i originally wanted a Pikes Peak White... when i was shopping for my Z the only one i could find was an auto, so i settled for a Redline... i like my Redline, but everytime i see a PPW i wish i had more patience.

is it possible to get a factory looking painjob without spending thousands of dollars?

what exactly does the shop do in order to paint the car? (pull out engine, tailights, headlights, etc?)

can i trust someone to take my car apart, paint it, and put it back together?

has anybody on the forum done this to their Z yet? what have you guys paid? do you regret anything?

i'm seriously considering getting a PPW paintjob, but i don't know much about painjobs.... i don't want to go around asking for estimates and have some shop bs me and end up taking my money, i'd appreciate any kind of info or experience you have, thanks

 

most shops will charge you about $4-5k to pull the motor and paint an entire car, engine bay, door jams, etc.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by durobred
i originally wanted a Pikes Peak White... when i was shopping for my Z the only one i could find was an auto, so i settled for a Redline... i like my Redline, but everytime i see a PPW i wish i had more patience.

is it possible to get a factory looking painjob without spending thousands of dollars?

You can get a better than factory paint job, but to correctly change the basic color of the car, it is going to cost more than a thousand, probably more than two thousand.

what exactly does the shop do in order to paint the car? (pull out engine, tailights, headlights, etc?)

They'll mask what they can, but if you want it done right, pulling stuff off the car is required. If you want it factory or restoration quality, they'll even have to pull the windshield and rear glass so they can change the paint color under the molding. Most shops don't do that, though. They just paint the parts you can normally see on the outside, plus things like door jams, the firewall, etc that you can see if you look for it.

can i trust someone to take my car apart, paint it, and put it back together?

There are some shops I'd let do it. White Post Restorations is one, Legendary Motorcar Company is another. Of course either one would charge you more than just a couple thousand for the job.

Maaco could slap a coat of paint on for a few hundred dollars, and that might be good enough if you weren't changing the basic car color. But with a basic color change, you need to do more than they do to get it to look factory.

 

why not just trade in your red Z for a white one now. you will lose about the same if not less on the trade in. and you will get a REAL PPW Z with a factory paint job and no miles on it.

 

This about hits it 100%.

To get a factory look paintjob you are looking way over a couple thousand. Probably the order of $4 or 5k as Moroccan_Mole put it.

And also the thing about an aftermarket paint job is that the clear coat is not as strong as the factory one for a few months. When a car is painted in the factory the paint and clear are baked on so it is dry before they do anything else. Normal sprayed on clears are touch dry in 12 or so hours, but they are not yet hardened. So aftermarket paint jobs will not be the same no matter what you do, they can get close, but not factory.

 

i did consider getting a new PPW Z, but i don't want to lose that much... i like PPW, but i wouldn't drop more then 2grand for the paintjob, it's not that big of a deal, i would much rather spend it modifying my car... i would consider getting the paintjob for less then 2 grand

 

it looks like you have a 2003 enth. i'll bet you can get a new 2004.5 base ppw with less than $2000 more down. i have a base Z and it is great. flawless. and it is better for modding. 2004.5 has a few graet changes over 2003. better ride, upgraded interior quality, and the jury is still out but it looks as if the 2004.5s don't have tire problems or at least as bad. plus you will start over wih 000,000 miles on your Z. you will be much happier than you are with your red enth.

 

my bad. it looks like you have a 2004 base.

 

i have an '03 enthusiast (22k miles, all options except nav)

i would get a base, but i wanted the hids, tcs (even though it's usually off), and most importantly lsd, it would cost more to have it all installed seperately

i've searched all dealers inventories within 50 miles and found one 6spd PPW, it's a touring model like 35g's

so if i didn't get a "factory" paintjob, but a "factory looking" paintjob (door jams, engine bay, etc.) what should be painted? how much do you think it'll run?

 

if they just mask everything ... and paint with the bumpers on the car, it will probably run you about 2-2.5k.

 

thanks for the help, i'm keeping the red... it's the fastest color anyway