Car Colour - Respray Feasible ?

Ernest

I used to be told that changing the colour of a car by re-spraying is never satisfactory. I wonder if that is still true with today's technology.

The thing is that most second hand cars on sale here come in dull boring colours and I am considering buying one and then re-spraying to a less boring colour (e.g. not grey or black or dark maroon etc). The alternative would be to import from the UK where new buyers/traders are more adventurous in their colour choice but that brings the problem of miles/kms and mph/kph etc

Does anyone know if colour change respraying would work. I'm thinking really of changing to a lighter colour than most cars available in Ireland seem to have.

Has anyone got any advice on
(1) the technical feasibility of this - does it work okay?
(2) what sort of cost would I be looking at (€500 - €1,000?)

Anan1

It'll cost several thousand to do properly, and the car will always be worth less afterwards. Do yourself a big favour and buy the car you want. UK cars have km/h markings on the speedo too.

challengemaster

Ernest wrote: »

(2) what sort of cost would I be looking at (€500 - €1,000?)

If you think an entire car respray would cost €500 you're in cuckoo land I'm afraid. Depending on the car (size), quality of work and how thorough the job will be you could be talking up to 4-5000.

As Anan has said, it also won't add any value to the car.

ianobrien

Changing the colour of a car through re-spray is not a wise idea. The car will be worth less than the original. Getting a proper job done will cost a lot more than a grand due to labour. Getting the door shuts done etc will be needed unless you want it to look crap.

You will probably have to get the colour changed on the tax book as well.

One thing to look at is getting the car wrapped. You can get any colour you want, and when selling, just pull it off and the original paint will be fine.

Ernest

ianobrien wrote: »

You will probably have to get the colour changed on the tax book as well.

One thing to look at is getting the car wrapped. You can get any colour you want, and when selling, just pull it off and the original paint will be fine.

Wrapped?? Never heard of that. Sounds an interesting idea. Where could that be done and would it be cheaper than a respray which seems to be more expensive than the figures I had guessed might apply?.
Also, I don't understand why people on this thread are saying a resprayed car would be worth less - I wasn't thinking of changing a grey ("silver") or navy blue car to bright pink or anything!

ianobrien

I've no idea where you can get a car wrapped, but I know it can be done.

As for the value of a car that has changed colour, if I was looking to buy a car, and I noticed it was originally blue and is now red, I'd walk away. Question marks over the colour Like that can point to cars with "questionable" history or origins, or ringers.....

Ernest

ianobrien wrote: »

I've no idea where you can get a car wrapped, but I know it can be done.

As for the value of a car that has changed colour, if I was looking to buy a car, and I noticed it was originally blue and is now red, I'd walk away. Question marks over the colour Like that can point to cars with "questionable" history or origins, or ringers.....

I see what you mean about a change of colour suggesting a car might be "dodgy" but that is partly because everyone says you shouldn't change the colour and its too expensive to do so. If selling such a car you can show that there is nothing suspicious surely from other documentation.

As for "wrapping" there is another motoring thread called "detailing" - is that where this might be covered?

Daved_XB

6 seconds on google revealed several companies in Ireland that do car wrapping, I've never had it done so can't recommend one... But I have seen wrapped cars & they can look good

Sleepy

Of course, it'd probably cost less to have a dashboard unit swapped for a Km based one (if it didn't already have the Km indicated on it) rather than going to the effort of a full respray.

Ernest

Daved_XB wrote: »

6 seconds on google revealed several companies in Ireland that do car wrapping, I've never had it done so can't recommend one... But I have seen wrapped cars & they can look good

Thanks for info.

Ernest

Sleepy wrote: »

Of course, it'd probably cost less to have a dashboard unit swapped for a Km based one (if it didn't already have the Km indicated on it) rather than going to the effort of a full respray.

You mean on an imported car of suitable colour? Would that be legal? How would the data be preserved? Is the cumulative mileage date kept in the dashboard or in the "computer" that all cars have now - as we know from when they go wrong. Anyway interesting idea - thanks

Anan1

Ernest wrote: »

I see what you mean about a change of colour suggesting a car might be "dodgy" but that is partly because everyone says you shouldn't change the colour and its too expensive to do so. If selling such a car you can show that there is nothing suspicious surely from other documentation.

A buyer could satisfy themselves that the job was properly done, but that would take time and effort - much easier to buy a car where they know the paint was applied to factory standards.

fox_1973

If you want a blue car, buy a blue car!!! totally respraying a car is just ridiculous honestly, put the 4k-5k that would cost you to extras on whatever car you buy

lifer_sean

Anan1 wrote: »

A buyer could satisfy themselves that the job was properly done, but that would take time and effort - much easier to buy a car where they know the paint was applied to factory standards.

The bigger issue would be that a buyer would be suspicious of why the car had a colour change. For example, they would have to confirm that it was actually the same car with a colour change, not a stolen car with the identity swopped, or a cut-and-shut (two half cars welded together). Per Anan's comments, it's easier for a buyer to keep looking than to worry about the possibilities.

I'm in the trade and there is no way I'd buy or trade in a car knowing it had a colour change.

Ernest

fox_1973 wrote: »

If you want a blue car, buy a blue car!!! totally respraying a car is just ridiculous honestly, put the 4k-5k that would cost you to extras on whatever car you buy

The point is that you might not be able to get a blue car i- especially f you are buying second hand. It just might not be available. The range of colours available in Ireland it terrible, in my opinion, compared to other countries - it seems that every Irish buyer of a new car wants either black or grey ("silver") or very dark navy blue or dark maroon and the second hand market reflects this. Hence the issue of whether a retro-colour change might be feasible. All the replies to my query seem to be saying its not really feasible.

Vikings

Are you looking at buying a particular car? Or are you looking at buying a car in the colour you want?

What colour is it you are after out of interest?

galwaytt

Ernest wrote: »

Wrapped?? Never heard of that. Sounds an interesting idea. Where could that be done and would it be cheaper than a respray which seems to be more expensive than the figures I had guessed might apply?.

ianobrien wrote: »

I've no idea where you can get a car wrapped, but I know it can be done. .....

One of our own boardsies does wrapping, and has a business in the graphics industry, www.positivesigns.net is the place, and Ivan is his name.

In fact, he had a 'boring silver' car himself lately, and wrapped his own car, so you could ask him to see his.

Iirc, even a good wrap will cost you over 1k, so there's no point in thinking about it for a Bangernomic Corolla, for instance........

Ernest

Vikings wrote: »

Are you looking at buying a particular car? Or are you looking at buying a car in the colour you want?

What colour is it you are after out of interest?

No big deal.
I had just been admiring several medium-sized 4-Wheel Drive cars (Toyota Rav4, Freelander2) recently in Spain and Italy. All in white. Tasteful!

Also a BMW 3 series in white and a Renault Fluence in a fairly lively light blue. Not to mention that vibarant red you can get many cars in in England but never here of course.

Try to get any of the above here? No chance - except maybe new if the dealers can be bothered to stock anything thats not black or grey.

Anan1

Ernest wrote: »

No big deal.
I had just been admiring several medium-sized 4-Wheel Drive cars (Toyota Rav4, Freelander2) recently in Spain and Italy. All in white. Tasteful!

Also a BMW 3 series in white and a Renault Fluence in a fairly lively light blue. Not to mention that vibarant red you can get many cars in in England but never here of course.

Try to get any of the above here? No chance - except maybe new if the dealers can be bothered to stock anything thats not black or grey.

That's a seriously mixed bag of cars. Do remember that what looks well in the bright sunshine of southern Europe won't look the same here.