10 year old car

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Goal33
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10 year old car

Post by Goal33 »

I have a 10 year old Toyota Matrix with 120k miles- bought it 8 years ago. I plan to drive this car until I just can't drive it anymore, and I would likely pay for a major expense on the car if one occurred. I must admit that, although I've paid close attention to the mechanical needs of my car, I wasn't ever too passionate about making sure it was always waxed. I thought I didn't care, but now that my paint on the hood is fading (pretty bad in one spot) I am realizing that I'm really annoyed by this and I do care. I'm thinking about having the hood repainted. I haven't gotten any quotes yet, but I imagine it will be around $500.

1) My car is gray - do you think they'll be able to do a decent job of matching the color of the car?
2) Should I spend money on something cosmetic or is this a total waste?
3) Any other thoughts?
Woodshark
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by Woodshark »

Well, $500 is not a lot if you plan on keeping it another year or more. That’s about two standard car payments. You could have it painted. Just remember, it won’t be a perfect paint job, just better. Another thought is to see if you can find a hood in a junkyard that is the same factory color, but in better shape than yours. The color will probably not match exactly because of different fade rates but it could be close enough.
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bottlecap
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by bottlecap »

The color should be fine, as I'm sure the factory paint is easy to come by. As noted above, it may look slightly better than the rest of the paint, but shouldn't be too noticeable.

I wouldn't worry about the $500 if it will make you happy. That's a lot cheaper than a new car...

Good luck,

JT
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sunny_socal
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by sunny_socal »

It's not going to look the same - waste of money IMO. Just keep driving the car as it is. (And don't kick yourself about the waxing, it likely wouldn't have made any difference. It's either a good paint job to begin with or else it wasn't.)

You could get the whole car painted for $500 at some place like Maaco. For a little while it will look great, then that paint job will fall apart as well.
JDot
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by JDot »

My advice: I think if you've got this 10 year old Toyota with over 100k miles and really want to drive it to the wheels fall off, why not embrace its character completely. Change your way of thinking. Consider it a badge of honor. It's not like it's going to look like a new car again. I'm thinking of Columbo! Of course, if you start having damage that would lead to additional costs, such as rust, etc. then I think you should repair.

With all that said, if it would make you feel better about driving the car or yourself, then go for it. I'd would just consider a realignment in thinking. I've had nice new cars and ones on the opposite end of the spectrum. It sucks getting the first dents in a new car. But I'd say after 10 years, it's very liberating.
Last edited by JDot on Thu Jun 25, 2015 7:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dimitri
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by Dimitri »

Personally I wouldn't paint the hood. It won't make the car run any better or any longer. Plus, sooner or later other areas of the car will show signs of paint damage anyway. If you fix the hood now will you want to fix those areas later? Maybe. $500 here and $500 there and pretty soon we are talking real money. A new Corolla can be had for just under $17K in California (I'm assuming the price isn't much different in your neck of the woods). To me a repainted hood isn't worth app. 3% of a new Corolla. But as other posters have said, if it will make you happy (and keep the car longer) go for it.
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MathWizard
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by MathWizard »

If it will stop you from going out and paying thousands on a new car,
get some quotes and go ahead and do it if it is $500 or less.

Good repair shops can match the paint well. Given it is a hood, they should be able to remove it
for painting and not have to spend lots of time taping up adjacent parts of your car.
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dbCooperAir
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by dbCooperAir »

If you are in the rust belt I would not bother.

If you are in an area where you can drive a car for 20-30 years and have more then the windows left and given your usage/millage I may have it painted if really bugs you, that car should run another 10-15 years if you want to keep it that long.

I'm in the rust belt and could really care less how bad the car looks, learned long time ago its just not worth the time and headache to keep anything to nice. Sometimes driving a real pile has it advantages, zero stress as you could careless who slides into you!

A good shop should be able to match it up just fine. If anything most of the time you will notice a difference in color when they paint one door of a sedan, not so much with a hood.
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midareff
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by midareff »

Goal-33xSpending wrote:I have a 10 year old Toyota Matrix with 120k miles- bought it 8 years ago. I plan to drive this car until I just can't drive it anymore, and I would likely pay for a major expense on the car if one occurred. I must admit that, although I've paid close attention to the mechanical needs of my car, I wasn't ever too passionate about making sure it was always waxed. I thought I didn't care, but now that my paint on the hood is fading (pretty bad in one spot) I am realizing that I'm really annoyed by this and I do care. I'm thinking about having the hood repainted. I haven't gotten any quotes yet, but I imagine it will be around $500.

1) My car is gray - do you think they'll be able to do a decent job of matching the color of the car?

Maybe.... you have to remember they have to match it to somewhat faded paint on the rest of the vehicle. Whatever shop does the work be sure they have a relatively new color matching computer setup. Is the roof of the vehicle not faded? ... only the hood?

2) Should I spend money on something cosmetic or is this a total waste? If it bothers you, it bothers you. Down the road it will be worth a bit more if the paint is better so there may be a partial recovery of the expense.

3) Any other thoughts?
As long as you have kept up with the big ticket maintenance items.. timing belt, trans, brakes, struts, etc. .. there would not seem to be a reason under moderate use another 4 to 5 years + can't be obtained. Why not paint it entirely?
Rexindex
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by Rexindex »

waste of money. You wont get clear coat for $500, just a paint job that wont last a year.

If you want a better looking car you need to get better paintwork than $500
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Nicolas
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by Nicolas »

Don't do it, it would be a waste of money. I drive a 19 year old Toyota beater and all I do is change the oil. I don't even wash it.
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cheese_breath
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by cheese_breath »

The hood will look like new. The rest will look like a 10 year old car. Can you live with that?
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nordlead
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by nordlead »

Personally, I'd only paint if there is a risk of it starting to rust. I've never painted any of my cars outside of a roof that started to rust through, and I'm yet to own anything newer than 7 years old. I rarely wash them too (mostly in the spring/winter to get rid of the salt).

However, I'm going to buy a new minivan, and that I intend to wax for at least a few years to keep the paint in good shape (to hopefully prevent rust). I figure it'll help the vehicle last as long as possible since it is going to be a big purchase for me.
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mmmodem
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by mmmodem »

Cheap paint jobs look great the first couple of years. After that, it starts peeling and looks worse than if you hadn't painted it at all. Take a look at any grocery store parking lot. I you're going to paint your car correctly, it will likely cost more than the car is worth. Echoing others, embrace your frugality. One of the joys of owning an older car is accumulating dents, fading paint, perished plastic trim pieces, one headlight brighter than the other, etc. This faded paint is your first test to see if you can go the distance.

IMO, let it go or buy a newer car. Painting is a waste of money unless you are doing into sell the car.
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just frank
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by just frank »

1. Sit down and compute the amount you save with the old car versus new in 1 year.

2. Next time you notice the faded patch (or any other annoying feature of the 10 yo car), say to yourself....that spot of paint (etc.) there is saving me $XX every year, that I can spend on (insert favorite splurge item here of equivalent value).

3. Repeat as necessary.

4. If 1-3 do not work, go buy a new car.
sls239
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by sls239 »

Not much experience with paint, but we did pay a couple hundred for the roof fabric to be replaced in DHs 12 year old car and we paid a couple hundred to get a Bluetooth compatible radio put in.

IMO, little things like that make you feel like you aren't depriving yourself.

I find it a little odd that the hood is fading. It is possible that the hood was originally painted separately from the rest of the car and it was less than ideal. Having it re-done might not last forever, but it might put it in line with the rest of the car, and since it is a very visible part of the car, I'd be willing to put a decent amount of money towards it.
OatmealAddict
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by OatmealAddict »

JDot wrote:My advice: I think if you've got this 10 year old Toyota with over 100k miles and really want to drive it to the wheels fall off, why not embrace its character completely. Change your way of thinking. Consider it a badge of honor. It's not like it's going to look like a new car again. I'm thinking of Columbo! Of course, if you start having damage that would lead to additional costs, such as rust, etc. then I think you should repair.
+1. I'd ride that bad boy out with a smile on my face. You'll enjoy your new car that much more when the time comes.
PowDay
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by PowDay »

Matching faded paint is next to impossible, and it will just look like you got into an accident in the car.

The only option I would consider is seeing if a Junkyard has a used hood in the same color.
surfstar
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by surfstar »

Its a great feeling when you realize your older car is nearing a "beater" cosmetically. Keep it running like a top, but who cares what it looks like. Keep your windows clear for safety, but you get to save time, water, stress, etc on caring about what it looks like. Every time it comes around to "should I wash my car today" - its usually "nah, we're going camping next weekend. I'll just clean the windows for the drive."

I'm doing my part to help with CA's drought.
gary11
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by gary11 »

I plan to drive this car until I just can't drive it anymore
paint on the hood is fading (pretty bad in one spot) I am realizing that I'm really annoyed by this and I do care
As someone already pointed out, above two statements are conflicting in nature. I was pretty much in similar situation with my '92 Corolla back in 2008 with rust slowly eating up all the doors bottom and some part of hood. Against all odds (DW had stopped driving or riding that car with me lol) I was holding on to that car as it never required any repair other than regular maintenance. Finally transmission issue did it for me and I had to get rid of it. Fading paint on hood is a really trivial issue in my opinion and I could ignore it.
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bottlecap
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by bottlecap »

PowDay wrote:Matching faded paint is next to impossible, and it will just look like you got into an accident in the car.
This has been mentioned a few times. It's not "necessarily" true. It depends on what the rest of the paint job looks like. The person doing the job might be able to tell you if there will be an appreciable difference.

I replaced a fender on my (then) 10 year old vehicle and the brand new paint looked just like the old coat, aside from the fact that there were no dings or scratches! I never did anything special to keep the old paint that way, either.

JT
terran
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by terran »

Is the clearcoat peeling or is it just not that shiny anymore? It's possible it could be polished out. You could try posting a picture and asking for advice at http://www.autopia.org/forums/
takeshi
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by takeshi »

Goal-33xSpending wrote:My car is gray - do you think they'll be able to do a decent job of matching the color of the car?
No telling. It depends on the paint and color. I have a yellow pearl paint on one of my cars that is very difficult to match. A very good shop did a very good job of matching but even so I can spot the difference under the right lighting conditions. Paint without pearl can be easier to match. Some colors can be matched easier than other colors.

It depends on the condition of the paint on the adjacent body panels as new paint probably won't look the same as 10 year old faded paint. It depends on the skill of the person/shop and quality of paint used. Price is just price but odds are that for $500 you're not going to get what you're expecting. You need to carefully research shops in your area, get quotes and see if a reputable quality shop can match.
Goal-33xSpending wrote:Should I spend money on something cosmetic or is this a total waste?
Your call to make. We previously had a car that was in an accident and the shop that painted the replacement hood did a terrible job so we had it repainted as we couldn't stand it. We paid $800 and it wasn't a very good job but good enough for us until we traded the vehicle in.
sunny_socal wrote:And don't kick yourself about the waxing, it likely wouldn't have made any difference. It's either a good paint job to begin with or else it wasn't.
+1 on this.
terran wrote:Is the clearcoat peeling or is it just not that shiny anymore? It's possible it could be polished out. You could try posting a picture and asking for advice at http://www.autopia.org/forums/
It is difficult to assess without even a photo. It's possible that a detailer might be able to do something about it depending on the specific issue.
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jabberwockOG
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by jabberwockOG »

Put the $500 in the bank and start saving from there for your next car..it will be a great head start. Spending $500 painting the hood of a 10 yo high mile beater is a total waste of money. If the hood starts to rust it might make sense to sand the entire hood, wet sand prep for paint, finish with 2 coats of rattle can primer and 2 coats of rattle can clear. Easy diy, could be fun and you will learn something new, might cost you $20-30 in materials.
john94549
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by john94549 »

Seriously? I drive a 1994 Buick. From time-to-time, it needs a bit of touch-up on the top. I managed to keep the damage to a minimum by parking it in the garage.
gks
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by gks »

Goal-,

If your local high school has an auto shop class, check with the teacher about the having the class repaint the entire car. It will probably only cost you for materials and will give some kids the experience of painting a car.

Our local auto shop class took our 97 Wrangler, replaced 2 front fenders, welded reinforcing on the frame, hid some rear body rust with diamond plate aluminum, painted the entire Jeep, undercarriage and body, for a not much more than $200 (the fenders were the largest expense). Sure, the paint was Rustoleum rattle cans, but it's an 18 year old Jeep, and it still looks better than it did even after a couple of years of use.

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Goal33
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by Goal33 »

Thank you all for the feedback! I actually never considered the 10 year old car a beater, but I guess maybe I should adjust my definition :annoyed

In an interesting turn of events, my car was keyed today in a parking lot... so I put to rest caring about the faded hood, and caring about the exterior in general. The part I can't figure out is that the car took me through 2 years of high school, 5 years of college, but gets keyed in the parking lot of a software company where I've worked for a year. Looks intentional but I highly doubt I have any enemies at work... :confused
McCharley
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Re: 10 year old car

Post by McCharley »

Have it professionally buffed and waxed. It'll look like a million bucks. :sharebeer
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