RESPRAYING OLDER VEHICLES

One of the biggest problems faced by any vehicle resprayer is to respray an old vehicle. The older it is, the worse its going to be IF the price and expectations are not agreed before commencing the job.

The main problem starts with the car owner's

1. KNOWLEDGE on such work on old cars (does he know how much back-breaking work is involved?)

2. KNOWLEDGE on CURRENT 2014 market prices in a specific geographical area to respray such an old vehicle. 

2 examples to illustrate that the car owner's assumptions might be totally wrong: 

Ask your friend "How much does it cost to PROPERLY respray a Toyota Camry's rear bumper (with no shortcuts) in KL and PJ"? 

Their answer/assumption will mostly be based on their LAST transaction with a resprayer...could be months ago, years ago or even more than a decade ago. That's why most people in 2014 will still expect nothing more than RM450 and some might even expect RM250 at the most. In 2014, a reputable resprayer will charge no less than RM450 to respray an entire bumper assuming the bumper is not badly damaged. My sprayer charges RM600 because each step is adhered to with no shortcuts. Oh yes....you'll be surprised that most car owners think that a proper bumper respray can be done within 1 day. Actually, it's roughly 2.5days minimum if you follow the process with no shortcuts. If you're the boss, would you like your staff to do short-cut work?  

Ask your friend "Generally, is it more expensive to properly respray a Proton Wira or a 2007 BMW E90 BMW 325i ?" 

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So, we must be updated on the current market prices before sending our vehicles for any respray or bodywork repairs. Cost of materials and labour have gone up throughout the years....just look at your very old Nokia phone in the 90s....you can't buy a nice smartphone now for RM350. Times have changed.

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Back to the old car...

An example of an "old car" sent to us for respraying. 

Look at the mess. Rusted areas on floorpan were concealed by carpet. When everything is stripped, you start seeing the crap. Issue must be addressed and it must be done in such a way that the problem will not recur. 

An example of an "old car" sent to us for respraying. Look at the mess. Rusted areas on floorpan were concealed by carpet. When everything is stripped, you start seeing the crap. Issue must be addressed and it must be done in such a way that the problem will not recur. 

We're merely ensuring all rust removed, metalwork looks respectable, and most importantly, will not re-rust. Entire floorpan coated with a custom-mixed, marine-use sealer....not the usual black underspray stuff. This is not perfection.....it's merely doing it the right way as though it was my father's old car

1. Previous problems to be solved. 

In the past, the car could have been shoddily resprayed (whole car or specific panels). Metalwork repair could have been poorly done and there could be rust HIDDEN under the paint that's not visible to the eye. For a proper job, all old paint must be stripped (not necessarily down to bare metal) (oh....and who knows the current mkt price for stripping paint down to bare metal...like what you learned from American reality cable TV series?)

All the above work is necessary to ensure the metal work is flat, problem free etc so that when paint is sprayed, results will look good, and you won't have problems re-surfacing later. 

2. Exterior trims. 

For a good job, many external trims must be removed so that proper masking can be done. This takes time and $$$.  No matter how fantastic the new paint looks like, the car will NOT look like a new car because the exterior trims, glass, emblems, rims etc are still old. 

When certain exterior trims on certain cars are removed, they must be replaced with new ones. Ask any experienced resprayer and they'll tell you. Are the new trims available? Do you know how much they cost? 

3. Water leak. 

On old cars, its common to experience water leaks or previous water leakage. The owner might not even be aware. If there's currently a leak, I'm sure you want to solve the leak. Where is the source of leak? Takes time to investigate and rectify. 

4. Ruptured metal panels. 

Hidden by old paint, it might not be easy to instantly spot any ruptured/cracked body panels. 

Takes time and $$$ to rectify. Most of the time, any crap is only revealed once the paintwork is sanded down. 

So, before sending in your old car for a respray job, kindly show the vehicle to a few reputable sprayers, discuss in detail, get a quotation, and start comparing prices.  But very broadly speaking, and using a Wira as an example, anything less than RM3000 will probably be a shortcut job, so please be careful. . 

Many car owners and car enthusiasts have been misguided by unethical advertising into thinking that "coatings" (paint coatings) are almost a default necessity similar to doing window tinting for new cars.

The underlying causes of these misleading stories going on within the industry is mainly due to:

1. UNETHICAL BUSINESSMEN.
These "coatings" have their relevance and applications, but are not suitable and simply not practical and realistic for many types of vehicle owners and how the vehicle is used.

Would you rush out to buy the latest $1000 per pair sneakers even though you're not an exercise/fitness enthusiast? Answers will differ greatly.
If you're not a serious PC gamer, would you spend 15K to custom-build and hot rod your own PC?
If you're not even a great cook at home, will a 4K food processor + a 3K cookware set immediately make your food taste wonderful?

"Coatings" is the easiest and fastest way to make big money in the detailing + polish/wax industry.
Many proprietors immediately jump onto the coatings bandwagon wanting to make huge money asap, without telling consumers the REAL story.

2. CAR SALES PERSONNEL.
As you already know, they depend on all types of commision to survive. Sales people make $$ from vehicle tinting jobs, and from offering all kinds of extra services (polishing waxing etc). This is great as its part of customer service. BUT....there are many unethical ones who cheat by playing all sorts of tricks.
Besides getting their income from window tinting centres, sales people were also approached by coatings people to promote coatings to new car owners. What next??/ Perhaps they'll ask you to buy new rims for your new cars at 15K by giving lots of BS stories, and don't be surprised....many ignorant consumers will fall for it. These sales people have very poor understanding of what "coatings" are all about as they are not from the car care industry, and just use "direct selling" persuasion and lots of cock and bull stories to convince the poor ignorant consumer.  

I use lots of these "coating" products but STRICTLY on a case-by-case basis.

Example 1:
You have a dark/black vehicle, struggle to find time to wash car on the weekends, or the car is washed by others. As you already know, car washing, no matter careful you are, will gradually create some ultra fine scratches....especially on vehicles with soft clearcoat.  These will accumulate over time and become highly visible and irritating. The only way to remove or reduce it is to machine-compound it, and this action will REMOVE your "coating" either completely or partially.
Hence, on a daily driven dark/black vehicle, I always caution the car owner about this, and avoid using coatings.

Example 2:
You leave home before sunrise and reach home after sunset daily.
In the past, your vehicle often looks horrible from Mon-Fri.
On Sat and Sun, you struggle to find time to wash it yourself, or struggle to find a "trustworthy" place without too many people, where they can wash your baby in the same American manner that you've "learned" from mostly American websites.

Example 3:
You are not a car detailing enthusiast. You hope that this expensive "coating" will make your vehicle look "better" even if you don't have time to wash it as often as you hope to.
No layer of anything can ever replace car washing. "Coatings" are not a coat of magic armour that repels dirt, grime, and keeps your vehicle looking great.  You STILL have to wash it very frequently. There are 100% no shortcuts.

Example 4:
You want something that "lasts" on your paintwork.....to last much longer than conventional waxes and sealants.
Yes, the coating will remain on the paint surface for a much longer time. BUT...what does it do for you during that time? In the past, if you already experienced watermark problems, staining from bird shit, tree sap etc, it is all due to your style of vehicle usage and maintenance. And if your usage style and maintenance (washing etc) do not change, then the same problems will continue to happen. And even if your remove whatever you can remove from your coated paintwork, there might be residual marks that remain (common) and you'll need to machine them away.....AGAIN your "coating" will be gone or partially gone. On any coated paintwork, machine-compounding or sanding will remove it.

Summary:
Any coated vehicle must be very frequently washed to avoid the usual problems in the future.
If your "maintenance" regime doesn't change, and your vehicle usage pattern doesn't change, your vehicle will still look the same vs before doing the "coating" thingy. It's not a magical layer that can keep your car cleaner for longer. I know, I know...the advertisements told you a different thing.

But sadly, you don't find the MAJORITY of coating customers rushing home to get their other vehicles done in the same way.

Do you need a hyped-up, heavily marketed RM600 piece of screen protector for your Iphone or Samsung? Again, the choice is yours and its a great business.