I recently bought an XJ that is good shape, but had some sun damage on the hood and surface rust on the roof. I couldn't find any rust underneath and it's an Arizona Jeep so I think it's isolated to the roof.
Anyways, I live in the city and have nowhere to paint so I took it down the street to one of those "cash only" paint and body shops. I told the guy it want the roof grinded down and the hood and roof painted. He said sure and he would just paint the entire Jeep for the same price AND it would be done in less than a week!
Well, it took over a month and I took it back. At least the roof rust is gone, but he used metallic paint and the doors look like they were finger painted by a toddler. Should I leave it as is? I'm sure it'll get scratched up again soon... Thoughts are always appreciated.

Before:






After:

 

Can you post better photos of the after ?

 

I'll try when the sun comes out.

 

The door i can't tell if that's orange peal or fish eye.If its orange peal it can be wet sanded/buffed out.If its fisheye that bad its best to paint it over.

 

i agree, wet sand it out and polish it with a low speed wheel. do a lil research on the polishes, they come in diff grits and do diff things. just dont buff your paint off after lol

id prolly use 1500 then 2000 grit paper then buff it, hard to see how bad it is from pic.

 

The paint issue on the hood is caused by not having an insulation blanket on the underside of hood. The high heat bakes it and the clear-coat peels off.

 

Here's another:

 

Thanks, that makes sense. Do you think it's worth it to get some insulation for it now? Other than protecting the paint, does it help with anything else? Maybe engine noise?

 

I believe it only helps the paint job. Engine noise reduction would be good but there is so much cumulative noise that it likely will make no difference.
My 96 has the stock insulation blanket and the clear coat is in good condition on the hood. Any jeep I have had without the blanket, the clear is gone and paint is faded.

 

That's some pretty bad orange peel on the door, not to mention it looks like he didn't even sand it down before spraying. You might wanna paint it yourself, as good paint jobs are pretty expensive.











That was the first car I painted, I did it in an unlit garage with a $20 sprayer and it turned out great. I used Valspar LAC40 fleet paint, put down 3 coats and still had half a can left. I think the total cost for all the supplies except for the air compressor was like $200. It's been about 8 months and the paint still looks brand new, on 5 different occasions people have hit it in the rear end and the paint has yet to crack or anything.

 

It kinda looks like the paint was drying the sec it hit the jeep aka the painter screwed up.How much was the paint job and what type and brand of paint did he use on it?

 

I have no idea what kind of paint it was, except that he decided to use a metallic black.

In hindsight, I would have wanted to just rattle canned the hood and roof, but I don't have a usable garage or anywhere to do that. I'm thinking about reattaching the side trim and bedlining everything below it.... Or maybe it's not worth any of that? As long as it doesn't start rusting or anything

 

ripped off.

 

And Broke OFF!

 

Moral of the story: You get what you pay for. They did ZERO prep. And it shows. With some time, elbow grease, and a few rattle cans, you could do a better job than that. Take it as a lesson learned.