Introduction:
Why did I have it painted?
Alright, so why did I get my car painted?
My 240 is 15 years old and sits in the Florida
sun all day long. The clear coat on
the major areas (hood, roof, and trunk lid) got baked off, and it got to a
point when I waxed my car, it would bleed red.
My car is mechanically sound -- the engine and overall condition of the
car is excellent. After building up a sizeable loan from the
government to pay for graduate school, I can't really afford a new car or
for that matter a "new" used car. Thus, I plan on keeping my 240 for the next few years.
One of these days though, I would like to get an S70 T5 or an older 850R.
But anyway... I decided to spend about $850 to
have my car professionally painted by a local body and paint shop. The
cost is equivalent to about 3 new car payments, so I justified it.
Here are some pictures of my car BEFORE the
paint job. As the sun was beaming down on it, you can tell the fading (look
at the roof pictures), the scratches in the vinyl window tape, the key
scrapes around the door locks, the 4 or 5" circular paint fade on the engine
hood, the clear coat that's peeling along the side doors, and the fading
bumpers.
BEFORE Pictures (click to enlarge):
    
         
  
After the Paint Job:
What a noticeable improvement! For an $850 paint job,
I am quite happy with the end result. Sure, it's not a flawless $2,000
job, as there are some specs of dirt/dust in the paint in a few locations,
but overall, it was well-worth the money! Here's what they did...
They put three coats of paint, three layers of clearcoat, painted the window tape and mirrors matte black, repaired the
dents on the trunk lid, applied new pin-striping and then even repaired a rust spot on the corner of
the windshield on the passenger side (included with the paint job). As
for the rust, they didn't remove the windshield, but they did pry back the
seal and treated it with Bondo and some other material. By the way,
that repair alone probably would have cost me about $200-$300. Next, they formed the body back in the corner and painted it. Honestly, if I
didn't mention this, you wouldn't have ever guessed.
AFTER
Pictures (click to enlarge):
   
   
   
 
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