jaymode

The paint on my sister's 1997 Lexus Es300 has chipped pretty badly and was never touch up painted or anything. The hood is rusting where the chips are. Also damage from other vehicles/objects(such as shopping carts) have left dings/dents and some removed paint and also are rusting on the front quarter panel and the passenger side door. Also the roof of the car seems to have gotten chips on it also and is rusting. On the front bumper the paint is actually peeling back. We are not sure how to proceed with this. We are contimplating getting the whole car repainted but are wondering how much it will cost and if we have any other options?

Do es300's normally do this?

Toysrme

If the paint is chipping, it's not the paints fault.
What happens is something strikes the paint and breaks it off. Normally rocks and pebbles and such on highways.

You can buy some Lexus touch-up paint and it should match fairly well (assuming not too much UV fading)
And here is a guide on what to do with it.

I'm in the same boat with my '93. Gotta love the south though... Only gotta worry about rust from paint chips and heat. Hey! It's better than road salt!

Kohinoor

iTrader: (22)

get it repainted - itll look brand new!!!
but it would probably cost roughly $2000 (assuming you dont go to the lexus body shop and to another professional shop) which isnt too bad for good quality work

jhbhatia

There are differences in painting:
1. One is scraping off old paint and removing dings and then primering it, and then the base coats and then clear coats.
2. Other is the respray on top of the existing paint.....

The 2nd is cheaper alternative...but the 1st produces OEM fit/finish!

When our ES was keyed bacdly last year, we just had her resprayed, and that was $900. Overall outcome was good!

cheapsk8

there has been some debate over this, but if your car is black onyx, it does not have a clear coat....but I also agree go with a complete paint job esp. if you have rust starting, or for starters just get the worst panels done first.

-c

lexusk8

jaymode,

If you plan to have your sister's ES painted on your own, here's a useful thread to look into. One of the members from our CL family painted the rear bumper of his '95 ES on his own (using primer, spray paint, clearcoat and all the necessary materials), and actually did an excellent job! Plenty of step-by-step pictures in the thread to show the proof

jaymode

I am not going to be painting it myself, although I have had experience helping someone paint a classic musclecar. I do not have to the time to do it myself, school is starting soon. Also, she would prefer to have someone else do it.