I want to get my 1984 245 Turbo Wagon re-painted, but the original black sticker that's directly under the side windows and runs the length of the car is pretty scuffed-up; some parts of it have gashes and scratches and the whole thing is really faded.

I've got some choices:

1) Have it sanded-off when they prep the car and just have them spray that section body-color

2) Have the shop mask it along with the windows and just leave it as is.

3) Have the shop sand it off while prepping and then have them paint it and then add new stickers later.

Personally, I like option three, but where can I get the stickers? At least I'm thinking they're stickers. It's definitely added on top of the paint so I'm assuming it's just glued on.

Only turbo 240s have this I've noticed. Has anybody else ever gone through this before?

Thanks.

Jason.

I had my 85 240ti painted 2 wks. ago and desided to take the black stripe off.I'm glad I did it looks better and before it was painted I removed the black trim that runs along the roof line above the doors.The color is Redwood (brownish/maroon) to me there is enough black trim and the lines of the car look better now.But that's just my opinion.If I want I can always put it back on.

My 88 has the black stripe, my 83 does not. I like the look of painted metal better. That black stripe has always seemed a bit arbitrary to me.

Body shop gave me a price of $120 to have them painted on, which they said is better then the stickers and won't peel or scrape like them. Also said it would be easier to "touch up" if needed.

My other option is to just have them not even bother and paint it body color (metallic grey) up to the bottoms of the windows.

Still sitting on the fence. The paint job (3 coats with integrated clearcoat) is around $417, so the price of $120 for the black paint seems a bit steep. That's more then a quarter of the price of the entire paint job, and just for two stripes.

A good auto pinstripe guy should have it. It is a bluish-looking tape, 2" wide, Jet black when you peel the protective vinyl to stick it on. Absolutely no markings on the rolls I have or I would help you ID it.

I was under the impression that all 240s got this stripe. At the very least mine did.

Don't do option two. That's what happened when I got my car repainted because I naively assumed that the shop would autonomously either remove it or replace it with a non-cracked stripe when they repainted. They masked it. If you leave it cracked and broken, then it's only going to mar the appearance of an otherwise beautiful car.

(At the end of last summer, I spent hours out in the garage using a razor blade to scrape the tape off. I then sprayed over it with black spraypaint--it looked really good, but it's beginning to flake off in a few places and I think I need to spray it again. I wish I had handled this issue when I got the car repainted.)

I don't know why it's there. I've theorized that maybe it was to prevent the clearcoat there from baking off in the sun, or it's some kind of glare reduction thing. Really, I'm not sure--I would be tempted to get it painted body color, were I getting my car repainted again. However, at the moment I'm not able to visualize a 240 without that black strip, so it might look really odd.

I also don't know of any (cheap) source for the black stripe. Thus, I'd say get the shop to do what they can. If they've got some kind of black spray coating that they can put there, then get them to do that. If not, then get it sanded off and the area painted the same as the rest of the car.

Don't forget to take before and after pictures and post them here!
--
'89 244 GL -- 109,500 miles (see profile for info on car)

Actually my 88 244 DL has the trim where as my 83 turbo does not. The turbo is black though. You might want to have the shop duplicate the stripe with paint, as the original stickers from the dealor costs around $200.
--
1988 244 DL + Virgos, and Power Windows, 1983 244 Turbo +Intercooler

You can find the black tape at most auto body supply shops. It is made by 3M
and comes in different widths. I believe the 2 inch size is what you need.


Jay
84 245 GLTi
88 740 GLE