painting my 2000 q45

[Q45-pj]

I recently purchased a 2k q45. The anniversary edition. It has 190k miles on it. I've had it for less than a week and am completely enamored w/it. The previous owner try to deal w/rust by spray painting it. At the time of purchase this wasn't a big deal since i only needed the car for one semester. But after a week, I absolutely love the car. I almost forgot to mention how almost perfect the black leather is. So now I want to paint the car. But I don't want it to have that nasty painted look that most painted cars have. So I'm not sure what to look for when looking for a paint shop. I hope you guys can help.

Ps: best steering wheel ever!

[Q451990]

to NICO!

Of course a good paint job isn't cheap. I do absolutely everything possible to keep factory paint, including putting up with some imperfections that a lot of other people would have re-sprayed. I think if I was looking to have a car painted to as close to perfect as possible, I'd probably look for some classic car shows in your area, and find out who did paint work that you like...

[Q45-pj]

Thanks! I'm afraid to go w/cheaper paint job. Someone offered to do it for $300. But I'm I don't want to chance it.
I'm about to change the power steering pump sunday. Is there anything else I should change? I was going to do change the spark plugs, oil (Mobil 1), the transmission seems almost perfect should I change the fluid anyway or not? In dash nav. I want to get one but don't really want to ruin the look of the interior. Should I just get a gamin or go w/an after market unit? I found a 2001 oem nav unit but was told it's for the 01 model only. I haven't been able to find anything about the infinity nav systems.

[paranoidjack]

stock NAVI is junk nowadays, looks like crap, outdated maps, better expenditure of money to throw it into the garbage.

A double din aftermarket navi/deck would look great. I find the fgy33's interior fairly timeless (doesn't appear old, like a '00 Ford), and it would blend well.

I still have my stock deck and all 4 bose speakers working well at 245k, knock on steering wheel...

[Q45Owner]

I recently purchased a 2k q45. The anniversary edition. It has 190k miles on it. I've had it for less than a week and am completely enamored w/it. The previous owner try to deal w/rust by spray painting it. At the time of purchase this wasn't a big deal since i only needed the car for one semester. But after a week, I absolutely love the car. I almost forgot to mention how almost perfect the black leather is. So now I want to paint the car. But I don't want it to have that nasty painted look that most painted cars have. So I'm not sure what to look for when looking for a paint shop. I hope you guys can help.

Ps: best steering wheel ever!

From someone who JUST had his car painted a week and a half ago, I just had to throw in my two cents.. Not only did I go the affordable route with my paint job, but I also did a color change. After getting a few outrageous quotes, I decided to go with Maaco (yea, I know they have a bad reputation at certain locations). The shop that I went to though offers a 30% discount for ANY job, including their most expensive. I decided to go with their single stage enamel with UV protection and couldn't be happier with the results. I went from Dark Green to Bright White and it costs me a total of $550 including tax and comes with a 2 year warranty. They also have the higher end paint jobs, but even those are heavily discounted. The more expensive jobs come with a longer warranty, but i really didn't want to spend $800/$900 on this car. This shop apparently does a lot of volume which is why they charge the prices they do. But like I said I'm very happy with the results. Glossy shine and the car looks like new now. I don't know where you're located, but if you're in the northeast, I can tell you the location of the shop.

[BadQ45t]

I serous paint job the quality of stock for a car like a Q45 would cost north of 5k at this point. A Maaco job is a quick and dirty job, but you will get what you pay for and this will last about 2 years before it starts to fad and look like crap. but these cars are not worth anything anyways.

My 97' has a very nice stock still and as previously pointed out keep the stock paint if at all possible.

[Q45Owner]

I serous paint job the quality of stock for a car like a Q45 would cost north of 5k at this point. A Maaco job is a quick and dirty job, but you will get what you pay for and this will last about 2 years before it starts to fad and look like crap. but these cars are not worth anything anyways.

My 97' has a very nice stock still and as previously pointed out keep the stock paint if at all possible.

To clarify, this paint job was not done on my Q, but my other car. The original paint was in terrible shape, peeling, chipping, you name it. So looking at it now from what it looked like before is a huge improvement. It doesn't look like a bad paint job at all. I don't know how it's going to look in two years, but honestly I may not even have the car in two years, which is why I went the affordable route. If you want something that's going to last a long long time, sure you can spend thousands if you want. But given that his car is a 2000, I don't know how much I would be willing to spend. It's up to him, his budget, and how long he plans on keeping his Q. I would say I didn't get what I paid for at the Maaco I went to, because the initial results are excellent. That car doesn't look like it had a cheap paint job or anything like that. So if cost is an issue, there are options. You don't have to settle for a really crappy job for $550. I have the proof sitting in front of my house.

My '94 Q paint still looks like new btw