Short version: I'm respraying the entire car, looking into some colours. I've looked around and through the "Official custom colour" Thread plus some other places online and have included my favourites down below. Just want some input on what you guys think, if any particular colour is hard to maintain, doesn't look as good in real life, looks dirty quick, takes away from the G's shape etc etc + any advice on painting. And also, I'm looking at removing the iron board and getting a small lip/duckbill.

*The pics used are from the forum and the rest of the internet, credit to the photographers and vehicle owners where due - let me know if you'd like the photo removed*

The long:

Hi all, so following a small parking lot bump I've decided to go ahead and respray the G a different colour. I never really really liked the original colour, it is nice and looks good but it's just not my favourite. You can see also in the pics I had some areas of chipping, some scrubs and scratches sprinkled all over the car. Also, the car has been sprayed before, single stage with no clear. There is one panel (I guess that was damaged and replaced) which has nice factory paint and clear on it.

So I've made this thread to consolidate my respray progress from start to finish, from initial dent repair to final buffing. I also want some input on colours and more importantly some examples. I know the car is mine and the colour is all down to personal preference, but so far my colour choices are sort of exotic and I haven't seen most of them in the flesh. So some input of what they look like in real would be great as I know lots of pics are edited a little to make colour pop more, some are photoshopped etc.

Here's what I'm starting with



You can see here how only the driver side fender is clearcoated and the rest of the paint is super flat.


Looks good from a distance but up close the "matt" effect from no clear leaves a rough surface with uneven colour and also stains very easily. Even wax stains it.....



Don't mind the circles, those were put there before sending a copy to insurance - tried to show my car was stopped and the other car sliding across.



Painting tips. I'll be doing this at home in my garage with decent equipment. The last time we did any automotive spraying was a couple years ago on an accident damaged 350z we had bought. The colour was a 3 stage pearlescent "Ultra Yellow", sprayed all along one side of the car, which came out very good.
Repair thread: http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/43984-m...loads-of-pics/

Untouched side:


Resprayed side:


The picture quality is pretty poor so you can't see the depth of the colour at all, but it was nice and not a school bus yellow.

Colours
Anyway, onto the colours. This is what I got so far so suggestions are welcomed. I'm pretty sure I'll be adding to this over the coming days.

My first real look at respraying the G, before the bump, was after seeing this R35 in brandywine. The colour just looks fantastic. I don't really like the OEM laser red as it's too bright for my taste, it also makes the tail lights (nice feature of the G) lose their contrast - unless they are tinted but then I don't think the dark/stealth looks too good with bright red. Black and bright red = ricey, Black and Dark red = Perfect. This dark red has great depth and allows me to create contrast with the black parts of the car, tints, wheels, grill, mirrors, tails would be tinted dark, headlight housings probably painted black and the roof would be gloss black too. Probably my number one choice as of yet and I'm sure some decent photoshops would seal the deal. That way I can visualize with my wheels and current ride height.

[URL="[ame]https://www.facebook.com/theCarPorn/videos/1048627658576897/[/ame]"] [/ame]







I also have seen this candy red but it's too bright/orange for me. I do however like the lip. Where do I get one of those..... or something similar.





A while ago I had considered yellow. The ultra yellow seen above on the Z looks a tad flat but in reality it has nice depth and doesn't look like a taxi. Again, the contrast with black accents would work great but the yellow can be a bit hit and miss. Here is an example of a yellow, but not ultra yellow. I do have a pic of a G with ultra yellow, just gotta find it. This one however looks more golden, maybe sprayed over gold.





Whilst on the subject of contrast, this is why I don't want to go with black. Besides black looking dirty fast, I feel you lose too much definition of the G's shape. There are some nice curves and angles and with black paint you lose some of them. Again, I haven't actually seen a black G in real but the loss of definition normally holds true for the other cars I've seen. Also, there's no opportunity for much colour contrast/accents. Bright chrome looks great against black but our coupes are free of chrome (aside from the grill, which is black now, and the headlights inserts, which will probably be painted black too). Add in the black wheels and we have a black blob from a distance.

The next colours I contemplated are the greys/silvers. After thinking my coupe was DG for the longest time, I recently discovered it is more like Desert Plat. I considered going with DG as it also sets off the shape of G nicely. Liquid Plat - or is that bright silver - was also a consideration and works well with the black accents and roof/wheels/tints.






Buttttttt, if I'm going for a respray it's my chance to be different and make my G more special and individual, so I opted out of OEM colours. The other two grey's I'm looking at are Nardo Grey (Audi) and Grigio Telesto (BWM, Lamborghini). The Nardo is a little lighter than the Grigio, by how much I can't really tell..... All I have is a few photos but anyone who has seen this colour in real can chip in on what it looks like.

Nardo




Grigio





So these are my considerations as of yet. I'll find the pic I have of the yellow, but as of now it's my lowest preference. Between the greys I think the nardo looks nicer, especially on that G, but risks looking like glossy primer.... Where as the GT looks like a real colour but is a bit on the darker side. I do think however the Nardo will always look better on the G than the Audi's because the G is much more curvy where the Audi's tend to have some pretty flat looking panels (which makes it look more primer/less depth). So aside from any possible suggestions you all make, it's between the Brandywine (over gold?) and the Nardo Grey - so I'm thinking for now.

Let's see what everyones thoughts are.
Oh, DA sanders - Air or Electric?

 

Avoid using DA Sanders as much as you can stick to sanding blocks (file Sanders)
To avoid having wavy panels

 

4 coats of Brandywine over black base
I left the roof black

 

Candy apple red over silver

 

Candy red looks great...Gary

 

I'll give you this one bit of advice from my painter that I have used for the last 12 years: a "proper color change will cost more than the car is worth". That involves stripping the entire car down. If you don't, it will just look "ricer" when you open the hood, trunk or doors. Seeing that silver paint against the yellow will just ruin the look. Now if this is your "dream car" and it's a labor of love, more power to you. However, if you ever want to sell it, that two tone paint will not be an attractive selling point.

A "decent" color change will cost you $5000. A "show paint" job will cost $15,000 and up.

 

I'll be doing the door/ door jams and the trunk/lid, but most likely not the engine bay.
Also, I'm spraying it at home, so just factoring the cost of paint.

 

If you go a Brandywine
You'll need 1 gallon of base either black or gold cheapest is around $120 omni brand
1 galook reducer average $30
Clear coat cheapest stuff I've seen is finish 1 $60 best clear I've used is spi $300
3 quarts of the handy base coat $80 a quart

Just depends if you want top brands like ppg chormabase prices pretty much double

 

Thanks it was my first candy apple paint job had to paint it twice -_-

It is really tricky to get all the edges 😅😅

 

What sort of difference would I expect to see between a $60 vs $300 clear coat? I don't mind paying more if the difference will be significant.

Also, what base would I be using to get a colour like the r35 in my first post.

 

$60 shine will get dull fast and started burning off less than a year
$300 spi it's really glossy and it's really thick too they say it's lifetime warranty I think not sure...

To get the r35 I'll say it's a metallic gold base and Brandywine over it. More coats the darker it gets. I'll recommend buying the kandy base coat not the concentrate candy. Less problems and it's easier to spray

 

Didn't the 350z come in a metallic eggplant color? I love that color. I love that Brandywine too, but if you could get a high shine on the eggplant, that would look amazing.

 

UV protection. And remember, most of the UV protection ends up in the top 1/3rd of the clear so make sure you have at least 1.5 mils thickness. If you plan to wetsand out the orange peel you might want to double that thickness. I am sure there is a chart somewhere that shows much much you need for a desired thickness.

 

I detailed a 370Z with that color (or very similar), it looks great polished out properly.

 

Yeah, I heard the mixed base coat is easier to work with than the concentrate. Better consistency and whatnot.

I prefer the brandy wine. I'm really looking for a dark red, blood red sort of colour. Like red which is dark but moving towards black instead of purple or cherry.

I found this picture of a G, this is EXACTLY how I want my paint to look. Except, this picture is taken at night but I want mine to look like this in the light. This paint is actually candy apple over brickyard red. So it looks way lighter than I'd like in the sun. (But at night the colour is just like what I want as an example - maybe even darker)



Too orange/bright for me.


This is also more like it - also brandywine



I just don't know what they use for the base, I'm guessing gold.... but I'm guessing. Doing more research but so far I think its going to be some kind of gold or silver. Might have to just do some test panels. All the threads where people say they are going to do test panels (and post pics) never post the pics

But I know for sure it's not going to be black. The black is more for a cherry/eggplant colour but I'm looking more towards red, just darker.

Then I'm thinking gold or silver or black for my wheel centers - but that can wait