I'm going to get my FD repainted soon. I'm looking for a top notch place that will spend the time to the job right. I'm talking smooth as glass paint with a super high gloss factor and attention to detail. I'm going to strip the car as much as possible to get any and everything sprayed short of pulling out the engine and other big stuff like the dash.

I willing to spend the money - but have no connections in the auto world here. Any suggestions? I am willing to take the car a few hours away (maybe farthest is Kansas City), but that would be suboptimal.

Any leads or suggestions on solid paint and body guys would be greatly appreciated.

fq

 

My opinion is the best in omaha is Brunos but your going to pay for it. I got a quote for 7000 but I saw ahman greens hummer and it is top notch.

 

called owner STeve at Bruno's - going to check them out. thanks.

anyone else? any suggestions so I don't put all my eggs in one basket?

 

Of all the talk I've heard, Bruno's comes up the most. If you've got the money then that's where'd I'd probably go. I'll just talk to you 2morrow though.

 

Central Auto Body on 40th-ish and Leavenworth does a great job as well.


They are well respected by the 'Vette guys aroud the area. One owner a few years back took his literally showroom fresh C5 vette to Central Auto Body to have the factory paint redone!! Too much orange peel from the factory, I guess..


Call and ask for Matt - tell him Shawn sent you.

 

cool - I'll check them out too, thanks.

 

You can also call Jim Ryan and Ryan Auto body. He does nice work. Tell him Forrest sent you.

Good lucK!

 

I'll ad it to the list of places - thanks.

 

You might check with OCR (OFFUTT COLLISION REPAIR). 15th and Cornhusker (just east of JFK Freeway and Cornhusker in Bellevue). As stated for others, they're not cheap, but they do good work. Extremely clean and modern shop, all cars go onto a set of dollys when they enter and they move it between areas on those. No one drives your car. Pretty neat if your concerned about it. Just not sure they do complete repaint.

 

well - I just want the exterior repainted and the visible paint (door jambs and such). I'm not gettting down to the frame or anything wild like that.

thanks for the tip sgtblue.

 

http://www.ocrinc.com/ocrfacility/ocrfacility.htm

mquraish,
FWIW, I talked to the owner today and they do complete refinish jobs. Sounds like they're busy right now though. As I said, they aren't cheap, but they do good work. Here's they're site, notice the dollies that the cars sit on once then go inside and how clean it is. That's not not just for the photos, that's how the place looks all the time. Very high tech place.

 

looks like a really nice shot sgtblue. They are on my list of places to visit with the car. I should be getting it back from Pettit any day now.....

 

I took my car to brunos, they do pretty good work...but it's pretty sad that the macco job on my car lasted several winters with no rock chips and brunos work only lasted a few weeks in the summer.

 

oh yeah not to mention the body of my car didn't have a speck of rust on it untill I got it repainted. less than 6 months later the rear fender bubbled up and I couldn't get the car back there soon enough to complain cuz my motor went out a few months later. When I finally took it back steve brushed me off and said it's an old car yada yada yada.... I paid 5000 out of pocket for body work and paint not to mention some insurance work I had him do later. Plenty of good business from me....so do I recommend brunos? You take a guess

 

whoah - that sucks!!! Anyone else have trouble like this? That makes me nervous. I'm definitely going to check out the other places you guys have recommended in addition to Bruno's. All things being equal, I'm going to the least arrogant shop.

 

Trust me I heard good things too...but yeah I'd definately check around. Steve talks his shop up quite a bit himself too now that you mention arrogance.

 

Well I was gonna go there, but hmmm. After a story like that I think I'll try somewhere else when get to the painting part of my to do list. I've seen some good work from Bruno's but all it takes is one story like that and I'm scared off.

 

I hate to bash them because the car did look beautiful when I got it back from them. Though it did take a good month or so for them to complete it. I'm a patient man and wanted it done right so I let them take their time. I have horrible luck so don't base your decision on my experience. Yours may be better than mine. I will probably be taking my car in to get the front end redone due to the rock chipping and some fatass falling on it. I also want that rust spot taken care of as well. So if anyone else has any suggestions on places to take my babe I'm all ears.

 

macco does nice work I hear

 

haha macco, nice! The guy I bought the car from had it repainted there. I couldn't believe how well it held up over the years. I'll keep them in mind :p

 

Well, I've been to Ryan Auto Collision so far. Very nice guy (Jim Ryan, owner) Got a ballpark of $7500. He seemed nervous about doing it (just the feeling I got from him).

Also went to Central Auto on Leavenworth - ballparked $5-6K. The shop seemed dirty and the guy giving me the estimate didn't even want to really commit to a number. I contacted the Cornhusker Corvette club, but nobody got back to me.

going to OCR and Bruno's tomorrow.

 

Well, Brunos ballparked $7k-$8

Steve Bruno (owner) is a down to earth guy, and "holy ego". That's not necessarily a bad thing though. He has an impressive list of cars (photo book) he's worked on - mostly older american stuff and hot rod style show cars. He claims he's the best and seems like he will do a good job.

OCR gave me a 4 page estimate for about $6500.

OCR's shop is CLEAN - lots of workers with a purpose and George (owner) seems like a really nice guy. He went over the car with me initially for 15 minutes, sent me away to sit in the waiting room while he went over the car again with his paint guy, and then went over the car/estimate with me for another 10 minutes.

Tough decision here - I'm going to let it rest for a couple of weeks and revisit it.

Order of things:

Shop cleanliness: OCR, Brunos, Ryan, Central
Confidence: Brunos, OCR, Ryan, Central
Price: Brunos, Ryan, OCR, Central
Quality: tough to judge since only Brunos had something to show me
Scale of shop operation (how busy they seemed) : OCR, Ryan, Brunos, Central

the money this car is eating up makes me wonder sometimes, but I know I will be happy in the very end when it is perfect again.