up, you get what you pay for with paintwork, and it isn't cheap these days.

robertrios

iTrader: (11)

dont repaint the whole car which is what Macco is going to want to do, repaint only the pannels with issues, lexus paint is great so keep as much oem paint as possible. If i were you I would shell out 600 bucks and repaint the roof and hood at a reputable shop. Your going to be a lot happier with the end result. If you take it to a quality shop they will evaluate your hood if its a scratch on the surface that can be buffed out they will tell you and just do that instead of repainting.

NyCrAzY

I'll take a few pictures and post it here once I get off from work and see what you guys think.

L3XOTIC

DONT do MAACO. Find a reputable INDEPENDENT body-shop and believe me regardless of whom they are,it WILL look better then MAACO. Maaco has lots of orange peel, dullness. ESPECIALLY on BLACK!

salimshah

A faded paint is far better than a botched paint job.

Salim

NyCrAzY

Here are the pictures of the car. I don't know if it's too late to get taken care of

People are really starting to notice it and it's becoming quite embarrassing on a luxury brand car, haha.

Sorry about the quality, it was taken at night through my phone.

Key marks on the engine hood:



The rest:

NyCrAzY

Any suggestions or tips i can do to fix the paint?

hypervish

LIke mentioned above, I think it's best if you just get the hood and the roof painted. Leave the rest alone.

salimshah

Call your local Lexus dealer and ask them the names of local body shops they recommend for paint. Go visit them and ask them the question you are asking here.

Expect to pay top dollars for top quality job. There is no point in getting a poor paint job. Paint/finish is not like a mechanical fix that can be treated as temporary/intermediate fix.


Salim

NyCrAzY

Alright, sounds good guys. Thanks for the inputs, I will shop around for some estimates beginning of next week.

Now my question is:

What is the reason for this paint fading off? How and why does it happen? Because it's a 1999 car? Thanks.

salimshah

Paint is a thin skin bonded to the metal base and typically has a clear coat on top.

When paint goes bad it is either from the outside-in or inside-out. Looking at your pictures (excluding vandalism) it seems to have faded from outside-in. There does not seem to be any problem with the base metal (rust, bubbling up).

The outside-in problems exist due to UV, chemicals in the air, ice/snow/rain/dew, temp etc. The proper care is to wash weekly and a good wax 3-6 months. [Some new waxes can last 1 year]. Simple test is to see how water beads up when you wash your vehicle.

Looking at the pictures it seems neglect on the part of the owner. If the vehicle is garaged, the paint and interior (with so much glass) has much longer life.

ps: Any scraping of ice can also damage the paint. Buffers if not used properly can damage the paint too. Automatic car washes can be bad as well.


Salim

bob2200

Washing the car with laundry detergent, instead of a car washing-formulated detergent, is also bad news.