Undressing Zara the 182

[Alex Conway]

Evening gents,

last summer the old man bought a 182 to play with as a toy (he crashed a Radical and decided he should learn how to drive). Naturally I was forced to borrow/steal it off him and today we started to de-chav it. The cars Black Gold underneath all this, or so I've been told. The plans are a dewrap and clean up. Not sure what colour to do the 2118s (euro et48). I have pretty much decided on 25mm front and 10mm rear spacers though. Anyway here we go.

As she was;

Getting ready to take the plunge dewrapping



Next the carbon wrap starts to come off the roof, exposing the virgin white under wrap!



More to follow

 

[Alex Conway]

Here she goes!


And then the white layer came off; disaster!

f**k! No filler so no idea what happened, it's been attacked by an orbital sander though. Maybe it got paint stripped by a vandal? If anyone has any back story or recognises the car please let me know. So the old man and I had to make a call, rewrap white or carry on? Well obviously we just ploughed ahead.



The full extent of the devastation. I would have said bricks got dropped on it or something but as I said, no deep scratches, dents or filler. Strange.

 

[Fraser.J.]

Painter stripper by the looks of it! Re-wrap it!!

 

[Lal B3N]

Rewrap it but a good colour

 

[Alex Conway]

I'll see how the other bits look, my upload limit has been reached but the front bumpers pretty much done and is perfect. Not sure if I really want to spend the money on a rewrap, florescent orange with anthracite wheels is very tempting though!

I've heard good things about auto-paint being able to replicate the fleck in black gold so I'll give that a go first to try and save the cash. We will see though.

 

[DanEdser]

To get around upload limits, upload them to photobucket etc then paste the IMG code!

Rewrap it though

 

[Alex Conway]

If the damage is much more extensive I'll rewrap, if it's just the roof I'll spray it. What colour would you guys go for?

The front bumper;

That's all for tonight, I'll carry on tomorrow though so stay tuned!

 

[Leonzee]

Bloody hell, this makes me even more suspicious of wrapped cars!

 

[Alex Conway]

Tell me about it, gutted!

Update:
Bumper is finished and back on, front nearside wing is f**ked too. I reckon it's a rewrap because I'm poor and a respray will ruin me. I'm thinking bright orange with anthracite 2118s.

Will upload a couple of pictures when I finish the two front wings.

It's like the wrapper really hated the guy that got it wrapped and decided to vandalise his car, that or the car got paint stripped and the owner of the time decided to wrap it. It's a shame really because the car has been pretty rock solid mechanically.

 

[guysy]

Interesting project, shame about the damage, get more pics up!

What was wrong with the white? just didnt like it? should have done the bonnet and roof white as well, same with the strips and put the rest of the money into pulling the white look off imo.

 

[Alex Conway]

Well we were going to see what it looked like with a white roof because it was a possibility, unfortunately the carbon roof wrap pull a bit of the white roof up with it, that's why we don't have pictures of the various stages.

Obviously in hind sight I wish I'd left it but I really wasn't a fan of the chav look. With the extent of the damage I reckon I'll get it over wrapped because I don't think I can afford a full spray at the moment.

 

[Alex Conway]

Both wings done and fucked, bumper is fine though. Decided to leave it there, don't want any more disappointment. I'll phone for some quotes on Tuesday morning, if it's cheap I'll just go all white with white 2118s. I'll get pictures up in a sec.

 

[jesus]

Nice seats shame about the paintwork, it does look like paint stripper has played a part in it so it's no wonder the last owner had it wrapped. They can look good in white but only when done properly. Orange with grey wheels could work... the opposite way around though would look immense

 

[Alex Conway]

Cheers Jesus, the seats are probably my favourite thing about her. Shame there aren't many pictures about with options though jimmy182's Clio is fairly inspiring. We will see!

She's in a fairly sorry state now. Zara's definitely having a bad make up day.

I had to cheer myself up so I went for a spin up and down the A507 Clothall Road, Baldock to Bruntingford. Had a great little play with a silver 197 on the way back.

Demo picture of white on white.

The bare steel on the roof has been primed to stop rust but that's it for the next few days. Got some studying to do, I suspect I'll get some strange looks!

Cheers,
Alex

 

[Alex Conway]

Nice seats shame about the paintwork, it does look like paint stripper has played a part in it so it's no wonder the last owner had it wrapped. They can look good in white but only when done properly. Orange with grey wheels could work... the opposite way around though would look immense

I've been thinking about the grey Jesus, really can't get over how good it could be. The old man's 172 is silver with orange details and looks immense but I reckon grey (matt or gloss?) would look even better!

And so for an update on my Dad's car, Voo. Purchased in this state quite recently, only got 30 minutes running out of her. She has an aluminium bonnet which is crazy lightweight.

Here she is at Snetterton

Unfortunately I couldn't make it that day due to a job interview , really eager to drive her though.

The front is painted black to hide what's behind the grill

Unfortunately she didn't last long at Snet and piston number one decided to give up. We reckon it was overboosting on an early Engine Dynamics ECU. As she was in for a rebuild anyway it was decided the although 230bhp is beautiful more is better. So the commitment to forged internals and and 280bhp with a Quaiffe ATB for good measure. The plan is to make her road legal eventually.

 

[jesus]

I love that rear tow eye! Awesome.

There are a couple of grey 172/182s knocking about but I can't remember the owners. Could be worth a search on here.

 

[Alex Conway]

These are the ones I've found;
Jimmy182's 182
http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?640997-Grey-182

Saltyhair81 or Russ' Clio
http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?475695-Grey-With-Trinkets-Russ-29th-RS-Clio

Problem is they're both painted and so will always be deeper and shinier which is why matt may be better over gloss if I go for it. But I hardly want it to look primed!

 

[jesus]

That first one with orange wheels would be something else! Do they not have satin wrap as a bit of a compromise? Gloss could look alright but I see what you mean about the primered look.

 

[Alex Conway]

I'll phone around tomorrow, high hopes now though! I reckon if it's dark enough I could get away with it.

 

[JackJack]

Do it either white or grey imo.

 

[Alex Conway]

Bad news guys, just been to a couple of wrapping places. If I de-wrap and smooth it down it will be a grand.

Now to choose the colour, both 3m and either Gloss Anthracite or Matte Dark Grey. Both have a metallic fleck to them.

Here's a few of the Matte Dark Grey,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urmjVZxhLmY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLq2-FnTuPA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ-so8MIdcU

Gloss anthracite is much more elusive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h40tM1sWe_A

Currently leaning towards the anthracite

 

[mikeh]

You could have it blown over in BG for that money.

 

[chris_p]

For that kind of money surely you could be leaning towards a full respray? Do the prep work yourself. Go for a nice custom colour, and it won't affect the resale value like a wrap.

 

[Alex Conway]

I thought a respray would be about 2 grand? I'll phone about a bit more though. Problem is I imagine the prepwork for a full respray is a bit more and I'm really pushed for time. Third year mechanical engineering is really hard

Edit:
Just gave the local place a call and they said normally £3000, I think that's presuming them doing the prep work though, surely it's not going to drop by I huge amount, there is still a heck of a lot of masking involved with a respray and then several coats of paint.

 

[mikeh]

You only want a blow over, not a full respray?

You could potentially even get away with just getting the damaged panels done BG if it's just the roof and front wings? Even cheaper.

I don't know about where you are, but over here you can achieve a blow over (external only, paint and lacquer) for £1k. That may not be at the best bodyshop in town, but it's a track car.....

 

[martynzs]

Assuming this will continue to be a toy/track car (?) why don't you just rattle can it matt black/primer grey etc, will cost about £100, you wont be scared of pranging it and you arent ploughing 1k+ into a car worth just over double that...

Failing that, DIY wrap the roof yourself and buy second hand replacement panels for the ones that are damaged and bolt on/off?

 

[Alex Conway]

Well it's being taken away from the track and becoming my daily. The 172 will become the dedicated track car for the family. The panels under the white are probably also ruined in which case I'll need the full spray. I'll phone back in a bit and hopefully one of the estimators will be available.

 

[Alex Conway]

Update on the spray option:

Phoned about a bit and the general consensus is they want to do the final prep as they want it to be their standard. And so for a full blow over £2500 and up.

I reckon I'll just wrap it, I reckon it will come up well and at least it will be a bit more unusual.

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

For the respray prices you'd be aswell to just buy another 182.

 

[Alex Conway]

My thoughts exactly, but it's got 52,000 miles and a good service history so I'll go for the wrap and run it for another few years at which point I imagine it will be worth 50 pence.

 

[JaredHasNoBrain]

Gutted about the suprise under that wrap job!
Ever thought of Plasti dip? just throwing it out there as a last option.

 

[Jonnio]

Anthracite, easy choice of the two!

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

My thoughts exactly, but it's got 52,000 miles and a good service history so I'll go for the wrap and run it for another few years at which point I imagine it will be worth 50 pence.

That and if you fill it with petrol!

 

[Alex Conway]

I keep trying to fill it with V-Power but it just disappears. Might try diesel soon.

 

[jesus]

Plasti-dip could be a good call. Plenty of videos on Youtube and a big thread on here somewhere if you need info.

 

[Knuckles]

IMO, rattle can the affected panels yourself. You can get a decent finish if you take your time, search for JoeyDs old clio, he did his cup spoiler himself and it looked immense.

if that doesn't work, wrap over it

 

[Alex Conway]

Painter stripper by the looks of it! Re-wrap it!!

You win some internets!

Did the bonnet and passenger door today, both ruined. It's definitely a paint stripper vandal job, you can see where the stripper has flowed and pooled. The damage is too extensive to fix with a rattle can in my opinion, I've done large chunks of bumper and wing before (maybe a square foot?) but I don't think a full car rattle can job would be a good idea.

I've also decided on gloss anthracite.

Pictures to follow later tonight.

 

[Alex Conway]

Here are the pictures, you can see where the paint stripper has been squirted and where it's run down. I reckon the bumper is sound because it was replaced. The theory is that the paint stripper ate away at the plastic which makes sense, the NS wing has always been a bit funny too in the sunlight. So to avoid paranoia a couple of 172 wings have been bought. Here are the pictures.

 

[Chippiegt]

Those are some high estimates imo!
my local sprayer is sh*t-hot, and for a full respray, he takes around the £500 mark!

 

[Alex Conway]

Sounds like you have it far too good

I'm ordering up some spacers now but could do with some advice. With 205 50 r15 tyres on ET48 2118s what size spacers do you reckon I could get away with on my current sportline springs and the cooksports I'm eye balling at the moment? Reckon I could get away with 25mm front 15mm rear (standard camber all round) on the cooksports?