Hey there,

I see some mixed answers out there and I’d love a little info. I recently bought a 97 Dx Hatchback in which the paint needs much love amongst other things.

it’s a driveable project car at the moment..

The clear coat is peeling all over, hood was definitely repainted and not well. Based on everything I have read the best solution is going to be body work and repaint. Long story short based on the value of the car it doesn’t make since for a premium paint job.

Long term id really want to make it as straight as I can and do a respray DIY. Honestly anything is better than how it looks outside of a rattle can! Or maybe it’s not as bad as I think.. idk.

With this all being said I have a while before I’m ready to do any real work body wise. In the meantime what can I do to “protect” what’s left. Overall the car doesn’t appear to have any significant rust but there are dings and paint oxidation, clear coat gone all over the place.

Do I keep it clean and wax it with some sort of premium wax? Do I try to do any work immediately? What are my options for the right now?

I’d love to work towards a paint job as I mentioned I think anything would be better than how it looks as is. I know it’s NOT going to be anywhere near perfect .

I’d even be fine with the same color. I just can’t do it right this moment not solo!

Appreciate any information and I’m excited to keep working on this thing.

 

I'd save up for a decent paint job, doesn't have to be crazy expensive. Anything but rattle can. the car may not be worth a whole lot but if you plan to keep the car for a while and want it to look nice id do it good, and right the first time so it lasts. i wouldn't bother much with trying to preserve the paint or clear coat since its gonna get sanded down eventually when painted. Just my two sense.

 

I'm not sure it's worth trying to protect what's left of it honestly, maybe use spray wax every few washes if you want.

As far as paint goes, you can use spray paint cans from places like https://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint.asp
they have high quality car paint in their cans and the clear coats are true 2k clears like you get from the factory, it would be a slower process though and it will still cost you likely north of 5 or 600 all said and done.

You could also just do a full spray job yourself if you have an air compressor, I used an LVLP spray gun with a little 6 gallon pancake air compressor to do my hood and front bumper and it came out like factory.

Or like the other guy said, if you have no experience painting then you might want to just save up and hire someone, there are cheaper places out there that could shoot it for probably just a few hundred more than it would take to do yourself, especially if you did the sanding and body work beforehand.