Finally getting ready to deal with (some) new paint on the wife's GT Wagon. Adding a GT-B Limited front bumper as well. The car is a 1998 Legacy GT Wagon in Black Granite Pearl, Subaru paint code 54A.
As mentioned in the thread Ask a detailer!, I have a problem with the original factory paint, sometimes referred to as "crow's feet", "checking", or "crappy Subaru paint" lol. There is some checking on most of the upward-facing surfaces such as the roof, tops of the fenders, and the top edges of the doors. The checking is especially bad on the hood, and has been like this since we bought the car over two and a half years ago:
The sides and trunk area look pretty good though, considering it's age. I spent several days cleaning, polishing, and buffing scratches out of the paint all over the exterior. It will never be perfect, but it shines nicely and several of the clearcoat scratches came out fairly well.
Before scratch correction:
After scratch correction:
There is nothing I can do for the checking, however, and it was explained to me that it will only get worse, until the clearcoat completely fails.
So what I need to have done - for sure - is paint this bumper:
I need to get the hood refinished as well. I also have several trim pieces to paint, including JDM spats, sidemarkers, folding mirrors, and L7 grille (which needs new smoked chrome). I'd like to color-match the side skirts, which are stock grey plastic. (Wishing I had a GT-B rear bumper to go with the front to complete the full JDM look!) So naturally it occurs to me that maybe the right way forward is a complete bumper-to-bumper repaint.
I asked for a referral over at LegacyGT.com, when a local member sikend667 talked about having his wagon repainted. His enthusiastic answer was Eagle Street Automotive, a long-established paint shop here in Vancouver, WA. After cleaning up the car to the best of my ability, I went on down there for an estimate yesterday. Just as I was walking into the shop, a flawless ivory white ~1958 Dodge convertible rolled up with it's top down. I'm not all that into classics but I was like :tongue1: . I met with the shop manager, who confirmed that the car was their work, and that they do a lot of prize-winning classics. He had a good look at my car and the white bumper, which I had brought along in the cargo hold. The crackled appearance on the hood and other areas was explained to me as too much hardener in the clearcoat when it was originally applied. This catalyst continues to harden over the years, and sun & heat conspire to slowly shatter the clear over time. He explained that repainting the hood, bumper, and trim pieces would run $700-$800, but that the rest of the car would look bad by comparison, and would need to be painted within a few years anyway. A rough estimate for sanding away the failing finish and painting the entire car would be ~$3000. This is a tremendous amount of money for a 15-year-old car which would sell for less than that in many markets in the country (but not in Portland, where you'd expect to pay a lot more for a nice older Subaru). However, it was not the "$5000 paint job" that I feared would be quoted to me, lol. We spent a good twenty minutes talking it over, and this was after his closing time, so I thought that was pretty cool of him. I told him I'd talk it over with my wife and let him know what we decide.
So far that is the only estimate I've received, but I am also planning to take the car down to Dick Hannah Collision Center, which is part of the the local Subie dealership, to see if there is any wheeling-dealing-paint-should-be-recalled I could do. I seriously doubt anything would come of this (I definitely am not a regular maintenance customer), but I suppose it is worth a shot. I need to get the seatbelts replaced under warranty anyway. The car was sold brand new from a local dealership (Wentworth) in Portland, so that is another avenue to explore. We had a fender-bender with the 4Runner several years back, and another shop here in town did the work, which still looks great, so I will probably get some estimates there as well.
The last decision I would need to make is a slight change in color: Instead of 54A-Black Granite Pearl, I might like to change to 47A-Black Mica. This is the color, I believe, of the JDM GT-B's. I have some JDM mirrors in this this original color. It's quite similar - a black with maroon metal flake - but the flake is smaller and color overall is a shade darker. I think it would be close enough that I could skip doing the door jambs, under the hood, etc. I am really a black car kind of guy, and the maroon look of Black Granite Pearl has always left me wishing it was darker. Maybe Black Mica is the way to go?
Anybody have any input?
Reply With Quote
