Front and rear fascia paint/straightening

[Boxbot]

My car is now in more or less mechanically sound condition.

The paint on the front and rear fascias is really letting it down, however. It looks like they were both resprayed at some point, but that no prep work was done. The top layer of paint is simply flaking off, exposing the paint below. It looks bad.

The overall shape of the front is good for now, but the car only has 8k miles on it. Some slight hints of brows and bending down over the grill if you really look. The shape of the rear is still presentable, but it is starting to bow in the middle. I am currently running a Stage 1 exhaust w/heat shield, but it still seems to get very hot.

Anyway, I've taken it to several local paint shops with good reviews.

Shop 1 wouldn't work on it because it wasn't in their computer (or they couldn't be bothered)

Shop 2 had a guy who "hasn't worked on one in 30 years" but quoted me north of $2k for front and rear, keeping the fascias on the car - so not doing the heat and inserting metal

Shop 3 was much of the same, talking about trying to make them perfect while keeping them on the car. He was a very nice guy, but wouldn't even give me a quote as he said it will likely be over a month of work to get it right, use materials that will flex with the car, etc. When pressed, he came in north of $2k as well.


I'd really prefer to get these done "right," meaning removal and insertion of metal strips to keep them straight. The price for doing work while keeping them on seems very high to me. I can get a new old stock rear for basically the same price. I could get the rear fascia off myself, but wouldn't want to do the front one. Does anyone know a body shop within 100 miles of Philadelphia that can work with me?

Thanks!

[David T]

There are "pros and cons" to taking the facias off. The front can be "fixed" (a metal support can be glued in) without removal. It can be very difficult getting the facias back on and you will have to fix a lot of broken studs. They can be repainted very well on the car. $2K for a good professional job is not exorbitant for front and rear. Getting NOS is not any better because it will have shrunk and also be very hard to install. Repainting on the car can also be faster and you will have a new paint job, not a 30 year old paint job.

[iflights]

Maybe a "paint shop" isn't what you need, could I suggest you look for a restoration shop? I'm going to have some work done on the front fascia only, maybe even replace it with the fiberglass option, but I needed to find a shop that would do the work, and came across this place. They are expensive and the price is > $2k, but they know what they are doing.

While I know this is not within 100 miles of you, it might give you an idea of the type of shop to look for. https://complete-auto-restorations.business.site

[Michael]

$2K for a good professional job is not exorbitant for front and rear.

I need to charge more for my work...much more

[Col Bennett]

Myth busting…

It can be very difficult getting the facias back on and you will have to fix a lot of broken studs.

I've read so many comments about the front fascia removal being a nightmare. Because of this I considered getting my fascias repainted on the car. The high-end shop I used convinced me to avoid this so I ended up taking the deepest of breaths and tried removing it myself and it was a total breeze. It was equally easy to put it back on. I just don't buy into this myth anymore. There's nothing difficult about it at all. Remove the hood (easy), remove the spoiler and rock screen (easy). Once they're off you just remove the top screws and bolts, carefully pull the fascia outwards and use a small angled pick to pull the fascia out at the sides to allow the fascia studs to clear the brackets (one left, one right). I used this tool here. After that it pops off easily by carefully clearing the front orange marker light holes.

Getting NOS is not any better because it will have shrunk and also be very hard to install.

I got a NOS rear fascia from DMCH and it was perfect. Hadn't shrunk one bit. Why would it? It's been stored in a warehouse out of sunlight and heat for 38 years. It was also a breeze to remove and reinstall. The only hard bit is pushing your hand past the air intake unit in the fender to remove the nut/bolt through the fiberglass. Not only was my NOS rear fascia (once refinished) perfect, I actually ended up being able to align it even better than the factory by opening up some of the fibreglass tub holes to better align the screw and bolt fixtures.

My 2c.

[David T]

A lot depends on how the car was cared for and if it spent a lot of time outside in the weather. Once everything gets exposed to the sun and shrinks, the paint gets burnt, and the hardware gets rusty, it can be a lot harder than your experience.