What would you guys expect to spend on a paint job only? I did all the body work and stripped all the accessories myself and will probably do all the prep work too. I plan on having exterior, door jams, under hood and under trunk painted, no engine compartment yet. Also, I am painting it white, so I'm leaning towards the paint without clearcoat. I don't really understand all the different kinds of paint. Any links to paint information? The body guy I talked to said the cheap places like Maaco do a good job painting, but the paint is cheap and won't last but his price seemed a little high. If no prep work is done, I'm wondering what kind of additional quality an independant body man is gonna have over the production shops for doing just the paint. I just want a car that looks good to most people and doesn't need to be show quality. I also plan on keeping the car in the garage. Thanks. -Erick
I had my 72 Grabber converted from dark red to Ford Chrome Yellow. I completely dissassembled the car myself and had it painted piece by piece and I reassembled it. It needed absolutely no body work and the only prep was to scuff it so the new paint would adhere. It was a two stage paint job including all jams, trunk, engine compartment, hood stripe and rear panel blackout, etc .... The cost about 9 years ago was $2000 cash .... The same guys also just painted my 71 Grabber ... I completely dissasembled that and it needed quite a bit of blocking but no major body work, two stage bright red ... that one cost me $4000 .... However, by the time I had the second car painted I was pretty good friends with all the guys in the shop and easily had referred almost $50,000 in collision work to them ... They don't do restoration referrals ...
$2000 for single stage white paint. No sanding before or after painting and no primer because existing paint is in good shape and will be sanded by me during prepping.
If I were you I would try and find someone who does paint on the side. If you are not looking for a show quality job, this would fit your needs well. You might well save 50 -75% Yeah bodyshops sound high priced, but they have lots of overhead, training, tools and equipment that dont come cheap. Dan
I dont know about Calif prices but my full size extended cab truck had the paint falling off so it was sanded to metal, primered and two toned white over gold with single stage paint for $900 about a year ago. The paint has held up fine except for the small piece between the bumper and the bottom of the grill but they reshot that a couple of months ago and has done fine. I also told them I was not looking for show quality which i guess means taping off instead of disassembling the various parts such as around mirrows, headlights bumpers etc.
Well, I'll tell you how I feel about the subject and I manage a body shop for a Lincoln Mercury dealership. I'm not saying you can't prep the vehicle out properly but I personally won't paint anyone's car that we didn't prep ourself. A paint job is only as good as it is prepped meaning that if it's not professionally prepped, it's not going to be professionally painted. I don't want someone coming back to me 2 or 3 months later complaining of flaws in the paint or paint peeling. If it's not prepped right, that's what will happen. I would never put paint over spray can primer either. My average paint job with NO body work is around $1800. The materials alone for a paint job like this is about $600 and that includes clearcoat. The basic paint job takes about 30-35 hours to complete...again with NO body work. Like someone else mentioned, overhead is a killer. I don't do any single stage paint jobs anymore...they just don't hold up like a good clear coat job. Don't waste your money. Don't use cheap paint...it's a waste. You'll be sorry in a year or two. My paint jobs are warranted to the owner for as long as they own it...no fading or peeling. Of course I see a lot of cars come in with peeling plastic bumpers that have obviously hit something due to the spiderwebbed paint so I can't help them but other than that I haven't had a paint problem or complaint since I went to exclusively base/clear about 10 years ago. When it comes to paint jobs it's like anything else...you get what you pay for!!!
That's what I thought too. I only did the bodywork because I figured it would save some $, but I planned on leaving the finishing work to the professionals to make sure the final product is done right. The body guy seemed like he wanted me to do the prep work. It's hard to know what to do and what to leave to them. Maybe I shouldn't of even done the bodywork.
"I would never put paint over spray can primer either." Dave & John are you listening to this? Ray I tried to tell these guys, but I do have to say they listened in the end. Ray does the $1800 job include jams? I'm doing work out of my garage and I always say $800 just to spray one, if there is alot of disassembly and reassembly the price goes up, body work? price goes up, jams? price goes up. I only use dupont or ppg because my local paint house will stand behind what they sell of these 2 products so if I have a problem they will come out and look and take care of it if it is a paint problem. For this reason I don't like trying to paint over other peoples prep work either. Kelly, not saying that you didn't get a good job but I wouldn't touch a job like that for that kind of money, too much time involved in taking one to the metal for $900. I don't see how a business can do that and pay their bills. I think basecoat/clearcoat is the only way to go. Now days there is UV protectant in the clears and they hold up well and look good. Even if I were going to do a straight white paintjob I would use bc/cc. I would like to think that I do a good job, my bodywork needs alot of practice(I would like to be able to make anything black straight), but I'm pretty careful about my prepwork. I'm doing this as a hobby and to make a little on the side. I really like the glory work so if you let me be a little creative with your paint I'll give you a better price, just ask Dave(all I want is yellow with black grabber stripes) Moore. The only thing is my time is spread thin by my job and family so Daves car is taking longer than I invisioned and this is something to think about when you take it to some who does it on the side. Not that you won't get a good job from many, just that it might take a little longer. Well that is enough rambling form me.
why come everytime raddle can is talked about my name gets brought up is it something I said or is it something I did please forgive me ole great and glorious gods of the gravity fed spray guns
I believe you guys because the guy at Carquest said the same thing...but what is different in spray can primer? Maybe I'll shoot the whole car myself with primer from a spray gun, I have the air compressor. Heck, if I do that I may as well paint the whole car too . It would be fun to learn.
thats all i'm getting ward is right ??? ......i know your doing one hell of a job on mine and......... i thank you for all your doing ..like i said the time is no problem ...im busy buying new mavericks right now
Blown76Mav: Did you use a paint booth? Everything I've read says to Not paint in a garage. I think I could paint no problem if I had a booth. I don't want to paint in my garage due to fire hazard, health hazard, local laws, and quality of paint job. I'm going to see if there is a paint booth around here that I could rent by the hour. Also, you said the painter spent 10 hours on the roof and 14 on the body. Was that just to paint? Why so long? Multiple coats or something?
Yep, that's a lot of time on that roof. As for the second picture, did you say there was a Chevy in there? Never saw it!!!
