Bare Metal Respray

[MartynT]

Hi All,

I think at some point in the future I will look to get my S2 1600HF bare metal resprayed.  Does anyone have any thought on this, i.e. indicative costs, length of time for the respray, paint shops who can do repairs / resprays on classics etc.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Martyn.

[JollyClubUK]

A lot of variables when looking at a full bare metal re spray Martyn.
What is the body condition like?
Any rust repairs required?
What’s your location?
Cost at this stage hard to say but if you watch the Harry’s Garage Zagato refurb costs can quickly escalate labour intensive resto work.
Good luck.

[SanRemo78]

I'm just having a bare metal job done on a Beta.... It involves full paint (and filler) removal and then rust removal, return to me, metalwork repairs, return to the strippers for further rust removal (flash rust on bare shell whilst undergoing repairs) and then an electrically charged paint coating before being returned for paint.

If this doesn't cost the best part of £7k I'll be surprised. But the car will be good for another 40 plus years!

Guy

[lancialulu]

I'm just having a bare metal job done on a Beta.... It involves full paint (and filler) removal and then rust removal, return to me, metalwork repairs, return to the strippers for further rust removal (flash rust on bare shell whilst undergoing repairs) and then an electrically charged paint coating before being returned for paint.

If this doesn't cost the best part of £7k I'll be surprised. But the car will be good for another 40 plus years!


That sounds very good value (cheap) albeit you are going to do the metalwork??

Guy

[SanRemo78]

That sounds very good value (cheap) albeit you are going to do the metalwork??

Northern rates! metalwork is beyond me, that'll be done by Geoff Turton. You probably don't know him but he's got an Integrale Evo2. Used to have a Stratos replica, we built them at the same time.

[Barry.Cook]

I'm currently about to respray a Mk1 mini. I've had one quote thus far. The shell has been repaired and I've sprayed it with epoxy primer inside and out. The quote for doing final tweeks of the shell, spraying with primer, raptor coating on the underside and then topcoat is just under £6k. That's Northern rates too! It seems the price of resprays has virtually doubled in the past few years.
I can't justify that for a humble 850 so I've decided to spray it myself. My 1600 HF also needs a respray, so if the mini goes o.k I may do that myself too, though it's a little easier to convince myself to spend that much on the HF.
Phillip

[davidwheeler]

I did bare metal resprays on both the Lambdas and the 2CV with pretty good results.     I used 2 pack.   It does need to be warm enough and the filling and rubbing down takes a long time.   You could do the preparation, undercoat and a couple of top coats, a final rubdown with 400 paper and then take it to the spray shop for a final topcoat.    The preliminary topcoats do show up the blemishes which you can then correct.
I am in the process of doing my 1600 Sport but lots of other work and poor weather keep gettin in the way!

[Mikenoangelo]

Be very careful with 2 pack - it gives a very good and durable finish but is toxic so very good ventilation is essential. I'd Leave it to the professionals.
Mike

[MartynT]

Hi Folks, thanks for all the advice so far. I’m taking the Fulvia to Individual Specialist Cars in Brum a week Saturday for them to assess it for a respray and it has occurred to me do I need a full bare metal respray? I assume the alternative is to sand the car back and address any problems/ rust as it appears? I assume the cost of this is much less than bare metal but does it address all the potential problems? Thanks again for any advice!

Martyn.

[DavidLaver]

Two common dangers:

- you do a little bit and its the wrong colour and it annoys you

- you spend so much you're afraid to use it

Have you 100pct dismissed the "do nothing" option?

[MartynT]

Thanks David,
I would not be afraid to use but just keen to halt any spreading rust problems as I intend to keep the car.

Regards, Martyn.

[Wangler]

Be careful. A good friend of mine thought he was going to spend £8k on a first class respray on his 50 year old classic (not a Lancia). It ended up costing over £40k due to numerous issues that inevitably arose.

In fairness it looks superb, the guys really know the cars they specialise in and are very skilled, but this car looked quite good before the work started.

Once you start on a proper respray, make sure you have deep pockets, you just don’t know what will be discovered. The Zagato restoration in Harry’s garage is worth watching.

[JollyClubUK]

You get what you pay for, not sure who painted the late Stan Sweets Fulvia back in 2005 but it still presents beautifully.

[chriswgawne]

Just to echo one or two earlier posts, my experience is basically you get what you pay for! And false economy will come back and bite you some time later.
And its the metalwork which costs the money assuming its done properly. Anyone can cover up lumps, bumps and incorrect shapes with modern fillers but in the end the filler shrinks or swells ( if its on top of corrosion).
I have never known a good bona fide bodyshop give a firm quote for a bare metal respray for a painted car- how can they until the extent of metalwork needed has been exposed by stripping? They can price a repaint assuming all the metalwork has been attended to but in my experience, on an old car the metalwork costs usually equal or exceed the paint costs.

Chris

[DavidLaver]

Another approach is to do small repairs and have the paint blended in.  "The rolling restoration" approach vs "done once and well". 

Having done that when the day comes to have it all stripped you know what's under the bits you've already had done.  Looking back that was 100pct the right decision when I had my Aurelia as I was able to get out and enjoy it.  It then had a cheap blowover respray ahead of wedding duties for some friends.  My chance "to do it all properly" never came as kids came along.