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Paint protection

1K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  TGO 
#1 ·
Ok, so my low miles beauty seems to be nearing the point of repaint. Due to years of neglect the clear on the rear bumper has cracked and faded...as expected. But it looks to me like the trunk and the hood have similar problems. Mainly light colored spots of clear with rust colored dots in the middle. I have patched a few of the bigger ones already. Perhaps the roof too. I have checked but I haven't officially found any. Front bumper paint has cracked and spidered and 2 of the 4 doors have sanding marks on them anyway for unknown reasons. It seems logical to paint the whole damn car.

Unfortunately ,at the moment the car is an outside car. I'm not so much worried about the weather, rather my douchebag neighbors kids who like to play football/hockey in the street. I can point out a few scratches/dents from them.

anyway, my goal was to wait until my situation changes to paint the car...but I feel like waiting longer and letting rust set in isn't going to benefit me at all. So, I've been thinking of ways to at least protect the paint after a repaint. My initial though was opticoat...then there is c quartz finest. Both of which seem great but don't really provide protection against debris impact which is what I face from the neighbors. they aren't cheap either. Figure about $1000 on top of a new paint job. The only other options seem to be a protective film of which xpel seems to be the most durable in terms of scratch resistance. But it's nearly $4000 to coat the entire car. Argh!

Most dealers want to do the bumpers, hood and half the doors which are the exact opposite of what I would need.

Honestly, believe it or not...dents aren't that bad. I have awesome PDR guys. It's scratches. The film seems to be the best but it's way to expensive too coat the entire car.As far as ceramic coatings go...I can find 100 in favor of any brand. I need real world recommendations. Unfortunately I can't set the children on fire.

I don't just wanna let the car sit and let the rust become a real problem IE: embed in the sheetmetal and require replacement or failure of a repaint.
 
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#2 ·
.......Figure about $1000 on top of a new paint job. The only other options seem to be a protective film of which xpel seems to be the most durable in terms of scratch resistance.

But it's nearly $4000 to coat the entire car.......
This is MY option. for when I get my cars painted....although that $4000 is seriously expensive in your neck of the woods!!!

Your other option may be to find a company that does vinyl wrap and just get that done (no paint). You should be able to get a gloss black wrap. It would come awfully close to looking like a good paint job + the x-pel clear wrap.

Just a thought!

KW
 
#4 ·
I dunno...everything is more expensive in NY but I would drive somewhere else if the price was right. Still, just googling here's a guy in South Carolina that's charging $6500 for a full vehicle coating of Xpel. Stuff just isn't cheap lol

Arthur's Detailing Paint Protection Pricing - Arthur's Detailing-Opti-Coat Pro Plus, Xpel, 3M, Certified Installer


Idk if i'd want to do a wrap because I'd be worried that the existing problem spots are just going to continue to fester underneath. Maybe I'm wrong. I mean the spots are very tiny (pinhead small) haven't broken through and bubbled up yet but it's obvious that moisture has gotten under these spots and I know it's not gonna get any better on it's own and I'm pretty sure it cannot be mitigated by covering it up.

And, it's still gonna need paint when the wrap is shot.


it really comes down to how much $ you want to put towards this. none of the clear protect-ant processes will prevent "dents". They do protect against scratches (to a point) and tree sap kind of thing

I see guys at various cruise nights with high 5 and 6 figure $ cars who have the $3k+ clear but all those cars are garaged and covered anyway. They just want to protect what was at least a $10k paint job or the factory paint on a 6 figure car.

IMHO a 20 year old b-body would have to be the 1 of 1 uber pristine "show car" to entertain the cost of this kind of paint protection.

I am with KW on a wrap but outside those don't last NEARLY as long as paint (3 years ish)

Car covers help but car covers outside can turn into sand paper......
$5k tops for everything. I'm not gonna go crazy on the outside at all. I'm not gonna jam the car or redo the engine bay. It will be exterior only and the car will stay black like it is now. So I'm hoping I can squeek by for ~$3k on the paint alone.

I may just say screw it and go for the opticoat or cquartz and be done with it. I am neurotic about my cars but I also know that no matter what I do it will not stay perfect. But I can't in good conscience let a 29k miles car rust. I've come too far with it.

Probably gonna be spring time before I make any moves. No point in getting it done now lol!

I have my vette covered in my driveway which works well but it stays covered and not driven. And when it is driven the car is washed before the cover goes back on and (at least in the summer) the cover it too. Covers in the street can be a pain here if you get the right traffic cop looking to meet their quota. Both for covered plates and covered reg stickers on the windshield. Though I do see a few people who do it and I would assume they have no problem since they continue to do it.

cwm3
 
#3 ·
it really comes down to how much $ you want to put towards this. none of the clear protect-ant processes will prevent "dents". They do protect against scratches (to a point) and tree sap kind of thing

I see guys at various cruise nights with high 5 and 6 figure $ cars who have the $3k+ clear but all those cars are garaged and covered anyway. They just want to protect what was at least a $10k paint job or the factory paint on a 6 figure car.

IMHO a 20 year old b-body would have to be the 1 of 1 uber pristine "show car" to entertain the cost of this kind of paint protection.

I am with KW on a wrap but outside those don't last NEARLY as long as paint (3 years ish)

Car covers help but car covers outside can turn into sand paper......
 
#5 ·
if a car is covered in driveway, Cops can't do anything. On the street they "can" write you up if license plate & reg is covered. IMHO takes a dickhead cop to do that.

Several cars are covered along the coast (salt air) and many have their license plate stenciled on the cover and that seems to pacify the local cops.
 
#6 ·
Yeah the driveway is no problem but there isn't room for the impala there.

As far as dick cops go...well, it's hit or miss. I've had the same woman write me up 2-3x a week for no front license plate and I've had my inspection or registration expired for weeks at a time with no issue. That is a good idea about the stenciling though. Never thought of that.

Although the police have been pretty lax about enforcement of non important offenses these days due to the public relations situation.
 
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