Advice on painting my 01 Cyber Green Bug?

[ssg510]

Just wanted some good sound advice on painting the green bug. I know cyber green fades really bad. Any advice to prolonge this fading and general reccomendations for a good but not really a show paint job. It is my daily driver. Thanks for the help.

[VDubYah]

A repaint in the original color is much less work as the jambs don't have to be painted. Keeping the green waxed will go a long way towards not fading. I have an 03 cyber green and the paint is still new looking. Mine is a florida car and the sun here is hard on paint.

[scarabY2k]

Originally Posted by VDubYah

A repaint in the original color is much less work as the jambs don't have to be painted. Keeping the green waxed will go a long way towards not fading. I have an 03 cyber green and the paint is still new looking. Mine is a florida car and the sun here is hard on paint.

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Someone needs to change their avatar

Your beetle is AWESOME David

[ssg510]

Im going to keep it green. Too much cost to change it. Should I insist on haveing them take the fenders off etc to get a better job. I know time = money.

[Pushing Fifty]

I also have a faded Cyber Green 2000 model, but only the roof and trunklid are noticably lighter. Some body shops have told me that the only way to get everything to match is to repaint the entire car, but that would cost about $6000. I would think a good body person could just paint those two areas and do a little blending with clearcoat. In my case, they may have to remove the sunroof glass, but I'm guessing I could get these two panels done nicely for maybe a tad over $1000. The hood could use a re-spray. too, not because of fading, but because of swirl marks and a couple of rock chips, so If I did that, maybe the price would go up to, say, $1200-$1300.

[IndyTom]

Or you can take it to Maaco

[Unbeatleble]

IF you're painting because it looks like it's fading away, you can always try buffing it out, they have a high speed buffers with different grades of compound and with those different grades of compounds you will need different textures of pads, that's what i did to my silver and blue beetle, the silver one looked really dull when i first got it, it also has some chippin on the front bumper, which no amound of buffing will cure, but it still looks good cause the rest is pretty shinny after a good buff which took me around 5 hours, then a good coat of wax to help from crap sticking to it, if you look at my album, the blue beetle which I did extensive repairs to the front end cause it was a wreck, the only new paint is the bumper, hood and fenders to blend the paint, the rest is original paint and it's 12 years old, that's what buffing does, u cant tell a difference in the gloss of new paint vs 12 year old paint, I buff my cars every year (im not recommending doing that every year, you really dont need to, but I just do cause I am very pick on my car, so i want the best shine I can get), keeps up the glossy look, all cars fade, that shade of green you notice it more, I get compliments on my car every day, i wash it 1 to 2 times a week just to keep it up, dont expect your car to look shinny all the time and not give it the maintance it requires for that "out of the paint booth look"

[Unbeatleble]

Originally Posted by Pushing Fifty

I also have a faded Cyber Green 2000 model, but only the roof and trunklid are noticably lighter. Some body shops have told me that the only way to get everything to match is to repaint the entire car, but that would cost about $6000. I would think a good body person could just paint those two areas and do a little blending with clearcoat. In my case, they may have to remove the sunroof glass, but I'm guessing I could get these two panels done nicely for maybe a tad over $1000. The hood could use a re-spray. too, not because of fading, but because of swirl marks and a couple of rock chips, so If I did that, maybe the price would go up to, say, $1200-$1300.

Like I mentioned in my previous statement, buffing will solve all these problems, not the chipping ofcourse, but you can always get a touch up stick, let it dry, then give it a light wet sand with 1200 to 2000 grit wet sand paper, then give it a good buffing, if done properly, you will have a hard time to find where the chip was, when the chips start to multiply, then it's tedious, I washed a limo and they told me they need to paint it cause of fading, i recommended to buff, it cost them 600 which is cheap for a buff on a limo, but after i was done, they were amazed on how it looked, some even thought they got it repainted

[Smileybug]

I don't think the buffing will work with the cyber green. It really does fade pretty bad. Pretty much every single one I've seen is faded on the hood and roof. You can also tell a respray very easily...I've seen a few that had the hood and roof done and its painfully obvious. Cyber green seems to be a hard color to match later.

[Unbeatleble]

gota remember, it's base coat/clear coat, it's the clear that is fading, not that actual color, before yes, because they use to use lacquer paint, which is a single stage paint, some still use it today on certain jobs, all the body shops switched to water bourne paint, but the clear is always the same, just like those flat black color cars? that's like faded paint, but it's not the actual color that gives it that flat color, they put a dulling agent in the clear to make it look dull,some colors you just notice it alot more, like black color is hard to keep looking clean, ive washed black cars and let it sit outside, u can so easily see the light dust covering it, but a silver one u might not notice it as much, that's why alot of people like the silver cars, you can let it go for longer and not notice the dirt as much as you would a different color, trust me, im not talkin out my butt, I am a bodyman by trade and I specialise in collision repair, so I am around cars everyday and work with the outside appearance of them

[Pushing Fifty]

Some guy who has his own detailing shop told me that my faded areas were beyond buffing. Maybe I could try a small area to see if he was wrong, and then I'd have nothing to lose, because if I screw it up, it would have to be repainted anyway. I'm just trying to avoid the expense of repainting the whole car. But then again, I'll resort to that if I have to.

[Unbeatleble]

sometimes an aggressive buff is required, that's when i use a heavy grit compound, then even off with the medium, then finish up with the light swirl mark remover, gives it that glass look, but if it's past the clear coat, then ya, it's beyong buffing, cause there's no clear there to buff, maybe I havent seen one of these "faded beyond repair"'s, but every paint that I have done has come out very nicely, some did need alot, took me 2 days to buff the limo, and that was after i masked off the black roof, didnt want to get compound in the materal, worst is when body shop doesnt finish with a complete coat of clear, and just spray on some blender, well that crap buff's off and was one of my problems in the limo, but i just had to buff it to a line then hide it, got lucky there

[eister]

Originally Posted by Unbeatleble

IF you're painting because it looks like it's fading away, you can always try buffing it out, they have a high speed buffers with different grades of compound and with those different grades of compounds you will need different textures of pads, that's what i did to my silver and blue beetle, the silver one looked really dull when i first got it, it also has some chippin on the front bumper, which no amound of buffing will cure, but it still looks good cause the rest is pretty shinny after a good buff which took me around 5 hours, then a good coat of wax to help from crap sticking to it, if you look at my album, the blue beetle which I did extensive repairs to the front end cause it was a wreck, the only new paint is the bumper, hood and fenders to blend the paint, the rest is original paint and it's 12 years old, that's what buffing does, u cant tell a difference in the gloss of new paint vs 12 year old paint, I buff my cars every year (im not recommending doing that every year, you really dont need to, but I just do cause I am very pick on my car, so i want the best shine I can get), keeps up the glossy look, all cars fade, that shade of green you notice it more, I get compliments on my car every day, i wash it 1 to 2 times a week just to keep it up, dont expect your car to look shinny all the time and not give it the maintance it requires for that "out of the paint booth look"

I have to agree. I had bought a 95 red P/U that was pretty faded from the previous owner and I thought I would need to have it painted but, my nephew, who works in bodyshop, gave me a buffer and instructions on what to do. I took my time with it and by the time I was done (couple of days) it looked amazing! After that I kept it waxed real good and people always commented on how it just looked wet all the time, even dirty it looked wet. It's worth a shot.
If not, you could always find a good Maaco. My father-in-law had his 87' P/U done there and it actually turned out really nice. He paid an extra 300 for clearcoat. Total was 1200 and that was a full size P/U.

[IHC]

Remember it is the base color coat that has faded due to a lack of uv stabilizer not the clear coat. Buffing will only screw the clear coat up turning the whole paint job to toast.
The older single stage coats can be buffed back to color but even that is not a permanent fix. On mine the clear coat is still shiney so I keep it waxed and now enjoy a cybergreen paint job that looks like silver green. Like owning a whole new car!

[aplseed]

MIne is 9 yrs old and still looks good. I think the original owners must have garaged it (hence marks on visor form a opener clip) andliving in the midwest we dont have severe sun and no paper mills that pour acid into air.

I would like tips tokeep it nice , I have a couple spots on fender from impropper bra placement? same spot each front fender Ugh

I also garage her, and wax sounds like excellent idea. I hate how bugs seem attracted to it. Someone here mentioned a spray on product that was a light wax as well. was it repelex? plan to check that out soon