My car was pulled from a dealership that is fifty miles from my hometown and transferred to the local dealer. When I asked the original dealer two years ago about the peeling stripes, management stated that there is no record of stripes being installed on my car. This ?I don?t know anything? attitude seems suspicious and has me wondering about the entire exterior paint. Honda says the stripes were not installed at the factory and will not warranty the stripes. Honda says the dealer is responsible. The local dealer, where I purchased the car says the stripes were installed before the car arrived at that dealership; therefore they will not warranty the stripes. My questions are: (1) how can I tell if the paint on the car was quality paint installed by the manufacturer and not repainted for some reason by the dealer before it was sold to me? (2) What is the difference between an $800 paint job at Spraynglow and a $1,700 paint job elsewhere? Spraynglow gives a two-year warranty. The owner of the shop that quoted me $1,700 gives a life time warranty on his paint job. The life time warranty is impressive, as I want to keep my car for at least five more years. But in today’s economy the owner could go out of business the month after I get my car painted. What should I look for when shopping for a quality paint job at a reasonable price?
Thanks for your assistance
Very few cars come with pinstripes from the factory. The stripes are commonly dealer-applied to boost profit. They can be either tape stripes, which tend to peel off, or painted-on stripes, which are better but more expensive.
Even if the stripes were painted on, they were applied over the factory clear coat, and will probably not last as long as the factory paint.
An $800 paint job at Spraynglow will look terrible the day you pick up the car, and it will get worse over time. Don’t waste your money.
It is time-consuming and expensive to put a quality paint job on a car. If you’re going to let Sprayanglow do it, you might as well paint it yourself with spray cans from K-Mart.
There are people who spend tens of thousands of dollars for high-quality paint jobs. You can’t get one at a bargain-basement price.
Why do you want to repaint the car if it’s just the stripes peeling off? Have the stripes removed and leave the factory paint alone.
McP’s post is excellent as usual. And, as he said, a paintjob as good as a new one would cost thousands. Beyond that, if you’re thinking of getting the stripes oversprayed, that will not solve the adhesion problem you currently have.
For old vehicles in need of a “pick me up” I’ve been familiar with MAACO “executive special” $249 jobs that were surprisingly good and surprisingly durable. But they’re not “like new”. The surface is prepped and areas like the windows are masked off, however there’s no effort to attend to the doorjams and such. They’re strickly intended to refresh the look of cars without changing color.
In short, budget paint jobs have a place in the world, but it is not respraying new vehicles.
If the pinstripes are tape, you should be able to get them off with a solvent like acetone. Then buff the car and wax it.
All my cars with pin stripes have come from the factory that way and I specified the color of the stripe. They certainly also are done at the dealer but not if you order them with pin stripes. Since the pin stripes were add on, just have the stripes re done. Why mess with the original paint if it still is in good shape. It wouldn’t take a body shop long to determine if the paint on the car is factory or not.
Every stripe I’ve seen has been applied at the dealership and as mcparadise says; they’re profit generators.
Most of the ones I’ve seen are stripe tape (quick + cheap = pricy to customer) and I agree that the use of acetone could possibly remove them with a bit of elbow grease.
Back in the 80s I worked for Nissan and the dealer there striped everything that came off the transport truck at around 249 bucks per vehicle with the only cost being about 2 dollars worth of stripe tape, a razor blade, and 20 minutes worth of time. Heck, they even had a guy come around and stripe blackwall tires… 