Choose car spray that fits your taste
Before re-spraying your car, there are a number of conditions that you must always consider. PHOTOS BY ISMAIL KEZAALA.
When you think of how best you can improve the splendour of your car, there are a number of things that will come to mind but the ultimate choice is re-spraying or giving your car a new shed of paint.
It can be spraying the exterior or interior but whatever you choose to do, make sure you get the right person and the right paint.
Many factors may influence your decision and ideally the colour of the car should not only reflect your personality but also increase visibility while on the road. It should also be able to beat off or hide dust and dirt.
Ivan Kibombo learnt a lesson the hard way.
“I went to this garage and told this mechanic what I wanted and he assured me he would do a good job. He told me he had the paint I needed,” he says.
However, two days later Kibombo could not believe what he saw.
“The man had sprayed my car with a funny greenish shade instead of maroon. When I asked him he told me he thought I was a soldier and I would love the green,” Kibombo says, noting that he declined to pay for the job and demanded that his car is re-sprayed.
You might not have gone through Kibombo’s experience, however, according to Jimmy Ssentamu, a car spraying specialist at Kakeeka Garage in Mengo, Kampala, car spraying is a stressful experience.
“People have a personal attachment to cars and any mess on it is enough to stress the owner,” he says.
Colour varieties
In the business of car spraying, Ssentamu says, there is a variety of colours, some of which are cheaper than the others.
“White, off white, pearl white and sliver are some of the best colours that you can opt for in case you are re-spraying,” he says.
Beyond being readily available, white or such related colours are cheap and beat off dust unlike black or some other dark colours that attract it.
Some colours, he says, only last a short period of time before they fade.
“Some colours are made in such a way that they begin to fade after a period of time. That is why you need to choose carefully or get expert advice,” Ssentamu says.
Silvia Nakiboneka, a paint mixer at Mohammed Car Paints, in Luzaaze, Kampala, says there are mainly three common car paint varieties that one can choose from depending on their tastes and preferences.
Such options, she says, include solid, 2K metallic and pearl with each having its own rewards and disadvantages.
“For people that might not want to spend a whole lot on their cars, they can opt for solid colours because they are cheaper and easier to apply. Whereas 2K metallic colours offer some good taste, they are expensive and difficult to apply. Pearl coulours give a depth but do not hide inconsistencies,” she says.
Car paints come in different forms. Some are just mixed by specialists while others come as finished products and in specific shades but all of them react differently if they are wrongly applied.
“The reaction depends on the car and under which condition the paint has been applied,” says Ssentamu and explains that most genuine car sprays are 2K metallic from Japan and Germany.
“When the paint is not genuine it will start fading off whenever the car is packed under the sun or it will peel of when it rains,” he says.
According to Ssentamu, a full body re-spray for a saloon car costs about Shs1.2m while for SUVs it costs between Shs1.5m and Shs2m.
What you must know
Mayi Namuddu deals in car sprays at Kiseka Market and she knows a thing or two about spraying them.
“For one to re-spray their car, they should avoid introducing new colours. Just improve the original colour,” she says.
Changing car colours, she says, comes with instructions that include informing URA of the changes that you intend to make.
“If you need to re-spray and change the colour completely say from blue to white then you will have to go with your car card to Uganda Revenue Authority and follow the procedure. Unless one is to incorporate the main colour with only a simple shade then they can go ahead and do it,” she says.
For simple stains and scratches that do not cut deep into the vehicle re-spraying will be useless as one will only need to do some simple rubbing, apply T-cut to make it shinny and then polish. “There are many polish makes but the best and genuine is from German and Demark,’ says Namuddu. However, for dents, she advises, one will need to re-spray depending on how big the dent may seem.
