Opinions from anyone with (or without) black cherry paint
 

Hello all. Just looking for ideas/opinions about black cherry paint related to a respray. Long story short, we had a hail storm here about a month ago and both our Jags didn't escape damage. So, the SV8 is getting about 75% of the car painted under insurance, and I've always wanted black cherry, so I'm planning on diving in and going for a total respray in that wonderful color. Now, I do my own paint and bodywork (too many crappy jobs in the past from so called pros so i learned how to do it all myself) so the costs usually associated with this kind of work isn't an issue. In fact, since our insurance here will actually allow you to do your own work and pay you for it too, I'm actually going to make a couple hundred in the process!

Now to the question I've been thinking about. My car is black, so I'm wondering if I really need to do the door jams, under the hood, trunk, and the like since black cherry, to the best of my knowledge, looks black under lots of conditions and really only gives of that fantastic red look in sunlight. So, all these places which are never seen, is anyone really going to notice (besides me!) if they are just black, or black cherry? I'm leaning towards doing it all (jams and under everything) since I am going to be taking the car apart to paint, but is it really needed. I was thinking maybe do the jams since they are seen getting in and out, but leave under the hood, trunk and all those places that are NEVER seen. Thoughts?

Hi WinterJag,

Sorry to hear about the hail damage - that stinks. I can't decide for you about painting the unseen areas, but my gut says you will definitely be happier if you do all the jambs and inner sills, and maybe the underside of the trunk/boot lid since it is visible when loading and unloading groceries and such. If your car has a carpet/trim panel in the trunk lid you'd really only need to spray the edges.

Doing under the hood and visible parts of the engine bay would be too much work unless you really wanted to make it a show car, and for that you'd really have to pull the engine....

But as long as you think your interior will work with the new color, I definitely think an SV8 in black cherry will be gorgeous! I can't wait to see a bunch of photos when you've finished the job!!!

Cheers,

Don

Sorry to hear about the hail.
I too have fantasized about the black cherry paint.
Question.
If my car is already black can I get away by adding a coat of red pearl over it? Or will it require a total respray?

Thanks for the input. I think I'll go with my gut too and do the jams and under the hood/trunk and anything else that can be seen. I do have the carpet in the trunk so I know that won't be bad. The thing that I keep thinking was 'the car will be totally apart, why not take a little extra effort and do it right!'. As far as the engine bay goes, ya, not even thinking about it! This is in no way a show car and NOBODY looks in there, well, except me. Now, I currently have the light tan (or is it champagne) interior with brown accents, but, I actually have some plans for this car:

- X358 conversion
- change interior to white/black
- individual rear seats (like the portfolio)
- heated/cooled X358 front seats

Basically, the color combo is the same as someone on here (or was it the UK site) did (Herkules I think). The plan was a complete tear-down, respray, new parts on, interior change and put back together again next summer. However, due to the hail, and that I don't have the funds to do the whole thing at the moment, I figured take the opportunity to do the respray now when I actually have the time (and get paid to do it) and do the rest later! I actually think the light tan/brown will look not too bad as it is 'kinda' like the conker in the portfolio. But either way, I'm looking at the big picture here and I've always wanted that color on a XJ.

The only snag is the weather. Since we are heading into fall here and its starting to cool down (not too cold to paint yet, still probably a month or so of painting weather left) it needs to not suddenly snow or drop to single digit temps all day long.

BlackKat - I don't know if a red pearl would do it. I'm not an expert in paints by any means, I just go by paint codes and since black cherry was an OEM paint, I have a code to give them to mix up!

My car was originally Platinum, it was converted to X358/Portfolio with Black Cherry.
To be honest, the red flake is only visible in direct sunlight, looks like plain black (95% of the time), I wish that it was a bit more red. If the car is already black, maybe paint the main panels and leave the shuts, see how it looks. I would be worried about paint peeling of hinges, hard to reach areas, as the re-spray will never be as good as factory, unless stripped to a bare shell.

Never heard of white interior, do you mean Ivory?
The air cooled seats will require TONs of rewiring work to work, see X-Dave's XJR Retrofit.

alecescolme, you were the one that bought that car then weren't you! That's the look I'm going for. As to the color being black most of the time, that's what I thought. I was planning on taking the doors off to do the hard to reach bits for proper prep so I don't get peeling paint, but it would be easy enough to leave those bits (a lot less work this way too) and if down the road decide I just have to do them too, I can always tear it down again and do it (who doesn't love taking their cars apart again and again, I think its fun!). With regards to the seats, I know all about the work. I've read everything x-dave has ever done and learned a lot from him. I actually used his how-to to retrofit sat nav into my wife's STR so I'm no stranger to tearing this cars apart and wiring and the like.

When I say white I actually mean white, not ivory. I plan to do the headliner/pillars in white microsuede (or something like it), re-dye everything champagne to white/brown to black (i know, lots of work) this way I can keep my rear power seats and don't have to wait and hope for a ivory/black interior to pop up for sale somewhere. Also, my interior is near flawless, so it would be a waste to get rid of it for a used set that may be of lesser condition. I planned to try the re-dye and see how i like it. If I don't like it, then I'll look for a used ivory/black one. Also, since I want those X358 seats, if I mess up my current ones, I'll have an excuse to get the cooled/heated ones sooner!

And to actually add to the ultimate plans for the car, I also want to add on the Alcon brakes from the XKR portfolios and, eventually, a AVOS twin screw kit and a lsd. Basically, I want to build (in my mind) the ultimate XJ. I'm not a big fan of the look of the new ones, I love the X358 look, but they just don't have enough grunt, hence wanting the avos kit. Now, this is a long term plan, as in when I can find the cash/time/convince the wife, plus 6 months of the year here is below freezing so working on cars isn't exactly pleasant during these times, so it will be a while to fully complete the plan.

If you want the true depth and clarity of the factory color you have to lay the pearl over the basecoat then clearcoat over the top. Having owned bodyshops and painted cars since 1980 the tricoat process (what you in a sense will be trying to duplicate) is set up this way for a reason.


Base then pearl then clear. Even sanding the clear (cant remove it all or there will discoloration) then laying a coat of pearl over that and re clearing or just adding a clear with pearl in it is not going to produce the results you want. Just my 2 cents on what I have seen in the past.


Winterjag, I wouldn't waste the time on the jams (doors, hood or trunk) provided you will de trim the exterior completely nobody but you will know those other parts are not painted the same. The appeal you want is whats seen on the outside. Cant wait to see pictures !

John Fox - I have come to that conclusion myself.

So, I gave the car a good looking over in the jambs and such and came to the following conclusion: I'm not doing them at this time. There actually are divisions between them and the rest of the car so if I did decide at a later date I just had to do them, it would be easy enough. So, my plan of attack. The bumpers, side skirts, front quarters and trunk are all coming off, mainly due to making it easier to fix the damage and/or fix some old marks and the like. That leaves the rest of the car with the doors still on so I dont have to mess with them. Next I'm taking all the side mirrors, door handles, window trim and all those little bits off so there is NO way to tell its been resprayed by poor paint lines (that is one of the main reasons I started doing this myself, too many times I'd get my car back and clearly see they did a crappy job masking/prepping. I guess nobody wants to take things off and do the job right anymore). I'm thinking I may actually do under the trunk and maybe hood since they will be off the car and easy enough to do, but I'll probably make the final call when I'm actually prepping them (and if I feel like doing the extra sanding) and with the trunk off I can do the rear quarters where the trunk covers too. This basically leaves just the door jambs, which I have mentioned my plan already.

So, first I have to talk to my insurance and see if I can get some more hours added onto the repair. I wish they actually had body and paint guys doing the estimates because their guys have NO idea what it takes to repair and paint anything. If all goes well, I hope to start this next week and if all goes well, finish it by the end of the week! But when do things ever go as planned!

Yes I bought that car ;)
Looking forward to seeing how you get on.
BTW, the separate rear seats are not exclusive to the Portfolio- I have got some to fit to mine, they were fitted to some sovereign models too.
I wish I had cooled seats too!

Ok, slight update! I have decided that short of a absolute catastrophe, I will be starting this next week. However, I am still wavering the the jambs and such for one reason only, to fix all the damage properly, at least two doors need to come off, maybe three. One has some of that wonderful aluminum corrosion starting and it kind of behind the window trim as well meaning to get at it and do it right, that door has to come off. Another one has a deep kinda dent/scratch right as the bottom, so taking that off will make my life easier since I won't have to lie on the floor while sanding. As for the third one, well it has nice dent in it close to the A pillar, meaning while I'm working on it there is a chance to mess up the body itself. That leaves one lonely door on the car, so It'll just come off while I'm in a 'lets take everything apart' mood probably. That means all the jambs are nicely exposed for paint. I'm going to see how I feel on the day I'm sanding and prepping but most likely I think I will just do them. If I'm going this far, why not just go the extra mile and do it right! I'll take some pics of the work and keep you all up to date!

Alecescolme - I actually did know that the rear individual seats weren't exclusive to the portfolio. While I was googleing up on the matter, I came across a few XJs in the UK that (to my surprise) had the option. Upon further investigation, and actually looking at the parts diagrams and JEPC, you can just order that rear console from Jag, for a tidy sum of course. When I actually get around to it, I may just buy one, or try and make one. I guess time will tell!

Update time!

I've been working on the car all week and made good progress. Unfortunately I can't just spend entire days on it, so it's a few hours a day. Takes longer but it's getting done. Now, all the paint, clear and supplies for this job were about $830 CDN and I'm getting about $1300 from insurance, not too bad if I do say so myself.

So far the car is all apart, dents and dings fixed and just over half sanded, I'll finish that up tomorrow. Just have to say, compared to our STR, taking this thing apart is a piece of cake by comparison, other than the stupid aluminum trim around the windows (only kinda bent one piece that just would not come off without extreme force!). Now, the doors, trunk, quarters and hood are still on, since after what has been mentioned here and after talking to another body guy I know, the jambs and the like are not being done. The overwhelming opinion is it's not worth the effort, it's not a show car, I'll get the exact effect I want without doing them, they can always been done later, and nobody will ever notice. I still have to work on the bumpers as they were a bit beat up, but the body shell is my main focus since its the biggest part. I've been taking pics throughout and will put some up once I have some time. My plan is spraying the body shell on Tuesday, maybe some other parts too if I have them ready to go. I'm a bit behind schedule but only by a day. But, since everyone is back at university now, I have labs to teach on Monday and Thursday so it limits my time, after all, gotta work!
I'll keep this updated as best I can.

Awesome! Can't wait to see the pics!

Pics, or none of this is real.:icon_goofygrin:

Well, I'm still at it! Unfortunately I didn't get the paint on the body yesterday. While I was wiping it all down for paint, I noticed that I forgot to block sand the dent repairs on the roof (stupid me) so they were kinda uneven. So, I got those nice and smooth, wiped down again and noticed a few little nicks here and there that I just couldn't leave. I figured I'm doing so much, why leave them. So I fixed them all up, re-sanded the entire car to get a nice smooth surface for paint, taped it all up, wiped it all down and put it back in the garage to wait until today. I am a firm believer that a good paint job is 99% prep work and once the paint is on, you can pretty much cut and polish or buff anything out and make it look good (at least that has been my experience). I've done jobs that had overspray, orange peel, sags and runs in the clear which cleaned right up after some sanding and buffing. Just get the paint on! So, baring any catastrophes, it will get sprayed today. I'm still snapping pics so don't worry! I figured I would just start a new thread when its all done of the whole process from beginning to end.

Update: It's all painted, still in pieces but all the painting is done. I'm about 80% happy with it right now, I'd say it's about a 15 foot job at the moment, but after I cut and polish I'll be like 98% happy and it'll be about a 5 foot car. Can't really complain about that! Once it is all back together and ready to go I will start a new thread about the whole process with pics. I've still got a few days worth of work to make it as perfect as I will get it but at least the hard stuff is done.

PS. Now that its all black cherry and I can have a good look at it, I agree that 95% of the time the car does look black. But when the sun hits it right, man, pretty amazing. I can definitely recommend this color to anyone thinking of a respray.

Look forward to the pictures!
Been machine polishing mine today in the sun and enjoying looking at the red flake popping out.

Update. Haven't forgot about this! While it is all painted and cleared, I'm still working on the buffing (don't you hate it when life gets in the way of working on our cars!). It's mainly taking so long because I need the proper pads for my DA polisher but surprise surprise, they are not available in Canada. South of the border and online they are a dime a dozen, but it takes time to get things here so I'm mainly doing it all by hand, which works but takes much longer. I almost got it all done today, but since I can only use the pads I have (just 3 of them), I have to take breaks to wash them after a panel or two or else they don't really work. Also, it's thanksgiving here this weekend so nothing getting done there. I'm about 80% happy with the job right now. I'd say its a good 5 foot car now, but I got a bit of solvent pop on a door and some on the trunk, and on a black car they kinda stand out. I figured I'll get it as good as I can right now then next spring tidy it all up and respray anything that needs it. After all, we're heading into winter here and for the next 6 months all cars look dirty so nobody will notice anyway, and I plan to do the x358 conversion so I'll just fix everything at once.

I will say that after all the defects I can find, it's just as good or better than most cars on the road. I started taking a good look at vehicles whenever I was at the store or mall and realized most paint jobs are terrible! Also, when you spend weeks with your face 5 inches from a paint job, you notice EVERYTHING!

Hope to have it together next week (only have the hood and a quarter to buff then polish the whole car, which doesn't take long once all the had stuff is done) and finally give my arms a rest.