It’s because I work 10-12 hours a day and sometimes use weekends to catch up. To me personally, people with time are more successful than those with money. Every time I take on some big project with personal nonessential goals, I think about my 14 year old that would enjoy going out for sushi with me. It’s a balancing act.

The paint is three stage and the work is guaranteed for life as long as I own the car (doesn’t pass to the next owner). He is mainly contracting with the regional Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren dealerships, and has been doing so for many years, so I’m comfortable with his capabilities and the quality. He doesn’t want to take on new customers, but during the course of our conversation, we had a connection so he decided to work with me. Most of the other places I’ve found that do this work are the same way, no new customers.

As for the color, it’s very close but I completely agree as it almost feels that the added white in the blue drowns out the metallic, which is what it liked about the illusion blue. This is why you think it looks matte as the metallic gets lost.

 

Guaranteed for as long as you own it is nice. His upscale clientele speaks to a certain amount of faith in the quality. And if he's local enough to drop your car off for 3 days, it's a pretty compelling option. What's his ask? If he's doing exotics, I'm guessing over $1000.

You sure he can't match the Corvette in your profile? Or if you get an Illusion Blue swatch in his hands, maybe he can match to that?

 

He will come to the house and do the work, so unlike the others there is no drop your car off for 3 days model. That just didn't sit well with me and was one of the reasons I was going down the DIY path. Those places also charge $1100 or so in my area, and once I built a rapport with the mobile vendor, he game me the friends and family price of $950. He will even install a new set of pads as he takes the old ones off to paint and my current pads are under 40%?

I spoke to him about the color and he said that the blue is not heavy on white, but the rich metal flake and bright light make it appear that way in the photo. I will try to get a few more options.

He did confirm that blue is his personal favorite on silver cars. He gave me a 1/2 dozen reasons why, but I forgot most of them.

 

$950 for a guaranteed, 3-coat paint job from someone who's experienced, with a business model that targets exotic cars? That sounds good.

How about your 10 year old brake lines? If that's something on your radar, maybe as a separate project?

 

I wasn't planning on changing them out. Have we witnessed the brake lines failing here in the community? I will likely clean and inspect while the wheels are off.

 

IDK for sure, Mike. But once my originals were swapped out and in my hands, they were clearly junkyard garbage. I didn't notice any change or benefit to the SS lines, but after assessing the old ones there's lots of peace of mind in the upgrade.

You know, there's probably a big difference in how a car ages between Western NY and Southern CA.

 

True. But I thought yours was a garage queen as well. I see folks online saying that they changed them out after 30 years (even though they still worked fine) and others that recommend every 6 years; the truth is likely somewhere between the two. There's definitely no harm in being proactive, which is what I am doing with all of the hoses since my evap hose mishap. That hose looked 30 years old, while all the hoses around it looked as good as new. Perhaps because it was closer to the block, the higher temps caused it to rot faster? I am starting to see alot more of these random hose failures on reddit as well since our cars are getting up there in years. Crazy what the dealer charges to replace these hoses.

example: https://www.reddit.com/r/G37/comment...e_part_number/

Are these crazy prices simply based on the fact that the car is getting older and non-standard replacement OEM parts are hard to come by? OR, are dealers all trying to follow the Mercedes Benz model for service figuring most people are not "car people" and will just **** and moan over the cost, but still pay it. This is literally a trip to AutoZone and 20 mins, hardest part being the removal of the engine cover. My mechanic told me that Mopar is taking the same path. He quoted a few jobs he recently had done to newer jeeps (replaced CAM and lifters due to insufficient depth of hardening: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/for...e-dust.131768/) that would have been less expensive on a BMW because the parts themselves were 2x the cost of those in a bimmer (bimmers also have a strong aftermarket).

Anyone still want to sell their tried and proven G for a newer car

 

Check this out quickly as it gives you a couple different perspectives and lighting angles. Ferrari Blue Corsa has like 4 different personalities based on lighting. I think when shadowed by the wheel, it will look like my childhood favorite 71 corvette photo.

 

@Rochester

Someone on Reddit posted a pic of Black Calipers: https://www.reddit.com/r/G37/comments/1iox1ox/akebonos/

Why do I think these look really good? Never would have considered black.

 

I think they would interesting on a black car with thin spoked black wheels. But otherwise, nah. They would never look clean.

 

I was going to say the exact same thing. A total nightmare keeping anything black clean. For a show car that rarely, if ever, sees the road, maybe.

 

Right. And you can't really clean these calipers well when they're behind duckfeet.

 

Very True; water spots would look bad on black. I clean mine the best I can and apply some ceramic coating, but it takes time as one needs to squeeze their fingers in between the spokes. I've seen a few modern muscle cars (Mopars?) with black calipers and they are somewhat meh when matched with brighter colors, but on a silver car they might look good, albeit tough to see behind the duck feet.

Still leaning towards the Brembo Gold/Burnt Orange color (but that electric blue is a close second): https://www.resurrectwheelrecon.com/wheel-gallery

I have an anniversary in March, so I will probably do the rotors, brakes and new brake lines then as an anniversary present :-)

 

Good for you. I know I've been nudging you pretty hard, but am genuinely pleased to see you go through with it.

Electric blue with white text, FTW.

 

I had someone lined up in December, but his mom got sick and he retired.

Agree that the Electric blue with white text is SIC, even silver would look good. But the OEMish look of the Burnt Orange/Gold is still cool as well. Not sure on the lettering color for it though, as I have only seen black and red.