So The backstory:
When I bought my car a little over a year ago, I missed a spot that was poorly touched up from previous accident that was not disclosed or on carfax. As time went on the area progressively got worse until it looked like this:


I CANT STAND LOOKING AT IT and have been investigating different options and trying to get opinions from different sources. I've gotten estimates and came across a guy who is just starting out an autobody business and gave me a quote of $400 to repaint the whole panel. Here's where your advice is needed...

$400 is low and tempting but the chance that the panel will stick out like a sore thumb scares the hell out of me because that would be the same or worse than it is now. He says the rest of my paint is good enough that if he polishes the rest it will all match. The other body shops said they would have to paint the door, trunk, and roof too so it would match but I'm thinking they may just be after my money. My friends and girlfriend say just forget about it, the car is too old, but I plan on keeping her for a long time if not forever. What would you do?

Here she is when I first got her:

 

ok so my uncle runs an autobody shop and to do it right, they would have to blend the panels that touch that one; like the door, trunk, bumper, and roof. there is almost no way for that guy to paint match your color well enough that he could just paint that one panel without it being really noticeable.

the spot you are worried about just looks like paint oxidation to me. it happens to a lot of cars that sit out in the sun. its worse on Honda's cause their paint blows.

 

Wow, ok thanks for the insight. If its paint oxidation, could a clay-bar, buff, and polish take care of alot of it? One of my other quotes was for 650 and that was for the other parts to be painted too. Worth it?

 

That's not oxidation, that looks like the clear coat is gone. He's right tho, only way to make it happen correctly is to paint portions of the adjoining panels and blend it all. I would just start saving for a new paint job.

 

Is a full paint job the only way to go? Will the blending of the other components look silly?

 

If you get a good quality shop to do the work you should be fine so long as they know what they're doing. But this is also a good opportunity to be thinking about changing colors if you want? I've got a small blemish the size of a quarter on my rear quarter panel which is going to serve as my excuse to wrap the car. LOL

 

It's not the only way, but it is the best way. You can do the blending thing, and it will look fine, but the paint on the rest of the car is still 10+ years old. Granted you do have a color that would hide that pretty well, but every time you wash your car that quarter panel is gonna be a little shinier than the rest. Unfortunately, (or fortunately), they can't age match paint. Plus all your other imperfections (rock chips on hood, bumper, fenders etc.) Will be gone. It costs a little more, but its a win win.

 

Ok. Thank you for the advice.

 

So I gambled and got the rear quarter panel painted.




I think it turned out well. Cost me 650, which was the lowest legit quote I could find. The place is called A&G collision, it's in San Diego and I would recommend them if you plan on paying out of pocket for body work. With the extra money I had I got the wheels powder coated since they were pretty beat up. Regret going with gunmetal over black.

 

car looks fine.
dont regret not going with black.
that would only look cheap and ridiculous.

 

Your coupe looks great, you made the right choice with the wheels! Now if you have any issues you have a quality body shop to help you. Sometimes is takes a while to find the perfect shop to do the job right, without emptying your wallet!
Gary

 

The panel paint job looks great.

 

Turned out well