paintwork options

[ipelm]

I have an S2 in Silk Red. The paintwork is good colourwise but it has a large and ever growing number of paint chips at the front. The only option is a respray for colour match purposes but here is the rub. The highly rated Option 1 want £3500.....ouch! At a time when the M100 prices have dropped through the floor, and because I dont have that sort of cash, I was wondering what you experts would advise? Option 1 has stated that they cannot "key in" paint around the front of the car so all these components have to be removed, hence the price. The guys at Hammersmith who look after the car advise me to only go to a glass fibre specialist, which is good advice.

I dont need a show standard finish such as Option1 will only consider doing therefore can I ask you guys what you have done in this sort of instance??

Many thanks in advance (and apologies if there is already a thread like this in existence which I always seem to get told off for when I ask a questions!!??)

[ipelm]

Having written the above I must now tell myself off because I have now found a thread here about resprays DOH!

Just ignore the newbie unless you have any budget solutions!! SORRY

[tweetdriver63]

I know I'm in the US, but I got a bottle of touch-up paint mixed for me at a local parts supplier/paint supplier to use on the chips (and it's a perfect match), and I've also had to have minor work done twice on the rear bumper/spoiler area. Both times the shop was able to blend the new paint almost invisibly with the original calypso red. I can sort of see it because I know it was done, but if you didn't know, you would never notice.

[whippit]

IVE SAID IT BEFORE AND WILL EVERY TIME SOMEONE MENTIONS THIS MUPPITS PAINT SHOP,

dont go any where near with your pride and joy, i paid for a full respray, i stripped mine ready for paint, i was charged the amount you where quoted,

as bad a respray as ive seen, seven bad faults i had to take it back to him to fix, at my own cost 8 hour round trip plus trailer hire and a day off work, then i had to do the same to collect it

to this day i cannot touch the paint without leaving scratches, looks like he didn't add enough hardener, i could rant all day about this fool,

i'm sure any reputable body shop could handle fiberglass ,,

[ipelm]

Thanks guys, I will look into your suggestions. sorry to hear about the bad experience, must be really galling. This I am trying to avoid