Hello:
I have some paint chips on my hood and front bumper as well as my trunk lid. I need to have some paint work done. Does anyone have any suggestions on who to go to? Is there some good detail shop here in Houston that does a good paint chip repair? I went to Northside Lexus Collision Repair for a quote. They want $2K for a new bumper with paint, hood painted, and trunk lid painted. Is this a good price? Help

Thanks

jarm

 

Look into autogeek.com sign up on the forum. You'll be able to find someone local on there. Also if you want to tackle the project you can do some research and educate yourself on that sight.

Not sure how much you want to invest time wise & cost. There is a product called Dr. Paint chip that's supposed to work really well.

Another way is to use some touch up paint. The thing you'll need to do is build up the chips in layers. Over the course of a few days. Once the new paint is extruding past the clear coat comes the next step. It's the worst thing you'll ever do to your own car. Take 1500 grit sand paper and wet sand the excess paint. Follow up with 2500 grit sand paper. Then buff the area out with a dual action machine & follow up with a polish compound with the DA machine. Look at some before and after shots on autogeek. YouTube is your friend when learning things like wet sanding auto paint.

$2,000 for a respray doesn't sound too bad...... But what kind of job are they going to do? How long will it last? Most paint shops will rush your job through the shop and move into the next job. A respray will never be the same as original unless the shop puts in time to do it right. Most paint and body shops are built around a high volume business plan. I'll have to go out on a limb and say buyer beware.

It all comes down to your time and what you feel is reasonable. If you make enough money that your time is better spent doing other things than by all means let someone else do the job. If a couple weekends of your time isn't a factor and you don't mind learning something new you might be able to do the job for a fraction of the cost.

A professional detailed WILL be able to do an outstanding job. The biggest problem is detailers skill/quality ranges from a line cook at Taco Bell to a 5 star chef. The guys on the corner who claim that they will wax your car in 10 minutes for $5 fall under the Taco Bell analogy.

I'm a hobby detailer and will not touch someone else's car for less than $200 for a wax job. The amount of time I put into the car shows and quality of products I use are not inexpensive.

I'm in the same boat as you and I will be trying out both of the steps I mentioned above. I have 8-12 rock scrips on the vehicles I'd like to get rid of.

 

I had the same problem with chips on the bumper and hood with a couple on the front fenders. I had the front end repainted from the doors forward with 3 coats of clear and it came out looking great. It cost me $1408 dollars. These guys were not the cheapest but they do quality work and came with a life time warranty on the paint job.

Dennis

 

I had the same issue with my '10 460. The Lexus dealership that service my car have a paint repair guy that comes by the dealership twice a week and that's his specialty. He fixed all the paint chips on the bumper, hood and about a square inch piece of clear coating that had peel off (had my Lexus detailed and they used a high pressure washer that caused the peeling from a paint chip) on the left fender. All for $225. He did a great job.

 

This is your best bet, if you can find a good guy to spot and buff the chips. Otherwise getting the bumper, hood, trunk lid re-sprayed is a bit of a crap shoot. If they do the job properly, $2000 isn't out of line. The average body shop paint job is going to stick out like a sore thumb!