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Hi folks, I'm looking to get a sense of the work I need to do in preparation for the respray. I understand that some of these questions will be best answered by the bodyshop that I choose to go with but before I approach anyone it would be really useful to get a consensus here from people who have experience of having their 205 resprayed please. At present the engine, gearbox and most of the interior are out of the car but the front subframe, rear beam, brake components, doors, windows, tailgate, fuel tank and lines, and bonnet are all in place. I will be removing all of these parts in due course anyway along with the sunroof and all exterior trim. There is significant blooming on the roof and bonnet so they will need to be taken back to bare metal. I have a few dings in the front wings and doors, there is a hole in the boot floor where rust has eaten through and there is rust on the front of the rear wheel arches. The driver’s side door has dropped and needs re-aligning, the checkstrap isn’t working on the passenger side door, and the tailgate has play in the hinges/latch. I have no intention of attempting any welding or rust repair myself. I am planning to contract one bodyshop to fix the dings, rust and do the respray in one go. On my shopping/to do list I have a pair of checkstrap mechanisms and a set of front door hinge pins and although I am expecting my bodyshop to want to do the final prep’ I am planning to do the majority of the paint removal myself to provide a rough prep’. The main question is “in what order should I attempt this work please?” This whole thing is starting to get on my pip as I can’t see the logical steps and where I need to concentrate my efforts now the weather’s getting better. My thoughts are. 1. Do I have to have the full weight of the car in situ and the car on its wheels to align the doors? If so, I can’t do the hinges and checkstraps until after the respray – will this be an issue? 2. If I can do the door/alignment work at any time am I best to do this now, before removing anything else (while the car’s on its wheels) and starting and further removal/my rough prep’? 3. Or, should I remove the subframe, rear beam and other stuff first and do my rough prep’ and alignment work with the shell on a dolly and/or stands? 4. Is it likely that the bodyshop will want the tailgate, bonnet and doors off the car? If so, this answers some of my other questions regarding the order in which I do the alignment stuff as I’ll just strip it all down and send everything that needs to be red to the bodyshop (including new hinge pins, checkstraps etc.) 5. Is the bodyshop’s their preferred approach to painting (one piece or separate pieces) any indicator of how good a shop they are? 6. I have to take the roof and bonnet back to bare metal – does this mean I should at least take all exterior surfaces back this far? I think so as I don’t want my fresh paint to be adhered to old paint in some places and on fresh metal in others as I think this will be asking for inconsistency woes in the future. 7. Paint removal will take me a while – how do I stop surface rust forming on the first sections while I work on the rest of the car or does it not matter if a bit of surface rust develops assuming the bodyshop will do the final prep’ before priming and painting? 8. Is there a preferred approach to removing the old paint? I quite like the look of chemical strippers as it seems as though I’m less likely to damage the surface of the metal than with a power sanding tool or blasting. However I don’t really want remove the front wings so I’m concerned I might get stripper somewhere I can’t access to rinse/neutralise it (inside a front wing) and end up creating an issue. 9. If I end up supplying the car to the bodyshop in pieces, how hard is it to refit doors, the tailgate, bonnet etc. without scratching or lifting any of my new paint when pushing hinge pins into place? Ian.

Hello all, thought i'd share with you the progress i have made with my 205. I got this car from my brother who had owned it for the past 10 years. it was his daily until he had 2 kids! I used to love him taking me out in it when i was about 12, so was chuffed to finally get my hands on it and (attempt!) to restore it back to road/showworthy condition. The car itself is a 1.9 8v completely standard from 1991. The paintwork was fubar'd, few car park dents and minor rust creeping in. It really didn't look very tidy when i picked it up. I was lucky enough to find dry storage for it in my GF's dad's lorry shed. Here i had all the tools and space to begin work sanding back the horrible paintwork!

Hello everyone! I have a question that I'm sure has been covered before, but I am looking at buying a GTi to restore over the summer with my dad - not a full restoration, just a car needing a bit of TLC really. I've seen one advertised locally to home but the paint is pretty bad. It is Sorrento Green but I really like the Miami Blue colour, could anybody give me a ballpark figure of how much it would cost to have the exterior only resprayed in Miami Blue? The inside will be sprayed white further down the road, so it's only an exterior and possibly engine bay job. We would do much of the prep work ourselves, if not all of it, so that would bring the cost down somewhat. Thanks!