I need a paint job, how much?

[godstangit]

I've had my 94 GT for about 2 years now. Before I brought it I looked it over and noticed small craters, on the front bumper cover,and a few above the front headlights, the guy told me it was because of love bugs. Im originally from Chicago and never heard of love bugs till I moved down here to Tampa.They say that if you dont wash them off the acid inside them will eat your paint.But theres so many of these craters,some real deep, it looks more like a battery exploded! Anyways, I talked the guy down from 6000 to 5200 bucks and went straight to Discount and put a bra on it,I've been told that it would cost anywhere from 1500 to 2500 or so to paint the entire car (Lazer Red) does that sound about right? Some said its a special painting process, and hard to match so painting the whole car would be best.

 

[getinaGTsoon]

I've had my 94 GT for about 2 years now. Before I brought it I looked it over and noticed small craters, on the front bumper cover,and a few above the front headlights, the guy told me it was because of love bugs. Im originally from Chicago and never heard of love bugs till I moved down here to Tampa.They say that if you dont wash them off the acid inside them will eat your paint.But theres so many of these craters,some real deep, it looks more like a battery exploded! Anyways, I talked the guy down from 6000 to 5200 bucks and went straight to Discount and put a bra on it,I've been told that it would cost anywhere from 1500 to 2500 or so to paint the entire car (Lazer Red) does that sound about right? Some said its a special painting process, and hard to match so painting the whole car would be best.

Well, depending on how faded the other parts of the car are deteremines how hard it will be to match them... re-painting the car would be a nice option if the car has faded/no clearcoat left paint.. Those prices are reasonable.

Painting a car isn't a "special" process. Especially if it is just one color, also.. the paint code should be on the door sticker. So that will narrow it down a bit.

 

[yellow1995Cobra]

Paint is very expensive.

I was told 3-4k to do my whole car over. I have a few dents that need to be banged out and repaired so thats a few extra bucks. He said about 4k if he takes everything off and puts it back on, and i could save about 1k if i do all that. (door locks, spoiler, headlights, blinkers etc etc)

My friend got his car done at macco for less then 1000, and it actually came out really good.

Paint matching sucks. Some dude backed into the side of my car 2 years ago and they repainted the side of the car, man was it wayyy off. If your gonna try to match the paint make sure you take it to someone who is REALLY good.

 

[getinaGTsoon]

Paint is very expensive.

I was told 3-4k to do my whole car over. I have a few dents that need to be banged out and repaired so thats a few extra bucks. He said about 4k if he takes everything off and puts it back on, and i could save about 1k if i do all that. (door locks, spoiler, headlights, blinkers etc etc)

My friend got his car done at macco for less then 1000, and it actually came out really good.

Paint matching sucks. Some dude backed into the side of my car 2 years ago and they repainted the side of the car, man was it wayyy off. If your gonna try to match the paint make sure you take it to someone who is REALLY good.

Yeah, 1500-2000 is a paint job that didn't have any dents.. or any filler applied to fix craters in the rocker moldings/bumpers. if you have dents and small craters, then it'll be more expensive. not by much though.

if you want to save money and get a cheap paint job you'll hate in a year or so.. goto macco or econopaint .

edit: it takes 2 quarts of base coat, 2 quarts of clear, and activator for clear, reducers for the paint

if you have dents that require filler.. look at : body filler (bondo), hardner for the "bondo", spreaders, wax pads to mix it on

plastic bumpers require special primer and flex additives

-----------
I'm in school for auto body collision repair right now, so I know the required stuff to do a paint job/dent repair. It could easily add up to $3000 if you had someone do it.

 

[94GTLaserRC]

With little or no body work, and no door jams or inside hoods, you can find a good paint job for $1500. If you want lights taken off, inside jams/hood/trunk, dents fixed, just goes up from there.
RC

 

[godstangit]

yeah maaco or econo are cheaper but.... I want it to last. I guess 2 grand or so is reasonable then? The paint code is e-9 BTW,the "special process" the one guy said is something to do with having to spray a layer of this and a layer of that to achieve the lazer red tone , I dont know Im not to hip on paint and body

 

[94GTLaserRC]

The E-9 is a 3-layer process. The base in red, the metallic, then the clear. Mine was done as a 2-layer...Red and metallic, then the clear. Hard to tell the difference.

My job was $1500, plus $200 something for some body work. Now, they did a ****TY job on the body kit, but the original car sections were fine.
RC

 

[godstangit]

was that a maaco shop that did your paint for 1500? Why do you think they did a $***y job on the body kit ? Is it because of it being plastic it had to be preped different?

 

[FordStang]

i bought my S281 spoiler and i went to buy the paint (E-8) and tri-stage paint so i bought the first and mid coat and the total for those two pints were 135 dollars...not including harder, Flex additive and clear

 

[GTPhreak]

Paint is very expensive.

Paint isn't all that expensive. It is the labor you pay for

 

[KingDiamond]

I am considering having my car repainted too. It is starting to rust a little in the front driver's side fender well on the bottom. And the rear driver's side quarter panel is rusting on the edge. The front rust can be easily repaired but I was told that the rear quarter panel part will have to be cut out, and a new piece of metal will have to be welded in. I haven't gotten any estimates yet but I bet it's going to be really pricey.

 

[94GTLaserRC]

was that a maaco shop that did your paint for 1500? Why do you think they did a $***y job on the body kit ? Is it because of it being plastic it had to be preped different?

No, it was a referred "reputable" shop"

Maaco would have been about $800.

These guys (didnt know till afterwards) did not know what the F--- they were doing with regards to prepping that stuff.

RC

 

[I DiDio I]

does anyone know of a place where we could purchase our own paint ? Although we're paying mostly for the labor if we can save any $$ buying the paint ourselves at wholesale every little bit helps when you're on a fixed income....

 

[94GTLaserRC]

does anyone know of a place where we could purchase our own paint ? Although we're paying mostly for the labor if we can save any $$ buying the paint ourselves at wholesale every little bit helps when you're on a fixed income....

GOOD LUCK finding a paint shop to warranty ANY of their work if youre gonna supply your own paint!

RC

 

[yellow1995Cobra]

Paint isn't all that expensive. It is the labor you pay for

By paint i meant the whole process, not just the paint itself.

 

[getinaGTsoon]

does anyone know of a place where we could purchase our own paint ? Although we're paying mostly for the labor if we can save any $$ buying the paint ourselves at wholesale every little bit helps when you're on a fixed income....

Well, just check around in your area.. Around here, its $67 per quart of base coat, and it takes about 2 quarts on an average size car. I'm not sure how much clear coat and activator because I never got an actual quote on paper, but all together.. paint and clear alone should cost you around the $300-350.

The labor costs really come into effect because of all the sanding that has to be done (including after a couple coats of primer).. wet sanding, masking stuff off.. there literally is a couple days work atleast involved in it.. and thats if you have no body work to be done.

 

[KingDiamond]

Well I took my car to a paint shop and the guy said he'll fax the estimate in a day or two but it should be around $3,000 for the entire thing including the welding in of a new piece. The shop has a lifetime warranty on the paint job and I saw a BMW M3 that was just painted red and it looked awesome and the were painting a 93 Lincoln Mark VIII black and it looks like a show car. These guys also did the door of my friend's 2003 Trailblazer that was hit two weeks after he got it from the showroom. The door came out really good and you can't even tell that it was repainted.

 

[94GTLaserRC]

One thing to point out, that the price I put was for "Dealer Quality" paint job, not "show quality"

You get what you want to pay for!
RC