Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

I don't know what kind of idiot so-called "professionals" you've found, but most professionals can do a damn good job of matching paint - especially with computerized color photospectrometers that everyone uses these days.

Also, he's got an XJR, something worth saving. Not a dispos-a-Bug. One of the rules of owning a Jaguar is "never halfass a repair - the cat will bite you in the ass for it."

LabCoat: I'd look into having the XJR Ziebarted once you get the rust repairs taken care of.

My car is 3 different colors because the insurance body shop made it that way. It's not the original color that is the problem, it is the fact the sun fades it and the factory color will not match unless you try multiple mixes and you better believe they will try to send it out unmatched because most people won't notice it. Get ready to have to veto and send it back in more than once if you want a perfect match which means you won't get your car back for awhile. Also, don't call the last fucking thing I have of my grandmother disposable of this kat will bite you in the ass for it.
 
No, it's a similar process. same idea - one way or the other, get it rustproofed. :)

Definitely planning on it. The way they salt things around here it's a good idea, even if I don't drive it often during the winter.
 
Is it wrong of me for wanting to punch someone I haven't met yet for saying this:

dood tsx and tl-s have soooo much of a difference in general... tsx is a slow piece of shit like my car... and type s is a rocket sedan

I said I got the tsx over the TL type S because it torque steered. That guy is a dumbass in other way. He is also saying that "more money can make your car faster no matter what and you can make the car look sik"
 
My car is 3 different colors because the insurance body shop made it that way. It's not the original color that is the problem, it is the fact the sun fades it and the factory color will not match unless you try multiple mixes and you better believe they will try to send it out unmatched because most people won't notice it. Get ready to have to veto and send it back in more than once if you want a perfect match which means you won't get your car back for awhile. Also, don't call the last fucking thing I have of my grandmother disposable of this kat will bite you in the ass for it.

That would be your fault for not selecting your own body shop (which you are usually allowed to by law) and/or not rejecting it repeatedly until they got it right.

Good body shops can match most any paint color - they use a photospectrometer to match your existing paint, not the factory code. So no hit-and-miss blending. Apparently you got a bad shop and wouldn't force them (or the insurance company) to make it right. Don't assume all shops are that way.
 
That would be your fault for not selecting your own body shop (which you are usually allowed to by law) and/or not rejecting it repeatedly until they got it right.

Good body shops can match most any paint color - they use a photospectrometer to match your existing paint, not the factory code. So no hit-and-miss blending. Apparently you got a bad shop and wouldn't force them (or the insurance company) to make it right. Don't assume all shops are that way.

I couldn't pick my body shop and after they had my daily driver for over 3 months, paint was not the first thing on my mind. They also put the headlight on upside-down, stole my front plate, and messed up the alignment. Couldn't get them to fix a damn thing.

And since I frequently hear nightmare stories about shops, yes, I am going to assume most of the are crap and will rip me off until they prove me wrong because that is how things work around here with every damn thing. You should see what the freaking doctors put me through the car is the least of my worries.
 
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I couldn't pick my body shop and after they had my daily driver for over 3 months, paint was not the first thing on my mind. They also put the headlight on upside-down, stole my front plate, and messed up the alignment. Couldn't get them to fix a damn thing.

And since I frequently hear nightmare stories about shops, yes, I am going to assume most of the are crap and will rip me off until they prove me wrong because that is how things work around here with every damn thing. You should see what the freaking doctors put me through the car is the least of my worries.

In Free America, while the mass-production bodyshops won't do as good a job as the very best shops, they won't generally do nearly as bad a job as you describe receiving.

That's what you get for living in a socialist state, though. See, in places where people routinely carry guns, quite often service providers will maintain a reasonable minimum quality level. I wonder why. :evil:

Now that said, I used to have a cheapie dispos-a-truck Toyota pickup and I took it to a generic mass-production bodyshop in California (when I lived there). Even there they did a decent enough job. Wouldn't take my Jaguars to them, but a decent enough job.
 
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Seems to be a lot of XJ40s on criag's list. I wonder why? :whistle:
 
Seems to be a lot of XJ40s on criag's list. I wonder why? :whistle:

There are also a lot of pianos for free on CL. Perhaps you should put the two together. :D


Seriously, if people are going to trade in "clunkers," at least rid the world of a substantial percentage of the XJ40, preferably the 88-90 models first.
 
That would be your fault for not selecting your own body shop (which you are usually allowed to by law) and/or not rejecting it repeatedly until they got it right.

Good body shops can match most any paint color - they use a photospectrometer to match your existing paint, not the factory code. So no hit-and-miss blending. Apparently you got a bad shop and wouldn't force them (or the insurance company) to make it right. Don't assume all shops are that way.

Dude, you could at least apologize about the "dispos-a-Bug" thing. :|
 
Do they not use sand paper nor primer when doing body work on Jaaaaaaaags?
 
There are also a lot of pianos for free on CL. Perhaps you should put the two together. :D


Seriously, if people are going to trade in "clunkers," at least rid the world of a substantial percentage of the XJ40, preferably the 88-90 models first.

On a related note, I now have a reason to not trust carsurvey.org:
http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/jaguar/xj40/

Best bit, responding to one of the rare negative user reviews:
2nd Nov 2001, 03:23

Hmm...

Firstly, the 4.0 is a straight six AJ16 24 valve engine, not a V12, secondly, a lot of these faults are niggly, and well, one out of god knows how many reviews on the XJ40 which is bad, shows the car is on the whole, a very good, bargain basement luxury car.

From the review:
Power windows got jammed in a downpour.

Cruise control stuck (scary experience).

Sunroof jammed open (it also rained).

Leather cracked.

Wood veneer fell off.

Car started to run on half its cylinders (similar to a BMW 750il).

Power seats jammed.

Electrical system short circut.

Engine fire.

Central locking stopped working.

Climate control has a mind of its own and I mean it! Blew out hot air in Australia's 40 degree heat and blew cold air in winter! #!$%^*& uncomfortable!

Fan stopped working as did both window demisters.
 
Do they not use sand paper nor primer when doing body work on Jaaaaaaaags?

Sure, but then the entire panel is supposed to get properly repainted.

It read like she was suggesting that he sandpaper it, primer it, then leave it alone - maybe put a little "you-wish-it-would-match" touch up paint on it.

On a related note, I now have a reason to not trust carsurvey.org:
http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/jaguar/xj40/

Best bit, responding to one of the rare negative user reviews:


From the review:


He left out "door handles broke off" and "J-gate locked in park" - two things the XJ40 loves to do to its owners.
 
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I hate government restrictions:

not only they are not importing anything right now, but they want to apply ?restrictive rules? to imports, basically saying, that if you want to import your own car for yourself, for your use, you have to have no more than a 3.0L engine (shame really, i could almost see myself driving that chrome laden Buick in here).

secondly my car is dead, again. I changed the oil in the car on Monday, on Friday this clunking noise came from the engine took it to a friend's shop (if i had knew the shop was his instead of just thinking he worked there) and he said, not only the piston rings springs are solidified so there is oil everytwhere and tons of white smoke, but the water pump needs to be replaced.

that is what happens when your daily driver is also a project car
 
I hate government restrictions:

not only they are not importing anything right now, but they want to apply ?restrictive rules? to imports, basically saying, that if you want to import your own car for yourself, for your use, you have to have no more than a 3.0L engine (shame really, i could almost see myself driving that chrome laden Buick in here).

Well you can always import one of these.

800px-Ferrari_F40_at_Auto_Salon_Singen_Germany_432393386.jpg
 
Sure, but then the entire panel is supposed to get properly repainted.

It read like she was suggesting that he sandpaper it, primer it, then leave it alone - maybe put a little "you-wish-it-would-match" touch up paint on it.

There is a place in Medford that will give you a rattlecan of the superspecial color matched paint. Now you see not everyone has a ton of disposable money for making their car shiny, so I offered a solution that would be good if you don't. This is not just a scratch this is rust, rust has to go away now or it gets worse. I actually care about my car personally and if I can't afford a whole repaint I would want the rust gone ASAP so my car is not full of holes. Also, it's not like XJRs are rare. There is a nice shiny black one parked on the street a few houses down from me, in a very easy to hit place at that. You don't do that with rare special cars. Either way if you go to sell one and my car they are probably worth about the same.
 
There is a place in Medford that will give you a rattlecan of the superspecial color matched paint. Now you see not everyone has a ton of disposable money for making their car shiny, so I offered a solution that would be good if you don't. This is not just a scratch this is rust, rust has to go away now or it gets worse. I actually care about my car personally and if I can't afford a whole repaint I would want the rust gone ASAP so my car is not full of holes. Also, it's not like XJRs are rare. There is a nice shiny black one parked on the street a few houses down from me, in a very easy to hit place at that. You don't do that with rare special cars. Either way if you go to sell one and my car they are probably worth about the same.

1. People leave shiny rare special cars outside all the time. People are stupid. They do stupid things. :p

2. By the time you've *properly* sanded down and primered it, you've already spent a bunch of hours doing it if you're doing it by hand. Time is worth money, after all. If you buy tools to do it, you're further in the hole. Then that "matched paint" doesn't work so well on such size repairs since it won't match at all because those paints are single stage and X308 paint is clear (lots of coats of clear, depending on what year and model) over a base color. You'd also want to apply a finishing glaze and color sand it to get it to look its best... and you'd still have a result that looked like crap against the remaining paint.

3. 2003 Beetle Convertible w/ 50,000 miles in 'good' condition in zip code 02125 is worth $8,840 per Kelly Blue Book Private Party Value.
2003 XJR with 50,000 in same condition and zip is worth $17,310 - more than twice what the Bug is worth. You were saying?

4. No, XJR's aren't rare like F40s. But they didn't make a humongous number of them and they're still unusual-bordering-on-rare for the X308s. However, since that's your yardstick, why are you offended about your Bug being called disposable? I mean, they made lots of them, so there shouldn't be any issue with that, right? Same logic there.
 
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1. People leave shiny rare special cars outside all the time. People are stupid. They do stupid things. :p

2. By the time you've *properly* sanded down and primered it, you've already spent a bunch of hours doing it if you're doing it by hand. Time is worth money, after all. If you buy tools to do it, you're further in the hole. Then that "matched paint" doesn't work so well on such size repairs since it won't match at all because those paints are single stage and X308 paint is clear (lots of coats of clear, depending on what year and model) over a base color. You'd also want to apply a finishing glaze and color sand it to get it to look its best... and you'd still have a result that looked like crap against the remaining paint.

3. 2003 Beetle Convertible w/ 50,000 miles in 'good' condition in zip code 02125 is worth $8,840 per Kelly Blue Book Private Party Value.
2003 XJR with 50,000 in same condition and zip is worth $17,310 - more than twice what the Bug is worth. You were saying?

4. No, XJR's aren't rare like F40s. But they didn't make a humongous number of them and they're still unusual-bordering-on-rare for the X308s. However, since that's your yardstick, why are you offended about your Bug being called disposable? I mean, they made lots of them, so there shouldn't be any issue with that, right? Same logic there.

The shop that the paint comes from? Got the name from a body shop, it does the paint matching for most of the shops in the area and sells them the larger quantities, so if that doesn't match the body shops won't either. Their rattle can paint is interestingly enough, the only non original paint that has hit my car that has been properly color matched so I WAS actually suggesting something I have seen to be very good for the jaaaaaag.

A bug and a XJR but I meant my particular car in comparison to that particular XJR. Mine happens to have 19,000 miles which means in math it is probably worth more, maybe not to you or most anyone on this forum but that's what they would say at a trade in.

MY CAR. You know why it's called Peggy? My grandmother's name. This was my grandmother's prized possession before she died and left it to me. It is not a matter of the car it is what this car means to me and what it meant to her. This car is not disposable and you better believe I WOULD NEVER get rid of it even if someone offered me something outrageously good like an F40 for it.
 
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The shop that the paint comes from? Got the name from a body shop, it does the paint matching for most of the shops in the area and sells them the larger quantities, so if that doesn't match the body shops won't either.

Body shops will spray that paint, then color sand, then spray clear. That's how you have to do it to even try to match it. It's not just a matter of spraying the color on and calling it a day.

Trust me, I've tried my hand at bodywork and it's a lot more complex than it seems.

A bug and a XJR but I meant my particular car in comparison to that particular XJR. Mine happens to have 19,000 miles which means in math it is probably worth more, maybe not to you or most anyone on this forum but that's what they would say at a trade in.

Not really. Per KBB:

Your car: $9555.
His car (assuming 50K on a 99 XJR): $11,090

Sorry, his is still worth more.

MY CAR. You know why it's called Peggy? My grandmother's name. This was my grandmother's prized possession before she died and left it to me. It is not a matter of the car it is what this car means to me and what it meant to her. This car is not disposable and you better believe I WOULD NEVER get rid of it even if someone offered me something outrageously good like an F40 for it.

Mmmh hmmm... Now, if you believe that your car is worth keeping, why would you advise someone with a better car than yours to perform a s**t repair on it?

Edit: By the way, one of my minions and fellow Jaguar owners, FordCrusherGT, is coming to Boston Monday. He is bringing his Ford Excursion and a Suzuki TL with him. Perhaps I should inform him of what you believe is a proper repair for an XJR, and in exchange he can demonstrate what he thinks the proper mode of employment for a Mellow Yellow New Beetle Convertible is. Hint: His truck is a 4x4, mounts the 6.8L V10 and its bumper is at about the same level as your rearview mirror. :lol: :evil:
 
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