Repainting hood and bumper
 

Hi there,

I'm looking to get the hood and possibly front bumper of my 2002 996 repainted. It is Lapis Blue (which has metallic particles) if that makes a difference.
What are some recommended and relatively inexpensive places in the Seattle area?

Many thanks!

Queen City. Not in Seattle but in Redmond. Worth the drive IMHO.

Jag

Thanks. Second recommendation that I've had for them.

I'll third Queen City. Steve over there is a great guy. And his guys care -- they do things the right way. I've got a car in there right now, and they did two jobs for me last year.

They did a new bumper for my A6 a while back and I was happy but I figured I'd ask around especially since insurance is not footing the bill.

I'm told that reputable shops price about the same due to the large amount of insurance work. I was quoted just under $3k for the hood, fenders and bumper cover. Less than I was expecting. I need to do the hood and the bumper cover and the advice is to do the fenders since it'll be impossible to match the old paint properly if I just do the hood and bumper cover. Also the fenders have multiple chips so I'm in for the front end.

Queen City +100

Unfortunately, I didn't have an agreeable experience at Queen City this past week. I wanted to get the hood and both fenders repainted on my Aston Martin Vantage because of rock chips (and have them wrapped by a detailer afterwards).

Scott at Queen City said it would cost in the ballpark of $1,000+ when he saw my car in-person, confirming what Steve had estimated over the phone the day prior. The next day, Scott emailed me an estimate for $3,800. When I asked him why the estimate was almost 4x times greater than his original ballpark, he said he forgot that high-end/exotics require "special handling" and that they charge a higher labor rate for them. I thought it was odd because Steve gave me the same $1,000+ ballpark over the phone, specifically after mentioning my car is an AM Vantage. I told Scott I hope they take the same time and care regardless of the badge, for removing body panels shouldn't be drastically more difficult on high-end/exotics. It looked to me like they were fishing for a whale.

I recommend Paramount Centre in Fife. They do excellent work at a fixed labor rate regardless of the badge, be it a Lamborghini or a Nissan, and constantly work on the high-end German makes and exotics alike. Paramount also charged significantly less.

Thanks exyoung. The actual estimate came out to be about $150 more than the email quote at QC. Basically $3k for the hood, bumper and fenders.
I'm tempted to at least talk to the people in Fife. You've been happy with their work I take it?

Did you at least address the issue with Steve?

Steve is great to work with -- and he cares about the work his shop puts out. The difference in labor rate alone wouldn't account for that big a swing in estimates. It sounds like the first was a color sand / clear and the larger estimate involved a full repaint. May have to do with color, aging, damage...

Not to say that you didn't have a bad experience, but it would seem there's a little more to the story there too.

I've found very few businesses with the level of attention to detail and care of reputation that these guys have. Just my $.02.

I can do either car, 996 front end or vantage front end for $2500. Not a problem. My shop is in Buckley, ACC Collision, and have worked on several members cars. Porsches, ferrari, lamborghini, we have worked on all of them. I still currently lurk on this site daily, just haven't posted much in a while.

I have. I had my lower bumper repainted back in 2011, and they did a phenomenal job. I'm expecting the same quality of work on my hood and fenders when I get her back next week.

Jags, I did not. I imagined Scott represents QC well given his 6+ years with them and that both had talked. I don't doubt the quality of work they offer, as Scott reminded me several times how they work on Ferraris all the time. However, I didn't agree with his explanation in terms of pricing and the differences.

Rahtok, ya, I heard great things about their work too; I don't doubt their quality. Unfortunately, those are the facts of my experience. Good to hear you were satisfied with your experience, though. You definitely want to find someone that will do it right and fairly, especially with car enthusiasts like us!

I just received a call from Steve apologizing for some bad information. Class act on his part. The increase in the labor for my estimate is due in part to my aluminum body; not because my car is simply high-end/exotic as explained to me previously. Specifically, the need to prevent corrosion as a result of contamination from tools used on steel bodies. Furthermore, Scott had incorrectly applied this higher rate to the paint portions of my estimate. The corrected estimate Steve provided me today was $2,800 instead of $3,800. I appreciated the call from Steve, thanked him, and shared Rahtok's experience as I know Rahtok from outside the forums (but didn't recognize him on here).

As for a recommendation, I still choose Paramount as the other contender in this thread. They provided me with a lower quote, also do amazing work, and are also trained certified in aluminum body repairs.