Need advice: How practical is it to repaint my car?

We plan to retain the car for another 3-4 years at least as its a fuss free, easy to use car within the city.

BHPian tud recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

We have a Hyundai Xcent AT SX (O), 2015 model. We bought it used in 2020 with 27k on the odometer. In the next three years, the car was used for 13k kms (due to the lockdown) and the odometer now stands at 40000 clicks.

We are very satisfied with this car and if I were to pick a bone with it, it would be the colour black. While it looks fabulous after a wash and wax, it’s really hard to maintain it that way and not to mention how hot it becomes when seated inside a black colour car during the day in Chennai.

Now the car also has some nicks and dents that it picked up during these years which needs fixing. Along with fixing these dents, we were thinking of changing the car colour to a non-metallic grey which is the only colour we could come to a consensus at home The flashy ones like red doesn’t seem to sit well on the sub 4m sedan. This is purely a decision by the heart and not sure if it makes sense to do this repaint and RTO endorsement with an eight year old car. We plan to retain the car for another 3-4 years at least as its a fuss free, easy to use car within the city.

Any advice or inputs to go for the new shade or ditch it and only fix the dents will be much appreciated.

Here is the car in its current avatar.

Here’s what GTO had to say on the matter:

The factory paint job easily lasts 10 years, if maintained well (body cover, periodic detailing etc).

I usually recommend an overcoat (same colour) when a paintjob is needed.

Changing the colour means you lose that factory build quality. Compared to a simple overcoat, changing the colour means stripping the car down.

Another easy option, if you absolutely must change the colour, will be a body wrap. It’s stuck onto your existing car and if done from a professional, looks really good.

Here’s what BHPian Rajeevraj had to say on the matter:

Black is a nice color on the car. It looks in fairly good shape for a 8 year old car. All you need is a good detailing to be done now or in the next year and you should be set for another 3-4 years. Don’t think it is worth doing a repaint of the whole car.

Else as GTO mentioned get a wrap done. Much simpler and reversible too.

Here’s what BHPian lamborghini had to say on the matter:

I would avoid repainting the car unless the body requires a repaint – which you car does not seem like it does.

Factory finish is factory finish, and a color change would require a lot more dismantling – which could result in rattles, and niggles.
Just recently we got our S-Cross repainted as it had picked up nicks and dents all over the body due to a high amount of city driving and roadside parking and despite paying top dollar there were a few niggles that had to be resolved.

Instead would look at investing in a reflective windshield shade to keep the heat out, and a good ceramic / long lasting coating to maintain the glossy coating.

Here’s what BHPian HighRevving had to say on the matter:

A full repaint of your car, even with the same colour is not a desirable proposition.

Your car is not very old and it looks to be in good shape, why bother spending so much money knowing you will run into a few scratches and dents again, in a while? Generally people will do a full repaint if there has been a major accident or if the paint has faded beyond repair – the buyer of your car will only think from this perspective.

Let the factory paint serve you some more years, just repaint the panels that need addressing and detail the car. It’s a Hyundai, so the air-conditioning will be quite good even for black colour and if you park it under the sun, the colour of the car will not matter much. At least, it is not worth repainting the car for the small difference the colour makes.

Keyword: Need advice: How practical is it to repaint my car?