rickms63

I have a 2001 WRX Sedan which I love, but what is driving me nuts is the crap paint job, I have chips and scratches all over especially on the hood.
I was thinking about getting the whole car repainted until I found out about the price $3500 (estimated on line).

Since the hood is the primary offender, I'm thinking about just having that painted. A couple of question, can the hood just be painted an still match the rest of the four year old body? If it costs more to prep the hood, am I better off just buying a replacement hood and have the shop just paint it? How much should just the hood cost to paint? Lastly, are there any other alternatives?

Thanks,

Rick

huffyrex

coming from somebody who does auto body, i can tell you that body shops charge too much!
what color is your car? usually 4 year old paint hasent faded yet it takes a long time for that to happen. the biggest problem is can the body shop match the paint. not a big deal if its black or white. some silvers are hard to match though, but most body shops do good work. i will say this though, usually the more you pay the better the paint job is. if youve got the bucks find a good body shop, not a back yard chemist(as we call them in the buisiness)
if your on a tight budget just get some touch up paint from your dealer and touch up the chips, this will at least cover up the ugly gray spots.
cheers.

rickms63

The car is sedonia red. So it sounds like it would be possble just to have certain parts of the car repainted?

meilers

I'd buy a new hood and have a reputable shop paint it; if you have any rock chips, that is going to require prepping and sanding and filling before you can paint it again. You can give them the hood scoop for color match, most shops can pull this off. Subaru factory paint is typically single-color over white primer, not that tough to match compared to some multilayer paint jobs out there...

huffyrex

multi layer paint jobs? you mean 3 stage, which you will only find on very few vehicles. there are only pearl whites and a couple reds that i know of that are 3 stage. it will be cheaper for you to have your hood repainted than have a new one put on. its not hard to sand out stone chips, ive done it many times.