Kia Stinger Full Respray: Gunmetal Grey to Baby Blue

The Kia Stinger is one of the most distinctive sports sedans on Singapore roads: long bonnet, fastback roofline and wide rear haunches. This one arrived in a dark gunmetal grey and left our workshop in a soft baby blue, with its carbon fibre bonnet re-lacquered to match the new finish.

Here’s how the full car respray came together, and why a colour like this suits the Stinger so well.

Why baby blue works on a Kia Stinger

Dark grey is a safe factory colour. It hides dirt, but it also hides the car’s shape, because the body lines disappear into shadow. A light, solid pastel such as baby blue does the opposite. It catches light along every crease, so the Stinger’s sculpted sides and muscular rear look sharper and more defined.

It also plays well with contrast. Against the light blue paint, the exposed carbon bonnet, black diffuser and dark trim stand out, giving the car a motorsport look without any extra parts. A colour like this turns a well-known model into a car people stop and look at in the car park.

What a full body respray involves

A full body respray isn’t just a fresh coat on top of the old one. For this colour change, the job covered:

• Inspection and panel prep. Every panel was checked for dents, stone chips and old repairs. Small dents were corrected before any paint went on.
• Sanding and priming. The original paint was sanded to give the new paint something to bond to, and primer was applied wherever needed.
• Masking and disassembly. Lights, badges and trim were removed or masked so the new colour runs cleanly into edges, not over them.
• Base coat and clear coat. The baby blue base coat was built up evenly across the car, then sealed with clear coat for depth and UV protection.
• Booth baking. The car was baked in our spray booth to cure the paint into a hard, durable finish.
• Carbon re-lacquer. The carbon bonnet was cut back and re-lacquered so the weave looks deep and glossy again, not cloudy or yellowed.
• Polish and final check. The finish was polished and inspected panel by panel under strong light before handover.

Light pastel colours need perfect prep

Pastels and light solid colours are less forgiving than metallics. Without metallic flake to scatter light, any unevenness in the base coat or poorly sanded filler can show through. That’s why prep takes the longest on a job like this, and it’s what makes the colour look even from every angle.

Caring for a newly resprayed car

For the first few weeks after a respray:

• hand wash gently and avoid automatic car washes;
• wipe off bird droppings and tree sap quickly, since Singapore’s heat bakes them into fresh paint;
• wait for our go-ahead before waxing, polishing or ceramic coating.

A ceramic coating is well worth it on a light colour like baby blue. It makes road grime easier to rinse off and helps the paint stay bright for longer.

How we do a respray at our workshop

Every Singapore car spray paint job at our Bukit Merah and Kaki Bukit workshops follows the same careful process:

1. Inspect the car under strong light and agree the scope with you.
2. Wash and degrease to remove wax, silicone and road grime.
3. Remove or mask lights, trim and badges for crisp, clean edges.
4. Repair and sand: straighten dents, treat scratches and sand the surface so new paint bonds properly.
5. Prime repaired areas and block-sand them smooth.
6. Colour match using your paint code, adjusted to your car’s actual colour.
7. Spray the base coat and clear coat in our dust-controlled spray booth.
8. Bake to cure the paint into a hard, durable finish.
9. Polish, reassemble and inspect every panel before handover.

Read the full step-by-step guide: how we respray a car.

How much does a colour change respray cost?

Full car resprays start from $1,800. Colour changes involve more work, such as door shuts, the boot and engine bay edges, so they’re quoted after we’ve seen the car. Our car respray cost guide explains what affects the price.

Thinking about a new colour for your car?

Send us a photo of your car on WhatsApp and tell us the colour you have in mind. We’ll talk you through the options and give you a free, no-obligation quote, or you can request a quote here.