BHPian DeBAPS9002 recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Chapter 2The Painting: How I Brought My Alto’s Personality BackI am a strong believer that the shape of the car decides the colour. Yes, a white car is the safest choice and almost every car in white will look good. It is a shade that will offend none but won’t excite anyone either. When I got this Alto, I knew it has to be a fun colour, the smaller the car the brighter the colour and personality! For me it had to be yellow, but yellow is such a shade if not done right can look outright gaudy. I wanted a colour that wasn’t too bright nor too dull, when you sample yellow you will realise that if seen in isolation every yellow looks the same, but put them besides each other and the undertones truly outshine each other. I must admit, I fell in love with the Palio S10, the colour caught my fancy when I first saw it as a kid, the body kit and everything else that made it different has a special place in my memory. I wanted this Alto to have that colour, but wanted to see other shades before I came back to my original choice. Colours that I sampled came from cars that I have seen here: Palio, Zen, Octavia vRS, Nano and Swift Sport (the Suzuki Vstorm bike has this shade). I wanted a story to be associated with the colour I chose, the Suzuki yellow made logical sense as its from Suzuki, has motorsport history, the name has pedigree; but the shade was just too bright for my liking. Stare at the colour in the sun and then try looking at anything else around and you will know what I mean. I didn’t realise how dark Tata Nano’s sunshine yellow was till it was places side by side, it felt dark for the Altos personality. The other yellow from Maruti that came on the Zen, WagonR and Estilo felt faded so dropped that colour from the list. Circle back, Fiat Canary yellow felt right. It was from 2002, close to the age of the car, felt period correct and the shade somehow just felt at home on this car. I wanted the car to have a new colour but not just on the surface with hidden parts forgotten or left ignored, it was a ground up build, reaching every corner physically possible. This was going to be time consuming and expensive, but you know good things come at a price, that price is Money and Patience. I had the concept and what I wanted to do in mind, the aesthetic upgrades I wanted to do, the new and upgraded parts that will replace the old one, everything was bought and stocked (stocked is an understatement, I literally hoarded every part and piece needed. My house that is otherwise kept tidy and with my borderline OCD, didn’t recognize who I was for those 6 months). What was missing was a workshop that would execute it the way I wanted. When you compare the planning and execution phase, the latter is harder if you don’t have control on the outcome. Getting someone to do exactly what you say and what they deliver, while keeping the cost and quality equilibrium is a task. Desmo.One who took this challenge up understood that this was not just a paintjob. It was a PROJECT. Something that rarely comes with an assignment like this is ME; I wanted to be involved and not micromanage the whole project. Where needed my inputs and final checks were the only way the project would move forward. We have had some instances of redoing things when it didn’t meet my vision or expectations. After understanding the depth of this project and quality outcome expected the brand of paint and basework was selected. We decided to use Wurth products for all the basework including underbody, the paint brand selected was Axalta Cromax, from the start I knew it wasn’t going to be Glasurit level, but much better than other paint brands. Kicking Off with Canary Yellow When I first unbolted the doors, hood and bumpers, I felt a rush-this was going to be something special. Every rusty patch got ground out and welded, then sealed tight so this yellow won’t ever bubble again. I insisted on taking every panel out and heavy-duty masking (no half measures here), because overspray ghosts can ruin a weekend of hard work. Three Stages to Showroom Shine This was a multi-layer paint job. Old paint was stripped out to bare metal, then a coat of primer, smoothened out any uneven surfaces, sanded down again, base coat applied as this yellow comes with a special shade of base coat before the actual yellow is applied. What I realised is if you just paint it directly on grey primer the shade looks different. We laid down epoxy primer, slapped on a perfectly matched Fiat base coat, and finished with a tough clear. The car underwent a proper painting process, it also had the state of the art baking process that was a sight to behold. Remember the child that waits for the cake to bake? That’s exactly how it felt. In between each layer, I’d peer at the seams and get them to sand away any hint of orange peel-it felt like sculpting rather than painting. When sunlight catches it just right, it looks like liquid gold. Under the Bonnet, All Business Once the bay was stripped, we gave it a power wash that would make a pressure-washer fan sweat, then treated every nook with rust-killer. A slick gloss-black coat later, I could barely stop myself from popping the hood at stoplights. That contrast? Exactly the “little surprise” I’d been picturing. Cabin Vibes: Subtle but Special The interior work started with first taking out everything from the inside, I mean everything. The thought was to check if there are any rust spots hiding below that needed attention. Thankfully and to my surprise it was RUST FREE in the literal sense, a few spots here and there but it was acceptable, so it was decided to give it that added protection, went ahead with underbody coating on the floor so that we increase the lifespan of the area that will never be exposed once the car is put back together. I stripped every panel down, then sprayed a charcoal-grey matte that actually hides dust (huge win). For the seats and door inserts, I went with black Art Leather and a single yellow stitch-just enough to echo the exterior without screaming “matchy-matchy.” Kept the original carpet for authenticity, but tossed in fresh, custom-fit mats to keep things tidy. The interior plastic painting is a task, its not easy to put together nor is it easy to look after it once completed, so unless there is a desperate need to change the colour, my suggestion is DONT DO IT. In my case, given how Maruti decided to give the interior a poverty look by getting parts from other cars without even changing the shade to make it uniform in appearance, I had to get one uniform shade hence decided to give it a nice dark theme inside. Painting the interior panel, I went with 2 coats of plastic primer followed by the Charcoal Gray paint, then matte clear coat, yes Matte as semi gloss would look too shiny for my liking and left to dry in the paint booth. The shade chosen for the interior is the colour you will find in the new Mahindra Thar. There is more to share on the Interior and Exterior painting that I will cover in Chapter 3 with more pictures and how it all came together. Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.
