Hello All! I'm wondering what your opinions are on this. I'm just wondering if repainting your entire car A DIFFERENT COLOR diminish the value of the car in general? My car is Dark Silver and I'm considering painting it Jet Black. Would it be better to repaint, or find a used '05 in Jet Black that has similar features as mine? Keeping in mind that I absolutely love my MINI and the options I chose for it.

Thoughts?

 

As long as you get a high quality paint job done on your car, the value should not suffer. In order to get this though, you'll have to spend quite a bit of money. Things like the door jambs, behind the fenders, in the engine compartment, are all areas where you have dark silver and if you want the job to look as complete and good as possible, all these areas will have to be prepped properly and sprayed with your new color.

As far as the cost benefit goes, I think you'd be better off selling your car and finding a black one.

 

Yes it will hurt it, how much depending on how well the paint job is done.

Go find a black one.

 

You'll get dinged twice. Once for paying a boat load of money to get a "good" paint job. Then you'll lose money if you ever resell it. Plus it will limit the potential pool of people that would want to buy the car. I shy away from cars with mods, and wouldn't buy one that was repainted. Just leads to too many questions. One way to minimize that impact would be to document every step with photos so people could see that you weren't hiding anything.
In the long run it probably doesn't make sense.

 

If you're keeping it, then paint it however you like. If you're concerned about re-sale value, then don't. Then again, if you are looking at trading it in, it probably wouldn't matter either way. There's not a car on any used car lot anywhere that hasn't had some paint work done.

 

I hope it won't hurt cuz I'm going for flat black within the next year

 

thats cool.

 

Yeah, I see where you guys are coming from. If you're painting a car the last thing you want is a half-**** job (i.e. just doing the exterior and not paying attention to details).

I guess I need to decide if I want a black one to mod or just keep mine (I'm kind of bored with the dark silver ) It may be hard to find a black one with the features I really want though. To begin with, I want the real black...the '05 Jet Black (with the projector xenons)

Oh well...I guess let the search begin.

 

You could always have some cool custom vinyl work done. There's great NAM vendors that can help you with something that would set you apart in the crowd.

 

I say do come up with some cool vinyl/ paint work. Like maybe body color checkers on the roof, or something like that. Personally I dont think color is good enough reason to get a new car, but that could just be me.

 

I say put some daises on your sunroof. Maybe in a nice Mellow Yellow or Powerful Purple.

 

I work in a body shop where we do complete color changes on a regular basis. It is a lengthy process and very costly. Basically the entire body is disassembled and removed from the frame. Then sanded, primered and painted. All body parts/panels are completely repainted; front, back, inside, top, bottom, etc. The average color change takes about 3 weeks to get it right.

Just a rough guestimate to do a complete color change on a MINI would run about $4,000. In my opinion, not really worth the cost.

 

i'm guessing you just need to rekindle your love for your MCS get her something new to bring back those good ol' feelings you used to have

$4000 for a top-notch paint job? guess you're better off getting a JB MCS

 

yes, because when you sell it they will think you had a accident even if you didnt:(

 

That seems like a good deal to me considering the amount of work involved. I had my hood replaced and front bumper repaired at a MINI shop and that alone cost almost $4,000 (only 15% of which went to parts - there is a lot of labor time involved to take a car apart!).

Nevertheless, buying a JB car to start with would be a much better deal.

 

Holly cow!!! That sounds like alot for labor rates, but then again that may be the norm for your area of the country. I know our techs would love to make that kind of money.

Here is one example I can remember from today's work estimates.

2007 Toyota Camry; replace rear bumper with factory Toyota parts, paint bumper and blend into 1/4 panels. Repair palm sized dent in R Rear 1/4. Total price $657

 

$4000 for the entire job? Hell that's not bad at all!!! I was thinking more if it were to be "done right". I haven't lost the passion for my Mini, I've just gotten bored of the color. There's something about completely blacking out the Mini that gets me going. I know a lot of people have done it, but it just looks great on the Mini.

I wouldn't sell mine for a black one unless it had a lot of the features that mine has!

 

Your bored of your car because you have no imagination and mod skills. Silver can be a sweet ride. I mean it's no UKSUV or Indi Blue but it has potential. You never put your Exel's on cause you suck at life. And now you want to do a full repaint?!? Don't make me come to Vegas and kick you in the chonies. Concentrate on what you got homey...I luv u... Oh yea...4k is about right for a PROFESSIONAL repaint....

 

It was a dealer's body shop so I'm sure their rates are very high. It went through insurance so I didn't go looking for more reasonable independent shops. To compare to your bumper deal, they offered to repair 2 scratches in my rear bumper (not replace the bumper cover) for about $750.

Anyway, 10 years ago a Mazda dealer told me a whole-car repaint in the same color would run around $7000 - so the $4000 of your guesstimate seems very reasonable.

 

Hey Brenden....a BMW INDIVIDUAL color option is $3K so........go from there I guess.

 

You would have to strip the car totally to get a complete job. Not worth it. If you no longer like your car color, then sell it and by the color you want. I think the dark silver is a fine color and a good base from which to customize your car. I have done car restorations many years ago (30), we removed everything from the car and then started the prep work and so on. In restorations we would go for the original color code, but sometimes an owner would want another color and we changed it. But, I would recommend that you either keep it as is or sell it - you will save yourself a lot of time and money.

 

You mean like this?

 

I think I could do real well with mods if I had the right amount of cash. But I feel like I'm limited as to how to make the car stand out with a color like Dark Silver. Any other color I feel like I could work with (except maybe Royal Grey). I don't know what to do.

 

Yes. That roll cage looks like its too hard to get out, but then it's probably not original and it's welded. Thats how stripped it need to be . Nice photo - your project car?

 

The color is fine. Get at the heart of the MINI and bring out it's soul. There are plenty of things you can slowly start doing. Stripes, lights, performance upgrades, and such can be added as your budget allows. For the amount you would put in a paint job which is done properly you can do a lot of improvements to your car. I liked the black option on the MINI when I was ordering, and I liked the dark silver as a choice also. I ended up ordering mellow yellow my third choice and my wife's favorite.

Frankly, I don't think even $4000 is a reasonable estimate for such a job. The whole car is basically disassembled and then reassembled after the paint conversion. Good luck with your decision, I know the one I would make.