Will this hurt or help the value of my car??

[im4darush]

Hi guys, I have an 86 GN with 29K original miles. The car has original paint that for the most part is pretty nice, but is starting to show some age on the rear quarters. There is a small spot where it has faded, and the front bumper fillers are losing their shine a few days after they are buffed. One of them is also cracked a bit. Only places I see light cracking is down on the lower quarters where the rock guard is, as well as some on the pillars by the windshield. Bit surprising as the paint actually looks very nice on most of the rest of the car with no cracking on hood. Anyway...back to my question..will I hurt the value of my car if I have these areas fixed? I really dont see a point to painting the entire car if most of it looks very nice, but also am afraid that some people may not look kindly on a car that has been painted in parts? What do you guys think?

 

[HighMileage]

I would rather buy a car that has brand new GM bumper fillers,then one with cracked ones. I bought some new ones from a vendor here about a year ago. Otherwise,high quality repo's are ok. If you are worried,keep your old ones. Then the new owner can put them on.

If your paint is not looking brand new,you might have to paint the whole car,tho.

Imho,it is worth more with new fillers than cracked ones.

 

[1952ray]

I agree with High Mileage, however

 

[626gn]

Agreed. Replacing the fillers will only improve the value on a 29K mile car. I can't think of one reason why anyone would want the original fillers once they start to degrade. After a while they'll crack into a thousand pieces and be absolutely useless.

 

[HighMileage]

Patina. The new potential buyer would be looking for cracked-fillers-with-holes patina.

Not that I would want that. Then,after a while,they would fall to pieces on a shelf in a humidor.


I still can't believe someone actually agreed with me on something. Two people,even!!

Wow..

 

[626gn]

I still can't believe someone actually agreed with me on something. Two people,even!!

Wow..

What's that saying about a broken clock being right twice in a day???

Just kidding I'm usually the broken clock...

 

[HighMileage]

What's that saying about a broken clock being right twice in a day???

Just kidding I'm usually the broken clock...

lol.

One thing that might hurt the value is if poor quality reproductions are used. A hack job will turn someone off.

There are many choices out there. Luckily I grabbed a preserved set of GM ones. Big $$,but I'm good for a long time.


Earl? Did you see that 2 people agreed with me? Earl is busy with an intense oil cooler thread. It got very technical.
He lost me when he mentioned a "sammich".

 

[hiboom]

If I were to have the spots repainted on a low mileage car take pictures of the faded paint areas before the areas are repainted if you do resale you will have proof that it wasn't repainted because of a collision or body damage there are probably very few gn's or t's left that haven't had some type of paint work on them.unless you want to call it a survivor and keep it original.A person paying up for a low mileage car,IMO first impression and eye appeal will sell before a faded looking paint job the new buyer looking would be thinking 6-10 grand more for a repaint. it it don't look that bad he'd think it will be ok for a couple years before he has to do anything.being in the car business and dealing with mostly older muscle cars just how we would go about it.

 

[KEVINS]

I think the paint depends on the buyer. When I was looking I did not want the factory paint. I wanted something that was repainted with a good paint job b/c I didn't want to deal with the cracking factory paint.

ks

 

[psycho6cyl]

If the have tp remove any body moldings make sure they go back on. Especially w a low milage car. It makes the seller a-look.honest and b looks more preofessional job was done.

 

[chris kirk]

Strip the entire car down to bare metal, cut any rust out, replace door skins if needed, lift the body off the frame, clean and paint the frame and the entire underneath of the car, put new SS brake lines in, new body bushings (all of them because the factory leaves some out to soften up the ride up) new bumper fillers, (preferably Spoolfool's) air dam, door glass, windshields, molding and weather stripping, windshield wiper arms, don't put the fender molding back on because it makes these cars look like shit, strip the bumpers too (the rubber bumper protectors looks like shit too) then paint the car and all the jams,. You'll be real happy with it. I'm finishing mine now. It's a garage queen, but will probably last the rest of my life. And I'm only 47. I just sit in my garage and marvel at it's beauty. My car has 55k on it. You have to remember that these cars are almost 30 years old now. They're made of metal so they're going to rust. Good luck.

 

[Phoneguy]

I think I would do the fillers and let the rest be until you decide to paint the entire car. To paint one of these cars right they MUST be stripped to bare metal.
There is a link in my sig to my car getting painted due to the shitty factory paint. Car has 43k miles on it...

Bryan

 

[earlbrown]

It's pretty accepted that it's OK to repaint these cars. Since everyone of them had a 100% success rate of having substandard paint from the factory. It's not as much of a detractor as it is a fix.

 

[HighMileage]

I worked at a Chebby dealership for the '86-'87 model years. In New Car Check In and in new car prep. Some cars had to be completely repainted. Mostly the black and dk maroon Monte SS's. The paint was horrible. I'll bet the GN's were the same way.

So my guess is having the car repainted is not really something that will detract from the value as long as it is done RIGHT. ...and that will cost $$. So,it's a toss-up as to whether or not to paint it. You might not get your paint job money back.

Mine is at the stage where it's damn near flawless with zero orange-peel. Took a pic of my back fender the other day. It looks like I took pic of the other side of the garage.

 

[earlbrown]

The GNs were the same way. I'm guessing the dealers didn't have to worry about them as much as the monte carslo's since dealers had more buyers than GNs.

 

[JP112_89]

I was looking a 15k GN with factory paint way back. Paint was not that good. However, the Turbo TA glows from blocks away with the factory paint. Different paint of course...

Joe

 

[TURBOTIMMER]

My opinion is a little different. If the car has the original paint and its still presentable, I say leave it alone. Replacing cracked bumper fillers is one thing, but repainting a car that looks presentable, especially with low mileage like your's, would do the car an injustice. They're only original once. If I were in the market for a low mileage GN, I wouldn't even consider one that's been repainted.