You’ll be lucky to find a perfect 20+ year old wings in the right colour. 20 years old means 20 years of rust, scratches. Plus lying around in a breakers. Paint fades at different rates. A good sprayer will match paint.
There are hardly any NB grey imports, let along grey imports in the right colour. Let alone a grey import that was originally brought because it was cheap being cosseted. Most enthusiast owners do not know about releasing the bottom of the wing. Rustproofing doesn’t last 20 years.
This forum, for instance, represents a tiny fraction of MX5 owners out there. They’ve probably never taken the wings fully off. I did. Wings have still rusted through.
The pattern wings do not fit badly, because by and large, most of them are made in Taiwan using old Mazda tooling; this was the opinion of a member who came from big Triumphs, where they know about pattern wings. He thought pattern MX5 wings were very very good, though he would claim to see the wear in the tooling used to produce them. A genuine Mazda wing from MX5 parts is £169. Add £150 for paint. Pattern Mk1 wings are £150.
What about a specialist MX5 breaker? Well a gold wing with scratches from MX5heaven is £120
Many different blues were used on the NB. There were 4 different dark blues. Most breakers won’t know the paint code, because its not on the car. Descriptions are misleading often. And if the wing is shipped with a bit of bubble wrap, cardboard, it may well end up arriving damaged, which will be nothing to do with the seller.
Most of the cost of a car repaint is in prep, and labour is £100 an hour now.
I made this mistake 25 years ago. Dinged wing on a silverstone NA. A breaker had a “perfect” silverstone wing available, ready to pick up. I was in Belfast, the wing was in Dublin. Went to pick up. Now the breaker had removed the wing from the car, the quick way. Which means snipping it behind the bumper (you’re supposed to remove the bumper first. I think the NB is much the same). Ok for a body shop, because the customer will never see it. Even with this, and one paint code for silverstone, the 4 year old silverstone did not match my 5 year old silverstone.
Thanks for that. I could be lucky, but I take your point; it’s a lottery. The settlement i’m getting ought to cover new panels. This experience has been stressful enough without something else to worry about.
The Precious is back from her 10 days at the assessors depot in Reading and, much to my relief, appears to have survived with no further damage. They even washed off the marker pen the driver used to highlight the pre-accident little dings and scratches that were on the car. Same driver, very nice guy, he said he told the guys at the depot I wanted it back and to look after it.
I have identified a spray/body shop in Christchurch for the work. Two personal recommendations and pages of stellar reviews online, so next step is to get the ball rolling with them.
Just very relieved that the car survived its reluctant holiday in Reading. Phew. Onwards and upwards.
Yes, there are still decent people around if you’re lucky. It was nice to get in the car and reverse her up the drive to her spot down the side of the house. I’ll sleep a lot better tonight.
I had mine damaged recently, I’d say minor damage compared to yours. Body shop said 3 days but it was 7 days the car was away with them. You begin to wonder what’s happening but no need. On mine they made an excellent job, going beyond what I expected to get it looking great. Pearlescent white paint, it took some time to get it a spot on match.
Oh, phew! I am so glad you have got her safely home - that is great news!
Good luck with the repair work, and I really hope she is back on the road again soon.
Keep us posted.
I’d also say if there is any prep you can do yourself, do it. Not so much to save money, but to get the best possible outcome. Most of the repair cost is in prep. Taking off bits of trim yourself to refit, rather than them slapping on some masking tape and having over spray everywhere. Non-insurance work has less profit, so they will be looking to cut corners where possible
