Reviving Old 2-Tone Cars

In the 1980s and 1990s two-tone cars were all the rage and showed that a vehicle was a premium model. Multiple colors on a car takes more material and labor. So it naturally costs more. But what do you do when one of these 20-30 year old cars needs to be repainted? Options include repainting both colors, repainting only the top color which is often more faded, painting only the bottom color which can be more prone to scrapes, or repainting the entire car in just one color. Almost Everything's Car of the Day is a 1996 Mazda MPV that was faded & peeling on top and scraped on the bottom. So both of the 2-tone colors had problems. The owner decided to paint the entire vehicle one color to save money and recover a vehicle that still drove well but looked a mess.

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Nasty Scrape on 2010 Lexus

Our Car of the Day is a 2010 Lexus RX350 that was hit by an impolite pole. We fixed dents in the quarter panel, replaced the rear bumper and refinished the damaged panels with Factory Paint.

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Good Quality vs Poor Quality Body Repairs

Today's Car of the Day highlights the differences between good and bad quality materials and workmanship. The quarter panel on this 2004 Toyota Highlander was repaired at another shop using poor quality paint and a sub-standard repair process. The newer paint in the repair area failed much earlier than the old paint on the rest of the vehicle. In addition, body filler was applied too thick over an improperly prepared surface. The result is body filler that is cracking and pulling away from the panel. Water is getting inside the cracks and forming rust. We cleaned out the old body filler and rust, re-did the dent repair and repainted. Almost Everything uses great materials and experienced technicians. We stand by our work with a written warranty that is the best in the industry.

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Body Repairs and Complete Paint Job on Rav4

A little 1997 RAV4 in great running condition (only 300,000 miles so far!) came in the delaminating (peeling) paint and dents in the right rear door and rear bumper and a bunch of dings. The lights in the bumper were broken too. The customer opted for an inexpensive upgrade. She has us paint the faded and splotchy original grey body cladding the same color as the rest of the vehicle. We replaced the door and got an aftermarket (reproduction) bumper and lights and fixed the dents. The paint is our enamel single stage technology with a 1 year warranty.

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Fender Bender

Today's fender bender is on a 2012 Toyota RAV4. The customer has insurance but wants to avoid an increase in her insurance premium so she's paying for repairs herself. To keep the costs low, she has chosen to keep the existing bumper, even though it has some minor damage. She also chose not to do a paint blend on her door. We've told her that the repairs won't be perfect and to expect the new paint to be slightly different than the older paint. In the end she was happy with her choices and the cost for the repair was affordable.

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Honda CR-V Collision Repair

Almost Everything's Car of the Day is a 2001 Honda CR-V compact SUV. The vehicle was rear-ended and needed a new bumper, a light and dent repairs on the quarter panel. When we took the bumper off, we found more dents and broken parts, see the photos below. We went back to the insurance company and filed a "claim supplement" to ensure all of the damage was repaired and paid for by the insurance company.

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