Can I get some kind of consensus as to what I might reasonably expect to pay for a new paint job for my car. I have three small dents that will need to be taken out, nothing major. Also have two dings in the passenger side door. I don't want a crappy assed Maco paintjob, I want something that will look good and will last me for some time. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

Painting a car is basically "You pay for what you get." Maaco is the cheapest... great. But if you look at a Maaco paint job you'll say to yourself, "What the heck was I thinking??" For decent paintjob that'll last you a long time and will not have any dirty effects like pitting, or overflow, about 2.5-3000USD minimum. This will probably include the removal of the dings and what not also. This does NOT include taking out major damage and stuff like that. ^_^ Also another thing to factor in is what color you want. If you're lucky enough to have a neutral color like red then going to either end of the spectrum shouldn't be TOO difficult. Another thing: if you choose to have like a metallic color, then it'll cost more than if you chose like a flat color. The paint itself just costs more. OH! Before I forget, you can greatly reduce or increase the cost of repainting the car by deciding on whether or not you want to paint the door jams, under the hood, etc.. or not. it's like 1.5X the cost.

So to put things in one sentence: You pay for what you get. Let me tell you a horror story my friend got. Check this: His brother needed to repaint his car badly because he got some new body kits and stuff like that. Well his brother knew this one guy he met at the track or something and he got a deal with the guy: 1000USD to paint the car and put the body kit on there. On paper it sounded good. The paint job wasn't finished until 4 months later and even then, the paint job sucked. The side skirts were made of poly urethane and anybody who's ever worked with urethane knows that you have to treat it first before you can paint on it unlike fiberglass. Well the moron at the paintshop just sprayed the paint on there and clearcoated the whole thing. So now there's a glossy finish on the skirt. Sounds good? Wait a sec the best part's coming. We proceeded to take apart the molding and stuff to take a closer inspection of the parts and I noticed that there was crack on the side skirt. I pulled my friend over and took out my knife and started to scrape a little bit of it. Next thing I know a patch of paint about 2inch by 4 inch comes right OFF the piece!!!

Peace,
AJ ^_^

 

You could probably get it done for less with a higher quality job done If you do the prep work yourself. Thats with the Door jambs and the whole 9 yards done. There are a couple of threads on prep work on here. And prep work is the most expensive part of the whole job. If you have the patence to remove parts from the car and sand it down. Then It will save you about 2k at least. Try finding videos or wright ups for prep work or ask your local body shop.

 

red isn't a neutral color! haven't you been in art class? blacks,greys,whites are neutral. red is warm

also red/yellows and colors with magnesium are the most expensive, same with pearls and mettalics. neutral colors like black,white,grey etc are cheaper.

 

My car is black so that is a good thing. No seriously major work needs to be done, just a couple small dents. Doing door jams and stuff might be avoidable and under the hood too. That would take some thought. Thanks for y'alls imput, any other ideas?

 

Ok fine fine, i was remembering something else and mixed it up with this but yes red is NOT a neutral color and grey is. ^_- Oh ya, before I forget: White and Black are NOT neutral colors. In any case, prep work is the most expensive because it's time consuming unless you use really crazy paint like chameleon paint or something. In any case, prep work is something not to be taken too lightly. As for the dings, you can get something like DentWizards or something to fix those. Actually I'd just ask the body shop to see if they can cut you a deal or something to include fixing the dents for ya in the paint work. ^_-

Peace,
AJ ^_^

 

yes if you took art class it is neutral, also technically its not even a color or "hue" dont question me on art

 

Just give it the Krylon touch

 

black and white may be neutral colors when it comes to art but if you try to paint a white car black or a black car white you get gray. Red is alot easier to change colors without the underlying paint showing through. If the car is black, paint it something dark and it should not be a problem. When you paint a room in your house a different color you usualy paint it a light shade of red first so that the new color will be true.

 

In prepping the car you may want to consider a place like dent wizard. It is amazing what a paintless dent repair place can do these days. I have used one on a couple of occasions, the results are remarkable. Generally speaking you can get a package price on your dent removal. In other words, it's not economical to go everytime you get one dent. They generally start around $75 - $100, but will do additional dents for $15 -$25. This definitely falls under the prep work area. The body shop that paints your car is going to have to address this. They will either have a mobile dent repair come do this (and mark it up) or fill them. I personally think that if you can avoid body filler - you are better off. If it is going to look right it is going to take a lot of time - and time is money!! Also, ask yourself, "Do I really need a paint job, or could I (or a professional detailer) bring the paint back?" I bought a Black 91 NA that hadn't been well cared for on the exterior - everything else was super clean. Because it looked like crap when I picked it up I got it for a song. I took it to a local detail shop and they fixed me right up. I would have done it myself, but I just didn't have the time. Long story short for $250 it looked like a new paint job. I sold the car for twice what I paid. Explore your options before making the big re-paint plunge!

 

this is making me laugh. and i don't mean to fight...

...yes i know black+white=gray, and vise versa. but if you sand off the clear coat on a white car and add black the damn paint, it doesn't mix and turn gray like a damn wet canvas haha what are you thinking here

the paint has to be mixed in the can first....add some black+white and you magically get gray like lucky charms. if you paint a black car with white it will be WHITE not GRAY, it will cover it. there is no way to make a car that is black turn gray just by spraying on some white

i hope your not thinking you can just spray some white on a black car and it will mix perfectly....poof a big puff of smoke and it's gray woo hoo... i don't think so

 

you obviously have never painted anything. The paint does not need to mix. a dry color on top of a dry color will still create a blend.

 

Ahh hahaha! Thanks for the laugh! Tell that to soul assassin! Ha! You always paint a car white first to make sure it shows the true colors you want. They painted alf's car white first, then red but why didn't it turn out PINK!? And then they put what, four? coats of blue pearl on top of the red!? I guess his car should be a pinkish/purple by now?? I'm sorry but I don't think you understand sir

 

Oooooooooooh really? Man I couldn't have guessed! Yes a dry and dry combo will create a blend, put it depends on the brightness and intensity of the colors. In alf's case it took 4 coats of blue just to make the car REFLECT a purplish/blue tone. I don't give a crap what you say, if you paint a WHITE car BLACK it will not turn GREY.

-Brian

 

..don't make me **** my pants laughing here. your saying a car that has been painted black, painted now as in past tense. can magically blend into gray just by spraying white? you my friend are way too funny yes i have painted alot of things. and i wish it would be that easy

 

 

you my friend are really you need to check your self for ........seriously now..go back and read popular mechanics and wow us on some more new info

 

 

Thanks for all the info, and stop the flaming. Jeez, I've never started a flamewar thread before and I don't intend to start now.

 

not flamming but this guy is on crack sorry

 

well if the cops could keep your mom off the corner I wouldn't have anybody to buy my crack off of.

 

my uncle is a mechanic so he knows quite a few people. one of these people that he uses for paint and body work, works at pretty much the best auto body place in town. he takes on a few things for some extra cash at his house for a very reasonable price. Right now he's doing a repaint of the same color on my car for $700. I know that's not much for what it is, but I've seen his work before and its pretty good. We'll see how it turns out in a few days when I get it back.

 

one of my friends also got a paint job for $700, on his del sol. he had to do all of the wet sanding himself and put all of the moldings and emblems back on himself but the car looks damn good. So maybe if you go to the shop and ask the guy how much he would charge without the wet sanding and some of the prep labor, he will give you a good *** deal considering he will only have to spray. If you could also get the paint yourself you will save whatever the mark-up is on it.

 

Best bet is to find a body man willing to do it on his own time. If not just shopping around and take the estimates into the bidy shops with you so they can look at them and realize that your not just blowing smoke. Also krylon is $2.99 a can and our cars will take a case to cover. I know cause Ive been removing the stock paint and the crappy primer (I think it was primer) that was painted over it. And if you do take it to bare metal at home prime it then use krylon to seal it cause primer will suck water straight to the metal causing more rust.