I'm asking because I've had my 2003 for a hair over 2 years now. It's Brickyard with the frost leather interior. It's a touring that's getting ready to hit 93k. It's been a wonderful car, but I'm considering moving up to a 2007/8 model just to get a newer car out of the deal. My paint isn't HORRIBLE - in fact it's very good in my opinion for a ten year old car that sits in the Florida sun all year round, but it could use some freshening up. I've been quoted anywhere from 2-3,500 to do the whole car - doesn't seem bad for what it's worth. However when it's all said and done I wonder if I'd be better off getting into an HR. I'm pricing things out currently and I want to know if the color combinations of the Z's makes any sort of difference in resale. Thanks! Opinions on trading up are more than welcome, also.

 

Stick to relitively basic colors, nothing original. If you want a easy sale, go white grey or black paint.
And keep in mind that the Z's paint is a 2 stage pearl, which costs more.
Since your getting it painted for so cheap, it wont really matter the quality since your selling it that is.
But if you plan to keep it, I suggest in a higher quality paint job.
Alot of paint shoppes quote cheap because theyr using cheaper materials. So you dont want your clear coat to start hazing and peeling after 3 years and have to do it all over again if you know what I mean

 

Why not take the car to a professional detailer and get an estimate on a really thorough polish/wax? Might be a few $hundred, but it will make the car look much better for selling, and brickyard is a desirable color IMO. if I'm looking to buy a car, nothing scares me away faster than fresh paint. Who knows the quality of materials and workmanship, or what's hiding underneath? Bad investment if you're selling.

As for getting into an HR car, definitely worthwhile, and that's the direction I'd go, both for performance/reliability, and the economics of the situation.

 

If you got a nice car and you keep it out in the sun all the time I don't get why people don't use car covers? People always give the excuse that it takes too much time to cover the car then take it off but that's just plain laziness if you ask me. Your better off detailing the car and see how it turns out. I wouldn't go as far as to paint it because your just putting yourself even in more of a whole with the money spent on painting.

 

As already said, a professional detail will do wonders. The Brickyard, being a one year only color, should be somewhat desirable - i wish I had gone that route instead of SB on my '03. But my paint still gleams and it is a DD with 133,000 miles and Ohio winters are as bad as year round Florida sun.

 

color doesnt affect pricing. BUT a clean car vs a dirty looking one or one that doesnt look like it has been taking car of affects pricing, that detail could make the paint shine and give you some ground when you go to resale, especially if the inside is good.

 

I think it depends on supply and demand and what a buyer wants. Daytona blue is more rare versus black or simple color

 

Hi BrickyardZ350, I think it’s foolish to consider painting a car for no good reason (i.e., You said: “My paint isn't HORRIBLE - in fact it's very good in my opinion for a ten year old car that sits in the Florida sun all year round…”).

If the car is brickyard, and the only problem is slight fading -- any good detailer or body shop can return the black to near (or even better) than its original color. You do not want to repaint the car. As Neeko94 points out, the ZX’s paint is extraordinary due to a unique paint-process. My 2003 350z Redline's paint looks amazing.

--Spike

 

+1 ^

My sunset le mans is still bright as hell and its been 7 years. I wash my car every week and wax it every two weeks. detail it every month and a half

 

Thanks a lot for the info, guys. I'll go and spend some time with local detailers to get more of a grasp on this. I may have explained it a little wrong according to some of the earlier responses - I'm not gonna paint the car prior to a sale. If I decide to sell it, it will be either fully detailed or as-is. I'd love to keep the car, as it's very much mechanically sound (and I'm still in love with the color!), but an HR is definitely being considered over the next few months.

As for the comment on the car cover, I live in an apartment complex with a HORRIBLE parking situation. I work nightshift at my job, and by around 6 o'clock, all of the spots close to my building are taken (note: I work from 2p-2a). I end up parking about a minute walk away from my building just to keep away from cluttered up parking spots. If I had a cover, I'd have to constantly take it on and off while walking back and forth to my apartment. No excuse obviously, but it's not something I'm interested in.

 

bro you can do it yourself, go to walmart, look up meguiars paint restoration kit (link below) and use that. You can do it by hand and it will make that car brand new. If you want to get an orbital, walmart also has turtle wax orbitals for like $20. For about $45 you can restore the paint to your car and learn how to detail it yourself.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/16386208?w...l5=pla&veh=sem

 

Buying that Turtle Wax Orbital is simply a waste of money. You need a good random orbital like a Porter Cable, Griot's Garage or Meguiars machine. You can do the detailing yourself by purchasing a couple hundred dollars worth of equipment. Meguiars is good product and you can't go wrong with that. I suggest going to a couple good detailing websites and see what you really need to restore your car to like new condition.

www.adamspolishes.com
www.meguiarsonline.com
http://www.autogeek.net/
http://www.detailedimage.com/

 

I don't kniw his budget man lol I was just giving some advice

 

I don't have an actual buffer, but I've always done details by hand. Unfortunately I haven't done it myself in about a year. I had a hernia surgery and ended up with some nerve damage that caused a ton of pain when I would bend certain ways, and leaning over a car for hours on end was HORRIBLE for me even just washing it normally. I've always used Meguiar's on this car - clayed it when I bought it, then used ultimate polish and ultimate synthetic wax. I also tried to use the ultimate rubbing compound (by hand, granted) and really had no help from it. I'll check into some good sites for sure though and take it to my local dealer. Got a few friends in the detail department there who I can ask.

 

Well in your situation i would just spend the money to have it detailed shouldnt be too much somwhere from 100 to 200 giving a very broad range there

 

Get the Z detailed.

The exterior color won't affect pricing. It will however affect how fast you can sell a car.

I'd be more worried about the Frost interior if anything...

 

X2.. I have no idea what Nissan was thinking with "frost interior".



Painting your car will kill your resale value like you cant believe.

 

OP try this. 1.Wash your car throughly with a good car wash soap that has wax in it, use mitts and wash from the top down then rinse and dry.

2. After that clay bar the car, I use mothers clay bar kit because it has everything I need, spray the detailer and start claying the entire car one section at a time then use the terry towel to wipe up the detailer. This will make the car's surface look and feel like glass!!! btw i clay bar everything! The exhaust tips, the glass, headlights, taillights, rims (after they have been washed), my mirrors and everything else that can have a smooth surface. Be warned though, if you use a car cover it will slip off all the time because the paint will be slippery.

3. Then use a UV protection car polish, I used turtle wax F21 car polish because it removes oxidation, supposedly protects your car's finish for a year, nanotechnology formula (whatever the hell that means) and it gives the car a damn good glossy shine afterwards.

4. Next you want to clear up the headlights with some type of headlight restoration product. I used this stuff called blue magic from auto zone and I use it about once a month on my headlights. I'm sure most of the headlight restoration liquids are the same or just as effective as the rest.

5. Add a hard paste wax on your car to really bring out the sparkles in your paint. I use turtle wax hard shell finish and then I add meguiers NXT generation tech wax with polymers.

6. Then I use a liquid spray on wax to complete the full detail look, wash and scrub the inside and outside of the exhaust tips, wash the rims and dry them, and your car will look amazing. You'll see the little sparkles in the paint, the car will have a slippery mirror finish like it just rolled off the assembly line.

I do this with both my cars every other week.

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+1K!
That Porta cable is an awesome tool!

Also there are tips on detailed image for washing like the two bucket method. It takes a bit of time but all of my cars look great because I use good tools/methods.

 

Everything (even the door panels - never understood everyone's issues with them) is perfect except for some minor wear on the driver's seat side bolster (no tearing, though). The passenger seat looks brand new. No scratches on the arm rests either.

Jah70, unfortunately nowadays I work minimum 60-70 hours a week, and I have nowhere to do the work. It's hard as hell to work around that haha.