Paint Quote - what do you think?
04-07-10, 09:44 AM
#1
Paint Quote - what do you think?
Hey Everyone, I've decided to get some body work done on my Brilliant Black FD. I'd like your input on a quote that I received. They guys at the shop seem great and I've seen their other work, so I think they would do a great job, but what do you think of the price?
Scope of work:
1. I removed the spoiler, they are welding the holes and repainting that portion to match the car.
2. I have a fiberglass C-West front bumper, its already black and fitted decently, it has a large crack/hole in the lip, they will fix the problem, and repaint the whole bumper and make sure it fits perfect, also adding some simple bracing as there is no support all along the bottom of it.
3. R-Magic front fenders (fiberglass), these have already been mounted on another FD, and have been painted before. I know every car is different, so making them fit perfectly will take a little bit of work, but there are no major blemishes or ridges from the original mold. They will also be painted to match the rest of the car.
I'm located in Stamford, CT (4 miles from Greenwich, a super rich town, located in Fairfield County, one of the wealthiest counties in the country), so i think prices would be high compared to some other locations.
My quote was $1450, I told them that was too high, and they came down to $1200 on the assumption that I could recommend friends (which I will if it comes out nicely) and they can start right away.
This is higher than I wanted, but I know this type of work is costly. So I'm not really shocked at the price, but I'd still like to get your opinions.
Thanks.
Scope of work:
1. I removed the spoiler, they are welding the holes and repainting that portion to match the car.
2. I have a fiberglass C-West front bumper, its already black and fitted decently, it has a large crack/hole in the lip, they will fix the problem, and repaint the whole bumper and make sure it fits perfect, also adding some simple bracing as there is no support all along the bottom of it.
3. R-Magic front fenders (fiberglass), these have already been mounted on another FD, and have been painted before. I know every car is different, so making them fit perfectly will take a little bit of work, but there are no major blemishes or ridges from the original mold. They will also be painted to match the rest of the car.
I'm located in Stamford, CT (4 miles from Greenwich, a super rich town, located in Fairfield County, one of the wealthiest counties in the country), so i think prices would be high compared to some other locations.
My quote was $1450, I told them that was too high, and they came down to $1200 on the assumption that I could recommend friends (which I will if it comes out nicely) and they can start right away.
This is higher than I wanted, but I know this type of work is costly. So I'm not really shocked at the price, but I'd still like to get your opinions.
Thanks.
04-07-10, 02:18 PM
#3
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it depends on how good a job they do. Have you seen anything else they've done? with body work more than most other things you get what you pay for, 9 times out of 10, the cheap job will look like a cheap job.
04-07-10, 02:33 PM
#4
Yeah, I've seen some of there other week and I think it looks good.
So what I'm hearing here is that it sounds like a low quote. So if it turns out good then its a good deal, and if it turns out mediocre then I got what I paid for (a mediocre job). Does that sound about right?
So what I'm hearing here is that it sounds like a low quote. So if it turns out good then its a good deal, and if it turns out mediocre then I got what I paid for (a mediocre job). Does that sound about right?
04-07-10, 02:49 PM
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pretty much yea. A cheapy racecar single stage job will cost you about that for the whole car. sounds like they are doing some repair, painting the hatch, bumper, and fenders, so lets say half of a car. if it looks like oem quality or better when its done i'd say you got more than your money's worth.
how do you like the tecGT?
how do you like the tecGT?
04-07-10, 03:22 PM
#6
Cool, the rest of the cars paint isn't exactly perfect, this is just to get my new panels on and hatch patched up while look halfway decent, which is about how the original paint looks after 16 years of ware and tare. So based on what I've seen them do I think I'll be pleased.
The tecGT works pretty well. It actually was already on the car when I bought it so its not like I did a ton of research and compared it to other units. It works fine for me, I had Ray at PFS tune it and he is very familiar with it so it went well. I'm still working on tuning the start up section myself though, if i can get that ironed out then I would say that you couldn't really ask for more from it, but right now starting it can be tricky, and its very rich until it warms up. But I think with a little more effort I'll be able to get it squared away.
Another plus is that its very easy to get them on the phone, great support from Electromotive.
The tecGT works pretty well. It actually was already on the car when I bought it so its not like I did a ton of research and compared it to other units. It works fine for me, I had Ray at PFS tune it and he is very familiar with it so it went well. I'm still working on tuning the start up section myself though, if i can get that ironed out then I would say that you couldn't really ask for more from it, but right now starting it can be tricky, and its very rich until it warms up. But I think with a little more effort I'll be able to get it squared away.
Another plus is that its very easy to get them on the phone, great support from Electromotive.
04-07-10, 03:40 PM
#7
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that's pretty steep...your pretty much just getting a 1/4 of a hatch, bumper and fenders painted...which all have to be preped and fitted before any spraying anyways. i know shops will add every detail to make the price sound great but thats all stuff they must do before any painting occurs.
im sure you can find a place to do all that for around 600-800...since there not doing any major bodywork. except filling your trunk wing holes with bondo (i really doubt they will weld it, since its such a small hole. its not worth the trouble)
honestly if I were you...regardless how much you blend the paint you wont be able to match it good enough for a 16yr old oem paint. if you were ganna pay 1200 just save up another 800 or so and get the whole car resprayed...
im sure you can find a place to do all that for around 600-800...since there not doing any major bodywork. except filling your trunk wing holes with bondo (i really doubt they will weld it, since its such a small hole. its not worth the trouble)
honestly if I were you...regardless how much you blend the paint you wont be able to match it good enough for a 16yr old oem paint. if you were ganna pay 1200 just save up another 800 or so and get the whole car resprayed...
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04-07-10, 06:59 PM
#8
Thanks for the info, but I've never seen a full car painted and look good for very long for $2K, unless I had a hook up (which i don't), or did the prep work myself (which i can't do where i live now).
Every place around here wanted at least $1k to do the work. But I guess thats what i get for living in Fairfield County.
I think I will eventually go for a full paint job, but i haven't decided on what I want to do to the rest of the body (I'm thinking molded rear flares), and I don't think I'll stick with the C-West front for very long, so for now I think this will get me through the summer looking pretty good.
Every place around here wanted at least $1k to do the work. But I guess thats what i get for living in Fairfield County.
I think I will eventually go for a full paint job, but i haven't decided on what I want to do to the rest of the body (I'm thinking molded rear flares), and I don't think I'll stick with the C-West front for very long, so for now I think this will get me through the summer looking pretty good.
04-08-10, 01:09 AM
#9
that's pretty steep...your pretty much just getting a 1/4 of a hatch, bumper and fenders painted...which all have to be preped and fitted before any spraying anyways. i know shops will add every detail to make the price sound great but thats all stuff they must do before any painting occurs.
im sure you can find a place to do all that for around 600-800...since there not doing any major bodywork. except filling your trunk wing holes with bondo (i really doubt they will weld it, since its such a small hole. its not worth the trouble)
honestly if I were you...regardless how much you blend the paint you wont be able to match it good enough for a 16yr old oem paint. if you were ganna pay 1200 just save up another 800 or so and get the whole car resprayed...
im sure you can find a place to do all that for around 600-800...since there not doing any major bodywork. except filling your trunk wing holes with bondo (i really doubt they will weld it, since its such a small hole. its not worth the trouble)
honestly if I were you...regardless how much you blend the paint you wont be able to match it good enough for a 16yr old oem paint. if you were ganna pay 1200 just save up another 800 or so and get the whole car resprayed...
04-09-10, 02:24 PM
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just because you live in a more expensive city doesnt mean there price on paint will be higher. if it cost 20 bucks to mount a tire at one shop. doesnt mean it will cost 40 at a more expensive city. just depends on what shop you go to..key is to shop around and see whats the rock bottom they will do.
turboIIrotary, thats because your doing body work as paint/hobby. if you own a shop your getting all the materials at a very discounted price (depending on volume) ...when it comes to autobody work, 70% of the price is labor.
heres a full House of Kolors (Candy Magenta w/silver base) paint job on my lexus...by one of the best body shops down here (cali)...I got it done for under 3k. i know going quote for one of these jobs are around 5k. but like i said, your paying mostly on the labor, if you just get to know the shop, shop around, you can find it a lot cheaper...yes i did have a hook up on the paint job. but im sure he didn't loose any money charging me the price he did.
Heres my rx7 FD...I didnt want to spend big bucks by taking it to a bodyshop to do all the work, so i had someone work on it in his backyard (no overhead) but I made sure he used good quality paint to get the same results...
Shaved/filled/weld the WHOLE rear back seat/hatch area (very labor intensive)
Paint every jamb and ENGINE Bay.
Sikkens Paint and PPG clear coat....
all got all the work done for under 2500- im 100% sure if i I would of been quoted over 6k at any body shops to do the work he did. But, I also had to drive 1.5hours out to him...
Like I said...call around bro. if you just want to get the fender/hatch/bumper painted. Im sure you can find it a lot cheaper then your quoted price...your not doing much labor so i'm sure you will get a good hookup.
turboIIrotary, thats because your doing body work as paint/hobby. if you own a shop your getting all the materials at a very discounted price (depending on volume) ...when it comes to autobody work, 70% of the price is labor.
heres a full House of Kolors (Candy Magenta w/silver base) paint job on my lexus...by one of the best body shops down here (cali)...I got it done for under 3k. i know going quote for one of these jobs are around 5k. but like i said, your paying mostly on the labor, if you just get to know the shop, shop around, you can find it a lot cheaper...yes i did have a hook up on the paint job. but im sure he didn't loose any money charging me the price he did.
Heres my rx7 FD...I didnt want to spend big bucks by taking it to a bodyshop to do all the work, so i had someone work on it in his backyard (no overhead) but I made sure he used good quality paint to get the same results...
Shaved/filled/weld the WHOLE rear back seat/hatch area (very labor intensive)
Paint every jamb and ENGINE Bay.
Sikkens Paint and PPG clear coat....
all got all the work done for under 2500- im 100% sure if i I would of been quoted over 6k at any body shops to do the work he did. But, I also had to drive 1.5hours out to him...
Like I said...call around bro. if you just want to get the fender/hatch/bumper painted. Im sure you can find it a lot cheaper then your quoted price...your not doing much labor so i'm sure you will get a good hookup.
04-09-10, 02:31 PM
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I read on here some guy was quoted 5k to do the body work/paint he wanted...instead he drove down to Mexico and got the SAME job done for 1600 using the SAME paint. why? because the labor pay down there is very low compared to here...so he took the 2 hour drive. I'm sure all you guys on here know him to, he had tons of post and even has a thread about it.
im not telling you to drive down to Mexico, but drive out a couple hours away, it might be worth the trip. body work is something you might be doing on a constant basis to its good to get to know a shop that doesn't rape you on your first price quote.
im not telling you to drive down to Mexico, but drive out a couple hours away, it might be worth the trip. body work is something you might be doing on a constant basis to its good to get to know a shop that doesn't rape you on your first price quote.
04-09-10, 06:17 PM
#15
shops get $250-$500 per body part for paint
LEGITIMATE shops, you cant compare a guy painting your car under a tent to a shop that has overhead, pays taxes, adheres to local EPA laws, etc.
Washing a car with a scuff pad and comet powder and painting it with wet on wet primers cannot be compared to a quality disassemble and care taken job
LEGITIMATE shops, you cant compare a guy painting your car under a tent to a shop that has overhead, pays taxes, adheres to local EPA laws, etc.
Washing a car with a scuff pad and comet powder and painting it with wet on wet primers cannot be compared to a quality disassemble and care taken job
04-09-10, 06:30 PM
#16
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shops get $250-$500 per body part for paint
LEGITIMATE shops, you cant compare a guy painting your car under a tent to a shop that has overhead, pays taxes, adheres to local EPA laws, etc.
Washing a car with a scuff pad and comet powder and painting it with wet on wet primers cannot be compared to a quality disassemble and care taken job
LEGITIMATE shops, you cant compare a guy painting your car under a tent to a shop that has overhead, pays taxes, adheres to local EPA laws, etc.
Washing a car with a scuff pad and comet powder and painting it with wet on wet primers cannot be compared to a quality disassemble and care taken job
04-09-10, 06:42 PM
#17
Im saying his price is cheap , its not expensive.
there is no way a shop could possibly make money charging $2k for a FULL paint job.
Again if you think a proper paint job is scuffing the panel with a scuff pad and some soap and water and then spraying it with no primer and not sanding and polishing the paint you have a different view then others do and probably dont care about a very high quality paint job.
Shops around here dont even want to bother with full jobs and those that do get a good dollar for them, personally I wouldnot bother painting a FD for under $5000
there is no way a shop could possibly make money charging $2k for a FULL paint job.
Again if you think a proper paint job is scuffing the panel with a scuff pad and some soap and water and then spraying it with no primer and not sanding and polishing the paint you have a different view then others do and probably dont care about a very high quality paint job.
Shops around here dont even want to bother with full jobs and those that do get a good dollar for them, personally I wouldnot bother painting a FD for under $5000
04-09-10, 10:38 PM
#19
haha, well I dropped the car off and it has now been painted. I went and checked on it last night (was still in primer stages)
All of the body work looked great, the fenders took quite a bit of work to fit and make look nice. couldnt tell the the bumper had ever been damaged, and also couldnt tell that it had ever had a wing (except for where the primer was highlighting where work had been done).
The gaps look great, they even got the Evo-R lights looking like they almost fit haha, the gaps around those were always horible, now they look halfway decent. (but you can still tell they really just dont fit the car that well)
One huge problem though. I'm lowered on H&R springs, and have 18 inch rims with an aggressive offset, which is why the stock fenders were damaged (a bad roll, thent he lip kept catching). I thought the wider r-magic fenders would give me the clearance i needed. But they ended up being worse, the stock fenders must have just been so bent from the abuse that they were no where near the orginal fitment around the rims (I had no idea they were much different than stock).
And due to the r-magic fenders being fiberglass, they will shatter if i ever catch a lip. They literally couldnt even turn the rims without the tire hitting. I think the H&R springs, which give it a crazy drop have also sagged over the years making the problem worse. First i looked for lower profile tires, I have 225-35-18, i used a tire calculator to check the radius' on different size tires, but I can't even find any 18 inch tire in less than a 35, and nothing thinner than a 215 with a 35, no tires less then 215 with less than a 45 ratio. and nothing really saved me more than .25", which i need more than.
So last night i went to autozone, and got some spring spacers, they threw those on today, and said i have enough clearance now. So now i can at least drive it home (1 mile) without smashing the fenders. And yes, i have officially given my FD a lift kit haha.
This is just to get it home, i will be picking up a used front strut assembly tomorrow, and hopefully this gives me the clearance i need without any spacers. Please keep your fingers crossed for both the final paint and the clearance on the rims haha.
Cuhrupt, the lexus looks sick, but the fd was really painted outside and not in a booth? there must be some imperfections somewhere right?
All of the body work looked great, the fenders took quite a bit of work to fit and make look nice. couldnt tell the the bumper had ever been damaged, and also couldnt tell that it had ever had a wing (except for where the primer was highlighting where work had been done).
The gaps look great, they even got the Evo-R lights looking like they almost fit haha, the gaps around those were always horible, now they look halfway decent. (but you can still tell they really just dont fit the car that well)
One huge problem though. I'm lowered on H&R springs, and have 18 inch rims with an aggressive offset, which is why the stock fenders were damaged (a bad roll, thent he lip kept catching). I thought the wider r-magic fenders would give me the clearance i needed. But they ended up being worse, the stock fenders must have just been so bent from the abuse that they were no where near the orginal fitment around the rims (I had no idea they were much different than stock).
And due to the r-magic fenders being fiberglass, they will shatter if i ever catch a lip. They literally couldnt even turn the rims without the tire hitting. I think the H&R springs, which give it a crazy drop have also sagged over the years making the problem worse. First i looked for lower profile tires, I have 225-35-18, i used a tire calculator to check the radius' on different size tires, but I can't even find any 18 inch tire in less than a 35, and nothing thinner than a 215 with a 35, no tires less then 215 with less than a 45 ratio. and nothing really saved me more than .25", which i need more than.
So last night i went to autozone, and got some spring spacers, they threw those on today, and said i have enough clearance now. So now i can at least drive it home (1 mile) without smashing the fenders. And yes, i have officially given my FD a lift kit haha.
This is just to get it home, i will be picking up a used front strut assembly tomorrow, and hopefully this gives me the clearance i need without any spacers. Please keep your fingers crossed for both the final paint and the clearance on the rims haha.
Cuhrupt, the lexus looks sick, but the fd was really painted outside and not in a booth? there must be some imperfections somewhere right?
04-11-10, 10:47 AM
#20
well good news and bad news. first the good. The paint came out great, everything is lined up perfectly. I know the fenders took a lot of work to get to where they are. So here are some pics from after I got it home. It was sunny and my camera sucks, so sorry for the bad pics. It looks way better in person.
Now the bad news. I took it on a 200 mile trip to make sure everything was working ok from the winter project. everything worked, but right near the end, i was turning pretty sharp and hit a bump while pulling into a gas station. I heard a little rub and new it was the fender. a small piece of fiberglass popped off of the driver side fender, just above the wheel, about an inch long, right on the lip of the fender. Good thing the car is black, i'll smooth it out a little with some sand paper and put some nail polish on it
But i new it was going to happen eventually, so i'm not all that upset, it sucks but thats the way it goes. I won't ever use fiberglass fenders again thats for sure. But from the front of the car, the r-magic fenders look amazing, they give it just a slight curve outwards.
Now the bad news. I took it on a 200 mile trip to make sure everything was working ok from the winter project. everything worked, but right near the end, i was turning pretty sharp and hit a bump while pulling into a gas station. I heard a little rub and new it was the fender. a small piece of fiberglass popped off of the driver side fender, just above the wheel, about an inch long, right on the lip of the fender. Good thing the car is black, i'll smooth it out a little with some sand paper and put some nail polish on it
But i new it was going to happen eventually, so i'm not all that upset, it sucks but thats the way it goes. I won't ever use fiberglass fenders again thats for sure. But from the front of the car, the r-magic fenders look amazing, they give it just a slight curve outwards.
04-11-10, 01:41 PM
#21
i can see the orange peel even far away like i said it's a cheap paint job and i get my paint on a discount i'm painting my friends car for only 1500 its a full color change including jambs and i still turn out a profit but if it was for someone else the cost will be a lot higher.
04-11-10, 03:38 PM
#22
i can see the orange peel even far away like i said it's a cheap paint job and i get my paint on a discount i'm painting my friends car for only 1500 its a full color change including jambs and i still turn out a profit but if it was for someone else the cost will be a lot higher.
how many hours do you think this will take you?
04-11-10, 08:48 PM
#25
idk, i honestly can't see it. i see glare on gloss black.
Its good enough for me, i mean now after i cracked the once side i put a few coats of bondo on about 3" of the lip of the fender, and then used black nail polish and spray can clear coat. It doesn't look half bad but you can tell its there if you are looking. It's way better than a white spot and missing fiberglass though.
It's also my fault for driving it before putting the stock suspension back on, i thought the lift kit was good enough, but i really needed another 1/4" inch. Thats what i get for being impacient I guess. But i can't be too upset, its way better than before and looks great regardless.
Thanks for all the insight on the paint quote everyone. I was happy with the shop and the work they did.
Its good enough for me, i mean now after i cracked the once side i put a few coats of bondo on about 3" of the lip of the fender, and then used black nail polish and spray can clear coat. It doesn't look half bad but you can tell its there if you are looking. It's way better than a white spot and missing fiberglass though.
It's also my fault for driving it before putting the stock suspension back on, i thought the lift kit was good enough, but i really needed another 1/4" inch. Thats what i get for being impacient I guess. But i can't be too upset, its way better than before and looks great regardless.
Thanks for all the insight on the paint quote everyone. I was happy with the shop and the work they did.
