I went to the Ford Dealership (after another painter had an issue with his compressor and is waiting on a part) to see how much it would be to paint racing stripes (like the Boy Racer only in red) on my wife's new 05. The body shop manager was not there to give me an estimate but the Service Manager gave me a rough estimate of about $3000.00 - that's right 3 thousand dollars - to have them painted on. That is absolutely ridiculous. Is it really that expensive? He said that they have to strip the clearcoat and then re-apply. This got me wondering what they do when there is a scratch that gets repaired. Thay obviously do not remove all the clearcoar, paint the scratch, then apply new clearcoat. Can anyone give me a REAL estimate of what you think it will cost so that I do not get bored 0.20 over when negotiating a price.