I have a 96 GSR that is bone stock. I'd like to get a couple more years out of it, but the last 17 years in OH and PA have taken their toll. The paint is faded, the rear quarters are rusting, there's plenty of rust underneath, and there's even a hole in the tire well. I can't imagine that anyone would want to deal with the rust at this point, especially on a $2,500 car.

So I'm thinking about throwing a band-aid on it by patching up the rust with some epoxy, doing some minimal sanding, and spray painting it myself.

I figure it's even easier if I paint it matte. Black is played out so I was tossing around the idea of painting it matte tan like the current desert military vehicles.

Thoughts? Should I just keep the rusty look and say the hell with it?

One pic is a quick mock up of the proposed paint color. The other one is of the actual car, but a couple years old. You can see the rust starting (it's worse now) and the faded paint some.

 

I got a Milano red 96 and, while it's not rusting, the paint is also in pretty sad shape. What you do just depends on how much you want to keep the car, how long you want to keep it, and what you're willing to pay.

I want to keep mine forever so I'm going to be doing a quality repaint in a few years. You may not want to drop the time and/or money in a new paint job but IMO you should at least fix the rust if you want that car to live longer than a few more years.

As for repainting -- do whatever color you want. I personally think matte paint looks terrible but it's up to personal preference. Keep in mind that your sills and engine bay are gonna always be red so changing color can be a bit cheesy.

 

Good points and that's why I've at least considered red.

Thanks for your input!

 

this is basically it right here.
i would just keep it as is and drive it till its DONE. after that, id then salvage whatever i can as parts for sale, and then pick up another good gsr.

 

its all about what you like but i dont think cream or beige is very cool but at least your a little different

 

i would keep it red

 

I also have an r81 gsr

My paint is kinda pink is places though XD

Keep it red. The matte sounds funky hehe

 

Sounds like I'm going to keep it red. Thanks!

 

red... fix the rust and throw a fresh coat

 

its a pain changing the color the right way(i have done it twice on my teg). If your good at body work i would just do the body work and prep the whole car and have Maaco paint it for a hew hundred bucks.