Hmm well we’ll see if I can go up in cost. Already plan on 2-3k in replacement parts. Guess I could take a good bit apart myself. Only thing I wouldn’t know how to do is mess with the window trim. And damn the engine bay should be gone over but don’t know if that will be in The budget.
Data point, and some can laugh all they want.
I plasti-dipped my Probe. It came out fantastic. The prep is low compared to paint. You want to fix dents and rust, but the substrate doesn't have to be perfect. The dip hides scratches. Beyond that, you just have to have the car completely clean and dry and masked well.
I'm probably going to dip my Buick this winter, for a few reasons:
1) It'll protect my decent condition OEM paint a few more years. I'm at the point now where 30+ years of "love" has left me with very thin paint. I can't really polish it anymore without risking a burn-through, and I'm not ready to blow it apart for a real paint job just yet.
2) It's a good value. $700 for the kit, and that's including the spraying equipment. Once you have the equipment, a materials-only kit to change the color is ~$400
3) Assuming the paint under the dip is in decent shape, not peeling or cracked, you can just peel the dip off and respray if you don't like the color or screw it up.
4) You can do it in a well ventilated home garage. The material is naptha thinner based. The sprayer is literally a Wagner power-painter product with a remote fan unit to keep the motor away from the product so you don't blow yourself up.
5) it's a rubberized coating, sort of like the handles on a wrench. So it's resistant to impacts like rocks or dropped sockets. It also doesn't show fingerprints, either. Despite the texture, I had trouble getting stickers to stick, which means dirt doesn't stick, either. To clean you literally just hose it off.
Drawbacks?
You can't get a mirror finish gloss with this stuff. It's rubber
It probably isn't very UV resistant over the long term, so if you park outside where it sits in the sun a lot, this wouldn't be a good option.
For reference, I turned this:
into this, in a weekend:
There are a bunch of grays with various levels of pop available that would look great on your T-Type.
And no, they didn't pay me to say this. Not pushing, just adding a data point. I had a good experience. It's a legit option.
Google Dipyourcar.com