Car needs a paint job ... (1 Viewer)

[Colton]

I really wanted to do my entire car in chrome. I made several calls to local paint & body shops, but noone has heard of "chrome paint". Say it isn't so! Am I asking for the wrong thing? I'd love the look of cars with a chrome body. Any ideas or suggestions?

- Colton

 

[Bob Friend]

I'd hate to be driving near you on a sunny day.

 

[Philip_G]

well, it definitely exists.
http://forums.abum.com/index.php?showtopic=562

I've seen other cars floating around on the web with chrome paint too, and a motorcycle in motorcyclist about 4 years ago.

 

[NickSo]

i, honestly, think it looks tacky... not to mention being very expensive (from what i hear)

 

[Colton]

I'm drooling. Now to just find some body shop that'll do it.

- Colton

 

[Bob Friend]

http://www.kustomrides.com/chromepaint.htm

At $85 a pint it aint cheap.

 

[Scott L]

Is this for a Cavalier or Civic?

 

[MarkHastings]

Is it even legal to do that? I remember talking about painting my car chrome (YEARS ago), but I figured it wasn't legal, so I never looked into it.I can definitely see how you'd need the right car and the right paint job to make it look 'good', otherwise it could end up looking extremely tacky or "cheap".

 

[Philip_G]

wow, that's even more than the chrome illusion color shift stuff.

 

[Matt Butler]

I want my Acura repainted. Can I do it myself and where would I look for paint? Or is it wiser to have someone else do it?

(Not chrome)

 

[Linda Thompson]

Check out the SUV:

http://www.alsacorp.com/products/chr...omefx_show.htm

Comes in other colors too:

http://www.alsacorp.com/products/chr...x_prodinfo.htm

Before you invest your time/money, you might want to check to make sure the finished vehicle would be street legal. Can you imagine driving near that SUV (referenced above) on a sunny day, or directly behind it at night?

 

[Jimi C]

What kind of car are you painting? Is it a daily driver? Personally, i think that the chrome paint jobs look awful. How would you keep that clean?

 

[Jeffrey N]

This would be an exceptionally costly endeavor looking at the costs of the paint alone. New paint does little for resale value for your car if you ever plan on replacing it and trading it in or selling it.

You did not mention how old your car is but the fact that it needs repainting tells me that the car has seen quite of bit of use. Something that I dont think you considered is that to make the car look good in chrome paint, the bodywork HAS to be nearly perfect. You are going to see every imperfection in the metal and paint. Any scratch in the paint that you could feel by running a finernail across will show up in the paint from quite a distance. Think of all the door dings and other problems with the body that will have to be repaired properly. At the shop rates I've seen, it would likely take a couple of thousand dollars to get the body in condition to accept this paint. Also consider the fact that the door jambs and other areas that are painted in the body color that you dont see from the outside of the car will also need to be painted, adding to the total bill in terms of materials and billable hours that your painter needs to do the job properly.

If you plan to keep your car and feel the need to maintain a decent appearance, I would simply fix the major dents and dings and repaint in the original color. This will be expensive enough as it is.

I can't stress this enough, but make sure you are dealing with a well-established body shop and stay far far away from any business that gives you an estimate significantly below the other shops. They will be cutting corners on the job and in a year or two when any repaired rust reappears or the paint starts falling off the car (bumpers and other flexible parts are tricky to get good paint adhesion) you will be regretting your decision to take the cheapest estimate.

If you can give up the car for a significant period of time, I know several body shops that will give you a better deal by working on your car only when they dont have much collision work in the shop. They can make better use of their time if they have something else to work on when they are waiting on paint to dry or are between jobs. The best time here in Illinios to work out a deal like this is in the spring. The winter weather and associated bad roads gives the body shops a busy winter with collision work.

 

[Jimi C]

Dont do it.. if you want chrome.. buy some nice rims. Chrome is good in small doses.. not a whole car.

 

[KeithMoechnig]

I wouldn't think it would be legal and it would look quite tacky and ricy. Like Jimi said, it would be best to just get some chrome rims. If the underbody neon things aren't legal in most places, I doubt this would be legal to drive.