Hi everyone!
I'm about to sell a 2002 Honda Civic LX that I bought with ~130k miles, which now has 181k miles. I've been doing a lot of detailing on her, including body work like swapping out a busted side mirror. I think I can improve her sale price from ~$950 to ~$1950. The car now looks great and ought to run decent for another 120k miles. I want to be perfectly honest to the buyer though, and there are a few ethical issues I'm having.
First, the paint job as of two weeks ago is only decent at best, rusting out in a very minor way in about five places. Second, I have stripped and sanded bad parts of the paint such as the hood, front and rear bumper, and a few side places. I have primed the entire body with dish soap, then sandpaper in select areas, then odorless mineral spirits all around, followed by IPA, then waited a night, then, on a 50-degree day in the shade, painted with gray Rustoleum primer in needed areas, then Rustoleum enamel gloss black 2x + primer
... Then waited a week ... in 40-degree-average weather.
Then sanded, IPAed, and painted with Rustoleum High Performance Gloss black, 15 mins later followed by "OEM" Nighthawk Black lacquer by Perfect Match. This final lacquer over half-wet enamel, which was painted at about 55 degrees, has now been sitting on her for three moist 45-degree days. My temporary license plate expires in a month and I'm trying to sell her and give the buyer a great value!
The car is now a mutant 1/3 original oxidized paint, 1/3 overspray/OEM-oxidized combo, and 1/3 bootleg rattlecan job. I have read that it might be best not to clearcoat this, because if it flakes off [which may be likely] it will look bad. I actually think I primed and prepped the surface decently, although I acknowledge I used a soft paint on a relatively cold day. My plan is to super-lightly sand with 2000-grit tomorrow, wait two weeks, weather-come-what-may, then compound and seal.
The paint will look decent on the day of sale, however, I want the best paint job possible for my buyer. Please advise! On behalf of my buyer and my soul, thank you so much!!!
-Adam