questions about getting a paint job

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fionntan

Banned
I have never had a car painted before and the town I live in is notoripus for ripping people off, so I was wondering if any one knows what might be a round about number for a paint job. The car has minor damage (a few dents and a tiny bit of rust, some of the seams dont line up, but they are close) but everything else is in pretty good shape. I am not going to get the engine compartment repainted until I get a new engine. It is already a stock white, and I want to repaint it the same color. Any information or advise would be appreciated. Oh and I can strip the outside so that wouldnt be a factor in the cost.
 
some places just give it a lights scuff,and apint right over your existing paint..
where are you trying to get it done at???
i know the body shop here that quoted me said 3-5 grand-for a good job
 
i know the body shop here that quoted me said 3-5 grand-for a good job
thats taking out windows and everything though.

just maaco it. i've had 2 civics painted there and they came out great. just be ready to spend $1000. the cheap jobs are bad, but they do a quality paint job that is guaranteed by the company.
 
1000 sounds good. 3-5 is sounds outrageous for a stock paint job. Are there any questions I should ask that will help me know if they do quality work?
 
Are there any questions I should ask that will help me know if they do quality work?
simple, "do you guarantee your work?" then when you go to pick it up. give it a very thorough inspection. if there is any light spots, overspray, or miscoloring, you NICELY ask them to fix it. but you must do it BEFORE you accept completion of the job and take it home.
 
I have painted many vehicles. Most of them that I do are restoration's. Make sure that's it's quality paint. Maaco will look good for a little while, but will quickly fade. Going single stage is ok as well as two stage ( Two stage being a base coat then a clear coat. ) When I quote a job I know that I am going to have around a $1000 in materials. I use PPG's best line of base's and clear's. You can get it done cheaply. but you need to decide if your going to keep this car. To do an all over paint job Mitchell's estimater probably pays aroung 35 hours of labor plus your body work. Most shops will figure $25 an hour in paint materials and $45-$50 and hour for the labor. Body work I would assume to be around 25 hours.

Paint Labor-35 hours X $50 =$1,750
Supplies-35 hours X $25=$875
Body work-25 hours X $50=$1250

Total being $3,875

Painting is not easy and is not cheap. You have to be set up to do it and know what your doing.

Another option is to purchase the paint and have a MAACO shop spray it for you.

If your feeling confident and have a place to do it you could always try it your self. As with any business there is a mark up on materials. You could probably spend $1000 in material and have enough to try and paint it. You would have enough left over to fix anything that went wrong!

Hope this helps

Randy
 
Is that what it would cost to just fix and respray the outside, or is that for pulling the engine and spraying the bay as well.
 
I would guess it's just for the exterior...paint is expensive if you want a job well done.
 
That would be just for the outside. Pulling an engine just to repaint isn't worth it. Wait until you have to pull the engine and do it then. As far as the door jams and trunk jam if there is no reason to paint them....Don't. Anytime you paint you are adding material that has a better chance of chipping. Anytime I do an all over with door jams I will base everything 2 times and then I will put my first coat of clear on everything. The next coat I will just do the outside. On the final coat I will do everything again. I do it in this manner so I will not have any dry overspray in the jams.
 
That would be just for the outside. Pulling an engine just to repaint isn't worth it. Wait until you have to pull the engine and do it then. As far as the door jams and trunk jam if there is no reason to paint them....Don't. Anytime you paint you are adding material that has a better chance of chipping. Anytime I do an all over with door jams I will base everything 2 times and then I will put my first coat of clear on everything. The next coat I will just do the outside. On the final coat I will do everything again. I do it in this manner so I will not have any dry overspray in the jams.
too bad you aren't close, i'm looking for a paint and body guy.
 
Can I save money by stripping the outside myself and sanding, I dont know how to fill and fix the dents, but pulling off molding and using a sanding block are easy. Or would that not really save much money. What corners can I cut to save myself money but still have a pro do the paint. This is for my daily driver not a show car, and I am not looking for any crazy colors or two tones or anything just resprayed white.
 
If your Talk ing about stripping the car you get into even more money. If it hasn't been painted before then, go over the original! If it has and it doesn't have problems, go over that. I can generally dissassemble a car to paint on 4-5 hours. I plan on a day to a day and a half after I paint one to assemble and some of the detail work. It's like anything else, if you take your time and pay attention to the details you will come out with a nice job. If it's just a daily driver that you don't plan on keeping then either don't do anything with it and drive it or Maaco it.
It would be best for you to drive what you have and find a projaect car to do. This way you could do all the work your self, learn what to do and what not to do in the process. I don't know what shape the rest of you car is in, but a blue book value of your car probably isn't much more than what you would pay for a good paint job. I'm not trying to down grade your car, but if you do not have any attachment to this particular car, than keep driving it and go buy something that you have always wanted and put money into that. The actual painting of a car takes about 4 hours. Thats once the car is ready and in the paint both. I tell you this to show that it's all in the prep work.
When I was younger I would do all of my own body work and someone else would do the paint ( My Dad ) I would always get so mad when people would ask who painted you car. It wasn't my Dad that spent the last month or two of hard work to make it look good, but it took that final wisdom to make all of my efforts worth while.

You could also try for one of the vocational schools to do the work. They come out ok and it would provide a way for some high schooler's to learn a little bit.

Good luck

Oh and Get Nick I would be glad to do your paint work, but I think the drive wouldn't make it worth it.
 
im in spartanburg sc if you want hit me up ill give you reasonable price on a good paint job im not to far a couple of hours a way i could have it done in about 3 days
thats all the dents fixed and hand sanded with matrix paint its not as good as ppg but its what i use on all my cars as a matter of fact im about to paint my ej1 next week so ill post some pics when im done

oh yeah and it would be 5million times better than maaco or econo
 
im in spartanburg sc if you want hit me up ill give you reasonable price on a good paint job im not to far a couple of hours a way i could have it done in about 3 days
thats all the dents fixed and hand sanded with matrix paint its not as good as ppg but its what i use on all my cars as a matter of fact im about to paint my ej1 next week so ill post some pics when im done

oh yeah and it would be 5million times better than maaco or econo

Thanx for the offer but I have decide to teach myself how to do body work and paint. I have a friend here that is a body mechanic who is going to help when I need guidance.
 
Thanx for the offer but I have decide to teach myself how to do body work and paint. I have a friend here that is a body mechanic who is going to help when I need guidance.
Just remember, it's all in the prep work. The better you prep the car, the better results you will see. Sand, sand, sand. And make sure the car is wiped down extremely well w/wax and degreaser before you spray any coats.
 
Yeah thats what I keep hearing. I am pretty meticulous so the prep shouldnt be a problem.
 
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