Hi -
My 98 maxima paint gel coat is starting to loose it. Any tips or ideas on if i should paint this car ? Should I go to an auto body specialist and have them do it ? Change color ? Thoughts on next steps ?

thanks in advance




Dan

 

Are you sure it isn't just dirty ? Looks pretty grungy. BTW, it is the clear coat, not the gel coat.

You will find out that it will probably cost more to repaint the car than it is worth. Paining a car is VERY expensive. It may just need to be detailed, or you may have to live with it.

 

It's hard to tell from those pictures, but it looks like the clear coat has started to fail. You can try to wash, clay bar, and then machine polish it to try and make it more presentable, but don't expect to make it look like new. Depending on the failure, it may do nothing at all.

Unless you really love the car and plan on keeping it for a long time, painting it won't be worth the cost. You could get a quote from some place cheap like Maaco, but the color match won't be great, the finish of the clear won't be great, and it will probably only last a few years before it will start chipping and flaking off. Good paint work is hard and expensive. Is it worth it for this car?

 

I am in the process of repainting my '97 currently. It's a big, time consuming job, perhaps a misguided labor of love. My clear coat had started to fail sort of all at once, left big stripes on the hood- and of course its share of rock chips on the hood, front fenders, door dings, - and in some places along the edges of the hood, door, trunk were also in need of attention. The thought of watching it deteriorate didn't sit right. That said - If you're going to tackle painting it yourself - be prepared to do a lot of disassembly- unless you're just looking to do a quick overcoat "that's not so bad" job. No chemical meant to strip paint will stop at just the bad job you're trying to correct. And nothing will really stick right if it's not properly sanded down. Anywhere there's rust needs to be sanded down to remove it - and if you get into it you'll be surprised how many little spots you find. Any rust left under paint will compromise the whole job eventually.

As others have said ... how much do you love the car and how long do you plan on keeping it.

If you can stomach letting maaco touch your car, you're in for a minimum of $2,000. I wonder if someone just picked up a rattle can without doing any prep and just sprayed your car over without sanding anything- based on things still being shiny under where things are flaking off- I bet that's exactly what happened. There should be nothing shiny underneath. And of course, once it's sanded, primered etc - and then repainted - it should be given new clear coat too, then a good sand/polish to get rid of any orange peel - depends on how picky you want to get.

 

Send it! New paint job and Stillen body kit