Bringing my paintwork up to scratch (no pun intended)

Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2004
Posts
5,242
Location
Cambridge
I’m picked up my new car a couple of weeks ago now. For those of you that missed the thread; it’s a MY01 Boxster S in dark blue.

It’s had one owner with 70k on the clock and full PSH. So (touch wood) it’s in good mechanical condition.

It’s got a couple of quite nice scratches on it. As the pervious owner said they happened in “Waitrose car park!”, Drs hay.

The NS door needs a respray and it had a deep scratch in it; through the lacquer and paint and about 4 inches long. There are also scuffs on both the air intakes, the one on the NS I’ll get sprayed when I get the door blended. The other scuffs are minor; I think I’ll just get them touched up along with the stone chips on the bonnet. The lacquer on the wing mirrors has also seen better days; I’m going to get these sanded back and repainted also.

In summary-

• NS door and rear quarter needs painting to remove scratch in door and scuff on air intake.
• OS air intake need touch up or respray.
• Stone chips touched in.
• Wing mirrors repainted.​

I’m planning on buying a DA polisher to “improve” the rest of the paint work. I’m going to gain a bit of confidence polishing by hand before I start with the DA.

I’ve had a quote for the above work from Chipsaway Cambridge of £550 (+VAT), before haggling. Is that a fair price? I’ve only heard good things about the work they do. They paint using water based paint (they told me that body shops are not allowed to spray synthetic paint anymore :confused:), they suggested that I got some non-water based paint from Porsche for the touch ups though and they will do that for me.

Is there a better or cheaper way of getting the work done to a good standard? Is the price above a good price, I appreciate that it depends on the quality of the work, like I say I’ve only heard good things about them. I've had two other quotes and they are higher, much higher but it's hard to tell like for like.

Thanks!
 
Maybe that Chipsaway is a good one but I certainly would never let them near any car of mine again after the hash they made of my MR2. Personally I'd take it to a proper reputable bodyshop and pay that bit extra to get the quality that your Porsche deserves.
 
Maybe that Chipsaway is a good one but I certainly would never let them near any car of mine again after the hash they made of my MR2. Personally I'd take it to a proper reputable bodyshop and pay that bit extra to get the quality that your Porsche deserves.

What's the difference between chipsaway and a proper bodyshop? I’m not being flippant in saying that, I’m just curious.

They always seem really honest in Cambridge. My GFs car had a dent in- they said call this guy he will do a painless dent removal and it will be much cheaper. Chips quoted £600 for a fill and respray and I got it done for £70. I went there with some curbed/corroded alloys and they said I would take them to a place down the road because they will be able to sort them put better and it's not much more expensive.

I should really go to Lancaster Porsche and see what they say.
 
obviously chipsaway are a franchise so it's a bit harsh to tarnish the brand from a bad experience with one particular guy - but that said, i would be hesitant in using them again. i had a few bits done prior to selling a car, and he made a reasonable job of cosmetically improving the state of the wheels, but the touchups to the body work looked worse than the initial scrapes to be honest. anything 'paintless' like dent removal, they might be alright with, but if i were you (particularly with a porsche!!!) i would try and find a proper reputable bodyshop.
 
Maybe that Chipsaway is a good one but I certainly would never let them near any car of mine again after the hash they made of my MR2. Personally I'd take it to a proper reputable bodyshop and pay that bit extra to get the quality that your Porsche deserves.

Got to agree with that, chipsaway are ok for a few chips, i wouldnt be having them painting panels though.
 
What's the difference between chipsaway and a proper bodyshop? I’m not being flippant in saying that, I’m just curious.

They always seem really honest in Cambridge. My GFs car had a dent in- they said call this guy he will do a painless dent removal and it will be much cheaper. Chips quoted £600 for a fill and respray and I got it done for £70. I went there with some curbed/corroded alloys and they said I would take them to a place down the road because they will be able to sort them put better and it's not much more expensive.

I should really go to Lancaster Porsche and see what they say.


No need to go to a Porsche bodyshop, they will kill you with the prices, find a decent small bodyshop yourself.
 
Got to agree with that, chipsaway are ok for a few chips, i wouldnt be having them painting panels though.

When I asked them about what they do in general they said we don't really do stone chips, that's just a service they offer for free. They do filling and painting, sounds like a body shop to me, I could be wrong though.
 
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