Anyone try to paint their Prius?

Must be kharma
Just google your zip and auto paint shops then do a bbb search, there's no longer any "secret" to bodywork and painting

 

Due to a couple of fender-benders over the years, and an instance of vandalism, my Prius has some additions to the original paint. Thankfully, it was all covered by insurance, thogh seemingly minor bodywork and paint can be surprisingly expensive. Ask around, look for recommendations and complaints, and I'm sure you'll find a decent place that does good work.

 

edit: Silly thing posted twice.

 

Look into PlastiDip or similar products. You can peel it off if you mess up.

But if you looking to just paint spots, and have them match the rest of the paint, going to a professional will likely save you time and frustration. Paint colors can have slight differences between production lots, and the parts that don't get repainted will have some fade at this point.

 

Oh. That's different. Why didn't you say so?

 

No but I've painted a few motorcycles as "professionally" as I could and a couple came out great but a couple didn't. It's not easy to do at home and a whole car would be very, very difficult. My recommendation is if you're having to ask how, don't. Pay to get it done right; it will be cheaper in the end.

This one came out well.

 

I whacked a curb once, and fixed it myself. It turned out great. Can't tell it ever happened. Fortunately it was small enough to use rattle cans, which I ordered online. They also sold gallons if you wanted.

 

Just a warning.
Very early in my Prius ownership, I had a paint finish issue.
In trying to find resolution, at one point I reached a "You Might Have to Have it Repainted" point.

I found it very difficult to find ANY place very enthusiastic about painting the vehicle.
The warning repeatedly given to me was that no aftermarket paint job was going to be as durable or as good as the factory paint job.

Since at the time my Prius was covered in spots...this fact did NOT cheer me up.
Eventually the problem was resolved without having to repaint the vehicle.

It was frustrating....and since vehicles ARE repainted all the time, I found the resistance to repainting the vehicle somewhat inexplicable.
But from numerous sources I was repeatedly warned that it would be better to keep the factory paint job.

Of course, I was trying to find a qualified outfit to repaint a practically brand new vehicle.
The reaction may of been different if I was pulling in with a much older vehicle.

 

Didn't share this at first, but will do so now.

Soon after we got our Ranger, we stopped for lunch at a local fast food establishment. We parked next to a new at the time Mazda Protege5 that caught my wife's eye. In the restaurant, she found the owner to ask him about it. During the conversation he mentioned he did a double take when he saw us pull in, because he had a Mazda truck the same color as our Ford, an uncommon Mandarin Gold, and preceded to tell us how he replaced that truck with the car.

A motorcycle had crashed into the bed. The dents were repaired or replaced with new panels, but they couldn't get the paint to match. The dealer had the truck for weeks trying to get the color right. They had a specialist come in from Dupont with a special color meter. One time when he stopped by, they had dozens of organish gold paint chips taped to the truck. the only way to get the bed to match the cab was to repaint both. He didn't want that because it wouldn't be as durable as the factory coat. He had a lawyer friend write a threatening letter, and was able to straight trade the truck for the car as settlement.
....
As to why factory paint is better, it is because the repair paint is just paint. Its mix and application isn't any different than any can of spray paint. The factory paint can have a different formulation, and is baked on.

 

I agree. I've made this mistake in the past.

Getting it done professionally can be expensive though. Someone moved into my lane when I was already there, and scraped all four left-hand panels of my car. He didn't want to do it through insurance as he'd only been in Australia for two weeks and didn't want to start off on the wrong foot with the insurance company. They replaced the doors and stuff, but they had to paint the whole left side of the car to get the colours blended properly, and the painting alone cost well over US$1,000.

But in your position, I'd definitely pay to get someone to do it, rather than pay more to undo the damage I did in my own attempts to fix the problem. Mind you, I am the world's least-practical person.

@Chuck. , what colour is your car?

 

I did the plastic dip panel by panel. Had lots of fun, the black was the easiest to work with. Removed it from the door panels a year later. Added white to the top.


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