Been a member for a while, but seldom post. I'm the original owner of a 93 R1. She is mechanically almost perfect and has about 90,000 miles. But the original paint looks TERRIBLE. She has about a dozen little dings, 1 creased door dent the size of a baseball and the front end and fenders are pitted all the way to bare metal (battery explosion long ago), the clear coat on the rear bumper is pealing, and the mirrors and spoiler are totally faded. The body shop I use quoted me around $2,900 to fix all of the problems and give it a total respray in the OEM color with a basecoat/clearcoat. And they do EXCELLENT work, there will not be a single fisheye or blem in their paintjobs. My question for the group is whether this seems reasonable? I have a feeling I can negociate it down if I offer to pay cash rather than putting it on a credit card, I've found that many smaller private businesses will give suprisingly large discounts if you ask for one in return for paying in cash.

 

i think 2900 is reasonable. especially if they do good work. i would say try the cash offer im sure they will take some off the price. fwiw, i paid 4400 to get mine oem resprayed. most all pieces were removed and there is no overspray anywhere! but to me thats what counts. thats why i paid for it.

heres a pic.

 

That looks sweeeeet, but I wouldn't leave it parked in the street...

 

Looks good. Mine is totally stock except for a Racing Beat cat back stainless exhaust with twin smaller tips rather than a single big coffee can tip. I only got the Racing Beat exhaust because it was cheaper than OEM. lol

 

Doesn't seem expensive enough, actually, for a good job.

 

Make sure you specify a 3 stage Vintage Red paint job. Lots of VR repaints are only 2 stages. I insisted on 3 stage for mine, and I think it came out pretty good

 

If they do in fact do a good job, $2,900 is a REALLY great deal.

 

I paid $4200 for my paint And I just had a few little dings, nothing major at all...I would say your getting a pretty damn good deal..

 

If that's what it really cost, I would drive my car down there to for a repaint.

 

What are the differences between the stages? I have never had to have a car painted but when the time comes I would like to know what im asking for

 

Me too, i thought 2 stage was all there was -- basecoat/clearcoat??

 

Nah, there are also single stage paint jobs. Y'all are really showing your age, 2-stage base/clear paint jobs were VERY RARE until the mid 1980s. Only higher end cars like Mercedes, BMW and Audi used a 2-stage before then.

In a 2-stage, the basecoat is flat, not at all glossy. The clearcoat is what adds the gloss. In a single stage paint job, there is no topcoat of clear, the actual colored paint is a gloss paint. There is a 3rd kind which is not very common, integral clearcoat. this is where the clear is mixed in with the base and sprayed on as a sligle coat. the clear is lighter than the colored paint and "floats" up to the surface. I totally dont trust the integral clear jobs.

And I'm pretty sure the factory paint job is actually a single stage paint job on the metal parts of the body of the FD, at least it seems to be on my red 93 R1. The bumpers are definitely clear coated, mine are pealing. lol Reds are VERY hard to do as a 2-stage, the clear has a hard time getting a good bite on the red pigments and can easily start to peal, which is why many factory reds still are single stage even today.

As for the price seeming cheap, I'm in SE Virginia, we have a pretty low cost of living, and the salaries to go with it. For example, a fresh out of college teacher with a Bachelor's Degree will start around $30,000 here.

 

They really do excellent work. The did the body work and respray of the old Audi I restored:






Yes, that last one is the speedometer. :P : They did the body, I did the interior and mechnical. It used to have a dirty grey cloth interior.

I know its very hard to tell a good paint job from a pciture, but that's what it looks like after over 4.5 years and it only gets waxed once a year, just before the Carlisle Import Nationals in May. When I picked it up from the shop, I went over it VERY carefully, there are 2 very small fisheyes, thats it as far as blemishes, and thats way hard to do on a black car.

 

My 7 is at the body shop right now, and I am sitting at around $4k out the door.

So that price seems very fair

 

That's what I think too. Most primo paintjobs run in the $4,000 to $5,000 plus range. But if you feel certain you can get good work.....including the body work....for $2,900 then by all means go for it. That would be an outstanding bargain. It's the body work and prep work where corners are usually cut.

 

i concur, if its a reputable shop and especially if you are happy with work they have done for you in the past thats a good price.

 

i got quoted about 6k for my paint job when ever i need it

 

So are FD's single or 2 stage paint?

Is there a benfit (more shiney, less chippy, less fadey) to 2 stage paint?

If the FD is single stage, and i wanted it repainted 2 stage, is there a good match for Montego Blue Mica?

 

My father has owned a bodyshop most of my life (34yrs) and I still do all of the body work on my car if needed and I can say $2900 is very good deal if you are sure they are doing quality work. I would lose money if I painted one for $2900.

I hit a deer while driving in south Arkansas, luckily I didn't hit it head on it just bounced down the right side of my car. I decided to do an overall paint job and stuck with the 3 stage vintage red. The 3 stages are clear, translucent purple, and red base. If I ever repaint mine again I'm just going to find a nice 2 stage red or leave out the middle purple stage, because it's much easier to panel paint and blend the color if you ever need to repair a small area (stupid shopping cart hit mine not long after painting it) than having to try and blend the purple stage and make it look right.

 

I worked in a body shop in virginia beach and we did plenty paint jobs tht cost 5K+. As for salaries I make roughly 30% more in DC after adjusting for the cost of living. I'm want to set up my new job so I travel 100% and fly home to the beach every weekend. Hopefully everything will work out. I cant imagine a better place to live.


Back on topic: A one stage paint job is fine if quality one stage paint is used. A few of the best looking paint jobs I have seen were one stage. I would use a quality shop and go with they want. A three stage job will be significantly more expensive and will look very simular to a two or one stage job for this color code. A three stage job in this color code will not give it that depth of cany paint in this situation.

 

PM me the name of the shop. Im not sure who your going with but I can recomend a few reputable shops (or tell you what I have heard about where you have been going). If there estimate is too high I can put you in contact with two of the areas best painters that do side work. I even know one guy who does a all over w/o door jambs for 1500 and it looks real good for being so cheap. He even uses Sherwin Willams 639/637 (top of the line clear). Mike

 

mb is 2 stage from the factory. One stage metalics look cheap, very cheap. One stage should only be used for solid colors like blk, red, wht, ect... If done properly they look amazing.

 

Can you confirm whether the farctor red paint was single stage? I really think the only parts that were factory clear coated are the bumpers.

 

The body shop I use is

Autocraft Express
901 S Military Hwy
Virginia Beach, VA 23464-3511
(757) 420-7535

I work directly with the owner, Jim Teachman. His shop has done 2 other total resprays for me in the past, and I've been very happy with the work.

 

Factory Vintage Red is a 3 stage paint.