Author Topic: Getting a new coat of paint on my old car?  (Read 2702 times)

Roll_Hokies

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Getting a new coat of paint on my old car?
« on: January 19, 2017, 01:37:43 PM »
Hi all,
I'm new to the fold andt it's really gotten me thinking about ways to be more frugal and save money. One thing I'm ahead of the curve on is my car. I am still driving the same 2001 Jetta TDI that I was given when I turned 15 almost 10 years ago. I'm up to 187k miles but I really think I can go to at least 250k. The mechanic who has worked on my car for a decade says that these TDIs are some of the best VW ever made and to try and keep the car forever. Obviously the car is starting to show some age on the body. There a a few dozen rust spots, up to about the size of a quarter,  on the hood and other random blemishes in other places. Since I plan to keep this car for a long time I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to protect the car with a new coat of paint. Or maybe only the hood to fix the rust spots that will only get worse. Just through google I've seen that this could cost between $1,000-$5,000. I'm just now starting to seriously entertain this idea so I don't have any direct price quotes.

Anyway I just wanted to run this past y'all to see if it could be a worthwhile investment to protect my car for the next few years or if it's unnecessary and wasteful.

Thanks.

bobechs

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1065
Re: Getting a new coat of paint on my old car?
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2017, 01:50:47 PM »
Plasti-dip it:

https://www.dipyourcar.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQiA5IHEBRCLr_PZvq2_6qcBEiQAL4cQ0xE3MtnJY3i4Ubm_BhGz2YJqZypDQ0nExM4DvY6jtQ8aAvua8P8HAQ

Or, perhaps, just  ̶r̶i̶c̶e̶, errr... wrap your hood in vinyl wrap:


marielle

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 860
  • Age: 30
  • Location: South Carolina
Re: Getting a new coat of paint on my old car?
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2017, 01:57:28 PM »
I was going to suggest plasti dip but someone beat me to it!

You can even get cool colors like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGdjWLan6hc&t=510s

Doing it yourself would be a few hundred for the entire car I believe. Not sure how much if you paid someone.

Roll_Hokies

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: Getting a new coat of paint on my old car?
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2017, 02:23:13 PM »
Hm I'll have to look into this plasti-dip stuff thanks for brining it up. It doesn't seem like it would be as durable as paint and I would still need to do something about the rust but it could be an option.

Uturn

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 889
  • Age: 54
  • Location: Raleigh, NC
Re: Getting a new coat of paint on my old car?
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2017, 03:14:58 PM »
Cars typically don't rust from the outside in, they rust from the inside out.  Unless your car is rusting from unmitigated paint chips, you most likely have a problem that paint is just going to cover up for a short while.  Crawl under it, look around any seams and attach points, wheel wells, and make sure there is not rust there.  Rust repair is not paint, rust repair is tons of labor hours removing the bad metal and replacing it with good.  The paint is just what you see.

If it really is just the hood, try a boneyard and get as close of a color match as you can.