Removing a layer of paint

2ndeffort on 12/01/2017 - 16:31
Last edited 12/01/2017 - 16:32

I just helped my son buy his first car. We got a great price on a 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer from Grays Online. Pleased with the car, runs great,we've had it roadworthied and inspected and registered the car. I spent a couple of days on the hols going to wreckers yards and getting parts to fixup the couple of minor things needing fixing.

The only downside of the car is that, for some reason the previous owner (real estate Agent) painted the Bonnet and the 2 driver's side doors matt black. Yu can see around the door handles and the window rubber that the doors were originally the same colour as the rest of the car but for some reason they are now matt black. it doesnt appear there has been any major repair work done, the matt paint isnt primer and the doors arent off another car, they have masked off the top 5cm of each door and around each door handle when they've sprayed on the matt paint so these areas are the same grey as the rest of the car.

I recently had a 'Scratchbusters' guy quote me and he used a thinners to see if the paint rubbed off, it started coming off but he said it would take too long. Instead quoted $850 to respray both doors. i think he couldnt be bothered with the cheaper removal or there wasnt any proifit in it, easier to charge me more $$ for a respray.

My son is a uni student, he doesnt have $850 and frankly the car runs great with 2 black doors. We would like to fix it if possible but we arent spending big $$ to get it resprayed. The car itself is a uni student's car, drives great and clean but has a few scrathes etc, definitely not concours level and doesnt need to be. is there a cheap way to fix these doors. Options I have thought about:

  1. buy some thiners/paint remover from the repco 30% off sale this weekend and get my uni student son spending his ample uni holidays rubbing away at the black paint. There are restored cars all over the internet where someone has rubbed away old layers to reveal original paint underneath. Sounds like a good idea but if my son goes too far and damages the original paint underneath we will need to find the $850 for a respray.

  2. try 'Oven Cleaner'. As above but possibly an even greater margin for error.

  3. Wet and Dry paper and all of the same problems as above.

  4. Keep saving then get the whole car vinyl wrapped in a totally different colour.

  5. Just put up with 2 black doors. 1st world problem!!

Automotive

Comments

  • try2bhelpful on 12/01/2017 - 16:39
    +1

    I would go with option 5 - unless he really doesn't like it. Uni student is likely to have a few bingles before he is finished and the doors will get scratched up anyway; you can fix the paint with the first repair job. Besides, it will be much easier for him to spot the car in the car park as it will stand out.

  • mskeggs on 12/01/2017 - 17:05
    +2

    Where do you live that a Real Estate Agent will drive a custom painted 7yro Lancer? Aleppo?

    I would be inclined to let it ride too. You almost guarantee there will never be any damage to the doors or 'bonut' if you leave them be…
    We had lots worse when I was a student.

    • 2ndeffort on 12/01/2017 - 17:09
      +1

      The car was repossessed hence why i was able to get it at auction. Agent was somewhere in rural Queensland (clearly not from Sydney's Northern Beaches or Port Melbourne!). There seemed to be a lot of Lancers from Queensland where i think the Government leases them. I live in Melbourne and thanks to the now closed Ford Factory I think, most of the Government runabout cars that hit auctions seem to be Falcadores or their smaller indigenous ilk!

  • jellykingdom on 12/01/2017 - 17:08
    -2

    I have to ask - would it not have been cheaper to simply buy a slightly better quality car?

    • mskeggs on 12/01/2017 - 17:11
      +2

      Consider the paintwork would have resulted in a lower sale price at auction, so not sure how a nicer car would be cheaper?

      • jellykingdom on 12/01/2017 - 17:29

        Cheaper overall obviously once you include new parts and new paint

    • 2ndeffort on 12/01/2017 - 17:12

      Maybe, the son had a pretty strict and pretty limited budget. I limited him to a few makes and models (essentially those with a 5 star safety rating). He seemed to like and want a Mitsubishi Lancer but to meet his budget we were either going to have to go interstate or he was going to have to wait for another few months to save up more money. he has a couple of casual jobs and certainly hard for him to save money. Then this car came up! we did the Gumtree thing and kicked a few tyres, made a few offers and spent hours on the internet searching!

      My wife did mention giving him some of our money, going to a caryard and spending an extra $4K or so. The OzB in me could never let that happen. I'll reiterate though, aside from the black bits, the car is absolutely great! Only problem seems to be cosmetic! Also, the car only cost us $4500 to buy at auction.

      • jellykingdom on 12/01/2017 - 17:29

        See that's pretty good then. I wasn't really sure how much you paid

        You mentioned buying wrecked parts, etc so it maybe didn't stack up in the end. Do all the airbags work etc?

        • 2ndeffort on 12/01/2017 - 17:36
          +4

          The eye level stop light in the boot was intermittent and one of the motors for the door mirrors didnt work properly. We bought replacement parts from the wreckers and switched ou the old bits. We also bought a better leather steering wheel with radio controls on it (from a better model lancer wreck) to replace the original plastic steering wheel with no radio controls. All airbags OK, none have deployed, we even kept the driver's airbag and just switched it across from the old steering wheel to the new one. I even ran my OBCD sensor and software across the car and there are no error codes.

          We serviced the car and the oil and filters were in need of changing but that is probably to be expected for an auction car.

  • onetrickpony on 12/01/2017 - 17:38
    +1

    I sanded an old car back to bare metal last year and resprayed it myself. So, from what I learned, I'd go with the wet n dry paper. Start with 2000 grade and see how it goes, the finer the grade the longer it will take and the less chance of damaging the paint. If 2000 is too slow, and leaving no obvious scratches in the original paint, you may want to try 1500 or even 1200. Wet n dry paper is cheap, and a few sheets go a long way when used properly. The finer grades can be hard to find, but Repco do stock most of them. Patience is the key, but much harder to damage the original paint that way than with chemicals.

  • garetz on 12/01/2017 - 19:03

    Unless you know exactly what paint was used i wouldnt do anything that might end up damaging the cars finish.

  • Euphemistic on 12/01/2017 - 20:21
    +1

    I'd go with the thinners. Take it easy at first, the Matt black is probably just slapped on and the paint under it might be good. Spending a few $ on some thinners and a couple of jars of elbow grease won't break the budget and surely you couldn't make it look too much worse.

    If the paint under is affected spend a few more dollars on some colour match paint and a tin of good clear coat. One tin of each would probably be enough for each door.

  • BensonP on 12/01/2017 - 21:18

    Maybe get 2 doors and a bonnet from the wreckers?

    • 2ndeffort on 12/01/2017 - 21:34

      Could do but I would have trouble getting some with the exact same colour so would probably have to get them painted then hung, leaving me no better off

      • nafe on 13/01/2017 - 10:47

        Is it some unique colour? Lancers are pretty much a dime a dozen.

        • 2ndeffort on 13/01/2017 - 11:12

          Metallic grey, not unique in any way, probably thousands of them sold. Although there are thousands around though, the supply of stuff from wreckers is a bit hit and miss. There needs to have been a wreck somewhere that the drivers side doors werent damaged AND that wreck needs to have been bought buy a wrecker near me. I am sure if i am ok to pay to have it freighted to me that a wrecker would be able to put out a call and have something sourced from anywhere and freighted to Melbourne. All of this will add up and probably end up costing more than repainting the current doors. I have seen what looks like a perfect door on Gumtree, $70 but pickup only, I am in Melb and it is in the Blue Mountains! Other doors from the wreckers seem to be going for around $350-$400 each.

          The cheapest wreckers are the 'Jolly's u-pull-it' guys where they just have a stack of wrecks, you turn up with your own tools and remove the bits you need. They have suitable doors that I could grab but all are in the wrong colours leaving me back where I started.

  • Stewardo on 12/01/2017 - 22:36

    Professional cutting compound and a buffing wheel on a angle grinder

  • altomic on 13/01/2017 - 09:38

    I think we should heed the advice of Mr Miyagi from The Karate Kid - thinners on/paint off

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