To respray or not to respray.....?

[superrach73]

We are considering purchasing an '08 Cali we have found. All looks great other than a couple of things we would change just for personal preference reasons and some minor paintwork damage.

As we had our heart set on a midnight blue Cali we are considering respraying if we buy this one.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a garage to do this in the North West and/or any tips on the pitfalls or benefits of doing this?

 

[calikev]

Hi I would say the only pitfall would be the aluminium roof and front panel I would say it would be better to get a specialist to do rather than a normal body shop as even VW can't get that bit right and are employing specialist to do the work. Also it will probably cost you in the region of £4000 to get a decent job. I would either wait for the right colour or choose another. I had a reflex silver I didn't like it at first but I soon began to love it..

 

[Meoncoast]

What about wrapping it ?

 

[superrach73]

Thanks CaliKev. I had thought it might cost £2-3k so £4k is a bit of a shocker. Not sure we can stretch to that. The van does look good (it is silver) it's just we really fancy a darker colour.

Tough decision!!! Very hard not to get carried away when you see a good van and this does seem to be.

For some reason Meoncoast we don't fancy the wrap option. It's an ignorant POV as we don't know enough about it but it feels like it wouldn't be the same quality?

People keep mentioning it though. Is a wrap reversible? Could we go back to the original colour with no damage?

 

[timber]

Thanks CaliKev. I had thought it might cost £2-3k so £4k is a bit of a shocker. Not sure we can stretch to that. The van does look good (it is silver) it's just we really fancy a darker colour.

Tough decision!!! Very hard not to get carried away when you see a good van and this does seem to be.

For some reason Meoncoast we don't fancy the wrap option. It's an ignorant POV as we don't know enough about it but it feels like it wouldn't be the same quality?

People keep mentioning it though. Is a wrap reversible? Could we go back to the original colour with no damage?

Silver every time ---it does not show the dirt so much

 

[calikev]

4k is only a guesstimate. I would want a pucker job on an expensive vehicle like a Cali otherwise you will de value it. Silver is a great colour for a Cali. Honestly I am not a fan of sand beige but I'm sure members that own them love them and get just as much enjoyment out of using them. For me its not about the colour its the fun factor of using it.

BTW. A wrap is fully reversible and would cost about £1k to do properly.

 

[superrach73]

I agree CaliKev. Would want a great job doing. The wrap may be something worth looking into. Can you get them done in true VW colours. Is like the can to be a colour from the VW range.

 

[superrach73]

Wow that last post barely makes sense for typos! Sorry ;-)

 

[rookeryview]

You can't see the colour when you are inside it. We have sand beige. Same colour as road dirt so always looks clean
Also blends in with the surroundings, which I like.

 

[Alan]

I use to be a commercial sprayer many years ago and not really upto date on modern trends,but to me to have a vehicle completely wrapped in vynil would worry me what would be sweating underneath (aluminum roof !)
Also I have seen what pressure washing and steam cleaning can do adversely

Having said that, my son tells me he's having his T4 transporter wrapped soon at a cost of £800.00 over dents, rust and all

Alan

 

[HowieDog]

It may be worth considering the impact a respray could have on residual values as well. If the V5 has one colour and the camper is another colour, as a potential buyer I would be wary of why it had been resprayed. If a seller said that they had resprayed it because they didn't like the colour then I would be a little suspicious (as this would deb very unusual given the cost) of significant accident damage for example.

 

[18hunts]

We have a Sand Biege and it wasn't our colour of choice but it was an ex demo with 12 miles on the clock, comfortable with price and it was the Cali, not the colour that was important. I've come to appreciate the colour, it always looks clean.

 

[knightons]

We've had numerous coloured cars and they have all been difficult to keep clean; especially the darker ones [including black]. So we too decided to go for a sand beige cali and with a quick wipe of the wheels the van looks like its been cleaned all over.
I think that your idea of wrapping maybe the way to go [although we've never gone down that road] as you could experiment and change it and/or revert to silver if you wanted to.

 

[2into1]

You must be a richer guy than me..... To take one of the best colour Cali's at say £28k, spend £4k on it and turn it into something worth less than £20k! (for the reasons Howiedog says)
There are plenty of Cali's coming up for sale, you'll soon find one in an acceptable colour.

 

[Borris]

We are considering purchasing an '08 Cali we have found. All looks great other than a couple of things we would change just for personal preference reasons and some minor paintwork damage.

As we had our heart set on a midnight blue Cali we are considering respraying if we buy this one.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a garage to do this in the North West and/or any tips on the pitfalls or benefits of doing this?[/QUOTE
Hi Superrach73,
For what it's worth, if it were me, I would either have the minor paintwork damage professionally dealt with (much cheaper option) and then enjoy the van in its current colour or I would look for another Cali in my preferred colour. The work involved in doing a professional re spray would be epic (not to mention the cost) and I would always know that it was still the original colour underneath. Also, if I were buying a Cali and discovered that it had started life a different colour, I would walk away. So not only will it have cost you a lot to have it resprayed but you may find that you have also devalued it when you come to re-selling it.
While on the subject of Cali paint, I am disappointed to see that having paid a fortune to buy a Cali, VW haven't bothered with painting the underside of the bonnet!

 

[Borris]

Not sure what I did there. My reply hasn't been posted in the usual format!

 

[The Blue Merle]

Hi
I would stay clear of a wrap, my mate had his t4 wrapped and it started coming off. Plus with the 2d wrap and labour it cost £1800 luckily he took them to court and got his money back. Just look at any van sec or other companies they wrap there vans and they are always peeling off!
Just wait there be a lot more for sale in the next couple of months and cheaper. I picked up an 08 2 years ago around dec for 26k kept it a year and half and then sold it for 25k in the summer this year.

 

[Californiaman]

Personally I would stick with silver but it is horses for courses. I would seriously investigate wraps - done well, they are very good. We had a fleet of vans done at work a while ago and they have been perfect. I'll get the details of the company that did them next week.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[superrach73]

Thanks everyone. Really good advice. You're all confirming what my heas is telling me. We need to make sure we are happy with a silver van or wait for another colour. I'm liking this forum more and more

 

[motacyclist]

Silver is a great colour, maybe it hasn't got a wow factor but when the light strikes it from certain angles it looks superb. Like others above we now have sand beige which is not a colour we would've ordered but it came as a pre registered and I didn't want to wait. My wife's Golf is midnight blue which does look good when it's clean, but it doesn't stay like that!

 

[reserves]

Wait and find another one or live with the colour it is

 

[daz60]

check Richard Trowsdale out on the VW T5 Forum, he is very good at painting T5s

 

[Andy]

Respray will definately devalue it as no longer original.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk

 

[bcasey]

Hi,

I have a silver 2007 Cali, and feel that I would sometimes like a less extrovert colour, especially when hoping to keep a low profile overnight.

You could consider the option of a two-tone Cali, using a partial wrap. I have seen photos of Calis with two tone paintwork, and I think they look great, and reminiscent of earlier splitties, etc. My preferred option would be a red lower half, with the silver roof etc above the "waistline". I probably won't ever get round to it!

It could be easily reversed when selling on, and might have the advantage of minimising rust spots (which seem to occur low down on mine).

I have attempted to attach a photo:

 

[Charlotterobin]

View attachment 9867 Hi,

I have a silver 2007 Cali, and feel that I would sometimes like a less extrovert colour, especially when hoping to keep a low profile overnight.

You could consider the option of a two-tone Cali, using a partial wrap. I have seen photos of Calis with two tone paintwork, and I think they look great, and reminiscent of earlier splitties, etc. My preferred option would be a red lower half, with the silver roof etc above the "waistline". I probably won't ever get round to it!

It could be easily reversed when selling on, and might have the advantage of minimising rust spots (which seem to occur low down on mine).

I have attempted to attach a photo: