OK folks, either help me or stop me from doing something stupid...

[InsightCruiser]

I've had my 100 series for about four years now. Just rolled 200k and mechanically is in tip-top shape. But aesthetically? Not so much. Rust starting to pop through in the rear quarters. Paint is dull. Small dents, chips, etc. About what you would expect from a 20 year old car.

So... I'm thinking about getting her in to have somebody work and a repaint done. I know it's not going to be cheap. But I also have no experience with this type of work. I don't need it to be a car show quality job - but I would like a "pretty close to new" type of job. So two questions for anyone who has gone through this before:

1. How much are we really talking to do something like this? $10k? $20k?

2. Who do you take something like this project to? Do I need to find a specialty restoration shop? Or is this something that my local Toyota/Lexus body shop can handle?

OK...three questions:

3. What are the questions I should be asking in this thread that I'm too inexperienced to think of?

Happy cruising, boys. Thanks for your input.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Some pictures of the issues you're talking about would help to judge the scale/size.

 

[InsightCruiser]

I'm away from the right

Some pictures of the issues you're talking about would help to judge the scale/size.

I'm away from the rig right now - so don't have the ability to do so. But I would put it this way - there is nothing that is disastrous, but every panel on the body is going to need some sort of work. Dents, dings, etc. Nothing you would notice if you drove past it on the highway, but stuff I notice every time I jump in the truck. Rust is primarily in the wheel wells and along the bottom of the drivers side door which is misaligned and rubbing at the bottom every time it's opened/closed.

 

[GTV]

1. Price is more or less up to you. You can have Maaco or Earl Scheib do it for really cheap but that's what you'll end up with, a cheap paint job. Or if you want you can find a higher end shop that will take as much money as you're willing to give them, and of course there's everywhere in-between.

2. I'd go to some local shops and see their quality of work, ask for a rough estimate and find out where your budget and their quality standards overlap.

It looks good from that picture, I'd have the worst of it fixed/blended in and forget about painting the entire rig.

 

[MongooseGA]

I'd look heavily in to my local referral network for this kind of job. You want a shop that's capable of doing top notch jobs but is run by car guys who are also happy to do lighter scope, not as fine a job. You get the lighter scope work and price to reflect that, but done by actually capable hands. It will cost more than just going to Maaco but it'll be a better product.

I'd expect anywhere from $10-20k for a full body job with some body work on the 100. For reference, I just had a great shop (like I described above) do about half of one of my old Mercedes, including some decent rust repair, and it ran me $4.5k.

 

[Mike NXP]

Yours nuts, that truck looks great. Save your money and enjoy it.... Some body rust and pin striping well allow you to stop caring so much about it and to just have fun out in the trails

Lets see some undercarriage pictures and the body rust.

I've got a fair bit of that on my rig, it's annoying and at times I debate repairing it but its just a truck, an old truck, an old offroading truck. You can have a lot more bang for your buck if that money is spent elsewhere, saved, or whatever.

 

[InsightCruiser]

Yours nuts, that truck looks great. Save your money and enjoy it.... Some body rust and pin striping well allow you to stop caring so much about it and to just have fun out in the trails

Lets see some undercarriage pictures and the body rust.

I've got a fair bit of that on my rig, it's annoying and at times I debate repairing it but its just a truck, an old truck, an old offroading truck. You can have a lot more bang for your buck if that money is spent elsewhere, saved, or whatever.

Man...I hear you. And it's what I think about 50% of the time. And the other 50% of the time I can't stop thinking about how sweet this thing would look if I got everything on the body dialed in. I can't help myself...

As for the undercarriage - she's a midwest rig. So there were definitely some issues. Had the shop that did my lift, bumpers, etc. go in and get all the rust cleaned up and a fluid film done. That was about 18 months ago and will be doing it again before this next winter (I kept it off the salt this last winter). Perfect? Heck no. But she's in pretty good shape.

 

[kevgentile]

One way to look at it is how long you plan to keep it? The longer you retain it and avoid buying another vehicle then the more sense it makes to put money into it. We have a customer that refuses to buy new cars and puts an obscene amount into them to keep them going. But in the end it is a lot less than buying and maintaining another new car. You could put $20k into the LC and while most would think you're mad, it would make since if you ran it another 10,15, or 20 years. I've been in a similar situation with a car I hunted after for 3 years. I over paid and over spent but I had planed on keeping it for a long time, until a stupid youngster totaled it.

I wouldn't recommend going all out on the body work, unless you separate from the frame like another member has done and clean it up too. Since you appear devoted to the cause, if anything, I'd focus some more time on the frame first. Spend some time and a little coin to get it looking fresh, then if you're up to it knock out the body and paint.

If you want to leave the frame as is then I'd do the bare minimum in body work and go after an affordable respray. Look to do as much of the body prep yourself so you can flip the savings into the paint.

I've done a few projects over the years so I can offer a few tips when you decide a direction. I've done full restoration down to a patch and paint.

 

[GerLC100]

Can't comment on rust repair (California...), but on the paint.

On the picture uploaded I don't see anything on the paint I would pay someone for... Wait until somebody hits you on a parking lot and when insurance pays a part of the job, do the rest

If you want to have it shiny again: do you need a repaint or just some sanding and a new clear coat?
The more you disassemble the cheaper it will get. I'd take out the sun roof, disassemble the roof rack, take off bumpers, remove weather trims, door handles, take of anything what can possibly be in their way. The easier for them to tape it off the faster they are the cheaper it is.
and only having an issue on the hood or similar you could think about to drop off the pieces that need attention.

Had a RAV4 and a friend car that both were used to a lot of car washes, dull paint . A$90 forced random orbit polisher (harbor freight SKU: 56367), $170 for 3M Perfect it 3-stage polishing kit and the paint looked like new. Not a single scratch in the clear left, only those going down to the base.

My LC's roof is not looking nice. I will remove the plastic strips, sand with 800 grit and reapply a clear coat with a $20 HF HVLP. Absolutely good enough to protect the roof from further damage and aesthetically nearly too good to be hidden under my future Dissent rack...

And on top of the paint job you'll be adding quite some money for all trims, weather strip, ... because now you can't have 20 year old windshield trim on a freshly painted car :-D

And keep in mind: every single scratch, chips, dent usually tells a story

 

[Patron100LC]

Black Toyota, probably single stage? If so, paintless dent repair for the dented areas, blend job for the rusty ones, a good cut and buff for the rest, and the other $9000 spend it on

 

[Import Driver]

Where are you at in Iowa?

 

[suprarx7nut]

$10k for a "meh" job with corners cut. $20k for a low tier, but proper restoration of the exterior.

You know those nearly mint or restomodded Cruisers and other cars you see from Corsetti, Monarch, Icon, etc...? $150-250k vehicles and it's almost all labor. You can spend as little or as much as you want, but if the goal is "pretty much new" prepare for a labor bill higher than most used 100 series values.

I am *still* working on my Supra after deciding to go all in on a repaint. I stripped nearly everything. New trim, PPG paint and clear, the whole nine yards. 4 years later, it's not done.

For a Cruiser, I'm with the "enjoy the scratches" crowd. Take it to a few shops that specialize in PDR and Paint Correction and/or Clear Bra. Get the dents out, get the rust evaluated by a few pros and consider having it buffed and PPF'd. My '06 has nearly full PPF treatment and people are blown away by how nice the paint appears. A full restoration on paint and trim is intense. You can get 90% of the same effect with PDR, paint correction, new trim and PPF, IMO.

 

[shtbrwn86]

This is nuts sorry. But if you do you drop 10k+ you better get declared value insurance because all it takes is a small accident on an old car to total it. The insurance companies don’t care about your custom paint job.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my LX. But she is replaceable. I wouldn’t think twice about swapping her for a 200 series if I found the right one. But hey, if you want to drive this rig forever then maybe not the worst idea. Although I’d take that money and invest it so it actually works for you

 

[MechE30]

You picked a utilitarian rig used across the planet to last through every environment and condition known to man, and now you want it to look pretty? Seems contradictory. Honestly the people off-roading their trucks with perfect paint conditions just seem stressed out anytime a bush sticks out into the trail. A ugly rig is a fun rig. Save your money for a 250/300 series if you want pretty.

 

[MongooseGA]

You picked a utilitarian rig used across the planet to last through every environment and condition known to man, and now you want it to look pretty? Seems contradictory. Honestly the people off-roading their trucks with perfect paint conditions just seem stressed out anytime a bush sticks out into the trail. A ugly rig is a fun rig. Save your money for a 250/300 series if you want pretty.

This. The road from "this truck is a cherry cream puff" to "this truck is a trail rig" usually begins with a game of "whack/ ****" and ends with a beer or an upset wife and trail cred with your friends. I remember my experience vividly...

 

[Bisho]

I’ve hmm’d and haw’d for years on what to do with the paint on my 100. Clear coat is pealing and every time I go out Mother Nature leaves more custom pin stripes or worse. I’ve finally decided to monstaliner it.

You could come down south and buy a rust free truck for much less than repairing and repainting, and enjoy working on it in the future.

 

[MongooseGA]

You could come down south and buy a rust free truck for much less than repairing and repainting, and enjoy working on it in the future.

No, don't do that. Leave the nice trucks for those of us not in a snowy hell hole. Y'all made your bed, now lie in it.

 

[joseywales]

Yeah, I’m of two minds. It’s great to keep your vehicle as nice as you can, but if it’s the one in the photo, I don’t see anything worth taking it in to a shop for!

 

[Exiled]

I went through the same conundrum back in 2019. Here's my decision documented and the outcome. I have ZERO regrets, I didn't get into Land Cruisers for a purely logical take!

Builds - UZJ100 Hunting Rig Build

I've never done a build thread but I'd thought I'd give it a try this time. Life long Cruiserhead, early member of IH8MUD and former TLCA member but I've been away for 10+ years, got busy with life/family/work. 37 years of uninterrupted Land Cruiser ownership, mostly 60 series and 70 series. I...

forum.ih8mud.com

Cheers and good luck with your decision!

 

[cruisin4bruisins]

Id say save the money and run it till the quarter panels fall off, spray the underside with fluid film to slow rust down and enjoy the savings lol