Respraying your 996

Dammit · 28 Apr 2017

This story started when a friend of mine noticed corrosion starting to creep out from behind the drivers side door striker plate. I went round the car and totted up all the things that I'd like to get fixed that would end up with my Arctic silver 996.1 being cosmetically perfect and 100% rust free.

The list was/is:
- NS rear wing, two door-dings
- Clamshell, one ding, one scratch (hardtop fitting incident I'd guess)
- Door strikers, both sides
- Two very shallow dents behind drivers door, just above sill
- Rubber stone-chip torn in OS front wheel well
- Corrosion starting to show through in lower seam of boot lid

I use Precision Porsche in West Sussex, who I like a lot, and not only because in the summer you can drop the car off and then take a steam train back home.

They have a bodyshop (Impact) next door whom they partner with, so I asked them for a quote to do the work, having seen examples at the open day I went to a while back.

Sam, the owner of Impact, said he could tackle most of that list but not all - due to some of it requiring whole panels being painted and it'd end up as an almost complete respray.

The quote I ended up with (after I pushed a little, I don't think Sam likes 996's, or maybe just mine annoys him) was 2k for a partial fix of the above issues or 6k for a full respray.

To me the delta between the two prices doesn't reflect the delta between the work done- fixing some dents and some corrosion vs. the entire car being brought back to perfect.

I got some other quotes to gain some context:

Sandy Down, Andover: £3,000
Impact, West Sussex: £6,000
KDS Keltec, Kent: £11-13,000

All would need VAT adding on.

That's a big spread of prices. Has anyone used Sandy Down?

Stoo.c · 28 Apr 2017

You have to think that a lot of these prices are just 'porsche tax'.

I have recently had my old Honda CRX restored (yes maybe an odd choice but I've had it for 14 years and love it more than my Porsches) and I paid what I thought was a LOT of money but I went down to bare metal and had a fair amount of rust dealt with - dealt with properly. All cut out, every piece hand made to perfection, lead loaded as opposed to filler, the whole roof removed and replaced with a glass roof version, a completely new exhaust made, all the fibreglass bumper parts completely repaired to perfection including the making of new moulds to fix certain bits, custom made stainless brackets for the bumpers, all glass out, new screen and the list goes on and on..........

The point being it cost less than your lowest price there and it is beyond incredible, better than the factory finish on my 911. Absolutely every stage has been logged and photographed as well.

I did strip it down myself and am building it back up myself so accept that saved some money but these quotes seem incredibly high.

£13k would buy another 996.

Dammit · 28 Apr 2017

KDS have an amazing, shock-and-awe website with an Enzo, a Veyron, a number of 911's etc, but yes, there is no way I'm putting a £13,000 paint job (plus VAT) on a car I bought for less than that.

Impact are convenient, the car is there right now as it goes, but it's twice the price of Sandy Down and I also get the distinct impression that Impact don't actually want the business (I think they like to focus on the 70's cars).

Martin996RSR · 28 Apr 2017

Following a crazy woman deliberately scraping her car down the side of my 996, I had Anton's Garage in Blackwater respray the rear bumper and pretty much the whole right hand side of the car. They also tackled a couple of very minor dings while they were at it. They also tackled a little spot of corrosion that had started to creep in on the front wing arch. The whole job was about £1800 IIRC, and the work was immaculate. Next time I need any work doing I'll be going there. They do mostly classic cars and are utterly fastidious. They also turned the job around in about a week, which I thought was pretty quick.

rob_p · 28 Apr 2017

Last time my car was in for a few bits I asked for a rough idea of a whole respray - I think he said about £3k....
double that and more seems crazy to me.

budflicker · 28 Apr 2017

13k at KDS is a proper pisstake.

Good detailer but christ on a bike that takes the micky.....

Dammit · 28 Apr 2017

I expect it's back to bare metal and then wet-sanded all over etc etc, and if the car is £150,000+ then spending less than 10% on a repaint is fairly trivial to justify.

It's when the car is worth roughly the same as the paintjob that it becomes rather more difficult.

I've seen the quality of Impact's work, I'd really like to hear from anyone who has used Sandy Down/see their work.

MNC911 · 29 Apr 2017

I don't know about any paint sprayers, I'd possibly stick to whom the TV people use in their programs.

Anyway besides that, for £6k+, this might sound a bit out of the box but have you thought about getting a complete shell from a breakers. Then getting that to a good spray booth. There will be no masked off areas, it'll be like if it was just rolled off the factory floor from Germany. Plus it can go in the oven on after being sprayed.

Then once it's been all transferred, sell your existing shell.

That's what the top professional restorers do.

maldren · 29 Apr 2017

Dammit said:
I've seen the quality of Impact's work, I'd really like to hear from anyone who has used Sandy Down/see their work.

Have you visited them and seen any of their output?

Dammit · 29 Apr 2017

Sandy Down? No, not yet.

Dammit · 29 Apr 2017

Although that said the friend who recommended Sandy Down had front bumper, bonnet, wings and rear bumper done on his black C70, and that looked awesome in the photographs which I saw of it.

Jay. · 2 May 2017

I'd be put off Impact purely on their attitude, I expect to get a good and enthusiastic service when I'm paying someone that much money to work on my pride and joy.

crash7 · 2 May 2017

Riviera Autobody

http://www.rivieraautobody.co.uk/

https://www.pictastar.com/i/rivieraautobody

I, along with others on board have first hand experience, Ty is a good guy, prices realistically and gets all of his work via word of mouth, look at the links for examples of the type of cars he paints.

He has also painted a much coveted 911 'Sewing Machine' when it arrived in the country looking worst for wear

Dammit · 2 May 2017

I did call in to see him a little while ago, he's very close to UK head office, he picked up on some things that I hadn't noticed, I shall email him for a quote for a complete job - good reminder, thanks.

Marky911 · 3 May 2017

Dammit said:
I expect it's back to bare metal and then wet-sanded all over etc etc, and if the car is £150,000+ then spending less than 10% on a repaint is fairly trivial to justify.

It's when the car is worth roughly the same as the paintjob that it becomes rather more difficult.

I've seen the quality of Impact's work, I'd really like to hear from anyone who has used Sandy Down/see their work.

Exactly Dammit,
I file KDS under "If you have to ask, you can't afford it".
They turn out amazing work but their target market probably isn't the likes of us lads running 996s on a sensible budget.

I'd try that last recommendation or visit Sandy Down and view some of their work.

I'm in the same boat as you. My car is a nice sound car but as with all 20 year old cars if I'm mega critical I could find a chip, small scratch or imperfection on most of my panels if I wanted. I think it's a case of living with some age related patina or have deep pockets.
I'll be getting bits and bobs done on mine next winter when my aerokit goes on, then when everything else is perfect in a few years time I'll invest in a full respray if required.

Once you've had it painted you'll just chip it again unless you never use it, so get it to 7 or 8 out of ten and enjoy it for a few years.

That's just my plan anyway but I know imperfections have a habit of nagging away at the OCD. :wink:

PS I've never ever been 100% happy with paintwork I've had done. Most painters talk a better job than they turn out. True of most tradesmen I suppose.

Respraying your 996

Dammit

Paul Ricard

Stoo.c

Monza

Dammit

Paul Ricard

Martin996RSR

Montreal

rob_p

Suzuka

budflicker

Spa-Francorchamps

Dammit

Paul Ricard

MNC911

Sao Paulo

maldren

Albert Park

Dammit

Paul Ricard

Dammit

Paul Ricard

Jay.

Imola

crash7

Imola

Dammit

Paul Ricard

Marky911

Portimao

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