[SnS_12]

We currently have only one car in the family which is our 2014 Honda Brio VX. This car had replaced our 2008 Indica Xeta (Petrol) and shared garage with my wife's Swift VXI. The Brio is the third car my farther has purchased till date with the first car being a preowned Wagon R which he purchased in 2006. Both Indica and Swift were sold off at around 26k kms on the odo and the Brio is the first car to run more than 50K kms. The km reading would have been much higher if we didn't have the Swift as the car had done 8k kms in Chennai before it was sent to Mumbai post my marriage as my father in law didn't want to sell it considering it was just over 1.5 years old and wanted us to use it in Mumbai.

Brio's ownership till date has been flawless mostly on the mechanical front and my expense have been towards regular service, battery and set of tires. Considering this is the last car my father said he will own and I am yet to buy my first car and hence, the thought of selling it never crossed our minds. Also, we have many happy memories in this car we would cherish for a lifetime and that is why I thought maybe this is one car I would not like to part away with it and hold on to it till its mechanically possible. Being a Honda its been reliable as I mentioned earlier and the parts and service are easy on the pocket as well. Also, I really enjoy driving this car within the city considering its size and the phenomenal 1.2 i-vtec engine and feels like a proper go kart.

The car will complete 8 years with us in Oct end 2022 and cosmetically it had some dents and scratches (vandalism/battle scars) that it had picked over the years and were starting to bother me and hence the thought of doing a full repaint came to my mind. Initially I was thinking of experimenting with some other bright colors which really look good on the Brio (always googling for ideas with Brio's in Thailand/Indonesia) but then I didn't want the hassle of getting it endorsed on the RC book. Also, since I plan to keep this car as a permanent member of the garage I was ok with the cost of repainting and had no worries of losing resale value associated with repainted cars in general.

My previous experiments painting the Brio has been limited to getting both the bumpers repainted a couple of times and the work done the last time is what I was not very happy with and was also my first experience with those gents. For the repaint I had a friend's workshop in mind who had painted a few of my bikes almost a decade back and the paint is still holding good. I had never given any of my cars to paint at his workshop considering the location and the time spent in travelling from my house. But since this was going to be a full repaint I wanted to get the best work done.

Have many pictures to share right from the day of ownership till today and will explain and narrate the journey from 2014 with some memorable pics.

(31-10-2014) Delivery day - Initially we had plans to pick up a Honda City as we already had the Swift so a sedan would have been the ideal addition to the garage but my dad was not comfortable with the size of the car and hence he decided on the Brio. Also, we wanted a blue shade but this was the last piece they had in stock as the facelift version was on the way, which we didn't want to wait for.



Before taking delivery I had spoken with Vicky at Bombay Tyres to upgrade the stock tires to 185/65 Yokohama Earth 1. As usual my folks back at home had no idea about it and found it difficult to digest that after dropping them home I was going to change the tires on a new car. The odo reading when I reached the shop.



Stock 175/65 JK tyre



All this rust on a new car was not a pretty sight to be honest.













Fresh more sticker rubber all set to go in.



The dashboard on the Brio is anything but pretty to look at. Thankfully its dual tone and doesn't have that weird brown colour like the previous models.



The AC button gets hot to the touch maybe because of the heat from the green light behind it. Also no auto climate control on the top spec variant. They had to offer something more in the Jazz running the same engine I guess to justify the cost.







Weird panel gap



But my father used it to put his aux cable connected to his phone and stored in the glovebox. The notes are for our first road trip to Bangalore-Kodai-Chennai in the Brio.

[SnS_12]

Odometer reading, when I decided to replace the stock air filter with a replacement K&N filter.





Amount of dirt accumulated after driving for a little over 3k kms.

[SnS_12]

Some random pictures of drives in the Brio over the years.











Had gone to test drive the Tiago JTP and came back unimpressed and actually felt better driving the Brio on my way back home.



I clean and polish my car and bikes from time to time but wanted the interiors to be cleaned professionally and tried this mobile washing service and was happy with their service. This was back in Dec 2019.









Some odo pics. Since I drive this car 95% of the time I always take pics of such milestones.

[SnS_12]

Its time for the main set of pics..

Some pictures I clicked before sending it out for paint. Pictures speak for themselves of the damages.















Mkraftdesign is whom I had in mind for this job.







The last time I saw the car before seeing it in its new avatar after two weeks.



I was shared pictures with regular updates on the progress of the work done.











In the paint booth

[SnS_12]

Its getting there.. Three layers of paint and then the clear coat..





















Alloys were painted too along with the monograms.







The chrome front grill moustache gets a gloss black finish with all other plastic parts in matt black.

[SnS_12]

Delivery Day...

The first sight after the repaint











Scratch marks left behind after the mineral deposit removal. Will have to see what I can do to fix it.











































The colour really pops under the sunlight..



Thank you for viewing and now the difficult task of avoiding the first scratch. Fingers crossed...

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

pictures speak for themselves of the damages

Nice car there SnS_12. Few points that I'd like to share

1. The stock air filter had blocked quite some dust at 3k kms. Not sure how so much of dust got picked up.
2. The "fiber" number plates of those days was the norm. Even I got them for my Corolla and realised it wasn't the right choice. They'd crack even on kissing an obstacle.
3. Barring the right running board damage, there was hardly any damage that warranted a repaint on your Brio. In fact, the scratches on the front right door and the blackened out portion may reappear as these are acts of vandals. Sratches on the bumper were next to Nil
4. Appreciate the paint shop for removing the lights, door handles, mirrors, bumper inserts, monograms and bumpers and painting them separately.
5. For most of us who hate scratches, keeping the car scratch free is like taking on stress. That's why after many years and many cars, I do just whatever touch up is absolutely needed, and leave the not-so-serious ones as is to retain the original paint. I remember how much care I'd take to ensure that my 7 month old Versa would remain free of scratches- jugaad covered parking, car cover, and what not. Managed it quite well over 6 and a half years but yes, the tension was always there.

Happy to see a nice hot hatch with hotter number plates. Enjoy the new ride!

[nkrishnap]

A nice car for our crowded city streets.

Few questions regarding the paint work for a deeper understanding.

1. How much did the paint job cost?
2. What paints were used? Primer, base and clear (which particular one)?
3. Did you specifically opt for the partial primer and an over coat?

[KkVaidya]

Congratulations on the new paint job.
You chose the right guy for the job - . Best in the business
Red is one of those colours that looks good on the Brio.
A small suggestion - Giving the glasses a tint would spruce up the looks even more.

[Raghu M]

Thank you for that article. I don't think your Brio was at a repaint stage at any point of time. The small scratches and bruises would all be gone away after a thorough detailing. Except the alloys, I didn't see the need for you to repaint that cutie. Anyways, the car looks stunning. Wish you happy miles of driving.

[sarbagna]

Congratulations! She looks gorgeous!

My Brio is 2013 version, same model but Urban Titanium (from Bafna Motors). She hasn't done enough miles (hardly 27K) till date, but had her fare share of damages - which are pretty close to what you shared. So, like others I too am curious about the total cost on this paint overhaul. I have moved to Kolkata now, so need to figure out a good place to get this done (& an idea on budget).

[cbrspn]

Congratulations on a well-done paintjob SnS!

Is the paint you went with exactly the same shade as the Rallye Red offered by Honda or is that some aftermarket red shade like the Candy Red?

[Dhruv Shetty]

Nice paint job on the Brio, the red and black combination really goes well.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Nice car there SnS_12. Few points that I'd like to share

1. The stock air filter had blocked quite some dust at 3k kms. Not sure how so much of dust got picked up.

Exactly my thoughts, when I saw it then. Mumbai has dusty weather but considering that the service interval is six months or 10k kms this was not a confidence inspiring sight.

Originally Posted by vigsom

2. The "fiber" number plates of those days was the norm. Even I got them for my Corolla and realised it wasn't the right choice. They'd crack even on kissing an obstacle.

True. I have been driving around with that broken plate for ages and finally the right opportunity arrived to get it rectified.

Originally Posted by vigsom

3. Barring the right running board damage, there was hardly any damage that warranted a repaint on your Brio. In fact, the scratches on the front right door and the blackened out portion may reappear as these are acts of vandals. Sratches on the bumper were next to Nil

I can understand many of you feel that the damages were not enough to warrant a repaint but as I said earlier there were small dents and deep scratches all over including the roof which only a repaint could rectify. Also, considering the age of the car I decided to finally go for a repaint as I had avoided attending to damages apart from the front and rear bumpers in the past to maintain the original factory paint.

I have prepared a collage of the images I had taken but the phone camera doesn't truly show the actual extent of damages which is visible while viewing it directly. The driver side portion had vandalism deep scratches from the front fender till the rear door and this is the sight I was welcomed too every time I approached the car. Am not sure who or where this happened but I am sure Karma would have visited the person who did this to my car.

Originally Posted by vigsom

4. Appreciate the paint shop for removing the lights, door handles, mirrors, bumper inserts, monograms and bumpers and painting them separately.

That is the reason why I decided to go with them as its owned by a friend and had good experience panting few of my bike parts through them back in 2011.









Same tank after a decade.







Same wheels after a decade

Originally Posted by vigsom

5. For most of us who hate scratches, keeping the car scratch free is like taking on stress. That's why after many years and many cars, I do just whatever touch up is absolutely needed, and leave the not-so-serious ones as is to retain the original paint. I remember how much care I'd take to ensure that my 7 month old Versa would remain free of scratches- jugaad covered parking, car cover, and what not. Managed it quite well over 6 and a half years but yes, the tension was always there.

Happy to see a nice hot hatch with hotter number plates. Enjoy the new ride!

I always aspire to maintain all my vehicles both mechanically and cosmetically in top shape. Considering that I have really avoided the temptation and urge to fix all the cosmetic imperfections the car has developed over the years as these are things that one cannot control with a car which is not driven very occasionally and only for short weekend drives. So after all this years I decided now its the time to give it a midlife makeover.

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

1. How much did the paint job cost?

Around 80K

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

2. What paints were used? Primer, base and clear (which particular one)?

All were Dupont with three coats of paint and three coats of clear.

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

3. Did you specifically opt for the partial primer and an over coat?

Since, the plan was to stick with the OE Rallye Red shade we didn't plan to scrape the paint down completely to the metal.

Originally Posted by KkVaidya

Congratulations on the new paint job.
You chose the right guy for the job - . Best in the business
Red is one of those colours that looks good on the Brio.
A small suggestion - Giving the glasses a tint would spruce up the looks even more.

Thank you... Tinted glasses is something I am thinking about but I have never received unwanted attention with the cops in the Brio and that is something which is holding me back.

Originally Posted by Raghu M

Thank you for that article. I don't think your Brio was at a repaint stage at any point of time. The small scratches and bruises would all be gone away after a thorough detailing. Except the alloys, I didn't see the need for you to repaint that cutie. Anyways, the car looks stunning. Wish you happy miles of driving.

Thank you. On the re paint please see my response to bhpian vigsom above.

Originally Posted by sarbagna

Congratulations! She looks gorgeous!

So, like others I too am curious about the total cost on this paint overhaul. I have moved to Kolkata now, so need to figure out a good place to get this done (& an idea on budget).

Thank you. I have given the costing in my response to bhpian nkrishnap as above. The cost will depend on the condition of the car and amount of denting painting work required and finally the craftmanship offered. I don't think I will be exaggerating if I say the finish is better than factory..

Originally Posted by cbrspn

Congratulations on a well-done paintjob SnS!

Is the paint you went with exactly the same shade as the Rallye Red offered by Honda or is that some aftermarket red shade like the Candy Red?

It is the same Rallye Red shade but won't be a exact match and this one looks a bit brighter, which I have no complains about.