Paint job!
depends on prep and what not . if you have just faded paint and only needs to be scotchbrighted and no jams ,, maybe 2000 . unless you want a maaco job.. but ill tell you some advice a body shop guy gave me once.. you get what you pay for.. you pay for a 400 dollar paint job.. you get a 400 paint job.. im going to redo the whole exterior with kit. and jams ,..im expecting to pay atleast 4000 . but my car needs work. like it had to be stripped.. the body shop says the more work i do ,, the less i have to pay.. but i know the shop and they would cut me deals for work i do to save them time .. so i might prep and dissasemble the car . and they might just spray it .. it will still cost like 2000
Full Member
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 98
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From: Round Lake Beach, IL
yup. I called around some shops around here and the decent ones that put more then 1 layer of paint on it and prep the car the right way wanted at least 3k. But like always said, if you strip and prep the car yourself you'll save some money.
yeah alwayssidways is right.You get for what you pay for.I decent a paint job is cost you around 1500 for the paintjob itself any extra body work will raise that easily.And that price is using dupont which is alright,but it also depends on the color too.PPG and HK will cost you an arm and a leg but they are the best that money can buy.
Paint and body work is WAY overpriced if you ask me. 4grand for a paint job? hell i can almost buy half a brand new car for that much, and i dont mean just the sprayed on half either. Heh, you guys are right though, you'll pay for your paint.
It is high priced, but not overpriced... I just got done doing a paint job on my car (The green flames on gloss black), and I can tell you, i have uncountable hours into it.. that was for a full body color change, though.. engine bay, jams, and removing the black rubber strip around my S4...
I can easily see why even an "easy' job like sanding it down a bit and respraying the same color can run into the thousands with good paint..
I can easily see why even an "easy' job like sanding it down a bit and respraying the same color can run into the thousands with good paint..
Yeah, you get what you pay for. But $4K for really good paint is usually on the west coast. Plus California has all these laws too for paint shop equipment.
You can probably get an equivalent "California 4 grand" paint job elsewhere for 3 grand or much less.
You can probably get an equivalent "California 4 grand" paint job elsewhere for 3 grand or much less.
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Well .. the best of all is to find out if a friend knows a friend who knows a friend ... who kows the best body-man in your area ... I happened to know such people so ... a 4k paint job, with body work, will only cost me about .. roughly 1.5k-2k CDN
conections my friends ! ... In life it's not who you are, it's who you know
loll But I'd say close to 3k is usually what you'd pay
conections my friends ! ... In life it's not who you are, it's who you know
loll But I'd say close to 3k is usually what you'd pay
Originally posted by The_Dude
Well .. the best of all is to find out if a friend knows a friend who knows a friend ... who kows the best body-man in your area ... I happened to know such people so ... a 4k paint job, with body work, will only cost me about .. roughly 1.5k-2k CDN
conections my friends ! ... In life it's not who you are, it's who you know
loll But I'd say close to 3k is usually what you'd pay
Well .. the best of all is to find out if a friend knows a friend who knows a friend ... who kows the best body-man in your area ... I happened to know such people so ... a 4k paint job, with body work, will only cost me about .. roughly 1.5k-2k CDN
conections my friends ! ... In life it's not who you are, it's who you know
loll But I'd say close to 3k is usually what you'd pay
500 bucks or less? I have 500 wrapped up in the paint alone.. well, technically it's 550, but who's counting? For a two stage paint, you're looking at ~100 for good primer, ~175 for your base coat, and at least 175 for your clear. Right there is 450 alone.. I have a bit more for my metal-flake green. But that's assuming that you already have a gallon of body putty - ~15 dollars, Fiberglass (if needed) ~30 dollars, assorted sanding discs/paper, ~45 dollars, and then you still ahve to have the equipment.. A compressor alone will run you at least 200 for a good, new one. and the guns are at least 45 for a good gravity fed paint gun, plus 30 for a primer one...
That's assuming you have a place to do it, too, and your time is free.
It's a time consuming and expensive hobby....
That's assuming you have a place to do it, too, and your time is free.
It's a time consuming and expensive hobby....
ummm a real paintjob will be in the 2k+ range.
My buddy is a painter apprentice and his father has been painting for over 30 years.
They do get over paid but hey they do it right. They know the tricks and ways to get stuff done a whole lot quicker than you can.
They have a pay system of by hours.
A car will be slotted for 8 hours labor.
They will do it as quick as they can to get it done in 4-6 hours. They then get to the next car and keep going. It's an incentive to get them done quick.
BTW his shop has a guy(my other friend) which looks over the car and if he doesn't approve it they have to go back and redo the car. This is where they can go over the alotted hours but they will not get paid for the extra.
I think my friend logged something like 100-200 hours last week. Not too shabby
I've gotten quote from my buds of about 500-1000 to do a same color spray depending on if we prepped it before.
They also do it the correct way where they take out the glass(expensive part) and every peice of trim.
Good paint WILL run your total up. Don't spray **** paint. You'll hate it in the end and so will the painters(fish eyes/orange peels and stuff much easier).
My friends father said he will never touch a car which has gone through Maaco. They are the worst place to ever go.
Also if your using spray can primer please don't bother buying good paint because you just put on the basis for the paint job and used the crack ***** equivalent of the primer family.
My buddy is a painter apprentice and his father has been painting for over 30 years.
They do get over paid but hey they do it right. They know the tricks and ways to get stuff done a whole lot quicker than you can.
They have a pay system of by hours.
A car will be slotted for 8 hours labor.
They will do it as quick as they can to get it done in 4-6 hours. They then get to the next car and keep going. It's an incentive to get them done quick.
BTW his shop has a guy(my other friend) which looks over the car and if he doesn't approve it they have to go back and redo the car. This is where they can go over the alotted hours but they will not get paid for the extra.
I think my friend logged something like 100-200 hours last week. Not too shabby

I've gotten quote from my buds of about 500-1000 to do a same color spray depending on if we prepped it before.
They also do it the correct way where they take out the glass(expensive part) and every peice of trim.
Good paint WILL run your total up. Don't spray **** paint. You'll hate it in the end and so will the painters(fish eyes/orange peels and stuff much easier).
My friends father said he will never touch a car which has gone through Maaco. They are the worst place to ever go.
Also if your using spray can primer please don't bother buying good paint because you just put on the basis for the paint job and used the crack ***** equivalent of the primer family.
Well, not knowing where the heck "PRDR" is
I just had mine done for $2300 CDN, it was base/clear (BASF), the same colour as original, no door jambs, a very small amount of body work (small dents) and I removed all of the parts ahead of time.
As for quality, it's decent, not perfect, but then again it's not $4-5,000 dollars either, 'cause for that kind of money I would expect perfect!
You do get what you pay for, and at least mine has a lifetime garauntee!
I just had mine done for $2300 CDN, it was base/clear (BASF), the same colour as original, no door jambs, a very small amount of body work (small dents) and I removed all of the parts ahead of time.
As for quality, it's decent, not perfect, but then again it's not $4-5,000 dollars either, 'cause for that kind of money I would expect perfect!
You do get what you pay for, and at least mine has a lifetime garauntee!
Originally posted by OverDriven
$4k for a paint job is just stupid IMHO. Anyone in the Hampton Roads area, go to Perry Buick on VA Beach Blvd and Newtown Rd. They have a body shop there and do an EXCELLENT job for $1200.
-Joe
$4k for a paint job is just stupid IMHO. Anyone in the Hampton Roads area, go to Perry Buick on VA Beach Blvd and Newtown Rd. They have a body shop there and do an EXCELLENT job for $1200.
-Joe
$8K to paint just the outside! But they do Ferrari's too and other high priced cars.
Damn I never knew they were so much, there is a guy near me that'll paint a car for like a grand or 1500 and it looks perfect and lasts too. But he's one of them good ole redneck boys workin out of a garage less that 50 yards from his house. But he'll do wonders with paint
those are sometimes the best places to go ,,, when i had my cougar painted and had a kit , fender, and hood put on ,, i paid 1500 over 80 percent of the car got painted and everything installed.. the guy cut me one heck of a deal.. i waited almost 4 months and most of them being in the winter i didnt mind.. but he did a great job. but getting back to my point.. his shop was small and secluded .. you would drive by it and not even give it a second glance. if it werent for the cars parked in the driveway. i found him from a guy who owns the local speed shop. but now after he did my , and a few other show cars.. he blew up and has more custom work than he can handle.. and his prices definatly went up .. like almost 2 times. just to paint a wing he quoted my friend almost 400 bucks and he would have to wait almost a month. my friend found a guy who painted his whole car kit and wing for 700 and it came out pretty good
wow thanks for all your replies guys i hoping to just get the original color and clear coat for around 1500$i got some friends ive been asking aorund hoply they can hook me up.
if u dont need any bodywork, then it shouldnt be too outragious. Goto a shop and get a price thats the best bet, because everybody varies. I got a price for $700 includes all, i dont need any bodywork and im gettin' it painted that new Chevy yellow w/ a black faded hood.
http://www.chevrolet.com/corvette/#top
scroll to the yellow vette!!
my price was from a buddy that knows all the guys in the bodyshop at the Chevy dealership!!
http://www.chevrolet.com/corvette/#top
scroll to the yellow vette!!
my price was from a buddy that knows all the guys in the bodyshop at the Chevy dealership!!
Last edited by jgrts20; May 26, 2004 at 07:55 AM.
Originally posted by OverDriven
$4k for a paint job is just stupid IMHO. Anyone in the Hampton Roads area, go to Perry Buick on VA Beach Blvd and Newtown Rd. They have a body shop there and do an EXCELLENT job for $1200.
-Joe
$4k for a paint job is just stupid IMHO. Anyone in the Hampton Roads area, go to Perry Buick on VA Beach Blvd and Newtown Rd. They have a body shop there and do an EXCELLENT job for $1200.
-Joe
Like someone else mentioned, for good quality materials you can be into it for $600-1000 depending on how much paint your going to use. How much do you think a professional gets paid in a day $10, $20, $30/hr? They are probably making $10-20/hr range. If you want someone to work on the car for only TWO DAYs then your another $160-320 into the job, then they have to pay social security, taxes, overhead when they are done there is NO profit left in it for the bodyshop in a $1200 job. OK, so they only work on your car for a day, they use cheap paint and save a few bucks there, in the end they oversprayed everything and you have paint that will fade in a couple years.


