On my 2005 XKR, have had it paint corrected twice in the past five years, as the trunk was fading and there were other surface flaws. Some areas now are really thin, and it just does not have the shine depth that my 2017 Jag has. I really want to bring the paint back up to factory thickness and shine and perfection, so am considering a repaint. I know cost estimates are all over the place, so I am turning to you great folks to see if you would share your personal experiences. I likely will continue with the anthracite black, but am open to colors close to that, as long as they are true to what was offered from the factory. The hood lovers are flat black, will likely have those painted the same gloss as the rest of the car. I am in North Carolina, on the coast, so any recommendations for body shops - likely Raleigh or Charolette - are welcome as well. Thanks!

 

If the clearcoat is not separating you could probably just have that sanded and recoated.

 

So the hood and trunk are the fading areas, plus the front right fender has some scratches that are too deep to be buffed out (great story of stupidity there). Given that amount of sheet metal needing to be redone, I figure why not do the entire car so it all matches nicely.

 

I've spent WAY too much money over the years on paint and learned a lot of lessons the hard way. My advice is to visit local car shows this summer and look at paint jobs on restored cars, and I mean really look hard. When you find a paint job in a similar color to yours that you like, ask the owner "Who did your paint and if you don't mind telling, how much did it cost you?" Notice I said ask "who?" and not "where?" Its the guy in the booth who lays the paint who controls the quality. There may be a whole team doing different tasks, but the guy with the gun in his hand is generally responsible for determining if all the prep work is done to his satisfaction and ready to spray. He can send it back out of the booth for further work if he deems its not ready. And its his skill that adjusts the equipment, mixes the ratios, and lays the paint in nice, even strokes with perfect overlap, etc. If he retires or resigns between the time you get a shop reference and the time you visit the shop, then you might not get the quality you expected. That's the first lesson I learned the hard way about 30 years ago.

After talking with a number of classic car owners, you'll probably find that you have very expensive tastes. I did. The first few times you ask about some fantastic paint job, don't be surprised if they tell you they spent upwards of $20,000. But as you look at restored cars and ask around, you'll eventually start dropping your own expectations and get down into some quite reasonably priced paint jobs that are indistinguishable from factory except to a fanatic like us. And if you ask around enough, you may even run into a recommendation for some young talent just starting out, working at a lower rate but doing quality work way above his price point. I lucked into a guy like that fifteen years ago, had him paint three cars for me but he eventually got out of doing "restoration" work. When he started having kids, he wanted to spend more time with his family and told me that he was just going to focus on late model insurance work from then on as it paid a whole lot better, the clients weren't nearly as particular and he could be home by 6pm and on weekends. So then I had to hunt for someone else again.

Just about 1/3 of the time, owners of restored show-winning cars are going to tell you they did it themselves at home in their garage. Most of those guys are likely retired and have all the time in the world but yes, it can be done at home. Twice at car shows I've found and tried people who paint cars as a sort of side business but I won't try that again. The first did a fantastic job for me and the second was a disaster and wound up paying a "professional" to do it over again. That professional was able to explain with the amateur was doing wrong and it boiled down to inexperience; another lesson learned the hard way. But when the finished car is only going to be worth $20K to $30K, its hard to justify spending nearly half its value just on the paint and body work so the temptation is there to give those guys a try. That's not a statistically significant sample, but based on my 50/50 results, if anyone at a car show offers to paint your Jaguar for you "on the side" and save you some money, don't do it no matter how spectacular an example is parked in front of you. Just focus on the professionals with storefront body shops.

 

Lots of great painters about. The prep work is were the final results will show.
Were a lot of us are having trouble, is the paints are not drying fast enough, they have taken out a lot of things in the paints over the past 10 years. Even at that, what's in them will kill you, note the suits and air tanks required.
Most great jobs today are water sanded and buffed out in most cases.
If I had to give advise on looking for a painter, it would be, make sure he has a paint booth for paint and doesn't do his body work in it.

 

^^ Wayne (cjd777) knows of what he speaks. He prepped and painted his 1949 Triumph Roadster himself. You should see it. Looks like a factory paint job. He will also prep and paint the Triumph Spit6 (a combination Spitfire and GT6) that he is building in his three-bay home shop. I hope to help him when the time comes. My role will be to help him move the large panels into position in the paint booth and then out of the paint booth once they are dry. Really looking forward to this....

 

Thanks Jon, We both have to get the madams well and in full motion before starting. Give us a couple of days with less than 100% humidity and we will jump right on it.
Hope all is well, did get Tommy's engine started on that Spit6, runs well after complete rebuild. What now coach?
Stay in the cool.

 

We can see this all in perspective, as there are MANY "professional" Indie shops that are capable of outstanding paint work! I know of quite a few, as I am one myself! There are those out there that scam and deceive, and deliver less than acceptable quality work, but not ALL are of that ilk! Some of the best have left the "storefront body shops" as their abilities and talents have exceeded the quality of work expected at their place of employment. These people are craftsmen, and are extremely knowledgeable, skillful, and passionate as to the quality of their work, these are the individuals to seek out and address the quality work your looking for. Those storefront shops operate on volume and profit, and are less concerned about the individual customer. Now, back to theweeb's concerns.

Paint correction is a process in which sanding, buffing, and polishing is done to lesson blemishes and anomalies that can occur in our paint finishes. If "corrected" multiple times, this can eventually lead to weathering and fading due to a decreased mil thickness of the paint. This sounds as to where your at in regards to your Jags finish. It can be exacerbated due to Sun exposure and age. Find that "professional" and ask his opinion on whether a repair or respray is best for you. Just be aware, to repair properly, old paint should be removed so as to start with a clean surface which will be less likely to react with new paint, and provide a lower build (mils) to return to an OEM mil thickness and showroom or better finish and gloss.

As for cost......, a great quality, professional paint job won't be cheap, the question is, how do you value your car? If ultimately, if it is for nothing more than your personal satisfaction, then you bear the decision on the final cost. We do this for the love of our Jags, being fully knowledgeable that our repairs may exceed the value of our car. Furthermore, is this a driver, or a show car?

Shop car painters in your area, as I am sure there are some good ones to be found. Ask at car clubs and shows, those guys and girls are usually very helpful. When talking to perspective painters, ask them to explain their process, will they guarantee their work, how long will it take, what kind of materials do they use? Due diligence will pay off.

BTW, for example here are 2 pics of my "on the side" paintwork, just sayin! Hope you find a great painter for your car!!

Cheers,BK





custom paint I did on my ex's bike This paintjob was 13 years old when I took this pic in Sept of 2017

 

Premier painters will remove all trim possible even when not changing color, avoiding tape lines and damage when buffing. When my XKR was done after a hail storm they removed an unbelivable amount of trim and actually didn't break anything. Be prepared for a scarry big bill,6K plus.