Resprays

[Simmo]

What kind of prices have people paid for a back to fibreglass respray? I understand that each car will be different but i am only trying to 'test the water and get an average' the car itself is in good condition and should not require any major repairs. On the same note can anyone recommend a paintshop in the north of england? they all seem to be down south. I am in Leeds.

[steveww]

For a drive in / drive out job you should budget around ?6k Ouch!

[dougweall]

Simmo,

I just about agree with Steve on price. I had my car painted by Richard Winter (Europa Eng) near Southport a couple of years ago now. I was very happy with the result.

Send me a pm if you want more details.

By the way I live near Barnsley.

Doug.

[richardcox_lotus]

Miles Wilkins recently quoted me 9-10K

[Elanintheforest]

The vast majority, probably greater than 90% of the price, is in the preparation, so there's huge scope for saving heaps by doing a lot of work yourself. You can strip all the bits off the car, strip off the paint and repair those gel-coat cracks very easily without specialist equipment or tools. Remember that a good bodyshop will charge at least ?30 an hour, most probably heading towards ?40 plus. Each crack has to be ground out, re-tissued, rubbed down, filled and rubbed down again before primer. So one small crack could take an hour or two to get to pre-primer stage. I'll bet most Elans needing repainting have 10, 20, 30 cracks and star cracks to sort out...you can do the sums!

Stripping all the paint takes ages, probably several weekends of arm-acheing work...but very satisfying. Probably adds up to 20, 30, or 40 hours. I've recently come across this firm that uses soft soda to blast of the paint, layer by layer, which could be a good alternative:

http://www.sodablast.co.uk/3.html

Must be worth checking out.

If you fancy doing the prep yourself get hold of Miles Wilkens book on Fibreglass repairs...there's also a companion book on paintwork, which is orientated around fibreglass cars as well.

I reckon that if you did the prep yourself properly, and all the bodyshop had to do was a couple of primer / filler (for shape) runs and a couple of topcoat runs, you'd be looking at ?1000 or so.

There are quite a few topics concerning prep and paint on the forum, with lots of debate as to the right and wrong ways of doing things. For me there are two golden rules:

Never use any form of paint stripper to remove the paint

Never use water to help the sanding process unless it's the final topcoat.

But I'm sure that other will have other views!
Mark

[davidallen]

Hi,

I live in Ilkley and can strongly recommend someone in Guiseley. He charged me ?2000 for my +2 and did an excellent job. However, I should add I spent a long time stripping the paint off first and repairing all the damage I found underneath! I also had to put up with all the comments about crap Lotus build quality.

Give a ring on 01274 846298 in you need more info. I have also loads of experience of stripping and repairing, and have also found a paint stripper which will work on fibreglass, provided the car has not been resprayed in 2 pack, which mine had.

David

[richardcox_lotus]

I agree about preprep. That is where nearly all the cost is. Miles reckons on 250-300 hours for a total job on an unprepped Elans. (+2 takes even longer)

The main issue I see with DIY is

a) The mess - disposal of crap
b) If working outside, preventing moisture ingress

IIRC, berni29 had a large tent in the garden !

[Matt]

PaintWRX I found them here:
http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=770

Quoted me ?2,000 to take my +2 back to glass, repair all cracks and respray it a single color. If I wanted a metal flake roof it was an extra ?1.000.

This was with me removing all glass, chrome and with the doors, boot and pods off and stripped.

They had a elan in there when I went to see them about my car (they are only 3 miles from my house fortuneatly) and the paintwork they had just done on it looked really good and all the mould marks and ripples we have where all gone.

My car has 3 layers of paint on it, a few blisters here and there and 2 cracks, they are not at all bad so i'm going to see how in winters and review it then.

But if I was to have it done I feel they would do a A1 job.

Matt

[nebogipfel]

I agree with almost everything Mark says (above)

The only comment I would make (from a painters perspective) is that it is hard enough to guarantee repairs on an old fiberglass shell if you've done the prep' yourself ......... so easy to miss a crack or two. But I certainly wouldn't want to guarantee someone else's repairs

As Mark says the job is all in the prep'

Just to echo his other comment - please keep water away from the shell until the final primer and top coats

[Simmo]

I would like to thank all those who responded to my question

[Elise]

That was an interesting read. I've recently bought an S4 that needs a re-spray....and wasn't bargaining on it costing that much!

Elise