Re: I had mine done... (archive)

...by the dealer (VW-Audi), together with the front/rear bumper covers, side skirts, and the front around the grille. The guys also painted part of the fenders to "blend-in" the hood with the rest.
I cannot tell that it was painted, that's how good it is at matching the rest. You have to go to a good shop, that's the key.
New paint if done well, doesn't require any "time lag". It should look right from day one. The only thing is that you should not wax/polish it for about a month after painting. This gives the paint time to cure properly.
Also, the older the car is, the more difficult it is to match. That's normal, because all paints fade with time.
As far as resale is concerned, it's not an issue unless your car was no. 1 in production, and is meant for the museum. Having lots of stone chips or a big dent is worse than a good respray job.

My experience is that a lot depends on what color your doing...For instance, metallics are much tougther to get a perfect match on than are non metallics...With metallics, even if you get a perfect color match, the odds are that either the size of the flakes, or their orientation when they lie down, will not be identical to the existing paint...And this will definitely cause a shading difference which will be observable under certain lights. If you have white, red, or black, however, you should achieve a 100% undectable match.

Follow Ups:

Re: I had mine done... JACKDSL 22:08 11/27/2000 (0)
Mauritius (sp?) blue Nick Bogut 18:26 11/27/2000 (0)

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