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2001 Prius Repainted!!!!

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by statultra, Jan 16, 2010.

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  1. statultra

    statultra uber-Senior Member

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    Recently I had my battery modules changed to the NHW20 and then i thought since this car is going to last me another 200-300k miles why not give it a repaint. When i repaired it last time i took it to a paint shop that used cheap single stage ( base and clear basically mixed together ) to paint the car. The result was a faded paint job after 5 years, I ended up deciding to save money and repaint the entire car, a lot of work but it came out a lot cheaper and the end result was great.

    here is a before picture when body work was completed:

    [​IMG]

    dec 31st i painted it with a Lexus color, Bamboo Pearl which is found on the RX330 and 400h.

    here is the end result after compounding and putting on emblems.
    front view, showing my LED sidemarkers and parking lights along with HID headlight conversion.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    here is a back view, i used a 3m blue reflector as backing for the toyota emblem, looks pretty good to me.
    [​IMG]

    more of the back
    [​IMG]


    the color changes in sunlight and closely if not exactly resembles the OEM aqua ice color, once the car is in the shade it looks like the bamboo pearl, this is due to a blue ghost pearl i mixed in the clearcoat.

    here is a picture during daylight after painting.
    [​IMG]

    i also painted the hybrid vent silver with blue pearl so it will stand out.



    maybe next week im going to paint the OEM rims gunmetal grey and clearcoat them, theres so much brake dust it literally damaged the OEM rims.
     
    #1 statultra, Jan 16, 2010
  2. hampdenwireless

    hampdenwireless Active Member

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    Looks great!
     
    #2 hampdenwireless, Jan 16, 2010
  3. adric22

    adric22 Ev and Hybrid Enthusiast

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    Do you think you could put some smaller pictures? I have to scroll my screen 3 or 4 times over just to see all of it.

    By the way - How much did it cost you? I've been tempted to get mine painted but I know a good paint job would cost as much as I paid for the car.
     
    #3 adric22, Jan 16, 2010
    1 person likes this.
  4. statultra

    statultra uber-Senior Member

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    since i did everything myself it cost me around 140 for all the paint, the basecoat was roughly 100 dollars for a gallon and i bought a couple odds and ends, i had left over clearcoat from another job but if you were to buy everything it would be roughly 300-400.

    From a reputable shop they will charge roughly 2000-3000 for a GOOD paint job.

    if you went to maaco for under 500 they will put single stage paint which is considerably worse than the stock paint job. The OEM prius finish in the NHW11's are one of the most durable paints ive seen on Toyota vehicles.
     
    #4 statultra, Jan 16, 2010
  5. ski.dive

    ski.dive Active Member

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    did you paint the door jams, since you changed color?
     
    #5 ski.dive, Jan 16, 2010
  6. statultra

    statultra uber-Senior Member

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    yes i painted the jambs, it took me a couple hours to tape up everything.
     
    #6 statultra, Jan 16, 2010
  7. adric22

    adric22 Ev and Hybrid Enthusiast

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    Okay, that's what I was afraid of. The situation I'm in is that the NHW11 I just bought has more paint problems that I originally thought. As you probably know from my other threads, I bought it cheap and put a new HV battery in it. Well, the weather has been so bad here in Texas for the last few weeks that today was the first chance I've had to wash it. It was very dirty when I bought it. Well, after I washed it I realized the paint wasn't in as good of shape as I thought. There were 3 or 4 spots where the paint had oxidized. I think those were all on the front and back plastic bumpers. But the hood is ridiculous. It has probably over a hundred paint chips on it. I thought it was just dirt when I bought it, but now looking at it I realize they are paint chips. I went to a toyota dealer today and bought some touch-up paint. They looked it up by the VIN number, but they must have given me the wrong thing because the bottle has white paint in it and my Prius is green. It also has some door-dings and paint chips on the sides of the car too.

    Anyway, I'm not real fond of this color of green anyway. If it were a lighter green, it might be okay but it is really dark green. Anyway, the thought has occurred to me to get the whole car painted. I mean, I'm sort of thinking along the lines you were. I just bought a brand-new HV battery, just replaced oil, trans-fluid, coolant, drive-belt, spark-plugs, and splurged on the Enginer plug-in kit that I'm going to be installing. So obviously, I'm planning to get several years of service from this vehicle and my current investment (including the vehicle itself and even after the plug-in kit) is around $7,000 so I'm thinking a $2,000 paint-job would only put me around $9,000 and then I could pick a better color and maybe even have them put some kind of wording along the sides of the vehicle that says "PLUG-IN HYBRID" or something like that.

    I wonder if I could do a two-tone, leaving some of the dark-green and using a different color in other parts of the car?
     
    #7 adric22, Jan 16, 2010
  8. statultra

    statultra uber-Senior Member

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    Heres some words of advice, when you go for a paint job make sure you get a basecoat / clearcoat paint job, and not single stage, make sure you know what paint the shop uses.

    Repainting is a lot easier than leaving the OEM color, as long as you have good sheet metal ( no dings or dents ) it is very easy for a shop to repaint, just scuff and spray.

    let me know how the enginer kit improves your mileage.
     
    #8 statultra, Jan 16, 2010
  9. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    What about surface preparation? Did you remove the OEM paint and prime?

    The reason I ask is I have paint chips out of my hood too. But I'm afraid if I just paint over, it'll chip again and there will be the surface blemish. Would be enough to just disk-sand the OEM paint and blemishes to make everything 'smooth' and then paint?

    Thanks,
    Bob Wilson
     
    #9 bwilson4web, Jan 17, 2010
  10. statultra

    statultra uber-Senior Member

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    The chips on the hood on my car was filled with 3m acryl glaze and sanded to a smooth finish. Once your clearcoat is good scuffing the car with a 400-600 grit sandpaper or on a DA would give enough bite for the paint to stick.

    In terms of getting it smooth, if there are deep scratches to bare metal I would use some sort of filler after sanding it down, but if there are clearcoat scratches the 400-600 grit paper should take it down.

    Its important before sanding to make sure there is no grease or wax on the car.

    I wet sanded the entire car by hand with the maroon scotch brite pad and sprayed water wherever i did to see if i missed any dents or dings.

    The OEM paint is a perfect surface for new paint, once its 400-600 grit sanded. I would strongly avoid going to bare metal anywhere as it will increase the risk of rust.
     
    #10 statultra, Jan 17, 2010
  11. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Nice work!

    Where did you do the painting project?
    Are you planning to replace the front Toyota emblem with one that has the blue background?
     
    #11 Patrick Wong, Jan 17, 2010
  12. adric22

    adric22 Ev and Hybrid Enthusiast

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    Since you know so much about painting, take a look at this picture I took of my Prius today. keep in mind that this car has been totally cleaned so everything you see on the hood is a rock chip (notice there are tons of them)

    [​IMG]

    Click here for hi-res version:
    [ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_murray/4281938723/sizes/l/"]Flickr Photo Download: 2002 Prius Front[/ame]

    What would you suggest? I went to the toyota dealer and got some touchup paint, but it was the wrong color (they screwed up) so I'll be returning that tomorrow. But I'm not sure how well touch-up paint is going to work.
     
    #12 adric22, Jan 17, 2010
  13. statultra

    statultra uber-Senior Member

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    Your car looks real good minus the hood, im not sure how well the touch up paint will do on that many chips, you know if I were in your situation I would get the hood refinished with the OEM color.
     
    #13 statultra, Jan 17, 2010
  14. statultra

    statultra uber-Senior Member

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    I was considering putting a Toyota emblem with the blue background on the front, but im still searching for a emblem since my old one broke in half ( fake emblem from ebay ). Im not sure how good the blue emblem would look on the front, I have another sheet of 3m reflective stuff thats white reflector. So i have to test it out and see what looks best.

    I did the painting in my garage, with my craftsman compressor and devilbiss finishline gun. I had a draft setup with fresh air respirator.
     
    #14 statultra, Jan 17, 2010
  15. orange4boy

    orange4boy Member

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    Nice re-paint. Great colour choice.

    You could spot fill all the chips with the touch up paint and then block and buff the hood. I did this on my VW years ago.

    Or you could try to find a replacement hood the same colour (pretty tough but not impossible)
     
    #15 orange4boy, Jan 29, 2010
  16. treet007

    treet007 Member

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    I think that was a great job in painting the Prius. Congrats! :yo:

    BTW, try posting smaller photos next time. It went too widescreen when I read the post.
     
    #16 treet007, Feb 9, 2010
  17. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Great job! I love the sheen on that. Personally, I prefer the Lexus blue background over the lighter Toyota blue background for the emblem.


    I have a question. How do Gen I owners clean the trunk? The clearance underneath the spoiler looks minimal.
     
    #17 Tideland Prius, Feb 9, 2010
  18. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    When I owned my 2001, I put the chamois through the gap between the trunk and spoiler. There's enough room.
     
    #18 Patrick Wong, Feb 9, 2010
  19. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Ahh ok. and wax? :D haha
     
    #19 Tideland Prius, Feb 10, 2010
  20. mlibanio

    mlibanio Member

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    Your G1 looks like an F-22 Interceptor with that colour scheme! Wow! I almost fell off my chair at work. I LOVE the blue reflector idea. Your creativity and skill are simply awesome. It is so nice to see a Prius owner so dedicated such as yourself. Funny how the G1 looks so funny without a rear spoiler, just the way they came in Japan! Amazing how an older design like the G1 still looks pretty darn good even today.
     
    #20 mlibanio, Feb 16, 2010
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