ds2000

That's horrible, really gutted for you

To me as well

Some really nice photos there I love my SLR and have been out and about really learning and getting to know the camera this last couple of years and am now starting to get some good results with it

Welcome

Welcome!

I've been asking myself that In short, I've started my own business, my first invoices are due in for payment on the 9th December so I don't expect anyone to hold anything for that length of time.... as I say, if its still about then, I'll 100% have it

If its still available when I get paid I'll have it off you

While I see your intentions are good; I'd keep this little gem off a public forum. Obviously there is some negotiation with price but to say you'd made the price up and post on here, when forums generally build good relations with dealers is a little daft. If you'd genuinely been quoted the cheaper price then fair enough. The reverse side is, that's a good price

+1

absolutely! it contains cyanide among other nasty things.. thats why its generally not used nowadays. It is however great stuff to paint with, I do all my bikes in 2 pack. Yep, my friend did his whole car in it about 6 years ago, the finish was incredible and its so hard wearing, but nasty is 100% rmgthatsme - no problem, I'm by no means an expert but I've done enough to get a good finish myself. rabbitstew - my dad has told me all about the brush painting, I can remember when I started work at 16, someone had painted their mini with a brush and it looked ruddy awful

You'll find all professional places these days will have a booth; I'd certainly not bother with one that doesn't. I think the only time you need to think about coats is when you're stripping the paint - i.e. my friend had a bare metal respray, we all told him he was going way OTT with it but he didn't listen. Its one of those things with paint, when its covered properly its covered, beit in 3 quite heavy coats or 15 light ones. The process roughly speaking would have the dings repaired and marks/chips filled, then the whole panel would be flattened off, then thoroughly cleaned with a good alcoholic substance. From there, the paint gets applied. Just for your reference when I've done it, I have always started on the awkward edges, giving a couple of coats (10 mins between, depending on how warm it is - booth eliminates this random time), then I've gone left to right in horizontal steady strokes, left to dry bit, then vertical strokes, dry, horizontal, dry, vertical and thats usually been enough, sometimes I'll give one last horizontal stroke though. Once thats done I leave it 24 hours to cure and then lacquer, same method but being extremely careful as the damn stuff runs if you put even a tiny bit too much on, I leave the lacquer to cure and then compound. Others may have better methods but this has always worked for me and I've had factory finish results (in amongst some early lovely balls ups and sanding down sessions ) - you can paint a car with a brush but I'd not like to be the man flattening it off and trying to compound it

If they are talking about a complete respray then this is probably correct. It took me 3 days to strip my old car, carefully bagging all the nuts and bolts so they weren't lost, ensuring nothing was broke along the way on a car I knew inside out. My doors were absolutely pinged to high hell and as the Prelude was a curvy car the guys at the bodyshop had a time and a half getting them straight but they did and the finish was perfect. My car was in a total of (wait for it), 8 weeks! This also didn't include the 4 days of putting the damn thing back together as I was uber careful to not chip away my lovely new paint! As I say, they did an amazing job and changed the colour so I was obviously a bit more of a challenge than your car will be. What you need to be aware of is that good Bodyshops have contracts with main dealers, your car will not be first of the queue if a dealer needs a car to be sold tidied up that day, this includes brand new cars that have had a delivery 'ping' - the guys I dealt with had a months waiting list for me as they were so busy. I would think your upper figures are to factor in some sort of priority, personally I was happy to wait it out, pay less and have a beautiful finish. (Thankfully back then my mum worked in the same town as me so getting to and from work wasn't horrendous - after 8 weeks of the old girl in my ear I was glad to get the car back)

Try to ignore the coats of paints, I've sprayed a bit myself and it completely depends on what you do. For instance, I've repaired stonechips that have required filler, sanding, two coats from a rattle can and then some lacquer, so quick. I also resprayed the entire front on my old car using a rattle can and it took an age, so I am going to be getting a compressor soon with an air gun if I ever attempt it again. My friend repainted his entire car using two pack which requires no lacquer at all, just hours and hours of compounding. Both cars were done without ovens and 'proper' facilities but we got the finish through hard work and lots and lots of prep (and the cursing of several bugs that made the wet paint their home) However, when my Prelude was resprayed it went to a bodyshop who had a dust free spray room and oven. The actual painting part takes very little time at all, as others have said its the preparation that is the nightmare. A full car can be sprayed in one sitting (1/2 a day) with the correct facilities and then left to 'bake' over night before compounding - getting it to that stage and panel prep can take a week though depending on stone chips, dents and door dings, the latter being the absolute worst to straighten, the compounding also takes time.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome

It will vary massively. I had my old Prelude resprayed 8 years ago and had the colour changed, it cost £1200 (cash in hand) back then, I did all the stripping and reassembly myself so saved the bodyshop a few days work. If you're staying the same colour then you're really after a blow over if its just stone chips and that. If you want it to be completely redone then you're probably looking at the £2k figures. The only way to know is by asking the body shops exactly what they do. Prep is what takes the time so if you can remove mirrors, bumpers, lights, window seals yourself you'll save a lot! I can't imagine you needing that much prep on the panels if the car is in good condition so I'd think around the £1500 mark.

Yep, 100% love japfest

I'm not from an army family at all, my Dad at 80 would have been called up if he'd been a year older but has stories about being evacuated from Manchester and the bombings, things I certainly can't comprehend. I wish national service still existed as I would have happily gone in and it would sort so many of todays feral idiots out. One of my best friends is currently in Afghan and we're all hoping he stays safe

Our office was pretty quiet thankfully, makes me every year, we should never forget - I was reading about some poor mother that lost 5 sons in the war, simply heart breaking. We don't realise how good we've got it really despite all our social issues.

Not sure I'll bother with this, did MW2 to death and am currently loving battlefield

^^ x2, my old Prelude 2.2 VTEC was one hell of a lot faster than those things

As a United man, I was delighted to see you knock 5 passed Chelsea Also just reading up, the comments on Wenger seem extremely harsh, he has done more for your club in 14 years than pretty much any other manager; Arsenal have the best business model in the league and are nearly free of your stadium payments, I might be wrong but I'm sure you turned £165m (approx) recently, once that stadium is completely paid off that is one hell of a lot of cash to spend to either expand the Emirates or spend on players and in line with the financial fairplay rules. To write Wenger off is as ridiculous as some United fans writing SAF off during Chelsea's dominance, the post Keane, Stam, Beckham, RVN era. Teams go in cycles we all know that and we also know who are the leagues two best managers. Let City carry the mantle of favourites and see how they cope, let the Spurs fans laugh at your getting tanked and just quietly plug away, its harder to lead at this time of the year and keep there in the long run, especially once the Carling Cup, FA Cup, Champions League knock out and real business end starts.

Great cars, I had one before the Z as I was doing alot of mileage; as has been said if you are getting an early one make sure the clutch has been done. Honda are absolute @rse bags about honouring the fact they really screwed up with the clutch and flywheel in the early cars. I had mine for 12 months, problem free, did need a new shock at 50k and I changed the clutch before I swapped cars with Rory as it slipped slightly on me a couple of times and I was not selling a car dishonestly. They don't feel as well built as the Z, thats my only observation going from one to the other. The plus side is, on the motorway, set at 75mph you can expect just shy of 60mpg (on the trip meter) - in reality, probably about 55. Regarding chipping, if you do go down that route, you will need the full kevlar clutch or paddle clutch, have a look on Civinfo, plenty of good stuff there especially around the clutches and tuning. Look for 'relic'

+1 - these dual mass flywheels make a right racket when they wear/are on their way out, especially when you switch off.

Works fine in mine, although everyone I've spoken to says they can hardly hear me