earossi

I'm looking at a car and had the guy doing the PPI use a paint gauge on the car. His write-up noted that the paint had been altered and was measuring 9mm in the right rear and 6mm in the right front. He did not indicate any visual notice of any damage repair. What should I make of this data?

gt3'er

I was told original is from 4 to 6 mils (not mm). 9 would be a repaint. But, sometimes things happen at the factory and they do a touch up. In such a case, you would likely not detect damage repair.

Most commonly, anything over 6 or 7 is a repaint.

All of this is just a non-expert opinion. Be interesting to see what others say...

squidge

9mil is definitely thicker than factory. My car recently measured at 5-6 in most places. Sounds like it may have had a coat of paint in that area.

P-daddy

No expert here either, but I was told by a Porsche shop that did my PPI several years ago, up to 6 mils is original and 7 is questionable.

il pirata

Normally if your checking the paint you would do multiple measurements on each panel. Did they provide that to you?

I would agree that 9 mil would normally be considered a respray, although at 9 mil could be a considered at least a decent job with not a lot of filler.

Here's a pretty good primer on looking at paint work:

http://www.rennsportkc.com/ppis-the-...er-never-lies/

If the seller has not disclosed the paint work then it's at issue, at least for me. You want the details on what was done and by whom.

Mark in Baltimore

I was told by a very well-respected guy who is flown all across the country to evaluate collector cars that some paints were very difficult to spray at the factory and that he has seen one or two one owner 993s that had factory original paint but had higher than "normal" paint meter numbers. This might be statistically irrelevant, but I thought his observations were worth noting.

Onami

I had 2 sub 15,000 mile 993's with original paint...one was a one owner in Arena Red. The silver car was very consistant between 5 and 7 mils. The Arena Red was up to 9 mils on some of the horizontal surfaces.

Turbodan

depends on where on the fender he took the reading. most of the wide body 993s had bondo from the factory around the rear flares.
9 mil is too high for most of the fender.
disclaimer: I have metered many Porsches and am an appraiser. what meter did he use? elcometer is the best btw.

BlackSnake99

My car was 4.5-6 mils throughout. I would agree with the above that 8 is likely a respray.

Trader220

I am with Turbodan. I have metered 100's of Porsches and only god knows how many other cars. If you're getting down to the nitty gritty a lot depends on your equipment. Some of the cheaper meters are fine for most work as long as you use the same one consistently. It also depends on what part of the fender as some areas tend to have a bit more spray on them.

The biggest thing is consistency in the paint. It should be fairly uniform throughout the car. No abrupt changes. Its when you get readings all over the map from close testing spots that throws red flags on the job.

The 9 mil is probably a respray, may have been port damage, may have been a scratch that someone had blended. It doesnt sound too bad and I would not let that stop me from buying the car unless its some sort of ultra rare show car thats going to be judged somewhere.

MarinS4

Don't let a paint meter kill your deal. As others have mentioned it could be heavy OEM. If a panel has been resprayed properly and you can't tell without meter what's the worry? Barring any bondo detection I would not think twice about panel repair. I'd focus on the potential rust issues before nothing else!

Foxman

Ernie,

4.5 to 5.5 is the reading I typically get when measuring 993's. If the 9 is isolated to the rear bumper that would not present an issue for me. Front and rear bumper resprays are quite common and should not materially affect resale value. Good luck!

Jim

Trader220

Paint meters are not reading the bumpers

il pirata

Sure they do...here's one

http://www.defelsko.com/p200/positector200.htm

Trader220

In all the years of appraising cars I have never come across the need to measure a bumper. Its the steel, aluminum or carbon fiber which is the important parts. On the other hand I am not so foolish as to say it wouldn't be handy to have, whats the price?