Mustang Cobra Tri-Stage code E9 paint job

[stangr]

Hello, I'm wondering how much a good repaint will cost ? I want it done right of course and I've been told that this tri-stage paint job isn't the easiest to do. I have zero dents in the car and the paint isn't really bad yet but there's some areas where I used touch-up paint that need wet sanding etc.. I guess you'd say it's beginning to fade.
I have some small chips in the front bumper, about 3 I think. There's a small area that the paint has come off around one of the hood scoops and around one of the tail lights.
It's a convertible so I'm hoping it won't be quite a much as a coupe would run ? I've heard horror stories about maaco of course. Some good stories as well believe it or not. I guess it depends on the person that's painting it, more than the shop at times. I'm hoping less than 2000, is that being too optimistic ? Thanks for the help

[93fox]

Hello, I'm wondering how much a good repaint will cost ? I want it done right of course and I've been told that this tri-stage paint job isn't the easiest to do. I have zero dents in the car and the paint isn't really bad yet but there's some areas where I used touch-up paint that need wet sanding etc.. I guess you'd say it's beginning to fade.
I have some small chips in the front bumper, about 3 I think. There's a small area that the paint has come off around one of the hood scoops and around one of the tail lights.
It's a convertible so I'm hoping it won't be quite a much as a coupe would run ? I've heard horror stories about maaco of course. Some good stories as well believe it or not. I guess it depends on the person that's painting it, more than the shop at times. I'm hoping less than 2000, is that being too optimistic ? Thanks for the help


IF you are keeping this car and actually love it, save the extra cash and get it done right. When i mean done right, you are looking at close to 4K... Thats having them take all the trim off, door handles off, every badge, etc. Thats the only way of getting it done "right" It all depends how much you love your car and are willing to spend on it. Take that extra time to find a good shop. Restoration shops usually do pretty good jobs.

[stangr]

IF you are keeping this car and actually love it, save the extra cash and get it done right. When i mean done right, you are looking at close to 4K... Thats having them take all the trim off, door handles off, every badge, etc. Thats the only way of getting it done "right" It all depends how much you love your car and are willing to spend on it. Take that extra time to find a good shop. Restoration shops usually do pretty good jobs.

Well, yep, I'm keeping it until I croak, that's how much I love the car. Then I hope my son keeps it as well. it's in perfect condition mechanically and interior is close to perfect as well. The door jams and engine compartment are still looking like new, so I don't think I'll need that done. I'll post some pics up on here so another persons eye can see something my eyes don't as well. The lighting and angles make the car look so different at times. That's the nature of this paint I"m told. I keep it in the garage, probably why it's still looking as good as it does. It doesn't get a lot miles put on it. Awesome cars the SVT folks at Ford did on these puppies - or I should say ponies I guess eh ? Anyways...thanks for the input. Guess I'll keep saving some more money, because I do want a good job on it. I'll do like you said and look and ask around locally at some Mustang runs / car shows. I'm also going to talk to them about the mid stage coats and if I should pay to have them put two on rather than the one they did at the factory, then maybe two clear coats for the last stage. I've been told it will be deeper if I pay to have that done. I only want to have to do this one more time myself, and if done right, that should be all that's needed if it's well taken care of. Thanks again..

[tag4car]

Where are you really located? I had a wreck Christmas day in mine and needed a new hood, fr bumper ,both fenders ,and the right side door panel had a new skin. Adamson Ford's collision center did all the work and I haven't found a person yet that can see a paint difference anywhere. Outta the 14k I had in damages just over 3k of it was paint shop. I guess I'm saying check out a local Ford dealer for an idea

[stangr]

Well, yep, I'm keeping it until I croak, that's how much I love the car. Then I hope my son keeps it as well. it's in perfect condition mechanically and interior is close to perfect as well. The door jams and engine compartment are still looking like new, so I don't think I'll need that done. I'll post some pics up on here so another persons eye can see something my eyes don't as well. The lighting and angles make the car look so different at times. That's the nature of this paint I"m told. I keep it in the garage, probably why it's still looking as good as it does. It doesn't get a lot miles put on it. Awesome cars the SVT folks at Ford did on these puppies - or I should say ponies I guess eh ? Anyways...thanks for the input. Guess I'll keep saving some more money, because I do want a good job on it. I'll do like you said and look and ask around locally at some Mustang runs / car shows. I'm also going to talk to them about the mid stage coats and if I should pay to have them put two on rather than the one they did at the factory, then maybe two clear coats for the last stage. I've been told it will be deeper if I pay to have that done. I only want to have to do this one more time myself, and if done right, that should be all that's needed if it's well taken care of. Thanks again..

I just posted a few pics of the car in the garage area here and it's paint inside and out and engine compartment. I would have edited the last message but a message came up and said I only had 20min. to edit it without contacting the administrator. ooops...

[stangr]

Where are you really located? I had a wreck Christmas day in mine and needed a new hood, fr bumper ,both fenders ,and the right side door panel had a new skin. Adamson Ford's collision center did all the work and I haven't found a person yet that can see a paint difference anywhere. Outta the 14k I had in damages just over 3k of it was paint shop. I guess I'm saying check out a local Ford dealer for an idea

Southern Oregon. Never thought about that option for some reason. Take a look at my garage pics I just put up and look at my hood under the sun. Let me know if it's getting too faded for a shop to just fix the areas that need it. This color looks darker depending on the angle and amount of sunlight which is normal for the tri-stage paint color for mine. Mines a 98 so it may be hard for them to match the color at this point. Not sure, I'll ask them though, now that you mention that. You can see my hood and shine is pretty good as far as that's concerned. I can see the trees and clouds in the sky in the paint. My hood is propped up a bit, because I had just taken a picture of the engine compartment.

[tag4car]

04 in Redfire (g7) I would just guess 4500-6500 for a detailed oem paint job, mine is a 3 step also. The area and current workload the shop has will affect some of it. As mentioned, Clubs are a great source to find out who does what and see the finished product upclose too. Are you on any mustang forums?

[tag4car]

Looking at the pics I don't see the defects you mentioned, it looks like the paint has a little bit of fade/haze in it but that's the clearcoat. It's a project that I would definitely take on, get the paint clean and start letting some megs #7 soak in and let the nutrient oils do work.

[stangr]

04 in Redfire (g7) I would just guess 4500-6500 for a detailed oem paint job, mine is a 3 step also. The area and current workload the shop has will affect some of it. As mentioned, Clubs are a great source to find out who does what and see the finished product upclose too. Are you on any mustang forums?

No, not at this time. I wasn't real thrilled when browsing some of the websites for Mustang Forums. A lot of bull from people with profanity included smart remarks towards each other, so didn't see anything via a search on their website. Not exactly professional I guess is how I'd put it. Some of the Mustang Clubs come out this way during the year but not very often. I'll look at the Mustang Wrangler schedule to see if they are going to be out this way as well . We're still in the sun time of year so maybe I'll get lucky. There's a classic Mustang shop over this way, maybe I'll stop by and talk to him about this subject. He might know of good shops around this area now that I think about it. I forgot about him until just now. He doesn't work on anything passed 1972 is probably why I forget about him at times. But I don't think he does paint so he may ship jobs out. Do you have pics in the garage with your car ? I'd like to see what the Redfire looks like. I'll do a search to see if I can find your car in your garage. thanks again

[DaGonz]

You can get the Earl Scheib "I'll paint any car for $99" Special or you can spend tens of thousands of dollars on a paint job.

A quality paint job is all in the preparation. Will be you be having the door jambs, the undersides of the hood and trunk lid done?

I would suggest visiting several shops and take a look around.

Check out the cleanliness of the shop. A body shop that takes pride in their work will not be filthy rotten dirty.

Don't be afraid to ask them for referrals.

[Setec Astronomy]

Well, I can't find your pictures. Just from what has been said it would seem that maybe a good detailer could get the car back to a condition you would approve of. I know you said you are in southern OR, but if Portland is within reach tdekany (google it) is certainly a capable detailer in that area.

[Mike Phillips]

I just posted a few pics of the car in the garage area here




You need to resize your pictures, (if possible), and then upload them to your Gallery here on Autogeek, then you can insert them. It's not that hard once you do it your first time and figure out it all works.

Here's some articles on working with pictures on the Internet, if you're going to be active on ANY forum and want to share pictures with you're friends, just take some time to teach yourself how to resize, upload and insert. It works the same on just about any forum.



Photography and Working with Pictures on the Internet

How to resize your photos before uploading to a photo gallery (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tips-techniques-how-articles-interacting-discussion-forums/35250-how-resize-your-photos-before-uploading-photo-gallery.html) - Using Easy Thumbnails

New - Handiest little picture viewer tool I've been using for years now... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tips-techniques-how-articles-interacting-discussion-forums/26202-handiest-little-picture-viewer-tool-i-ve-been-using-years-now.html)

How to upload a photo into your Autogeek Photo Gallery (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-do-different-types-things-ag-discussion-forum/21295-how-upload-photo-into-your-autogeek-photo-gallery.html)

How to insert an image from your photo gallery into your message (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles-discussion-forums/21313-how-insert-image-your-photo-gallery-into-your-message.html)

How-To capture swirls, scratches, etchings and other surface defects with your camera (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tips-techniques-how-articles-interacting-discussion-forums/26917-how-capture-swirls-scratches-etchings-other-surface-defects-your-camera.html)

How-to work with pictures on discussion forums (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles-discussion-forums/21320-how-work-pictures-discussion-forums.html)

How to crop out the fluff and resize your pictures! - Using FREE online software! (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tips-techniques-how-articles-interacting-discussion-forums/23918-how-crop-out-fluff-resize-your-pictures-using-free-online-software.html)

New - Photobucket and Missing Pictures (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/23699-photobucket-missing-pictures.html)


:xyxthumbs:

[MonoPed]

Interview the painter. Tri-coat colors can be tricky to match, and if it's not done right, especially on a total respray, you will not be happy with it. The painter needs to spray a series of test panels to determine how many coats of the base color and how many coats of the tinted mid color are needed to match your car. Good luck...

[stangr]

Interview the painter. Tri-coat colors can be tricky to match, and if it's not done right, especially on a total respray, you will not be happy with it. The painter needs to spray a series of test panels to determine how many coats of the base color and how many coats of the tinted mid color are needed to match your car. Good luck...

One thing I wanted to ask you all that I forgot until now, is do they have to strip the car all the way down to the primer in order to do a respray or where do they start from. Do they just wet sand and rough it up so the new paint will stick to it, apply degreaser to get it all clean and then start shooting ? Or do they rough it up then reapply a primer on top of my paint, degrease and clean and then start the three stage process from scratch ? I guess now that I think about it, I could be calling a shop and asking them these questions. I guess I'm just trying to get a bit educated as to how this works though before I ask some shop a stupid question. Thanks again.

[stangr]

You need to resize your pictures, (if possible), and then upload them to your Gallery here on Autogeek, then you can insert them. It's not that hard once you do it your first time and figure out it all works.

Here's some articles on working with pictures on the Internet, if you're going to be active on ANY forum and want to share pictures with you're friends, just take some time to teach yourself how to resize, upload and insert. It works the same on just about any forum.



Photography and Working with Pictures on the Internet

How to resize your photos before uploading to a photo gallery (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tips-techniques-how-articles-interacting-discussion-forums/35250-how-resize-your-photos-before-uploading-photo-gallery.html) - Using Easy Thumbnails

New - Handiest little picture viewer tool I've been using for years now... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tips-techniques-how-articles-interacting-discussion-forums/26202-handiest-little-picture-viewer-tool-i-ve-been-using-years-now.html)

How to upload a photo into your Autogeek Photo Gallery (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-do-different-types-things-ag-discussion-forum/21295-how-upload-photo-into-your-autogeek-photo-gallery.html)

How to insert an image from your photo gallery into your message (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles-discussion-forums/21313-how-insert-image-your-photo-gallery-into-your-message.html)

How-To capture swirls, scratches, etchings and other surface defects with your camera (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tips-techniques-how-articles-interacting-discussion-forums/26917-how-capture-swirls-scratches-etchings-other-surface-defects-your-camera.html)

How-to work with pictures on discussion forums (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles-discussion-forums/21320-how-work-pictures-discussion-forums.html)

How to crop out the fluff and resize your pictures! - Using FREE online software! (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tips-techniques-how-articles-interacting-discussion-forums/23918-how-crop-out-fluff-resize-your-pictures-using-free-online-software.html)

New - Photobucket and Missing Pictures (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/23699-photobucket-missing-pictures.html)


:xyxthumbs:

Thanks, I did put them in the garage area and later saw them there. So they are on the autogeek website. You do have to double click on them to see them in the actual size though I noticed. I have a photobucket account and my own Mustang website so I've worked with pictures a bit. I didn't spend too much time with the pics I put on here, but again, after double clicking, you'll see them at a larger size and be able to tell what I'm referring to regarding the amount of fade. I do realize they are not all the same size though. I wanted to show how the paint looks under the sun and that the engine compartment is in very good condition and doesn't need painting, nor do the door jams although I did not have a pic of the door jams at this point. You can definitely tell that the door jams, trunk and engine compartment is quite a bit darker than the exterior of the car of course since they don't get exposed to the rays of the sun etc...