Opinions wanted on getting rid of ugly SMB paint striping

[carringb]

Originally Posted by jage

How much to go all white? Bigger area, but less color matching, and no "I don't like that stripe either" in the future.

All my other ideas are decidedly un-subtle, so if you're trying to blend in... yeah, no.

Full van quote for me from MAACO was $2200 for single stage catalyst, which is what Ford uses now for white vans (Sprinter uses this method for all colors). It was the same price to paint and blend the one damaged body panel with 3-stage white.

3-stage with clearcoat (which is what Ford used to use) was $3200 for the entire van, and that's what I went with since I wanted metallic paint.

Any other paint shop wanted over $7,500 for full paint. Most body shops won't do single-stage paints because the surface has to be perfect first (Or in MAACo's case an understanding that imperfections may be visible). 3-stage allows for some touchup between steps.

You can see here on the replacement panel (salvage yard) where they ended up doing extra work, which looked fine pre-prep, but once prep work started there was some small dents and scratches (parking lot style) that were much more apparent. Of course most of that area ended up getting covered by the dually fenders.

[jage]

Originally Posted by daveb

How much do those shrink wraps cost?

Not enough to stay in business, apparently!

[daveb]

Wow... just looked at that web site. So I added a different link and will see how long they last compared to OMG

[JWA]

Originally Posted by dhally

All three look about the same to me. Try not to look at it so much.

Plus from the inside you never see those stripes anyway!


It seems the square window just behind the cargo doors complicates any design scheme---how to best incorporate its shape?

I'd be a bit torn, cost vs an appearance-only item especially since most anything you do will eventually appear dated. Colors and styles, even your own tastes change over time. Maybe have the stripes removed completely, refinish the body in its original base color then add vinyl stripes, accents or graphics, something that could be easily changed in a few years? Plenty of pre-made graphics these days, most very easily applied by most everyone even halfway handy.

[wish41]

Glad I dont have this problem. Those stripes are hideous! Pay whatever it costs to get rid of them.