clearcoat

hi! my 2007 tundra crewmax is beginning to have clearcoat issues--i'd like to address it sooner than later and am out of my comfort zone in getting it done, being that i am female, and have zero clue as to what would be a good price and not particularly anxious to learn the hard way...i live in long beach, ca and would greatly appreciate any recommendations anyone out there might have as to a place in my general area to get this done as well as what is a reasonable price to pay in 2023, so that i can get it done without being overcharged or picking the wrong place to get it done...thanks for listening and i hope to hear from anyone that has recommendations for me or tips for selecting where to get it done! thanks!

 

Need pics of the truck in bright day light, close ups of the paint. Focus on the problem panels. That will give an idea of exactly what it needs. Then you pump friends and family for referrals to an honest body shop or detail shop.

Do not sell yourself short due to being female. My wife does that, causes people who want to scam an easy buck off her to smell the lack of confidence a mile away. Let people help educate you about your options and what your truck looks like it needs and then talk to friends and family about good local options. Somewhere in your circle someone has to have needed paint work. Then go in and expect someone to articulate what they can do for you for how much, take it in writing and put it back on here if you want for people to give their takes.

 

Not sure if you have just a few places with clear coat issues or it is a lot of the truck. A lot of the big paint places may not want to "touch up" areas that have clear coat problems. I had clear coat issues on the fender of my 2003 Tacoma and the big places didn't want to do just that area or even the entire fender because they knew it would be very hard to match with adjacent body parts. I don't think they wanted their name associated with something that wasn't perfect. I wasn't looking for perfection, but just wanted the white crap look of the bad clear coat gone. I looked around on Craiglist and found a guy that did paint repairs. I sent him a picture and he said he could do it for $220. He did both paint and clear coat for that section in 2019 (blended it in) and it still looks great today. No, it isn't a prefect match in all light at all angles but it looks pretty good. I'm in N. San Diego, but I bet you can find someone like that in Long Beach.

 

Yeah, It will be hard to find a major body shop that blends paint on part of a panel. If refinishing is needed they will tend to want to do at minimum the whole panel. Some will push to re clear a neighboring panel for proper blend but can be talked out of doing the adjacent panel if you're paying cash and willing to accept you are not guaranteed a 100 perfect match.

 

But we have to see good photos of the problem areas of the truck. There may be areas that need full repaint, just clear, a detail, or any combination thereof.