ShelJW

I purchased a 2002 SC430 a few months back, and really love it.

It came with 53,000 miles, and a very clean interior. Everything inside the car works flawlessly, as well as the convertible roof. I took it to Lexus prior to purchase, and they did a full inspection and gave it a clean bill.

It does have some nicks and minor dings on it. I've thought of having just the hood and rear bumper repainted (most of the chips and nicks), and then I've thought of just repainting the entire car.

My 18 year old son recently had an accident in my wifes 2016 BMW, and the car is totaled. He is fine, his friends are all fine, but the car has been declared a total loss by the (other guys) insurance. My son wasn't at fault, there were witnesses.

I mention this because I went into a BMW dealership to check out getting a replacement, and came across a Bimmer in a color called "Arctic Grey Metallic"... the color is stunning!

The car is now Silver, and I love the silver. However, I had found another SC430 when I was searching, which was a dark grey, and I really loved that color. Trouble was, it had over 140,000 miles, and I just didn't want a car with that many miles...

So now I'm thinking, if I'm going to spend the $$$ to paint the entire car (still just thinking about it, haven't decided), why not change the color and go with the BMW grey that I really love?

Any negatives with changing the cars exterior color from it's original color? Any thoughts?

Thanks for any input!

Oh... one last thing. Anyone with Photoshop skills care to show what the 2002 SC430 would look like in the Artic Grey? You can find the color here.

Thanks!

Aron9000

Unless its a total frame off restoration type of deal, I generally HATE color changes.

To do it right, which according to my standard is to pull it off to where a concourse judge would not notice unless he looked at the build sheet, is almost impossible, unless you are doing that sort of total nut/bolt restoration. You need to consider that maybe your existing damage can be solved with simply sanding down to the color coat and reapplying clear, which is much cheaper. Also paintless dent guys are awesome, they charge a fraction of what the body shop would charge, keeps your factory finish, and with door dings, you can't even tell there ever was a dent.

To do a color change correctly, the whole car will need to be sanded down to the primer, maybe bare metal. It will be multiple coats of the grey base coat, then multiple coats of clear. Keep in mind that areas like the door jambs, trunk jamb, the seams between the folding top, the engine compartment(can't respray that worth a crap unless you remove the engine and all underhood components), and areas under the fenderwell that are painted body color. This could easily be a $5,000+ job on the cheap, maybe $10,000+ if you want something that is good as factory paint.

Also if you really want a grey SC430, just keep looking on Autotrader, Craigslist, etc Might take you a few months to find one with low miles/nice shape, but the So-Cal market is the biggest one in the nation.

Coleroad

Basically, color changes look like crap unless the car is disassembled completely. The drive train, interior, the removable panels. A huge expense, and hopefully no rattles or other annoyances after it reassembled.

ragingf80

I agree with the sentiment in this thread. To do it right would cost much more than it's really worth. Honestly, the only time I can see an entire strip down frame repaint is for a restoration project on a classic or soon-to-be classic car.

ArmyofOne

Short answer?

If i had the money and was going to keep it forever, yep.

long answer: there's alot to it. To do it right:

Engine, exhaust, transmission, suspension, differential, axles, wheels, glass, interior panels, dash, seats, carpets, fuel tank, convertible top panels/mech, wiring harnesses/connections, hood, bumpers, mirrors, door handles, fenders, lights, trunk lid, trunk liner, wheel well liners, sound insulation matting and ALL TRIM...all has to be removed and painted individually or set aside to go back on the car.

generally with a repaint, if the pant underneath is good there is no reason to go to bare metal. All thats needed is to scuff the current surface. However if you have dents/dings to be repaired those areas will have to go to bare metal if PDR cant fix them.

the cost for a full repaint this way is in the neighborhood of $15,000- $20,000 for a concourse quality paintjob using DuPont or PPG paint systems.

there are literally hundreds of man-hours involved in it and if you are going to do it, soend the money and do it right. Dont cut corners because i promise if you do, you will regret it. Just google bad paint jobs. I changed the color of a nissan sentra when i was in auto body trade school from purple to blue. I went down to the unibody on a rotisserie. I had 228 hours into the car by the end of my program. At the average labor rate of $55 an hour...well the math comes out to roughly a $12,500 paintjob. Just to cover my labor. Thats not including shop overhead....on a nissan sentra. Now of course it wasnt a concourse paintjob, because it was the first car i ever painted, but it was better than it was when it went in, and i was proud of my accomplishment.

so, in short, you should easily be looking at $18,000 to do this right, but if you want to do it, correctly is the only way and you wont regret it.

Och

iTrader: (3)

You could wrap it instead of paint. Won't last as long as paint, but cheaper, you can do more unique colors, and change it up once a while.

ArmyofOne

Wraps are great! My only issue with them is to my knowledge they dont generally come in metallic/pearl finishes, and im a sucker for those.

bagwell

pretty sure they have metallic wraps....

https://www.3domwraps.com/vinyl-car-wrapping/full-car-wraps/metallic-wraps/
https://www.3domwraps.com/vinyl-car-wrapping/full-car-wraps/pearlescent-wraps/

mmarshall

Don't want to drag the thread off-topic, but the real problem, IMO, is that, outside of the Rolls-Royce/Bentley class, the manufacturers just don't offer enough stock factory colors any more. Even most luxury cars nowadays rarely have more than 8-9 exterior colors...the average for most cars is about 6-7, and some entry-level products with 2-4.

The cars in the 1960s I grew up with, for example, (except for special-edition models), offered dozens of different colors outside, and sometimes 4 or 5 different interior colors to match.

Here's just one example.....for one specific car (the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, one of my at-the-time favorites):

96SC4

iTrader: (2)

Considered just buying a bimmer in arctic grey mettalic?
could be your wife's new color. That way you get to enjoy it, without spending the $ on a paint job for the SC430

pman6

I'm not even looking for a color change. I need to repaint my whole car because the clear coat has completely failed after 14 years. It's impossible to get around the gaskets

I'm thinking about going with a single stage silver for this piece of crap.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Whats the point repainting a 14yo car?

mmarshall

Maybe he simply prefers it over new ones. There are certain things I myself like abut older cars.....other things are better on new ones.

ragingf80

What kind of car?

Aron9000

Depends on the car if its worth it, but I'd say with rare exceptions, if its in that 5-20 year old range with really crap paint/body, it isn't worth restoring. Not when you can go out and still buy a clean example with great cosmetics for pretty cheap, ie cheaper than properly painting and doing body work on said car.