goodbye?

[Gayle]

Nat, make sure this body guy knows what he's doing. A respray of the original color is a completely different animal than a color change. Although I know very little about body work, it's my understanding that to do a color change in a manner that keeps the new paint from coming off in the next wash, all of the original paint has to pretty much be removed, which means all of the glass comes out, trim, everything. Then a lot of stripping, sanding, and priming.

best, whit

This is the voice of reason in this debate along with Alex's comments about stone chips.

[Qube]

I like the original color. I think if you change, it would be safer to redo the same color, or another red. That way, dings or chips wouldnt be as noticable.

A different color might be easier than i might guess tho.

A good paint place will sand and prime so it shouldn't be a problem...

[Paul in NZ]

red would be a very difficult colour to match,the pigments fade...period,but if you go this route now is the time to tidy up stone chips etc,as has been said...its what i do,somebody else pays for the paint matching and mixing,so its never cheaper to do paint and panel work!

[liquidtiger720]

I vote to paint it Jon-K's color.

[Evan]

dude, take off all your trim, door handles, grilles, lights, etc, etc... new CAPA quarter panels can be had for $80 shipped... new trim and grilles is about $450, all inclusive. lights will cost another $300.

As long as your frame isn't bent, you can make yourself a new car... if your doors are rusted, you can buy good used ones for $100 each.

BUT

Go for original color... it will look AWESOME.

ok enough reading... get to work

[ThoreauHD]

Thanks for the info Gayle. Lots of help.

[QUOTE=Gayle]Which potenza's did you get?

I have 15 inch standard EO rims and I'm not quite sure what model tire they put on. My car is currently being serviced at the shop for an a/c leak repair and also some trim work.

The tires were not as expensive as what you are describing- 800? I haven't found a tire that expensive for my year/model yet. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place, or am not assuming labor. These were 100 per tire and labor was a bit more. I don't know the model atm, but I know is that they do grip and ride well- they are also very quiet. I can't speak to their longevity though.

My mechanic chooses offbrand tires most of the time(Dayton, etc), and they seem to last forever. He choose an onbrand tire this time, so I am hoping the same. Choosing tires are one of those things that you can't know until your nose is in that line of work. It's exact production model/date specific. And I ain't in that line or work.

Ask me about clustering a linux farm or remote encrypted desktops etc., and I will have more than a clue. But alot of this knowledge is based on experience and honesty. And believe it or not I trust my mechanic. Crazy aren't I. So I hope for the best.