Repainting the 914: Down to metal, always?, Curious to get your thoughts Options

[bandjoey]

Run a new poll like this and you'll have your answer.

How long was your car on jackstands for a full stripdown paint job?

How much over budget was the final price?
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[charliew]

I've been painting my cars since 1967. There will always be paint shrinkage. A repaired spot where the paint was feathered will always come back in my opinion if you keep the car long enough. New paints are better at controlling this to some degree but it still happens if you wait long enough. AS someone said earlier the old paint soakes up the solvents and then both the new and old needs to dry out. This can take a very long time depending on how much new paint was applied. Two years is my guess. If a car is going to be driven every day and in all kinds of weather a baremetal repaint is pretty hard to justify if you are paying a pro to do it. I think rust trails are under most original paint jobs but maybe not. The only way to know is to strip it and see. Most anyone that has spent time reading the very thorough threads here knows about most rusted areas of the 914. Those spots should get the most attention but any other areas that have been repaired from collisions or etc should be stripped if in doubt at all. New paints are way to costly to buy and redo in three years or so. I don't like chemical stripping anywhere a replacement coating can't be applied like inside the door side protection strip or under any welded on braces and so on. Maybe a redip of epoxy primer afterward but how do you know the chemical was completely removed? Usually unless it is mechanicaly scrubbed off it isn't. The outside of the car but not in seams ok. Soda blasting is nice but not for rust removal, but the new electrical removal seems to me the best for inside cavities and will not remove the good metal or warp it. Coating in the spotwelded seams is a real challenge as that where the rust is and could start over again. If I could afford electrical rust removal and dipping and had a car to put up and look at in a nice building for future generations to admire that is what I would do. As it is when I work on a area I keep in mind the future intended purpose of the car and try my best to make a repair last as long as possible. I've seen my friend watch a three yearold paint job start shrinking before he got the assembly finished usually because the owner was slow pay and he was attempting to keep the finish perfect till it left his shop. Thats inside a air conditioned and heated shop. If you've got a four year old paintjob and haven't discovered a repair or fg strands printing through, or loose paint at some edge or seam, or rust bubble, you've got a pretty good paint job.

[PRS914-6]

My painter wouldn't even give an estimate until he saw the car stripped. This is a guy who previously had to come back and fix "hidden" rust in other paint jobs that were lurking under the existing finish. Once you eat a couple of those you get gun shy and he won't paint over old paint.

914's rust. Period. We all know that. When my car was media blasted we found numerous spots that were rusted that did not show with paint still on it. Several holes were blown right through thin areas that rusted from behind. My painter was quick to point out the reason of "bid after blast"

Several other good reasons apply to media blasting. The car can get primed within minutes of media blast before oily sweaty hands start touching the metal, the surface of media blast is a great bonding surface, media etches down deep in the "voids", the surface is uniform, repairs are much easier with clean metal and you can apply new materials from metal up that were all designed to work together and the list goes on......I would however not use "sand" and instead go to someone who specializes in minerals that do not generate heat as bad.

The only big negative I see is the complaint about the media constantly shaking out and making a mess. This can be resolved by spending more time while the car is stripped using an air hose and shop vac. In the long run I think it is the way to go although it does cost more.

Here is an example of what media blast will reveal....didn't look too bad until after blasting. Look inside the door handle cavity on the top. It looked perfect before blast and would be difficult to get power sanders into but showed up easily after blast.

[jcb29]

Great discussion and informative, folks - my problem involves addressing very minor rust areas in the trunk and engine areas. I'm not ready for a complete strip/paint job, just need to take care of a few small rust spots. Will grind down, prime and would like to "spot" spray with matching color (L31M). Question is - need suggestions/recommendations of paint touch up source. Thanks.

[MrKona]

Great discussion and informative, folks - my problem involves addressing very minor rust areas in the trunk and engine areas. I'm not ready for a complete strip/paint job, just need to take care of a few small rust spots. Will grind down, prime and would like to "spot" spray with matching color (L31M). Question is - need suggestions/recommendations of paint touch up source. Thanks.

You can try paintscratch.com.

EDIT: Interesting... I just went to their site and their color availability for our cars seems much more limited now as compared to when when I ordered from them in the past.

[pillay2k]

Stripped by hand, all over, under and inside. Totally worth it (almost finished +2yrs working very part time) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif)
Only parts left in were: screen, dash and wiring loom.

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[charliew]

There is nothing like the feeling you get knowing exactly whats under the 1000.00 worth of paint and materials you've used on a car.