Paint & protection

Ohtobbad

Administrator
Staff member
Some of our cars are older, some are newer.
All different types, ages and milage.
Some driven alot more, some very little, a few barely at all.

What are your thoughts on
Paint?
stripes?
protection?
wraps?
Tint?

Anything related.
 
The longer you can get the original Factory Paint to last, the better it is for car. My car is 19 years old, and 137,000 miles not kilometers. original paint with the exception of a respray on both bumpers and the hood scoop. Looks great from a few feet away, but you can see the road rash up close, but I’m in no rush to paint it, it’s a driver, not a Trailer Queen
 
I'm on the bubble..... wanting to have the car look as good as possible but wanting to enjoy it. Being busy lately seems to have more miles on the pressure washer and wash Mitt than the odometer! Nice to look at out the window, but not really what I bought it for....

Stone chips aren't too bad yest, but like on any dark paint job, they seem to stand out....to the owner, at least. I'm giving hard thought to a look down the road to getti g chips painted and west sanded smooth and look at color match wrap goes front fascia, hood front fenders and mirrors, just to extend the original paint life. Will coast as much as a full paint job...or more, I am guessing.

Other option is to go with full paint, let sit over winter storage and go with clear wrap the following spring. Would defer retiring for another year, but seems like a reasonable long term investment.
 
The front bumper on mine needs some serious attention and the rest of the car has lots of paint chips from the previous owner. The black stripes weren’t well done either, I need to clean glue residue off thyme on a regular basis. One of these days I’d love to get it redone but it’s not going to happen this year. I’ll probably do some touch ups myself again I may get it right this time. Of course I’ve said that over quite a few tries
 
Last edited:
Paint was a problem for my car and several manufactures
Including some of the more expensive brands.

I don't know if that has been corrected or not.
road chips on front, hood and sides of car are getting annoying.

I original had the car ceramic coated, was about a 10 hour process.
Didn't do anything to proect paint form road rash.
but I have never had a swirl lol.

I can live with repainting the car, just trying to figure out
how best to protect it after I am done.
 
I had problem with road chips on my previous mustang and daily driver. Now, I keep my distance, most rock chips are from following too closely. You still gets the odd one from incoming traffic but very minimal. Rock chips are like Covid-19 less chance to gets if you keep your social distancing;)
 
I’m not opposed to repaint.
If staying same colour and getting good painter to do it, no one can tell.

It’s not a collision.
Doesn’t show on a carfax report.
Sometimes it’s one of the only ways to correct an issue.
Say, if someone does bad job of laying over the to stripes and cuts the stripes while on the car and uses too much pressure on their exacto knife.
You buy the car and dont like the stripes so you have then removed.
It’s only then that you can tell the damage from having cut the stripes on the car.
But now it’s too late. The stripes are off.

Your choice is lay new stripes to hide damage or repaint.

I cannot confirm or deny that I have lived this experience, but I can say that my green car has quite a bit of post factory paint on it, but if I kept quiet, I doubt many or any of you could tell.

I am fan of clear 3M protector.
My Fusion Sport had some applied from the factory.
Most people can’t tell it’s even there.
Does great job protecting from rock chips.
It has to be the best quality or cheaper stuff can yellow in the sun.
Not good on white cars.

I too have learned that social distancing is very good way to reduce rock chips.
Most are obtained from following too closely.
 
If I were to do this, I struggle with a few things.
Do I rebuy the factory paint?
Was the paint the problem or new electromagnetic process
they use to apply? Keep in minf the gt350 is 5" lower at hood than normal GT Mustang
this attributtes to some of it. Second my tires are super sticky, so rock / peoples being
spit up from tire is a real problem.

I would so same color, as doors, truck and under hood would not have to be done.
I looked into 3M film, at the time it matter, but this devalues cars, me repainting that will do that as well.
At the time the only ones capable of doing high level job was Montreal, not sure But I think that
has changed since then.

Keep in mind the protective film, I was quoted at that level was $5000 but not a line showwing guaranteed.
I would buy ford factory stripes, so all could be done proper.

Really comes down to not if, but when I do this, I have a few very nasty chips.
Paint to use? process IE: clearcoats etc. and then what paint protection I use,
so repainting is not needed every 4-5 years.

In other words if I am going to do this, I want to do it as right as I can.
Based on what I have learned car is still worht what I paid for it, even with
32K on it. So worth the investment.
 
Figured this belonged here. Bugs on our bumpers are a major PITA. For years I had used Turtle Wax Bug and Tar with less than stellar results. Tried Sea Foam Bug Remover, and I would highly recommend it ? First wash and dry car, then spray product on affected area and allow 60 seconds to penetrate, then wipe off with a damp cloth. 393A0BC5-9852-4908-90C7-52B25FBEA9AE.jpeg
 
Best thing for bugs is to power wash them as soon as possible after your road trip, while the guts are still fresh, power wash avoids any accidental scratching by contact.

As far as re-painting vs protection goes, I think its better to just leave the factory paint alone.

Re-paint is more trouble and expense than its worth , and the potential for mistakes in the aftermarket is too high for what you're paying.

Wraps like x-pel are good apparently, but expensive, and pretty much have to be done at new.

Side note, the GT350 surprised me with the rock rash located on the rear fenders in front of the rear tires, just behind the doors.

Damn MPSS's are so sticky they throw everything.

Never used Seafoam, but I'm curious how you get bugs on your shower, microwave or carpet. lol
 
Last year at the Nationals there was a Mustang with saran wrap on the front bumper to keep the bugs off.Funny thing was later the car was parked for display and the plastic was still hanging off the bumper.Guess they didn't do a walk around.
 
I've seen guys on the other forums use painters tape, masked off the whole front end before driving their cars from one place to another, looked like you would expect it to look.

Also heard of using non stick cooking spray on the front end.... I've done neither. lol
 
Back
Top