Re-Paint vs Value

[circmand]

Thanks, Gary, but what do you think about painting without removing the cladding and glass? Bad idea?

Bart

Only if keeping original color. The problem with this method is you leave the original color showing everywhere you cant paint this way. These areas are not highly visible so they do not get damage or fade. So if you stick with OEM color or close the difference is not noticable but if you paint a Proton orange you get a orange vehicle with yellow patches everywhere. This is with good masking and such. With poor masking you get painted molding and other eyesore mistakes. They have methods to adhere the paintnowadays so I wouldnt worry about chipping.

[nfpgasmask]

Yeah, I'm sticking with factory black so I know "visually" it would probably be ok, but I am more concerned with lines and such.

Bart

[WormGod]

The cladding actually isn't too difficult to remove. Other than the star screws, you only have pretty basic rivets, which you can easily replace with new ones after you drill the originals out. I have had mine off completely before JUST to do a FULL post winter detailing. You'd be surprised at the salt and other gunk that gets in there. The surface under the cladding isn't exactly pleasant and appears as though it would be a sanding/scuffing pain with all of it's contours and ridges.

If you don't take the cladding off, at least pull it away from the body so you can get some overspray to get down in there. That little edge where the cladding meets the body will be a haven for a rough paint edge if you don't.

Windows are a iffy deal. Getting glass out is easy, but back in, a whole different story. At least take a look at the trim and see what you can take off without removing the glass if it's too much. I never actually looked at our windshield design too much so don't know how much of that assembly may be separate, if at all.

[nfpgasmask]

Rivets? Metal rivets or plastic rivets?

Maybe I try removing one piece of the cladding and see wht happens. I've had the front and rear bumpers off, I'm more concerned with the side pieces.

I bet our windows are not too bad. A good glass shop should be able to remove/replace them. But doing that will drive my price up considerably.

Bart

[Luna X]

For doing complete paint jobs, I too believe in removing everything including windshields, side glass, etc....

For most competant glass removers, they cannot guarantee that the windshield will come out in one piece.... but that's easy to solve if you have glass coverage.

Also, by taking off all claddings, you won't have to worry bout making a mess of them when it's time for wet sanding/buffing