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What should I get for a $2854.00 paint job?

Paint job and getting my money worth

22K views 39 replies 15 participants last post by  kmacc 
#1 · (Edited)
New Paint. Need you guys to give me a idea of what a $2837.64 paint job should entail. The car is getting a complete color change (Red to Black) and two stripe down the center.


http://new.photos.yahoo.com/kmacc45/
 
#2 ·
kmacc said:
New Paint. Need you guys to give me a idea of what a $2837.64 paint job should entail. The car is getting a complete color change (Red to Black) and two stripe down the center.

P.S How do you insert pictures?
Welcome to DC Kmacc. For pic to be posted they must be hosted on the Web and then you right click on the Pic and select properties. Copy the url and when posting use the square with a mountain in it and pate the url into the provided box :thumbsup:
Now then, a $2837.64 paint job will not be very good (trust me on this). Where are you getting it painted at?
 
#4 ·
A quality job with a complete color change should run 6 to 8 K[/QUOTE]

:agree: DO NOT take that vehicle to just any plain old mom and pop body shop. Complete color, top quality color changes will run your pockets a little deep. I don't know if you plan to drive this car every day but you want it to have some durabilty also. I've read a few body and paint books and believe me, to go from different color families is no easy task. Its your car but would you mind if I suggested maybe staying within the same color but maybe more of a burgundy, candy apple or even a maroon color?? JMO thats all.
 
#5 ·
Now this is not an entirly true statement. If you are going to Macco then yes but if you have found someone looking to break into the biz. then you might be onto something.
This car was painted for $2400 complete color change (used to be silver) pearl in the paint with ghost flames and a mural of crossed flags under the hood. The guy that painted it has since gone on to paint many show winners for a reasonable price. The last pic is real large to show flames.


 
#6 ·
I'm not too sure what the hell we're suppose to be voting on in this poll. I agree with the others. I would expect $6k - $8k for a color change done correctly. I also agree you can get lucky with someone breaking into the biz, but it is also a big risk to take. It could cost even more to fix what someone else screwed up.
 
#8 · (Edited)
What degree of perfection are you shooting for?

Do you want showroom quality? Trying to win awards at a car show? Just a nice presentable and durable paint job you won't be ashamed of? Etc.

That'll make all the difference in the final cost.

I painted my 86 for the cost of the DuPont materials, which ran around $600/$700.

Jake
 
#9 ·
JAKEJR said:
What degree of perfection are you shooting for?

Do you want showroom quality? Trying to win awards at a car show? Just a nice presentable and durable paint job you won't be ashamed of? Etc.

Tha'll make all the difference in the final cost.

I painted my 86 for the cost of the DuPont materials, which ran around $600/$700.

Jake
Just looking looking for a quality paint job. I'm not getting what I thought. Trim, Hood, doors, Front and rear bumper not coming off. Anybody ever take their car to All star body shop in Clearwater, Florida?
 
#11 ·
I am also in the process of getting my 85 repainted . My painter wants both the front and rear urethane bumper covers removed, door handles, mirrors, all side and bumper mouldings, and outer rubber window seals. It took some time to do this myself, but it saved me a lot, considering his shop rate is $65 /hr. It was get to know your Vette inside and out, and learn as you go for me, but worth every hour.
 
#12 ·
The only way you'll get that price for a "good" paint job will be to disassemble the car yourself, and deliver it to the shop on a flatbed.

The labor to disassemble alone for a C4, to do it right, will cost about $2000. That means they'll be painting the car at cost.

Find a shop that knows what they're getting them selves into.

As an example: I had a reputable tint shop do my C6. He has done C4 and C5 cars before, but not a C6. It took the installer 3 hours, and 3 wasted sheets of film, just to do the rear hatch. He said he'll never do another C6 for the price he gave me.
 
#13 ·
kmacc said:
Just looking looking for a quality paint job. I'm not getting what I thought. Trim, Hood, doors, Front and rear bumper not coming off. Anybody ever take their car to All star body shop in Clearwater, Florida?
Where in Clearwater is it? I use to live there, on Jasmine Way.

Jake
 
#14 ·
If the painter uses DuPont's Chroma Premier products (their best), you'll be looking at about $600/$700 in materials That's what MY cost was which may be lower for a shop doing regular business with the supplier. All the rest of the cost will be for labor.

Of course, he may use less expensive/cheaper (meaning not as good) products. Be sure to nail down what he'll use. Remember, each company, DuPont, PPG, Sherman Williams, etc., have different levels/quality products to choose from. For example, DuPont has something called NASON which is a single coat paint and, I believe, their cheapest.

I suspect you'd want Base Coat/Clear Coat though; like the factory used. BTW, last I read, all Vettes are painted with DuPont at the factory.


Jake
 
#17 ·
Z-MAN said:
My first question would be if he's ever painted fiberglass before? If you're his first go at it, then you might want to reconsider.
They claim to be a Corvette Shop. Jim, Mary and their son own Corvettes. The car was in a accident in July (PIP) and they fought very hard for me against the Insurance Company(Progressive) to get it fix.
 
#18 ·
kmacc said:
Drew and Belcher
I know where that is, use to patrol that area but I don't know the shop. Of course it's been a long time.

Are there still thousands of parakeets in the trees on Drew around dawn?

Jake
 
#22 ·
To do the color change a majority of the panels need to come off.

http://members.cisdi.com/~anesthes/sanding/

Now depending on the color, this could require the car to be painted twice.
You might want to have the jams, and unexposed surfaces hit, then put the car together and hit it again. (thats what we're doing with mine). The reason is the color match. Some colors just don't match, even with the same mix same gun sprayed the same day.

I'm also in the process of a 91-96 bumper conversion (have all the parts, started mock up last night), and after mounting the rear bumper I may even just paint the rear section of the car together. Not sure yet. The rear bumper requires a lot of stretching and pulling to get it lined up right, and I'm not sure I want to do that with a painted bumper (regardless of the flex additive).

The doors don't really have to come off the car. You can mask the interior off to hit the jams, and the front jams can be done with the fenders off (which need to come off.

From what I can tell, the front bumper HAS to come off. You just can't paint all of it with it bolted to the car. You'll miss spots, or have uneven spots.

So I guess what I'm saying is. It's a trade off. If you don't pull it apart, you will miss some spots, see some factory color in places, or worse spray over dirt you didn't blow out.

However IF you take it apart, you risk having a color mismatch and having to wetsand and respray the whole thing a second coat.

FYI, I have about 10 hours of 'take apart' time into everything, and about 80 hours of sanding. So lets say 90 hours at avg body shop rate of $38/hr is $3420 just to get me this far. The body shop will prime/seal the car, and block the whole thing and spray it for about $1800, then I will flat bed it back to my shop and spend an estimated 12+ hours putting it back together (without scratching anything). So say $456 at body shop rate. So assuming I didn't do any of the work thats about $5676 right??


Any body guys wanna chime in?

-- Joe
 
#23 ·
By far, the greatest percentage of the cost of painting a car is in the physical labor. Labor costs can easily be 5 or more times the cost of the material. The prep is the most time consuming and labor intensive and can make or break a paint job. Also, we can't forget to consider the budget concerns.

The actual shooting can be done in a few hours when using the newer products on the market. There's usually a short (15-30 minute) flash time between coats and a similar (and in some cases slightly longer) time interval between, say primer/surfacer and base coat and between base coat and clear.

Some painters go so far as to wet/color sand between coats of clear after waiting 24 hours before shooting additional clear coats. This would extend the application of clear into the second day. They'd shoot two or three coats of clear, then let it dry overnight. Next day sand, tack and shoot two more coats. Temperature and humidity are the two main factors that determine how quickly products can be applied.

Once all the clear has been applied, there's a window of time within which the color sanding should be done, but that takes you back to the labor part of the job. If you miss that window and wait too long to begin to color sand, it becomes more difficult to sand out imperfections such as orange peel.

All in all, it depends on just how particular you are about the end result an your budget. If you want as close to perfect as possible, then the cost will skyrocket because of all the labor involved in removing and re-installing parts. However, perfectly acceptable paint jobs can be achieved by simply masking off and shooting.

Jake
 
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