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Just want to get a general opinion here. My 97 LX clear coat is pretty much off in most places (thats what i get for driving it a lot in colorado with all the sand for years) so i am looking to repaint it. The color that is on there is the original light blue, I was thinking of going a little darker blue maybe, is it worth it and would be it more expensive to change the color completely? What do you guys think

 
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I am a collision repair technician. I would tell you to go for the color change if you dont like the color. I will also tell you at the same time that If you are going to show this car at shows it will be very hard to ever completely change the color without removing the motor. As you prolly have noticed the frame rails under the hood have the paint to match the car on them and these are hard to access and paint completely. The last car I painted complete The color went from a maroon to a jet black. I told the customer that I would spray everything I could get to.I started by taking the doors off and painted the hood, trunk and doors all seperately in the paint booth, then the pillars by where the doors mount and close and the rest of the body. If you go into this much detail this seems like a lot of work but when you have a finished product it looks amazing. If I had a color to tell you to go to I have been thinking about painting my civic the blue that honda put out in the 7th gens. That color has tons of flakes in it and looks truely amazing when done right.

Another key note I will give you is that the lighter colors hide dents really well with white being the best at hiding them. On the other end of the same spectrum black shows the most dents and imperfections.

In the end its your car and you decide but I like the darker colors my self they give cars a certain amount of class. I always think about the people that go out and buy a brand new car and buy it in gray or white for that instance because the price is cheaper. If I wanted to buy a new car I would get it in something other than a color with very little pigments. If you have any questions when doing this process just ask and I will help in any way possible

 
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Yea I'm not planning on showing this car. I use it for getting around town and with the potential job change have an actual minor commute to work. I also do a bit of mountain biking so have a Yakima rack on top. Roof paint started going first but I moony pained it. I was meticulous though at getting the paint off. I peeled the weather stripping back and sanded all the paint then primed it and did 4 layers of Matte black spray paint. I figured I get all the dirt from the bike on the roof anyway and no point in paint extra for pro do it when it's gonna get messed up quickly anyway. Been a year for that now and it's still looking good. I would like to own a car at some point with Subaru blue but I don't think this will be the one. I will probably just keep the same color. Found a guy who will do it for a K the whole car.