Looking for recommendations - respraying

[Simon C]

Hi,
I’ve had my Ocean for a few years now, and have been thinking for some time about getting it resprayed and putting some better alloys on it. I’m based in Kent and looking for some good recommendations for firms in the South East who can do this for me - does anyone have a good one? Would be great if you’ve used them and are able to recommend their work.
Thanks!

 

[sidepod]

Wow. Expensive. £4K min? £6k for a good job?

 

[Ch1pbutty]

AD Williams, Brighton (also in Crawley). Repaired rear panel and wheel arch when my wife scraped a pillar. Did a good job. Was done thru insurance.

 

[ArunAlec]

Interested to know why you’re thinking of a respray?
When I‘ve bought vehicles I’ve always been wary of anything that had a respray, especially on something relatively new.

 

[Tomato]

I have a few good companies I trust in the bodywork world of cowboys. I’ve used them over the years for various restorations and rebuilds...PM me if you need a few people to talk to. Properly done you can show the next owner by using a £7 paint depth testing gauge that the repaint didn’t cover up anything fishy

 

[Dark Ocean]

You could wrap your Cali instead? You can have any colour you like and it’s easier to clean and cheaper than a respray. I would say it would help with resale value too, as buying a re-painted vehicle will raise questions with prospective buyers. Just a thought.

 

[Borris]

Hi,
I’ve had my Ocean for a few years now, and have been thinking for some time about getting it resprayed and putting some better alloys on it. I’m based in Kent and looking for some good recommendations for firms in the South East who can do this for me - does anyone have a good one? Would be great if you’ve used them and are able to recommend their work.
Thanks!

Well if you are really going down that road I wouldn't go for some back street outfit underneath the railway arches. If you want a proper job done it will be expensive so IMO, you might as well take it to a specialist. It's not only the quality of the paint work at stake here but the skill required to strip the vehicle and re-assemble it without causing any damage. My recommendation would be AB Crush at Lydden Near Dover. These people are VW approved repair specialists who are used to dealing with Californias. I can tell you from experience that their work is superb.

Vehicle Accident Repair Centre Canterbury, Kent, South East

A B Crush covers every aspect of vehicle accident body repair in the Canterbury, Kent area.

www.abcrush.co.uk

One last thing, if it were me I wouldn't entertain any idea of changing the colour since that will involve so much more work and will be easy for future potential buyers to detect e.g No paintshop will want to remove the engine and respray the engine compartment. So unless you are thinking about a straight forward respray in the same colour or creating a duo colour van then you will probably be spending a small fortune to devalue your Ocean.

 

[westfalia]

What colour is it at the moment.

 

[Perfectos]

Hi Simon

a half respray, either same colour or contrasting, would be a cheaper option and have the added benefit of retaining the “original “ paintwork and avoid the colour change issue in shuts, engine bay etc.
same colour would be considerably cheaper than a lower half respray a full colour change would be a massive undertaking (and cost) to do properly, basically a full strip back to shell, roof off engine out etc to do it properly

generally these vans get damage, wear etc below the body line, so respray on lower half could potentially improve the paintwork to a large extent If that’s what your trying to achieve.

if you go down the route of a respray, ask the body shop to take plenty of photos before, during prep and after, so you Have a visual record of the works and that the van was not damaged (under the new paint).

 

[SusiBus]

AB Crush, Canterbury.
They do the Sportline conversions for VW. Did our roof corrosion and sliding door repair. Very helpful and professional in my experience.

 

[Simon C]

Firstly, thankyou for all the responses. I realise now I should have put more detail in my original post! I have a metallic blue van at present, and was hoping to have the top half sprayed white so as make it two tone. I’ve seen lots of these on the road and think they look great. I haven’t done a great deal of research yet - I was hoping to find a reputable shop in the south east to go in and talk to and get a sense of what this involves. Not looking for a full body respray as i). I can’t afford it! And ii). I don’t want to impact the value of the van too much. I’d also like the alloys changed at the same time, as I just have the standard spec and thought it a good way to jazz it up a bit. I hadn’t considered wrapping as a possibility and don’t know too much about that so will look into that too.
Thankyou for the recommendations and the advice!

You could wrap your Cali instead? You can have any colour you like and it’s easier to clean and cheaper than a respray. I would say it would help with resale value too, as buying a re-painted vehicle will raise questions with prospective buyers. Just a thought.

Thankyou - I hadn’t considered that but will look into it!

What colour is it at the moment.

Dark metallic blue - unsure what the official name of the colour is...

Well if you are really going down that road I wouldn't go for some back street outfit underneath the railway arches. If you want a proper job done it will be expensive so IMO, you might as well take it to a specialist. It's not only the quality of the paint work at stake here but the skill required to strip the vehicle and re-assemble it without causing any damage. My recommendation would be AB Crush at Lydden Near Dover. These people are VW approved repair specialists who are used to dealing with Californias. I can tell you from experience that their work is superb.

Vehicle Accident Repair Centre Canterbury, Kent, South East

A B Crush covers every aspect of vehicle accident body repair in the Canterbury, Kent area.

www.abcrush.co.uk

One last thing, if it were me I wouldn't entertain any idea of changing the colour since that will involve so much more work and will be easy for future potential buyers to detect e.g No paintshop will want to remove the engine and respray the engine compartment. So unless you are thinking about a straight forward respray in the same colour or creating a duo colour van then you will probably be spending a small fortune to devalue your Ocean.

Thankyou - I will give them a call. I was thinking of a duo colour scheme to keep the original blue on the bottom half and white on top. Ideally I wanted to go into a good shop and just get some advice before I commit to anything.

 

[B J G]

The top is more expensive to do from what I've seen elsewhere due to the roof surround area plus the roof being very time consuming.

 

[andyinluton]

I have a metallic blue van at present, and was hoping to have the top half sprayed white so as make it two tone.

Let us know how you get one, white top, blue bottom is one of the best colour schemes they did. I'm sitting here with a dark blue van as well, not sure I would bother getting the roof colour changed, would have to think about that.

 

[Borris]

Firstly, thankyou for all the responses. I realise now I should have put more detail in my original post! I have a metallic blue van at present, and was hoping to have the top half sprayed white so as make it two tone. I’ve seen lots of these on the road and think they look great. I haven’t done a great deal of research yet - I was hoping to find a reputable shop in the south east to go in and talk to and get a sense of what this involves. Not looking for a full body respray as i). I can’t afford it! And ii). I don’t want to impact the value of the van too much. I’d also like the alloys changed at the same time, as I just have the standard spec and thought it a good way to jazz it up a bit. I hadn’t considered wrapping as a possibility and don’t know too much about that so will look into that too.
Thankyou for the recommendations and the advice!


Thankyou - I hadn’t considered that but will look into it!


Dark metallic blue - unsure what the official name of the colour is...


Thankyou - I will give them a call. I was thinking of a duo colour scheme to keep the original blue on the bottom half and white on top. Ideally I wanted to go into a good shop and just get some advice before I commit to anything.

You mean like mine?



Most so called "two tone" Calis start off as white Calis with the bottom half resprayed in the darker colour. Actually, they aren't two tone as they are painted in two completely different colours not tones of the same colour. There, that should get me onto the short list for pedant of the week!

Yours would be Starlight Blue with the top half resprayed Candy White. I can't see anything wrong with that except it will be obvious to any future owner that the top half has been re-sprayed.

As others have said, why not explore having the top half wrapped. At least a wrap isn't permanent and I suspect it will end up being considerably cheaper. I don't know for sure but I doubt if a wrapping company would need your van for as long either. Any future owner then has a choice. More importantly, you may change you mind later and want to revert back to the original colour scheme.

 

[andyinluton]

Thats exactly what I was envisaging, but thinking the colour is dark enough & there is a natural dividing line at the awning rail level, that perhaps we could leave the roof as is.

 

[Robin Brooke]

You could wrap your Cali instead? You can have any colour you like and it’s easier to clean and cheaper than a respray. I would say it would help with resale value too, as buying a re-painted vehicle will raise questions with prospective buyers. Just a thought.

Hi,
Have you wrapped a Cali before?

Any reccomendations and idea of costs?

Thanks!

 

[B J G]

Hi,
Have you wrapped a Cali before?

Any reccomendations and idea of costs?

Thanks!

Check Insurance implications as a minor scrape will need major wrap replacement costs.