My 2001 Golf TDI gets a new coat of Tornado Red

I also posted this on VW Vortex, but I figured you guys would like this too!

I'm the original owner of a 2001 Golf TDI. It has 325K miles on it, and runs like a watch. The paint on the other hand... Well... it looked like total crap.

I kept going back and forth on whether I should paint it and keep it or flog it and get a new mk7. I decided car payments suck. This definitely gave the car a new lease on life!

I had the work done at Henry's Frame Repair in Sanford Florida. He did an amazing job, and I highly recommend him.

To the pics!

Mmmm... Tornado Peel...


We sanded the hood down to bare metal, as it was full of Colorado Road Rash. All of the gravel pits were removed.



taking care of all the door dings


Primer



Masking

Half the base coats are down:



Mmmm... Clear...SO RED!


No more peeling!




Now I want to get the rest of the car looking as good as the outside! I guess that means I've got to recover the door panels, replace the heater core, fix this and that, etc.
Let me know what you guys think!

Gorgeous paint job for sure!

Turned out very nice.

That looks awesome. I have a '99.5 T-Red Golf that is in better shape than yours was, but includes a do-it-yourself paint job on one fender and a number of scuffs and small dents. Also a small amount of rust on the rocker. I've decided that if I keep it I'll have the while car painted. The way yours looks gives me motivation.

I have a shop I like to use that knows VWs and VW paint, and I was going to ask them what I should remove to make the paint work as good as possible and to keep the cost down. Did you guys discuss this? Looks like they masked most stuff.

Looks great! What does a full paint job like that cost?

IndigoBlueWagon said:

That looks awesome. I have a '99.5 T-Red Golf that is in better shape than yours was, but includes a do-it-yourself paint job on one fender and a number of scuffs and small dents. Also a small amount of rust on the rocker. I've decided that if I keep it I'll have the while car painted. The way yours looks gives me motivation.

I have a shop I like to use that knows VWs and VW paint, and I was going to ask them what I should remove to make the paint work as good as possible and to keep the cost down. Did you guys discuss this? Looks like they masked most stuff.

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To keep the costs down, we didn't remove things like rub strips, door handles, etc. The paint in and around those areas was still in decent shape and only needed to be sanded before paint. The real problem areas were the hood and roof.

He also had a trick to pull the window lift channels away from the painted surface to be able to paint behind them without damaging them, though my front ones were in pretty rough shape and decided to degrade further during this process. I have new/used ones on the way. The rear ones turned out fine.

It really helps that I wasn't changing colors. If I decided to paint it a different color, it would have added a world of hurt to the whole thing, but just repainting in TR made things a lot easier.

Thanks for the info. T-Red is great, why would anyone change it?

Orlando has a pretty mild climate, but I plan to add a clear bra to my car when the paint is done. I had the front clip painted on my wagon three years ago and it chipped pretty easily in winter. I had it painted again last year and put a bra on it immediately.

Now that looks amazing. Like a new rig. And no car payments, sweet !!!

hskrdu said:

Looks great! What does a full paint job like that cost?

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For Tornado Red in a Golf, it's around $2500. Other colors probably cost a bit less, as paint alone for Dupont for my car was $800! That crap is expensive!

The upside is the paint should last a lot longer than the original stuff did.

Red costs more. I learned that when I had my Miata hardtop painted.

MattRabbit said:

For Tornado Red in a Golf, it's around $2500. Other colors probably cost a bit less, as paint alone for Dupont for my car was $800! That crap is expensive! The upside is the paint should last a lot longer than the original stuff did.

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Why will it last longer? Is it just that the Dupont (or other aftermarket) T-red paint is better than the original?

hskrdu said:

Why will it last longer? Is it just that the Dupont (or other aftermarket) T-red paint is better than the original?

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DuPont makes very high quality automotive paint. It should last very very well.

Also, paint technology has improved drastically over the past 15 years. Lacquers are much longer lasting than they were in the early 2000's. I shouldn't get that peeling effect again for the rest of the life of the car.

Nicely done. Like to see Mk 4 Golfs and Jettas still looking good.

I'm thinking about respraying my car in a few years. Gotta keep them MK4s looking fresh.

It's amazing how a respray can breathe new life into a car that looks almost like a beater. I decided to do it mostly because it was totally straight and runs like a top. I was on the fence about getting a new car, considering I didn't really neeeed one. I decided that a bit of cash outlay now will buy me a couple years of no car payments. Perfect!

I thought this pic showed off the new paintjob perfectly:



I guess I can't get rid of it for awhile now!

Now that it looks so nice, how could you possibly part with it!

It's fun to go back and forth and look at the change. What about posting more before & after pix for us?

You need to get some new center caps for those wheels. It's a pain when the logos fall off.

@hskrdu: I think I have some pics of it when it was really bad... I'll have to try to recreate them and post before/after. Should be interesting

@IndigoBlueWagon: The logs are still on the caps, they're just really really faded (knocks on wood, hoping they don't fall off). New ones are $29 at ECS Tuning. It seems kinda pricey to spend $120+ on center caps right now, just after blowing a bunch on paint/heater core/AC/etc. They're kinda low on the priority list.

You don't actually need the whole new centercap. The Avus wheel uses a center cap (pn 1J0 601 149B?) that has a stick-on 90mm VW symbol. The glue on the back of the symbol dries up and they fall off (or they get old, faded, or scratched). You can get a set of 4 on ebay for between $8 and $25. Some are bad knock-offs, but many are OEM quality (even the Chinese ones) with metal and a peel-off backing with decent adhesive. Just search for VW 90mm or similar. I bought 4 from Eastern Europe for $9 a year ago.

Still low on the priority list, but you'll see them shine along with the new paint!

That's cool, I did not know that! I may have to splurge.

Dang that looks good! I need to do mine again in charcoal gray.

Thanks! I'm still turning around and looking at it when I walk away!

So it's been 4 months since the Golf was all painted up. The paint has been holding up GREAT. The car is at 333K miles and lookin' purdy! I'd do this again in a heartbeat!

I did find on ebay 4 x Avus hubcaps from China for $13 shipped! I decided to give it a try and bought them. They fit perfectly and look great! We'll see how they last, but so far I'm thinking that was a great purchase.

Still looking great! I'm glad you found the caps for cheap- the definitely do make a nice difference.

Yeah, I think they brought the whole thing home. Now I have to focus on some of the interior bits that are starting to fall apart. Whatever foam VW uses in their fabrics lasts about 10-14 years, and then starts to fall apart.