Repainting a Riv...

Anyone ever get their riv repainted? I know at least a few of you have. I've got a Pearl White one which I know is the most expensive paint you can possibly get. I'm noticing some paint peeling and I know it's going to continue, and drive me insane. I already repainted the hood, so that wouldn't need to be done. My question is just out of curiosity how much did you guys pay that had them repainted? Mine has such low miles on it and I've put so much into it already, I might as well get the body up to shape next.

i'm going to repaint my car next month begin.
my car had allready been painted ower like 5years ago whit custom metallic green..but it was not done good enaf.
got alot of scratches now and paint pealing off the hood.

so i'm painting it now Pearl Green.
i do all the works allmost myself...only the painting will do Uno(my father who still dont know him)

will make some pictures when i start whit it.
not sure how much it would cost if you take it somewhere..but i bay for paint and all the other things what needed for it 400€

You're close-ish to PalermoCorey, drop him a PM.

mine will be needing a new coat of bright white diamond too in the next year or two.
from what i have been seeing it will cost between 2500 and 3000 to have it done right. i may try to find a place that will give me a discount if i do all the prep work before bringing it in.

I just had my car repainted. The paint was peeling on the roof, and the clear coat on the rest of the car looked as if it had been lightly sand blasted. There were fine lines in the clear that were almost invisible on a cloudy day, but really became visible in the sun. I love my Riv, and wanted to keep it, so I knew I had to do something about it. I found a shop that was recommended by a friend of mine. This car was done right from the get go. Everything, and I mean everything was removed and painted separately. There was absolutely no taping of anything. Door handles, mirrors, body side molding, bumper covers, all window moldings, wheel moldings, trunk lock emblem, and door panels came off. Rear quarter windows were cut out and put back after painting. The car was taken down to bare metal, epoxy primed, and painted with the good stuff, base coat clear coat urethane. He even painted the rocker and rear panels with SEM vinyl paint. One single pin stripe (brown) Original color. Bought all new emblems from gmpartsdirect. It took him 5 1/2 weeks, but the results are absolutely astounding. The car looks showroom new. I couldn't be more pleased. Price was 4200.00, which I think was a screaming deal for this kind of job.

I think every single person who sees these pics will wanna cry!

Looks FANTASTIC!!!

I had my car painted three years ago. After I had an accident, I added $1500 to what the insurance paid to actually repair the damage, bringing the total to just under $4000, and that didn't cover the roof. The body shop said that to correctly paint the roof they would have to rip out all the rubber around the glass which would significantly add labour cost to the total.

Thank You. Wish you could see it in person. It's absolutely beautiful. Like I said, the rear windows were cut out. He left the car out on a 95* day. The window moldings came right off in the heat. I lucked out. He told me it might be a problem because the moldings encapsulate the glass. They came right off, and I couldn't be happier. The way I look at it, I would have spent this much buying another car, which I did not want to do. I think Buick hit a homerun with the Riv. It just does everything you need a car to do, and with style. No one knows what it is, you need to tell them. I couldn't see selling it, so I painted it. Glad I did.

holy shit! that is a fucking great paint job!

WOW. That is one beautiful car. Good job!

........*sniffle* just beautiful.

Wow Larry, absolutely incredible paint job, and at a great price for all that work! Amazing!

I didn't like the pricing I got for paint work, and nobody would have done what was done to Larry's , so I signed up for an Auto Body class at the local voc-tech, evening 'adult education' classes. I am doing it myself, one panel at a time.

I can only do one panel/area at a time because the class is 3 hours long and you can't leave anything there, so we have to do whatever bodywork we are doing and then throw some primer on it a few minutes before the end of class, then sand it off the next week and continue... so we move kinda slow, and there just isn't enough time to mask and paint an entire car, plus I need to drive it to work every day.

I know a guy that has a body shop, but not well enough to get any type of huge discount. I was thinking of at least 3K anyway. I mean the car has so few miles on it, it's worth the paint job.... I want the car to be something people look at. At the same time, I want it protected so I can actually drive the thing. Albeit, I don't really want or need each body panel taken off. I just want it to get a fresh coat of paint. All the pieces are in good enough shape where just the parts that get exposed to the elements every day need some new paint. I wouldn't worry about it, but it's starting to peel. Especially on the roof by the water grooves, and on the "butt" where the rear window meets the side.I have a few dents that I would like him to get out too. Nothing major, just something I always notice that drives me insane. Funny how I'll be spending almost as much as I paid for the car on new paint....


This paint job is going to get done. Especially after looking at the images above, which made me extremely depressed. Why did I have to get a riv with pearl paint?!?!

Jack the R wrote:

You're close-ish to PalermoCorey, drop him a PM.

Sorry for sounding ignorant, but Who?

Awesome car you have there Larry!

Did you replace the rubber components and the weatherstrips?
Just curious, I have always wondered how to go about "restoring" the exterior on one of these vehicles.

Bert

Click the "members" button at the top of the forum and search for Corey.

ibmoses wrote:

Awesome car you have there Larry!

Did you replace the rubber components and the weatherstrips?
Just curious, I have always wondered how to go about "restoring" the exterior on one of these vehicles.

Bert

Re used all the rubber Bert, it was in great shape.

wow its amazing that there are still people out there willing to take the time to do it right.
absolutely beautiful work! Im sure your very proud to have this car.

GMFreak8 wrote:

Anyone ever get their riv repainted? I know at least a few of you have. I've got a Pearl White one which I know is the most expensive paint you can possibly get. I'm noticing some paint peeling and I know it's going to continue, and drive me insane. I already repainted the hood, so that wouldn't need to be done. My question is just out of curiosity how much did you guys pay that had them repainted? Mine has such low miles on it and I've put so much into it already, I might as well get the body up to shape next.

I had my Riv repainted in June of 2005. I would suggest finding a PPG shop that is part of the PPG CertifiedFirst Network and one that uses the PPG Global Refinish System. The PPG Certified First Network shops provide a written lifetime warranty on paint work. The PPG Lifetime Paint Performance Guarantee covers the areas of the vehicle refinished with specified PPG products for as long as the customer owns the vehicle. The refinished areas are covered for the following paint failures:
- Peeling or delamination of the topcoat and/or other layers of paint
- Cracking or checking
- Loss of gloss caused by cracking, and hazing
- Any paint failure caused by proven defective PPG automotive products which are covered by the guarantee

My Riv was in the shop for over 3 weeks. They removed all of the lights, molding, trim, door handles, mirrors and bumpers and sanded it down to the primer.

The total cost for Platinum Beige Metallic was $2302.90.

The best part was the day that I picked up the newly repainted Riv. It reminded me of the day that I purchased the car new in 1994.

Larry,
The paint on your car looks better than what you see on most restorations! Wow!

Kudos to the painter!

damn! just looked the pictures of your car.
just NICE!
im truying to get my car painted tho tomorrow...but i just dont get the rear side windows off!...been fighting whit them now ower 2-3h!
and geting more and more angryer Grrrrr!
any tips`?
dos warming ti relly help?
i know that glass glues are made so that they do not get much soft in warm wethers.
or dos this glue go`?

Snowdog wrote:

damn! just looked the pictures of your car.
just NICE!
im truying to get my car painted tho tomorrow...but i just dont get the rear side windows off!...been fighting whit them now ower 2-3h!
and geting more and more angryer Grrrrr!
any tips`?
dos warming ti relly help?
i know that glass glues are made so that they do not get much soft in warm wethers.
or dos this glue go`?

Those windows need to be cut out by an auto glass person. They are glued in.

i see that they are clued in...have one allost off...
i have all the cuting tools...cuting wire.. cuting plade..and one glass glue cuting saw...but its just weard...maybe someone has takeing this glass off on my car before. cos i don't get why the hell they used the windsheald glue there when there are like 6 polts what hold the glass in place. Normaly in places liek that when the glass is holded in place whit polts is used much softer glue what you dont need to cut, just pull of when the nuts are off.

or did RELLY GM use windsheald clue on side windows? what for where the polts then if the glue itself holds it so hard.

those windows are glued in with urethane just like the windshield and rear window. you will have to use piano wire or a cable (picture frame wire usually works well) to cut or saw them out. PITA I know ive done them b4.

LARRY70GS wrote:

Thank You. Wish you could see it in person. It's absolutely beautiful. Like I said, the rear windows were cut out. He left the car out on a 95* day. The window moldings came right off in the heat. I lucked out. He told me it might be a problem because the moldings encapsulate the glass. They came right off, and I couldn't be happier. The way I look at it, I would have spent this much buying another car, which I did not want to do. I think Buick hit a homerun with the Riv. It just does everything you need a car to do, and with style. No one knows what it is, you need to tell them. I couldn't see selling it, so I painted it. Glad I did.

Larry, I looked but did not spot it...Is the color of your car " Champagne" ?
And is it a 98?

Oh and while I am at I would like to nominate LARRY70GS for "Riviera of the Month", do I hear a second.

Bert
Thanks

Bert

I would second you... but I think mines nicer.