I've got a Montego Blue car. The clear coat is chalking on the roof, and the bumper need repainting due to a palm tree running in front of the car one night when I was getting a police escort home :-). I'm thinking of painting it a straight blue and leaving under the hood, door panels, etc. the blue/green. Anyone try this ?

 

Its going to look a bit funny when opening the doors or hood but is the cheapest way to go. Otherwise it will cost you thousands of dollars to get the whole chassis painted throughout.

 

ghetto paint job lol

 

Yeah, but a 5k paint job on a 12k car ?

 

In my opinion, if you are going to paint the car do it right the first time. Kinda like have the motor rebuilt by some half assed mechanic, it may work for awhile but you will likely have a broken motor again soon enough. I see it as you save money by doing a good paint job once. Also, if you always look at repair and mods to your car as "it's a 12K car" it won't last long. I wouldn't like putting 5K of maintaince in mine considering the price I paid only 10 months ago, but I don't see it that way

 

I would repaint it its original color if you don't want to spring for changing everything properly. It really will bug you after a while if you don't!

If you want to save money, get the paint job done by a cheaper paint shop. I just had my FD (which was suffering exactly the same fate with exactly the same color) repainted for $1300. It is not perfect by any stretch, but its a hell of a lot better than it was, and IMO I'm a lot happier than I'd be if I had to stare at clashing colors every time I opened anything.

jds

 

I read that there are 3 colors to montego blue. I'm guessing one is a clear coat. So the questions are:

If I lose the green will the car look like it does when it looks blue (which I like) ?
How will the blue look next to the blue/green on a seam, like the engine compartment ?

I guess paint samples will tell me this.

 

Montego Blue is a 2 part paint and the code is M8. There is a color coat and a clear coat. Others like CYM are three part, a mica coat, color and clear.

 

I am contemplating the exact same senario. Any news yet?

Hate the green, love the blue. Even if I could paint it a more blue shade of MB, I'd be happy.

 

Who says it's a 12k car?

I say that your FD is worth whatever you're willing to sell it for.

Mine is priceless .

 

i think the only engine bay color that would be ok different from body would be black ..either then that pls dont do that to a 7

 

leave it stock, or do the whole thing, imo i would be very unhappy to open my door and see a diffrent color.

 

My engine bay is currently innocent blue mica and the rest of the body is MB (awaiting engine reinstall) and I can tell you that the colors clash pretty harshly.

 

i think leaving the engine bay is ok...but definitely get the hatch, doors, etc. painted.

i also thought about going this route but the body shop convinced me

1. it'll look weird
2. it wouldn't save me that much money.

i'm ok with the color for now...maybe next year i'll take it to maaco

 

If you can't find the money to do it right the first time, how are you going to find the money to do it right the second time?

As far as cost, if it's a 12K car with a 5K paint job..you might be able to sell it for 13-14K. If it's a 12K car with a $900 paint job, it might only be worth 8-9K. No one can attach a value to you using and enjoying the car, but yourself.

 

Well, I found a good paint guy who's just opening his own shop. I can get the MB for 1500 or a color change for 3500. Minus any prep work I do myself. So I'll probably do the color change and do some of the prep. I'm looking at IBM, or a really dark blue light MBZ Midnight Blue. Anyone have pics of a reallly dark blue FD ?

 

i say do it right

 

I agree.

And don't look at it like, "Well....it's a $12K car, why spend $5K on the paint....?" because it is part of the whole deal, you know? Sort of like spending $10K on a kitchen remodel of your home that is not going to net you that back necessarily, but you do it because it is what you WANT.

 

man, I say just paint the outside blue. no one will really know but you so who cares