Respraying. Keep it original or change the colour?

[Lankytim]

My Allegros paintwork is slowly dying. Its a metallic colour called "denim blue" and has been poorly resprayed in the past at some point. It looks like its reacted with the primer and theres thousands of tiny "micro blisters" all over the place. In some areas the paint is flaking away and in others the paint has white blotches, seemingly underneath the surface. The paint is also very thin, allowing surface rust to take hold in places.

Maybe I'm being a bit over critical. From a few paces back the car looks mint, its only when you examine the paintwork closely you see the multitude of serious defects. I'm guessing it was a home respray that went slightly wrong.

I haven't spoken to any experts but to fix the situation I think a full respray would be needed, and it would need to be stripped right back to the bare metal. Its going to cost a fortune, especially being metallic!

There is another way however... I have the removable panels from a yellow Allegro, in good condition. with these on my Allegro would only need the valances, door shuts and quarters respraying. The under bonnet area has been painted black and the roof is vinyl so they wouldn't need doing. Being a "solid" colour rather than a metallic it would be cheaper to have sprayed too.

I reckon it would work out much cheaper than having the whole car stripped and resprayed in its original denim blue. Denim blue is a very rare colour I'm told, but if I cant afford to have it properly resprayed the car will eventually rot away. At least with a good thick paint coat of Ocre yellow it will keep the rust at bay and ill have something to polish!

Anybody got any opinions.. does this sound like a rational idea or completely stupid?

Original colour.




Donor car..

[grumpybadger]

Mmm, tricky this.
My first car was an apple jack green allegro and they do look smart in bright block colours.
I'm not sure you'd need a bare metal respray to cover the problems you describe, sounds more like poor technique than reaction.
I'd keep it stock and repair the flaking paint first, protection of the metal is paramount.
There's a lot of work in a colour change and you might find it costs just as much if you repair and prep the metalic yourself and get it blown over by a proffesional.

[bazzateer]

If you're not bothered by originality then give it a go.

[marinanut]

Demin Blue is a superb shade as long as the paint and laquer is OK, but it always had the habit of flaking or slightly discolouring to the point they look like badly sprayed Hammerite.....
With modern paints, a good prep and respray should bring it up lovely and when done right, it'll look a million Zimbabwean dollars (about 75p, then...... ;D)

[Lankytim]

Feb 21, 2009 16:17:56 GMT grumpybadger said:

Mmm, tricky this.
My first car was an apple jack green allegro and they do look smart in bright block colours.
I'm not sure you'd need a bare metal respray to cover the problems you describe, sounds more like poor technique than reaction.
I'd keep it stock and repair the flaking paint first, protection of the metal is paramount.
There's a lot of work in a colour change and you might find it costs just as much if you repair and prep the metalic yourself and get it blown over by a proffesional.

Thats just it though.. wouldnt it be cheaper to paint it yellow as I wouldnt have to have the doors, bonnet or bootlid painted, just the front/rear wings, doorshuts and valances. All in a solid colour too, not metallic.

[encino]

What colour is the interior?

[Lankytim]

Black.

[Deleted]

if you need to strip it anyway then paint it what ever colour you like its the best chance you will have at getting a car in the colour YOU want the car and not in the colour it was mass produced in

[tofufi]

I think the blue looks far, far better.

Personally, I'd save up and get it done in blue when you've got the money. It is a lot, but if the car is good it'll be worth it, in my opinion.

I'm not keen on the bright yellow, it is too 'solid' for an Allegro in my opinion.

Nice car, either way

[grumpybadger]

All the door checks have to be prepared by hand as the sander will not go in there. Large flat panels can be done in no time with a DA so time (which equals money in body shops) is spent preping areas that won't need to be metalic.
You might save on paint and laquer slightly but on labour I doubt there's much in it.
When I worken in body shops most of them were really fussy about painting older cars as if it's not perfect it's their reputation.
One things for sure, you'll never know until you ask.

[Lankytim]

Ill have to get some professional advice and some quotes. Id prefer to keep it original but its all a question of money when it comes down to it.

[stealthstylz]

The other problem that usually occurs is that the lovely fresh paint on the shell would show up any defects in the paint on the front panels.

Matt

[great68]

Feb 21, 2009 13:30:57 GMT Lankytim said:

Donor car..

You will have to respray the trolly jack as well if you change the car colour ;D

[Lankytim]

No I wouldnt, because the jack would match the new colour!

[Deleted]

That blue suits it.

While I was about to say it looks cool in that blue I'd be calling an Allegro cool and while I think it's true I would be shamed in society for saying it. Well it does in my opinion.

So blue it is then?

[dave21478]

New paint will never be a great match for the old panels, which will have faded slightly, plus the hassle of doing the door shuts etc in yellow...I say get it done in the original blue, or entirely in another colour, but don't go half-assed with the yellow, I reckon the mix of old and new would look silly.

[Deleted]

yellow can be one of the worst colours to paint due to is lack of covering ability so believe it or not the blue could even work out cheaper to do

[rowleyclassics]

lankytim

because it is you and only you at the moment, hows about a sprayerthon, you pay for the paint (aprox £120.00) and we will supply the labour and i will lay the paint, wife even said you can sleep at our house for the night

as for the colour i would keep it blue, but that is up to you

[Lankytim]

Wow, how generous! how can I refuse that offer?

We will have to arrange a suitable time to get it all sorted, What preperation work would be needed? Should I remove all the exterior trim e.t.c?

[rowleyclassics]

remove nothing it all gets done here, hope you are ready for 18 hour days, 2 days running, i have pm you my number call me.

ian