Paint just the hood, and not the rest of the car?

[Eug]

My car isn't rusting noticeably. The paint on my 2004 Prius is still fine... at least on all the steel parts. Just a few minor chips and scratches here and there but otherwise it's fine.

However, ironically the paint on my aluminum hood is bubbling up. I guess water and salt got under the paint at the front edge and it's oxidizing the metal a bit, causing the paint at that edge to lift and flake off.

Can I just paint the hood alone, with blending of adjacent panels? I really don't want to spend the money to paint the entire car and I don't want to get a budget crappy (Maaco) paint job either.

1. Is this feasible?
2. Where to take it? Just a dealership autobody shop, a 3rd party autobody shop, or a 3rd party paint shop?
3. How much should I be looking to spend?
4. Any recommendations in Toronto?

 

[Sluggo]

1- Yes

2- Any decent bodyshop

3- $300-500 in US money, I guess thats nearly a million CA dollars.

4- no idea

IMHO, there is little need to "blend" a hoods and trunks, since there is so little of the nearby panels that you can see at the same time, that it is difficult to tell if the color is slightly off.

 

[SandEagle]

why not plastidip it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jayyTUy3GTw

 

[phucheneh]

Pretty much what Sluggo said. 300-500 is a good number, maybe even a little less if you just bring them a prepped part to spray (...difficult with a hood). But possibly even more depending on their thoroughness- peeling paint greatly complicates things, as the whole part really needs to be stripped and reprimed to make sure the new paint doesn't fall off, too. Hell, it might be cheaper to buy an aftermarket hood than to repaint your factory one. I'd bet steel hoods are out there for ~100 bucks, as they are for most common cars.

Resist the any urge to do that, though. If the stocker is in good shape, keep it; aftermarket collision parts generally fit like crap, and you'll end up devaluing the car to some extent. One seemingly trivial thing that is of particular importantance: try not to touch the underside of the hood. If you ever sell the car, you don't want red flags to go up when a potential buyer pops the hood and sees fresh paint or missing stickers.

As far as the 'can you' aspect...sure...nothing magic to paint...spray a little...spray a lot...it's always possible to paint a single panel. Whether or not it's worth doing is going to be a case by case basis, and there's a lot of subjectivity. Color will be a big decider- plain shades are easy to match, relatively 'simple' metallics a notch harder, and your most complex colors, to include pearls, the worst. 'Is it hard to match my paint?' is pretty much the same as asking 'does my car change colors in the sunlight?' In any case, the factory paint code, perfectly mixed, will not match perfectly with a ten year old car. But as stated above, the hood is somewhat hard to notice. A difference between a fender and a door is obvious because they sit on the same plane; since your hood and fenders don't, it's a bit harder to notice a slight difference in the paint color.

 

[phucheneh]

why not plastidip it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jayyTUy3GTw

That's...weird. It actually looks far better when done than I would expect flat white could.

But holy freakin' orange peel...when it shows him spraying the hood, I'm just shaking my head. I think I could do better with a bucket and a roller.

 

[Eug]

Thanks for the info guys.

For $500 that seems reasonable. I'll note that my dealer's sales rep discouraged me from just doing the hood. Dunno if he was trying to upsell the full-body paint job though. Never did get a quote, as it was just mentioned in passing.

As for the colour, it's Toyota's "Salsa Red", which is kind of burgundy.

It looks like this:

---

That PlastiDip thing looks interesting... for rims or something. I wouldn't do an entire car (or a hood) with that though.

 

[Eug]

And here is the bubbling paint. It's a bit worse now. The pic was from 6 months ago IIRC.

I wouldn't get an aftermarket hood. I'd consider is an original hood from a wrecker, but there wouldn't be much point unless I got the same colour. And then I'd potentially run into colour matching issues again.

 

[nerp]

Just get a bunch of estimates and then make a decision. It's worth taking care of now before it really starts to get worse.

 

[twinrider1]

Less expensive option would be a bra.

Or, to avoid a matching issue, paint it flat black for the classic racer look.

 

[NutBucket]

Is that a bra or a wind deflector? A bit hard to tell from that photo.

 

[DaTT]

The hood on my Mustang is corroding....again. This was a common problem for the 2005-2006 years. I took it to the body place I use (very reputable and not the cheapest in town) and I was quoted just over $900 to fix the corrosion and re paint the hood.

 

[Eug]

Ouch! If it is $900 then no thanks. $500 is fine.

 

[twinrider1]

Is that a bra or a wind deflector? A bit hard to tell from that photo.

It's a bra.

 

[sdifox]

OR get a carbon fiber hood for about the same money.

 

[Midwayman]

I know several people on various cars that were able to have bubbling paint warrantied. Like long after the bumper to bumper expired. If its common on the Prius you might be able to get it covered. Not sure of the details though.

 

[Eug]

Hmmm... Good thought. However, it's pretty uncommon on the Prius from what I gather.

In my case the house I've been living in for the past 6 years has no garage (since it's been converted into a home theatre), so the car sits outside all the time, including in the winter.

 

[jagec]

However, ironically the paint on my aluminum hood is bubbling up. I guess water and salt got under the paint at the front edge and it's oxidizing the metal a bit, causing the paint at that edge to lift and flake off.

Aluminum generally forms a protective oxide coating very quickly and therefore doesn't "rust" in the same way as steel.

However, if it's connected to steel, it would serve as a sacrificial anode in a corrosive environment (wet, or wet+salt).

So when you repaint your hood, check for scratches and dings around it, and repair/touch-up them as well.

 

[Eug]

Quote from dealer is CAD$1300. No thanks.

1 001688 BDY REMOVE/INSTALL R Front Combination Lamp 0.4 #
2 AUTO BDY REMOVE/INSTALL Frt Bumper Cover 1.0
3 001689 BDY REMOVE/INSTALL L Front Combination Lamp 0.4 #
4 001695 BDY REMOVE/INSTALL R Hood Washer Nozzle 0.2 #
5 001696 BDY REMOVE/INSTALL L Hood Washer Nozzle 0.2 #
6 000133 BDY REPAIR Hood Panel (Alum) Existing 5.0*
7 AUTO REF REFINISH Hood Outside C 2.6
8 000117 BDY REMOVE/REPLACE Hood Adhesive Emblem 90975-02039 54.00 0.2
9 001697 REF BLEND R Fender Outside C 0.9
10 001698 REF BLEND L Fender Outside C 0.9
11 002572 BDY REMOVE/REPLACE R Fender Adhesive Nameplate 75374-47010 45.40 0.2
12 002573 BDY REMOVE/REPLACE L Fender Adhesive Nameplate 75374-47020 45.40 0.2
13 AUTO REF ADD'L OPR Clear Coat 1.4
14 AUTO ADD'L COST Paint/Materials 185.60 *
15 AUTO ADD'L COST Hazardous Waste Disposal 5.00 *

The bulk of the cost is labour, at over $900. 13.x hours labour at $60 per hour. Ouch. I guess I'll look elsewhere.

 

[NutBucket]

Well they're doing it right by blending the fenders and removing parts instead of simply masking them.

Ask for another quote without blending the fenders.

 

[Jimzz]

I know several people on various cars that were able to have bubbling paint warrantied. Like long after the bumper to bumper expired. If its common on the Prius you might be able to get it covered. Not sure of the details though.

I was going to say the same but the Corrosion Warranty is only for 5 years for a Toyota. Can't find anything else for paint so I think that might be the limit.

Still can't hurt to ask.

 

[phucheneh]

Well they're doing it right by blending the fenders and removing parts instead of simply masking them.

Ask for another quote without blending the fenders.

This. They are being very thorough. Looks like they're not even doing the bumper, but I assume they're removing it to mask the radiator and surrounding components. I.e. they want to do bodywork and paint on the hood without removing it (which is smart) but still want to do a thorough job without getting overspray on black parts. Removing fender emblems to blend is another mark of either 'that shop is very thorough'...

OR, 'the guy that writes the estimates is really good at his job.' A definite possibility. They may not do everything in the manner that his writeup indicates, but he does it that way to wring every little bit of justifiable labor out of a ticket. Thank insurance companies for that.

It's much like how I used to write up warranty tickets so that the car manufacturer would pay for it. Beyond just justifying some big-money part and the established labor time for replacing it, I would pile on other operations that it's possible that I may have had to do [but probably didn't]. Oh, you say I have to disconnect an A/C line for that repair even though I really didn't. Well, add on an evac and recharge. Also, I though your trouble tree totally sucked and didn't need it, but yes, I will accept .1 hours for each of the seven 'pinpoint tests' it listed. Ect ect.

 

[Eug]

The quote wasn't from the main service sales guy. They have a separate body shop and they do good work, and the quote was from them. Yeah, it sounds like it's the way it's supposed to be done, but I just can't justify a $1300 expense for a 9 year old car, esp. when I may decide to replace it with a 2016.

BTW, I've decided I do not trust the main service sales guy. We took in both my car and the wife's car and for both they told me the rotors needed to be replaced because of rust and to replace the pads, despite the pads having 5 mm left. Made no mention of warping or being too thin or anything. BTW, for my wife's car I specifically told them I did not want anything done except an oil change. Car has 61000 km on it, with no noticeable braking issues whatsoever.

Oh and they told me I needed wheel balancing even though I had it done 2 weeks ago when I got my winter wheels. They did also sneak in a AC pipe cleanout due to some odour they noticed (but I didn't), but I let that one slide because the cost wasn't much.

They didn't use to do this crap before with their quotes.

 

[sdifox]

Quote from dealer is CAD$1300. No thanks.

1 001688 BDY REMOVE/INSTALL R Front Combination Lamp 0.4 #
2 AUTO BDY REMOVE/INSTALL Frt Bumper Cover 1.0
3 001689 BDY REMOVE/INSTALL L Front Combination Lamp 0.4 #
4 001695 BDY REMOVE/INSTALL R Hood Washer Nozzle 0.2 #
5 001696 BDY REMOVE/INSTALL L Hood Washer Nozzle 0.2 #
6 000133 BDY REPAIR Hood Panel (Alum) Existing 5.0*
7 AUTO REF REFINISH Hood Outside C 2.6
8 000117 BDY REMOVE/REPLACE Hood Adhesive Emblem 90975-02039 54.00 0.2
9 001697 REF BLEND R Fender Outside C 0.9
10 001698 REF BLEND L Fender Outside C 0.9
11 002572 BDY REMOVE/REPLACE R Fender Adhesive Nameplate 75374-47010 45.40 0.2
12 002573 BDY REMOVE/REPLACE L Fender Adhesive Nameplate 75374-47020 45.40 0.2
13 AUTO REF ADD'L OPR Clear Coat 1.4
14 AUTO ADD'L COST Paint/Materials 185.60 *
15 AUTO ADD'L COST Hazardous Waste Disposal 5.00 *

The bulk of the cost is labour, at over $900. 13.x hours labour at $60 per hour. Ouch. I guess I'll look elsewhere.

Like I said, buy a carbon hood and have a garage install it :awe:

 

[Sluggo]

I really don't see the need to remove the front bumper cover and headlights to paint the hood. A 6th grader could tape those off to prevent overspray.

 

[Eug]

BTW, I've decided I do not trust the main service sales guy. We took in both my car and the wife's car and for both they told me the rotors needed to be replaced because of rust and to replace the pads, despite the pads having 5 mm left. Made no mention of warping or being too thin or anything. BTW, for my wife's car I specifically told them I did not want anything done except an oil change. Car has 61000 km on it, with no noticeable braking issues whatsoever.

Oh and they told me I needed wheel balancing even though I had it done 2 weeks ago when I got my winter wheels. They did also sneak in a AC pipe cleanout due to some odour they noticed (but I didn't), but I let that one slide because the cost wasn't much.

They didn't use to do this crap before with their quotes.

I just got the recommendation list for my wife's car.

Replace wiper blades. OK
Replace rotors and pads (5 mm): Hmmm... That sounds familiar. No thanks.
Exchange brake fluid (found brake fluid is discoloured): Same as my quote. I got it done because my car is older. I did not recommend it for this car with 61000 km.
Perform throttle body service (found air filter dirty): At least this wasn't recommended for my car, just hers.
Balance four tires: No thanks.
Inspect and clean A/C drain tube (noticed heater/AC odor): Sounds like a scam, but whatever. I let them do it on my car.