Questions about paint

Hi;

I have a 91 civic, dark grey ( almost black ) with about 150,000 miles
on it. I drive about 10,000 miles a year. I would like to hold on to
the car for another 5 years while put away money for a new car. I
have a dream of buying my next car with cash.

The car is in good shape. However, the paint on the roof is starting
to peel. I'm concerned about rust and I would like the car to look
nice.

When I called the dealership they told me that there was a number on
the drivers side door that I could use to order an exact match for the
paint. I did not find that number. Is there another way to get
exactly the same color of paint to touch up the peeling spots on the
roof?

Is it possible to touch up the spots ( one 6 inches wide ) without
making the car look like crap?

Could an autobody shop do it and make it look nice without repainting
the whole car?

If I found a sale for repainting the car would changing the color
change my insurance rates?

Just curious

Thanks in advance for the info

Steve

 

Mine did that, however it is proabably just the clear coat that is
coming off.

On a car that old, the exact match will be to the original color not
to the faded color you currently have. The paint sellers can find it
for you but it won't match. Look inside your trunk. Does it match
the outside side panel? if not the exact match paint won't match
either.

I don't think so.

I've never seen a real good match, although they try to paint an
entire panel, or roof, or hood or trunk deck. You are better off
painting the whole thing to the original color.

 

I heard somewhere that insurance companies will charge you different
rates based on what color your car is. I don't know if that is an old
wive's tale or not.

I don't think I will get my car painted. I called 2 autobody shops,
they both wanted about $3K.....too much for me. One wanted even $800
just to paint the roof.

What is a clear coat?

I don't see metal underneath the peeling paint on my roof, just more
gray. Do I need to worrk about rust or am I best off doing nothing
about the roof?

Thanks

Steve

 

The car's been repainted, and poorly. The factory paint does not peel off.

It's actually on the jamb, where the striker is, not on the door itself.
It's not usual to find that sticker gone unless somebody peeled it off.

A body shop with a spectrometer. Body shops know all about paint matching.

It's real tough to do that. A body shop will usually refuse and will want
to repaint the whole panel.

Not to my knowledge.

 

Agree with Tegger. Those Honda paint jobs (at least the early 90s ones)
do not peel off. I've the same car, blue color, 163K miles. The paint
has weathered 15 Michigan winters/summers as of now, and, except for
fading, looks as good as when I first bought the car (except for dings
at the front from road debris of course).
If the original coat is still intact on the roof, I doubt whether rust
would set in. And, if you do not mind the patches, just apply a good
coat of Turtle-Shell wax (the old, hard to buff-off stuff, not the
quickie sprays that are the latest craze) to keep the paint as is.
I do a thorough wax job once a year, and that seems to have kept rust
from taking a hold on my car.

 

I once painted my Mercedes with a brush. From a distance, you couldn't
tell the difference. Same colour, of course.

 

Thought I'd chime in on this one. If it were my car......

I'd go with a Earl Scheib type place, have them do the roof in the
original color, and call it a day. Maybe the paint'l fade and catch up
with the rest of the car in a few year. ;-) Proudly drive your 15 year
old high-miler.

 

On some automotive paint jobs there is a color coat and then a clear
coat added after the color coat to provide gloss, depth and to
protect some metallics from fading. My '90 accord had clear coat and
it started to peel off on the roof, hood, and trunk deck. I painted
the car myself about two years ago.

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/readersrides/frankboettcher/index.html

If you are just worried about rust, wax it well and it will offer
protection from rust on the roof.

 

Uh, I've seen dozens of Hondas with original peeling paint...

JT

 

I never have. In *all* cases it's been a repaint that's peeling.

 

What is an Earl Scheib place?

I think I will wax it once the weather warms up, maybe shop around for
a sale on paint jobs. I don't think I'm psychologically ready to spend
$800 to paint the roof or $3000 to paint the car.

 

Earl Scheib/Maaco- affordable(cheap) franchise car paint/body places,
just to get a coat of paint on top. Waxing will help, but I'd spend a
few bucks to get some paint on there. I think it'd be well less than
$800 for a buff out and clear coat. Hard to spend $3k on that
particular car on paint.

 

You did a better job than a guy I once knew, then.

He used some of his father's leftover garage-door paint (baby blue) on his
'70 Datsun 510 (this was a few years ago). He painted it in the evening.
The paint must have been oil-based and slow-drying, because when he came
out the next morning to inspect his handiwork there were zillions of gnats
stuck in the paint.

Brush-strokes + gnats = much laughter from friends and enemies alike.

 

Maaco will paint the whole car pretty cheap. Remove trim yourself and
pre-sand the bad areas and you will get a decent job.