Painting

[///Sniper535]

Any advice or suggestions about taking the car to get painted at a body shop?

My car is almost done! The whole grill should be coming in Monday or Tuesday.

[BuckNaked]

Do as much of the prep work as you can. Trim removal and reassembly can be expensive when you can do most of it yourself. Get referrals and actually look at the work that has come out of the shop, then make sure you get the same guy. Do a walk through of the shop and look closely at the conditions and works in progress. Your gut should tell you if a place is right and will do good by you.
And no matter what anyone says to you, your only claim is to what they are willing to put on paper. If they are good, they won't hesitate to commit.
You're going to be spending a lot of money, research research research.

[AngryPopTart]

Any advice or suggestions about taking the car to get painted at a body shop?

My car is almost done! The whole grill should be coming in Monday or Tuesday.

This is what I do for a living so I can tell you what makes life easier for me and cheaper for the customer. Not having to remove any body trim, antenna's, door handles, lock cylinders, window trim, the grille, lights, etc.

Also, if you're painting the car the same color it already was, it makes life alot easier if you can live with not repainting the door/hood/trunk jambs.

The closer you can get the car to being able to just bring it by and mask off the windows, behind-the-grille stuff, taillight holes and throw wheel covers on it, the better.

Personally, I don't care what the customer did. If I'm going to be applying any sort of guarantee to the work, I'll have to clean the surface with my own cleaners and make sure the entire surface is sanded with an acceptable grit, especially since with the exception of red, black and white our cars all seem to have metallic paint which makes the prep work more important.

[///Sniper535]

I'm just getting the hood and RH fender painted, which i primed myself. I took off the windshield washer jets and roundel. So it's ready to paint. The only trim that needs to be masked is the side molding on the fender. I may need to paint the nose panel when it comes in. I got a black bumper from a junked but clean e34 so i don't need to paint that.

[AngryPopTart]

I'm just getting the hood and RH fender painted, which i primed myself. I took off the windshield washer jets and roundel. So it's ready to paint. The only trim that needs to be masked is the side molding on the fender. I may need to paint the nose panel when it comes in. I got a black bumper from a junked but clean e34 so i don't need to paint that.

Oh sweet, don't even have to blend. Just because, try to get the shop to order what is called a "factory pack" when they get the color.