nobby
09-12-2010, 09:59 PM
Hi folks
Just recently got the NSX resprayed fully - well all the yellow panels anyway. The car was picked up last Saturday after weeks of uncertainty, frustration, etc. It definitely has been a love/hate relationship for me of late with my NSX, and a bit of a nightmare for the good chap who undertook the paint job in the first place. THIS was NOT a job I was planning to do just yet during my ownership of this NXS. Unfortunately, my hand was forced to rectify the situation sooner rather than later, and this will be discussed later in this write up. Anyway I will start of at the beginning regarding the 'paint issue' on my car. Here goes:
First off the paint colour on this car was not correct prior to purchase. When Sudesh and I inspected the car earlier this year (May 2010) we knew straight away the car had seen paintwork. There was nothing wrong with the work done or issues with the spray job itself, it was a very professional job; however the paint colour did not match the original paint code of the car. However both of us liked it and it was one of the attractions for me in the first place.
With regards to the paint colour, it was a bright yellow almost toxic (but in a good way). I never liked yellow on a car EVER, until I saw this car which was soon to become my NSX. The only blemish to the paintwork was a bit of stone damage to the nearside of the bonnet, towards the front, and the slightest bit of paint run on the drivers side inner door panel. Nothing really bad but it was going to need resolved.
After getting it back from Sudesh (NSX Refresh) in early July 2010, I racked up the miles on the car as well as keeping her clean. This in turn, took its toll on the stone chip until it needed touched up. I got paint made up to the code specification, and at this point you could see the difference quite clearly on the outside of the car. This was a temporary measure to ensure that the stone chip did not get any worse and to prevent paint actually from lifting from the bonnet area.
After many enquiries and getting advice from local sources I settled on a guy to do my job. After much deliberation and inspection he decided to take on the task and sort out the bonnet issue, fix up a couple of stone chips on one wing (offside) and fix the offside engine vent surround which had got a pretty hefty stone chip at one time. Becasue we could not use the paint code, both of us spent a lot of time viewing sample cards and colour matching until we found a match closest to the paint work on the car. It turns out that the colour used on the car was 'sort of' based on the original paint code of the car, but had been lightly sprayed on, probably no more than one full coat, that is why it had that bright look to it. The more layers you put on yellow the deeper it gets. We could never really match the Honda code with the paint, and in the end the sprayer had to customise to get it as close as possible.
Once paint order and materials were purchased the car was left round with painter to get the job done and I got the call a few days later to come collect the car. This was around 5wks ago. When I went to collect the car she was on the street nearing the twilight hours of the evening time. On approach to the car (on the actual driveway) I noticed straight away the colour differences on the car. You could see straight away where the car had been resprayed! At this time, I now had various shades of yellow on the front bumper, offside wing, bonnet, door mirror, offside engine vent and boot lid! I was in total shock and disbelief. All i wanted was a few stone chips repaired and i ended up with the multi-coloured swap shop! There was no way I was able to settle for this job, it was shocking. I was gutted as too was the sprayer. He had just taken the car out of artificial light and the differences were only noticable to him once out of the workshop. Even in daylight the differences in colour were obvious. The car was effectively a mess and it had to be sorted. With a camera you were not able to distinguish between the different shades, you had to see it with your own eyes.
I met up with the sprayer again along with a detailer friend to review the issues with the car. After much deliberation and to effectively cut a long story short I opted for a full respray, it was the only way to be sure (in theory) to sort the mess out once and for all. When respray was initailly mentioned I nearly choked (pound signs!) but at the same time I asked about spraying the car to Nighthawk Black (Honda colour). However with the engine bay and front bay needing to be sprayed and these areas needing stripped out, the costs rose dramatically. So I opted for the original paintcode. At this time we all agreed to lift the Pearl effect on the car. All of us concluded that the Pearl effect even on the newly resprayed panels looked 'lost' and difficult to see, so when it came to ordering up the new paint we enhanced this.
The chosen materials to be used were all made by the company Glasurit - I mean everything from prep to lacquer stages. Apparently this is top grade stuff as the painter and I were going to ensure this job was done right and no issues with paint mis-match like before.
The sprayer pushed the boat out (and even more drain on my pocket) by buying additional materials including some kind of flexi coat that should prevent stone chipping etc in future. He knew himself that the car needed to be put RIGHT. He also knew I would NOT settle for anything less.
Once all the materials arrived, the car was left down to get stripped and prepared (again). I actually called down one evening to see the car in prep stage and believe me there is some serious work involved in bringing it down in order to take on new paint. During the prep work, I took the early decision to replace the rubber grommits where the original aerial and (DAB radio aerials) where and get them covered up and resprayed. An aluminium welder was called out to do the job (see pics) and its a job very well done. Very pleased with the results. I now have smooth lines/finish on the rear of my car, which really is a bonus. As discussed below, I had a 'bubbling' paint issue in a very small area on the near side, side repeater. When the guys had prepped the car, I had asked the reason as to why it was happening. They explained that black specs had occured in the aluminium surface and it was reacting with the paint. Area was repaired and prepped.
With this car, nothing is ever easy or has gone completely smoothly for me and this paint job was no different. Again cut a long story short, we had issues with paint matching again. This time it was the rear of the car. All panels from rear window to bumper were all the one colour and then from the doors to the front of the car the paint looked another shade lighter - all paint was applied using same paint from the tin, same paint gun etc. It was CRAZY, you could not believe it. The car looked as if it was a 'cut and shut'. Even the rear spoiler when it was set on the back was a different shade of yellow and it was closer to the colour on the front of the car! Everyone was at a loss as to why this had happened. As you will see from pics the car and the explanation above the car was fully prepped before hand. A decision was made to get the Glasurit company troubleshooters out to review the work done. When they reviewed the car and the work (as below I had asked for the car to be photographed at every major stage of the paint process) they had little to offer in terms of an explanation. PLUS all their products were being used so they could not blame the work effort of the guys or ask for more moniey to resolve the issues. Anyway discussions took place, I dont have all the details of what was actually talked about or done to the car to resolve the issues, needless to say the car was taken back done again ground coated and primed again followed by a full respray! Finally the guys got the paint to match and we now had a car that had all panels matching.
In the end I believe that a few gallons of paint was used. The car had 3 coats of paint excluding undercoat and lacquer used. As discussed earlier I had made the decision to customise the colour and increase the Peral effect to make it that bit more 'special'. Trust me when I say it has worked a treat and comes up great in the sunlight and when it hits it. Instant sparkle!
So enough of my waffle, hope you get the general jist of what I have been put through along with the guys who worked on the car. We have all been put through hell in order to sort this car out. So much for a complete respray being the easiest route to resolve all issues!
As for the sprayer, he NEVER wants to see her again let alone a yellow car! But my thanks goes to Davey Trainor and Terry for all their hard work on this car. It really was a tough job for them,
The car is now back home (effectively last Saturday) and in the garage due to crap weather. Hopefully I will get more finished pics up in due course, but in the interim you will have to make do with this selection to show you what the car has been through over the past several weeks. NB. I am no car restorer so I have tried to put these pics into some sort of order re the paintwork process. Also I reduced the file size of these images (also effect on quality) to ensure that they were readable on the site.
Prep work - stripping car down
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/arpatterson73/pj1.jpg
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/arpatterson73/pj2.jpg
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/arpatterson73/pj3.jpg
The process for removing the holes left over in the metal work from removal of standard areial and DAB areial. A specialist was used to carry out a patch and Aluminium Weld on both rear quarter panels.
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/arpatterson73/pj4.jpg
Just recently got the NSX resprayed fully - well all the yellow panels anyway. The car was picked up last Saturday after weeks of uncertainty, frustration, etc. It definitely has been a love/hate relationship for me of late with my NSX, and a bit of a nightmare for the good chap who undertook the paint job in the first place. THIS was NOT a job I was planning to do just yet during my ownership of this NXS. Unfortunately, my hand was forced to rectify the situation sooner rather than later, and this will be discussed later in this write up. Anyway I will start of at the beginning regarding the 'paint issue' on my car. Here goes:
First off the paint colour on this car was not correct prior to purchase. When Sudesh and I inspected the car earlier this year (May 2010) we knew straight away the car had seen paintwork. There was nothing wrong with the work done or issues with the spray job itself, it was a very professional job; however the paint colour did not match the original paint code of the car. However both of us liked it and it was one of the attractions for me in the first place.
With regards to the paint colour, it was a bright yellow almost toxic (but in a good way). I never liked yellow on a car EVER, until I saw this car which was soon to become my NSX. The only blemish to the paintwork was a bit of stone damage to the nearside of the bonnet, towards the front, and the slightest bit of paint run on the drivers side inner door panel. Nothing really bad but it was going to need resolved.
After getting it back from Sudesh (NSX Refresh) in early July 2010, I racked up the miles on the car as well as keeping her clean. This in turn, took its toll on the stone chip until it needed touched up. I got paint made up to the code specification, and at this point you could see the difference quite clearly on the outside of the car. This was a temporary measure to ensure that the stone chip did not get any worse and to prevent paint actually from lifting from the bonnet area.
After many enquiries and getting advice from local sources I settled on a guy to do my job. After much deliberation and inspection he decided to take on the task and sort out the bonnet issue, fix up a couple of stone chips on one wing (offside) and fix the offside engine vent surround which had got a pretty hefty stone chip at one time. Becasue we could not use the paint code, both of us spent a lot of time viewing sample cards and colour matching until we found a match closest to the paint work on the car. It turns out that the colour used on the car was 'sort of' based on the original paint code of the car, but had been lightly sprayed on, probably no more than one full coat, that is why it had that bright look to it. The more layers you put on yellow the deeper it gets. We could never really match the Honda code with the paint, and in the end the sprayer had to customise to get it as close as possible.
Once paint order and materials were purchased the car was left round with painter to get the job done and I got the call a few days later to come collect the car. This was around 5wks ago. When I went to collect the car she was on the street nearing the twilight hours of the evening time. On approach to the car (on the actual driveway) I noticed straight away the colour differences on the car. You could see straight away where the car had been resprayed! At this time, I now had various shades of yellow on the front bumper, offside wing, bonnet, door mirror, offside engine vent and boot lid! I was in total shock and disbelief. All i wanted was a few stone chips repaired and i ended up with the multi-coloured swap shop! There was no way I was able to settle for this job, it was shocking. I was gutted as too was the sprayer. He had just taken the car out of artificial light and the differences were only noticable to him once out of the workshop. Even in daylight the differences in colour were obvious. The car was effectively a mess and it had to be sorted. With a camera you were not able to distinguish between the different shades, you had to see it with your own eyes.
I met up with the sprayer again along with a detailer friend to review the issues with the car. After much deliberation and to effectively cut a long story short I opted for a full respray, it was the only way to be sure (in theory) to sort the mess out once and for all. When respray was initailly mentioned I nearly choked (pound signs!) but at the same time I asked about spraying the car to Nighthawk Black (Honda colour). However with the engine bay and front bay needing to be sprayed and these areas needing stripped out, the costs rose dramatically. So I opted for the original paintcode. At this time we all agreed to lift the Pearl effect on the car. All of us concluded that the Pearl effect even on the newly resprayed panels looked 'lost' and difficult to see, so when it came to ordering up the new paint we enhanced this.
The chosen materials to be used were all made by the company Glasurit - I mean everything from prep to lacquer stages. Apparently this is top grade stuff as the painter and I were going to ensure this job was done right and no issues with paint mis-match like before.
The sprayer pushed the boat out (and even more drain on my pocket) by buying additional materials including some kind of flexi coat that should prevent stone chipping etc in future. He knew himself that the car needed to be put RIGHT. He also knew I would NOT settle for anything less.
Once all the materials arrived, the car was left down to get stripped and prepared (again). I actually called down one evening to see the car in prep stage and believe me there is some serious work involved in bringing it down in order to take on new paint. During the prep work, I took the early decision to replace the rubber grommits where the original aerial and (DAB radio aerials) where and get them covered up and resprayed. An aluminium welder was called out to do the job (see pics) and its a job very well done. Very pleased with the results. I now have smooth lines/finish on the rear of my car, which really is a bonus. As discussed below, I had a 'bubbling' paint issue in a very small area on the near side, side repeater. When the guys had prepped the car, I had asked the reason as to why it was happening. They explained that black specs had occured in the aluminium surface and it was reacting with the paint. Area was repaired and prepped.
With this car, nothing is ever easy or has gone completely smoothly for me and this paint job was no different. Again cut a long story short, we had issues with paint matching again. This time it was the rear of the car. All panels from rear window to bumper were all the one colour and then from the doors to the front of the car the paint looked another shade lighter - all paint was applied using same paint from the tin, same paint gun etc. It was CRAZY, you could not believe it. The car looked as if it was a 'cut and shut'. Even the rear spoiler when it was set on the back was a different shade of yellow and it was closer to the colour on the front of the car! Everyone was at a loss as to why this had happened. As you will see from pics the car and the explanation above the car was fully prepped before hand. A decision was made to get the Glasurit company troubleshooters out to review the work done. When they reviewed the car and the work (as below I had asked for the car to be photographed at every major stage of the paint process) they had little to offer in terms of an explanation. PLUS all their products were being used so they could not blame the work effort of the guys or ask for more moniey to resolve the issues. Anyway discussions took place, I dont have all the details of what was actually talked about or done to the car to resolve the issues, needless to say the car was taken back done again ground coated and primed again followed by a full respray! Finally the guys got the paint to match and we now had a car that had all panels matching.
In the end I believe that a few gallons of paint was used. The car had 3 coats of paint excluding undercoat and lacquer used. As discussed earlier I had made the decision to customise the colour and increase the Peral effect to make it that bit more 'special'. Trust me when I say it has worked a treat and comes up great in the sunlight and when it hits it. Instant sparkle!
So enough of my waffle, hope you get the general jist of what I have been put through along with the guys who worked on the car. We have all been put through hell in order to sort this car out. So much for a complete respray being the easiest route to resolve all issues!
As for the sprayer, he NEVER wants to see her again let alone a yellow car! But my thanks goes to Davey Trainor and Terry for all their hard work on this car. It really was a tough job for them,
The car is now back home (effectively last Saturday) and in the garage due to crap weather. Hopefully I will get more finished pics up in due course, but in the interim you will have to make do with this selection to show you what the car has been through over the past several weeks. NB. I am no car restorer so I have tried to put these pics into some sort of order re the paintwork process. Also I reduced the file size of these images (also effect on quality) to ensure that they were readable on the site.
Prep work - stripping car down
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/arpatterson73/pj1.jpg
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/arpatterson73/pj2.jpg
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/arpatterson73/pj3.jpg
The process for removing the holes left over in the metal work from removal of standard areial and DAB areial. A specialist was used to carry out a patch and Aluminium Weld on both rear quarter panels.
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/arpatterson73/pj4.jpg