Seeking Opinions: Complete Wrap or Repaint/Spray Entire Car

[Advorsor]

Hi all -

My M3 is Carbon Black Metallic.

I’d rate the exterior paint condition like 6.5/7 out of 10 (there is one bubbling spot about to rust and several chipped/scratched areas). Thankfully, no issues with the body (no damage, dents, dings, etc.).

Any thoughts on going one route vs. another here? Pretend money/cost isn’t really a consideration. I just want the best result without devaluing the car.

(FYI I would go with the same color, Carbon Black, Metallic, on either route).

Appreciate any feedback!

[oceansize]

How many miles on your car? ZCP?

[Slideways]

Money no object, repaint same color only if it is really bad. 6.5/7 doesn't seem that bad and a full detail could get it to a solid 8 which would be great for any car that is not a garage queen.

Money object, fix/blend problem areas and call it a day.

[Advorsor]

How many miles on your car? ZCP?

85K miles
ZCP - Yes

[Vonbimmer]

I second what Slideways had for an approach on both budget routes. Wraps are impressive way to take a marginal color car to a new place, but nothing beats beautiful paint, for me.

[oceansize]

85K miles
ZCP - Yes

You are beyond collector car mileage IMO plus the market is really coming back down to earth. I'm also assuming you continue to drive the car so mileage will increase. Whatever you do is for you so I would do what you want with the assumption you aren't getting the money back.

[Advorsor]

You are beyond collector car mileage IMO plus the market is really coming back down to earth. I'm also assuming you continue to drive the car so mileage will increase. Whatever you do is for you so I would do what you want with the assumption you aren't getting the money back.

I the market coming back down and do plan to drive/keep it anyways. I’ll be less than $5K miles/year

If I keep it for 10yrs at that rate, I’ll be just over 125K miles.

Given time/6MT/less of them left at that point, it’ll be worth something!

[oceansize]

I the market coming back down and do plan to drive/keep it anyways. I’ll be less than $5K miles/year

If I keep it for 10yrs at that rate, I’ll be just over 125K miles.

Given time/6MT/less of them left at that point, it’ll be worth something!

If you paint are you doing all the R & R? Door and deck lid jams? glass out?

If you aren't doing the R & R then I would put a quality same color paint job in the $6 to $12k dollar range.

Why the wide range? Just depends on the shop, geographic location, reputation, and how in-demand their services are. $6K to $8k is really unlikely unless you live in a small town.

Now someone is going to jump in here and say that is way to high but it isn't. I know what's up with regards to paint and body. Again I'm assuming you aren't doing the R&R, you are going to a really good shop, and you don't have the I've got a buddy special.

[Lee_Enfield]

Realistically, once it's resprayed, it's no longer original paint so the collector value is depreciated regardless of original color. You might as well go with a different color that you really like.

If your not interested in a color change, l would follow the above advice and get it corrected.

Carbon black looks terrible when it's aged. My 02 looked pretty bad. But a few hours with a polisher and it really brings the paint back.

[Tbonem3]

Where are you located?

I would strongly urge anyone to NOT to do any paintwork if you can help it. It's also a case of getting what you pay for, so if you do want to respray, you gotta pay up otherwise it'll just look worse that what you have now (what you have now, corrected as well as possible).

I asked where you are as that can help determine respray cost, and if you're near me, I'd offer affordable paint correction.

[Advorsor]

Where are you located?

I would strongly urge anyone to NOT to do any paintwork if you can help it. It's also a case of getting what you pay for, so if you do want to respray, you gotta pay up otherwise it'll just look worse that what you have now (what you have now, corrected as well as possible).

I asked where you are as that can help determine respray cost, and if you're near me, I'd offer affordable paint correction.

Ha - I am in NY.

[Tbonem3]

Ah, other side. And NY ain't cheap. I'd consider a $800 or so 2 step paint correction, and a $30 bottle of Dr. Color chip touch up before $10k respray.

[Gt4]

I hate wrap, waste of money and look bad!

I am not a fan of Carbon Black, I had a CB ZCP in the past and always hate that color.

If it was my money, I would do a color change and go with Interlagos blue. It share pretty much the same base coat in the engine bay as CB so you don’t have to remove drivetrain from the car.

Here is my Interlagos blue Dinan S3R engine bay:

[maw1124]

Fix and blend the offending areas, color correction and call it a day. It'll be what it's worth.

If you're trying to increase the value and quasi restore the car, then you'll be paying those types of numbers (glass out, etc), and you may never get your money back, but at least it'll look like you want; maybe. No real downside to that approach besides cost and risk of ending up with something worse than factory in some spots.

Because of that risk alone, I'd start with the fix and blend approach to see how happy I am with it. You never lose the option to do a full respray later, so there's no rush to go that way now, IMO.

For perspective, I did a color correction on a 15 year old, garage kept car and it came out so good I regretted not respraying the hood for road rash. But I can do that at any time. Point is, you should see what a color correction does as your first step in considering paint, AFAIC.

maw

[Toby22]

6.5/10 with scratches and rust spot, I’d repaint with factory color then refresh the entire car with new trims/seals.