Not how I planned to spend my afternoon.

[paddlenbike]

Looks great ken! Glad it's all taken care of. How's the neck and back?

I don't want to jinx myself by saying this, but so far so good.

A lot of new cars have paint choices that cost $500 over the cost of basic paint colors. I think I read that Toyota's Imperial Jade Mica is a 5 stage paint. Did Toyota charge extra for that? White, red and black do not have a clearcoat and when the shop painted mine they told me the hood and hatch would be more durable now because it's dual stage with paint and clearcoat. I wonder why Toyota didn't clearcoat white if clearcoat was such a good thing?

[4x4mike]

You mentioned it wasn't perfect which I read to mean it wasn't as good as it was but what's wrong with it? Is it body work or just the fact 13 year old stuff was removed and reinstalled.

[paddlenbike]

You mentioned it wasn't perfect which I read to mean it wasn't as good as it was but what's wrong with it? Is it body work or just the fact 13 year old stuff was removed and reinstalled.

Nothing that anyone but myself would likely notice. There's a rough spot on top of the hatch near the wind deflector, but you only notice it if you're up there. There's also a very slight paint drip right on an edge of the hatch, but it's not very noticeable. The paint was perfect before, but when you consider the hood has been repainted and the bumper and bumper cap are all new, it makes up for it.

[Bob98SR5]

Nothing that anyone but myself would likely notice. There's a rough spot on top of the hatch near the wind deflector, but you only notice it if you're up there. There's also a very slight paint drip right on an edge of the hatch, but it's not very noticeable. The paint was perfect before, but when you consider the hood has been repainted and the bumper and bumper cap are all new, it makes up for it.

ken,

looks great! your body shop dude was much more gracious than my bmw body shop. i asked how much they'd charge to spray the other side and they wanted $900. not even a bottle of touch up paint which other shops have given me when they're done.

[paddlenbike]

ken,

looks great! your body shop dude was much more gracious than my bmw body shop. i asked how much they'd charge to spray the other side and they wanted $900. not even a bottle of touch up paint which other shops have given me when they're done.

I didn't think about getting touch up paint, but then again, it's just Toyota 056 Natural White--the cheap Duplicolor touch up paint sold at automotive parts stores seems to match perfectly.

I was really pleased about the price of the hood painting. I was thinking to myself that if they quoted less than $600, I would have it done. When they said $100 I couldn't believe it. Turned around and spent that money (and then some) on a nice camera lens.