Looking for Quality Bodyshop to Respray Car

[cib24]

Hello,

I'm looking for a quality paint shop to respray my 1999 FD3S Mazda RX-7. The shortened backstory is I bought this car from Japan back in early 2015 and it needed a respray so I took it to a place recommended to me by some RX-7 club members (won't name it) in April 2015 that could do an external respray for about £3,000 on "mates rates" to give the paint some new life. Seemed like a good deal having never bought such an old car that needed to be repainted before although I knew the price was a bit on the lower end of the spectrum.

Unfortunately, the prep and spray itself was sub par and the finish was catastrophic and not correctable to a passing standard. We are talking thin paint areas, sunken filler on my rear bumper, crappy edge work, excessive orange peel, paint blistering (starting now in places), pig tails and swirl marks that are below the clearcoat because of using a dirty buffer, and overspray in lots of places (funnily enough the least of my concerns). I thought about legal prosecution but the time and effort required to recoup £3,000 just wasn't worth it, especially if it was their word against mine, so I just swallowed the loss.

I have been wanting to improve the paint ever since and now we are coming up to winter now so it seems like a good opportunity to paint the car again and get it done right. Therefore, I would really appreciate anyone's help in finding a quality shop that you have used in the past and came away very happy with the quality of prep, spray and finish.

In terms of what I am looking for more specifically:

Respray in factory white colour (no metallics or flakes or anything out of the ordinary).

Full respray including full body kit removal, removal of bumpers, door removal, bootlid removal, tailgate removal, glass removal, door shuts, door returns, boot shuts, inside of bonnet, headlamp covers, wing mirrors etc. with full coloration. No need to worry about engine bay as I can do this whenever I pull the engine for a rebuild or upgrade in the future and respraying the interior doesn't really make sense and I don't want to strip it out and accidentally break anything (cheap plastics and all which are hard to find in good condition).

Fix driver's door ding, areas that need filler, and correct/protect/prevent any surface rust noticed.

If possible, full clean of overspray areas or painting black or whatever is required to minimize visibility.

I am happy to strip certain parts of the car like the door trim, boot trim, etc. to ensure it's all taken off carefully and doesn't break as I have done it before.

I suppose I should also point out that I don't necessarily require a show finish on the car (i.e. something that will win awards at car shows) but I do desire something that is at least to a modern factory standard as if sprayed by robots if not a bit better. I normally take my car to a professional detailer 2-3 times per year to keep the paint in tip top shape but obviously with this car after the botched respray I haven't done that.

So, any recommendations or advice as to how I can find a good place or advice?

So far I have visited KDS Keltec, SL Restoration and Washington Coachworks which are all impressive outfits but their lead times to taking the car in are around April next year and their quoted prices are just a bit too high for me to seriously consider given the value of the car and the fact that I take it to the track.

Somewhere in the £5,000-8,000 range after VAT would be preferable although I know a super top quality job should cost £10,000 or higher.

Thanks.

[RobIpswichUK]

Where are you and how far are you willing to travel?
Sam at Impact (part of Precision Porsche in East Sussex) gets fantastic results and a lot of very picky Porsche owners go there.

[padc1]

Hi
I'm in the same boat

I've been doing some research for a while now and I've finally booked the csl into 'reef paint shop' over the winter to do a complete respray

It's going to be a 200 mile round trip but I'm sure the outcome will be well worth it

[cib24]

Honestly, willing to drive almost anywhere, even Scotland or France, but there is the logistical challenge of going to see a place and have the car looked over. Hard to justify driving say 500 miles round trip only to not choose that shop for whatever reason.

[macky17]

https://www.facebook.com/SpikesVintageRestorations...

Top bloke, competitive prices. Used him a couple of times as have friends of mine. Ask for Andy.

[gilbo]

Mike Sellar at MAS Car and Commercial in Sittingbourne is top notch. He does lots of high end classics and exotica including many top race team cars and their transporters. He did a full body resto on my Bianca Perla Integrale (very difficult colour to work with), rear bumper of my Giallo 355 spider, full repaint on my 996 GT3 and front ends on both my T350 TVR's. Flawless finish and very good price. If you need any pics of the paintwork just PM me

[sutts]

gilbo said:

Mike Sellar at MAS Car and Commercial in Sittingbourne is top notch. He does lots of high end classics and exotica including many top race team cars and their transporters. He did a full body resto on my Bianca Perla Integrale (very difficult colour to work with), rear bumper of my Giallo 355 spider, full repaint on my 996 GT3 and front ends on both my T350 TVR's. Flawless finish and very good price. If you need any pics of the paintwork just PM me

Not sure how long ago that was, but two years ago this outfit pretty much trashed my black T5 attempting to give it a full respray - runs in the lacquer, dirt and pinholes in the paint, paint missing inside door handles, overspray everywhere including the interior of the van and masking tape left attached under the sliding door.

I spent almost as much again at KDS getting it largely rectified, where possible, and Kelly was doing me a favour. It's on their website somewhere.

I would not trust MAS to paint a garden fence.

[macky17]

macky17 said:

https://www.facebook.com/SpikesVintageRestorations...

Top bloke, competitive prices. Used him a couple of times as have friends of mine. Ask for Andy.

...Andy at Spikes once worked at J D Classics in Maldon - about the highest standard of craftsmanship you will ever see. To this day there's is a £1M Toyota 2000GT in gleaming white in their showroom: Andy painted it.

http://www.jdclassics.co.uk/restoration-toyota-200...

Edited by macky17 on Sunday 30th October 09:11

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

I've used http://www.brewstermotors.co.uk/ a number of times, always quality results.

[irocfan]

macky17 said:

...Andy at Spikes once worked at J D Classics in Maldon - about the highest standard of craftsmanship you will ever see. To this day there's is a £1M Toyota 2000GT in gleaming white in their showroom: Andy painted it.

http://www.jdclassics.co.uk/restoration-toyota-200...

Edited by macky17 on Sunday 30th October 09:11

JD Classics do amazing work.... at an equally amazing price. Some of the stuff they do/have done boggles the mind and again so do the prices - you can tick JD straight off your list unless you have unfeasibly deep pockets (though if you do I suspect that you would be amazingly happy!).

There is a place in Harlow called Custom Exotics who have a very good rep, give them a try

[macky17]

irocfan said:

macky17 said:

...Andy at Spikes once worked at J D Classics in Maldon - about the highest standard of craftsmanship you will ever see. To this day there's is a £1M Toyota 2000GT in gleaming white in their showroom: Andy painted it.

http://www.jdclassics.co.uk/restoration-toyota-200...

Edited by macky17 on Sunday 30th October 09:11

JD Classics do amazing work.... at an equally amazing price. Some of the stuff they do/have done boggles the mind and again so do the prices - you can tick JD straight off your list unless you have unfeasibly deep pockets (though if you do I suspect that you would be amazingly happy!).

There is a place in Harlow called Custom Exotics who have a very good rep, give them a try

I wasn't suggesting JDs! Andy now has his own bodyshop called Spikes (see above) - I was merely highlighting his experience and how good he is.

[irocfan]

macky17 said:

irocfan said:

macky17 said:

...Andy at Spikes once worked at J D Classics in Maldon - about the highest standard of craftsmanship you will ever see. To this day there's is a £1M Toyota 2000GT in gleaming white in their showroom: Andy painted it.

http://www.jdclassics.co.uk/restoration-toyota-200...

Edited by macky17 on Sunday 30th October 09:11

JD Classics do amazing work.... at an equally amazing price. Some of the stuff they do/have done boggles the mind and again so do the prices - you can tick JD straight off your list unless you have unfeasibly deep pockets (though if you do I suspect that you would be amazingly happy!).

There is a place in Harlow called Custom Exotics who have a very good rep, give them a try

I wasn't suggesting JDs! Andy now has his own bodyshop called Spikes (see above) - I was merely highlighting his experience and how good he is.

[ColinGr]

Give Custom Exotics in Harlow a call, absolute perfectionists and their work is top notch.

http://www.customexotics.co.uk

[integra1799]

macky17 said:

https://www.facebook.com/SpikesVintageRestorations...

Top bloke, competitive prices. Used him a couple of times as have friends of mine. Ask for Andy.

I'll second this as I've had various work done on my DC5 by Andy and the quality of work is the best I've seen. Having had issues with body shop's in the past, I would never take my car anywhere else now.