PAINT SHOP Recommendation in San Jose South Bay Area! (DARN Side Sills)

[PonyFiveO]

I just purchased a red 99 GTS! I am VERY happy with the car, BUT had no idea that the first amount of money I will be dumping into it would be to repaint (or spot paint by a mobile touch up artist?) the side sills.

After picking it up and driving it 150 miles home, I let it idle for about 10 minutes while I talked to my neighbor about my new toy. I believe that was when the sills started darkening just about where the cats are.

Prior to getting it painted, I am having Valaya Racing install high flow cats to eliminate this ever happening again. At the same time they were going to send out the sills to have them powder coated red and heat coated on the inside. Awesome idea and was looking forward to it until i got the sample red powder coat. The available red came real close to matching but looked just a BIT off to me. My red sills would have been the powder coater's first trial with red so I chickened out, although I understand that black, silver, and blues came out with tremendous results.

So, now I am left with searching for a paint shop (or spot paint by a mobile touch up artist?) to paint the sills after the cats are installed. I will probably be taking the sills off and dropping them off at a shop rather than leaving the car there. Any shop recommendations (and cost idea) would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!!

 

[XS TORQ]

I have had good luck with SCD paint shop (formerly Stevens Creek Dodge paint shop) at 631 Martin Ave near Layfayette in Santa Clara. Bill Tiernan @ 408-727-3258. May be covered under warranty??
Ted at Valaya is the man!

 

[PonyFiveO]

Hi Mark!

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately, the previous owner did not opt for the extended warranty, so I am out of luck on that path. I will give Bill a call and see what he quotes me. Hopefully it will not put much of a dent in the pocket book!

Any other shop recommendations fellas?

 

[DChan415]

red is very hard to match without blending into the rest of the car because of the rate that it fades. good luck.

 

[PonyFiveO]

Hi Danny!

I certainly hope that the paint shop can come close, or else I don't know what I will do. The paint has been taken care of very well, so with any luck the rate of fade will be consistent...HOPEFULLY (AND THATS A BIG HOPE!)

Anyone else have experience with a bay area shop matching their red? Or will I be the poor guinea pig?

 

[Matt]

I've received recommendations for 'The Works Auto Body' on Grant in Santa Clara.

They did a big $$$$$ repair on a friends nearly new Z06. I believe most of their work is with higher end cars.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Gotta disagree with Danny on matching the red. I painted my sills. Came out great. Used Dupont. I admit there is a verrrrry slight tint difference which is understandable considering the rest of the car has nearly 80K miles on it. However it's only noticable to someone who really knows their stuff. i.e. garage queen car show posers. Trust me, if I didn't mention the sills 99.9% of car buffs wouldn't notice any diff.

I also shot the inside with silver VHT to insulate against the heat. Will report back my findings after the next 80K miles.

 

[Yellow Fever]

There's an awesome Shop located in Los Gatos..They service all the high end cars at the "Los Gatos Automall".

I'll get you the name and PM you.

Cheers

Jeff

 

[Yellow Fever]

It's on the corner of "Blossom Hill and University" One street before "Los Gatos Blvd"

Cheers

J

 

[Gavin]

If you want to be really fussy and get an exact match take the car to the painter - they have equipment that will mix paint to exact match of the color on the car

I have a black PU - had various repairs over the years and they can paint faded black real well - they scan the truck and the computer mixes the paint. That simple. Otherwise do what Chuck said.

 

[PonyFiveO]

Hi Fellas!

Thanks for all the input! All your information is much appreciated!

UPDATE... I decided to go with a paint shop around the corner from Valaya Racing called A & Wiltz. They had quite few high end cars there being worked on so i decided to give them a try. They charged $400 for both sills without a heat coat on the insides while other shops I spoke with were charging $500 - $800. I should have heat coated the sills myself when I picked them up but was too anxious to get them back on, since the car has been sitting at the shop for 3 days already waiting for the sills. The paint actually came out VERY nice and the color seemed to be too close a match for me to notice any difference. After all the high flow cats and newly painted sills were all said and done, I noticed that the sills STILL get VERY HOT. In worrying of my fresh paint I will probably pull the sills off and spray a thick coat of VHT on the inside (Like I said I should have) and drill a few holes in the panel behind the front wheels to vent the heat (I think there was a thread on this?)

I would like to also say that this was my first experience with Valaya, and I came to the conclusion that I have NEVER been to a shop that took so much pride in customer service. FAST, KNOWLEDGEABLE, PROFESSIONAL, COURTEOUS ETC ETC. They constantly made me feel like I am a valued customer no matter how small the job was. I think I will be going there AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!!

Any other suggestions for keeping the sills cool?