David2011
05-17-2022, 11:14 PM
Bottom line, we sold a car. Getting there was a Royal pain.
Full story, we contracted with a dealer to buy a new RAV4 several weeks ago. Between the time we paid the deposit and delivery, someone got up against the front bumper of the old RAV4 and damaged the paint over the entire right side of the bumper. Fortunately, there was no sheet metal damage. The paint is a tri-color system consisting of a base coat, a mid coat that contains the metallic and pearl components and the clear top coat.
My first mistake was ordering paint from an Internet retailer. After doing the prep work and spraying the base coat it was apparent that it was not a match. Fortunately there is a professional paint dealer reasonably close. It turns out that the PPG dealer had 5 different color cards and 20 different formulae for the car’s color code. Small chance that the Internet dealer could have matched the color. Fortunately the dealer was decent and gave me a full refund.
The PPG dealer encouraged me to at a minimum, clear coat the entire bumper. The vehicle is 15 years old and had its share of rock dings so I opted for a full repaint of the bumper. Lots more masking and sanding. The finish turned out very nice. It was just a lot of work for someone that hadn’t done any auto/marine/aircraft painting for over 20 years. It was expensive, too. For 4 ounces each of base and mid coat, activator, a quart of reducer, a quart of clear coat and a half pint of hardener set me back almost $400. The body shop would have charged over $1000. At least I can use the clear coat on my RC airplanes.
One more thing. Got full asking price for the car.
Full story, we contracted with a dealer to buy a new RAV4 several weeks ago. Between the time we paid the deposit and delivery, someone got up against the front bumper of the old RAV4 and damaged the paint over the entire right side of the bumper. Fortunately, there was no sheet metal damage. The paint is a tri-color system consisting of a base coat, a mid coat that contains the metallic and pearl components and the clear top coat.
My first mistake was ordering paint from an Internet retailer. After doing the prep work and spraying the base coat it was apparent that it was not a match. Fortunately there is a professional paint dealer reasonably close. It turns out that the PPG dealer had 5 different color cards and 20 different formulae for the car’s color code. Small chance that the Internet dealer could have matched the color. Fortunately the dealer was decent and gave me a full refund.
The PPG dealer encouraged me to at a minimum, clear coat the entire bumper. The vehicle is 15 years old and had its share of rock dings so I opted for a full repaint of the bumper. Lots more masking and sanding. The finish turned out very nice. It was just a lot of work for someone that hadn’t done any auto/marine/aircraft painting for over 20 years. It was expensive, too. For 4 ounces each of base and mid coat, activator, a quart of reducer, a quart of clear coat and a half pint of hardener set me back almost $400. The body shop would have charged over $1000. At least I can use the clear coat on my RC airplanes.
One more thing. Got full asking price for the car.