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jack67rs
09-06-2004, 06:57 PM
How much to paint 67 camaro? Car has been dissassembled, media blasted, rusted metal cut out and replaced, and filled with all-metal and poly fillers sanded with 150 grit. Car will be painted inside and out, bottom of car, inner fenders, frame, and brackets. The body is on a steel rolling cart. The paint is a 3 stage orange metallic pearl, wholesales for about $175-200 a gallon and will include black metallic rally stripes. All painted surfaces will need to be block sanded and buffed. One painter had bid the job at $5000, but cancelled at the last minute after being scheduled 2 months ago claiming personal reasons would'nt allow for such a big project. What should I expect to pay?? Will be shopping around this week.

MuscleRodz
09-06-2004, 07:55 PM
TO do the level it sounds like you want done, it sounds like a $10K paint job labor and materials easy. I just recently finished painting a 71 Challenger in HOK pearl and all I did was final block, seal, and shoot. Painted inside and out and labor ran $3500 just to shoot it not including cut and buff. He spent another $2K on materials. And this was not a show finish, car will be driven daily.

Mike

awr68
09-07-2004, 06:19 PM
WOW!!! I guess I'm in total denial of what it truely costs!! I sure hope my painter/body man friend doesn't bail on me or the car will never get finished!!!

Andrew McBride
09-07-2004, 07:59 PM
well from what I have learned. 1. it is your quality of a job. 2. paint cost. 3.extra designs in your paint-stripes, airbrush. 4. where you are located. There was a post awhile back about paint and a guy said in Calif. you would look at around 9-10K, here in Oklahoma you can get a show quality paint job for around 4K-5k. that is what I was quoted for a grey met. with black met. stripes. interior shot as well.

StRacerDuke
09-07-2004, 08:00 PM
It's pricey to get a really good paint job. Ask around your area and see if you can find anyone you know, or a friend of a friend who will cut you a brake on the price. Make sure they are reputable before you start though.

Just my 2 cents.

MuscleRodz
09-07-2004, 09:24 PM
Andrew,
where in OK can you get a paint job inside and out, top and bottom show quality for $4k-$5K??? I know most the top painters in OKC and they won't talk to you for less than $10K. Now you might get a show on the outside for $4K-$5K around here but you wouldn't get much quality anywhere else on the car.

Mike

Steve1968LS2
09-08-2004, 07:22 AM
At the shop my car is at there is a 50's truck getting painted in a candy pearl.. I was told that just the basic blocking, painting and colorsand/buff was $15,000.. that included materials..

That did not include taking the truck apart and putting it back together..

Then again, SoCal is expensive for any car work

RobM
09-09-2004, 03:23 PM
i payed about 7500 for mine but i did the underside and interiour my self it wasnt that hard to do and to have a pro do it would not be worth it in my opinion, just make sure you mask every thing off well

Andrew McBride
09-09-2004, 04:02 PM
muscle rodz:

e-mail me if you are interested in a couple names of painters. I have lived in OK all my life and don't miss any shows. Who are all the top painters in the big OKC man? lol.
Steve Cook Creations is shooting my car, but it is going to be a little more than 4-5K, but I can find good show quality painters for that range, it's all in your prep work, that saves you money. [email protected]

so are u at Tinker? or Vance? AFB

Andrew

jack67rs
09-09-2004, 05:51 PM
thanks guys, I found a painter Tuesday. Found a very clean, professional, and experienced shop in Phx. These guys have won best paint at many shows including the Oakland roadster show. They said paint would run $6500-7500 with colorsanding and buffing.

MuscleRodz
09-09-2004, 07:44 PM
Jack, glad you found a shop with show history to give you a fair price to do your car.

Andrew, I just sent you an email. I talked with Steve about a year ago right after he finished the sick yellow and white 55, and at that time he did not seem that interested in doing my car, and I bet your paint is probably well north of $4k-$5K from him, and you won't be disappointed. What car do you got there, I might take a look at it.

Mike

mikes69z
04-08-2005, 06:11 PM
I just had my '69 Z/28 competely stripped, bodywork done, blocked and smoothed and then color coated and clear coated followed by a wet sand, buff and glazing. They also put the factory white stripes. Total: about $14K with very little body repair needed.
Don't kid yourself, good work doesn't come cheap.

Jagarang
04-08-2005, 08:34 PM
Don't even get me started on the cruel beating I was taking on my body and paint work! It's embarrasing and I was a "car guy" while I was getting taken for a ride! Live and Learn I suppose!

jack67rs
04-09-2005, 07:28 AM
Well my car is now coming up on seven months at the paint shop and the price has gone up to 10 or 11 grand with no changes on my end!!! This really sucks! Thought I would be assembling in nice cool weather, but here comes that Ariz. heat.

mikes69z
04-09-2005, 08:51 AM
Jack,

These restoration body shops really low-ball the work!! My estimate was $8-9K if only small amount of body work was needed. Well, after they stripped it, it was confirmed that the car was really in excellent condition - no panels needed, just a patch on the front fender and some fiberglass filler. Followed then by 3 weeks of "smoothing" it out.

The plus side was that they finished the entire job in 8 weeks - in time for me to have the car back on the road this summer. And they are also giving me a "free touchup" after the car gets re-assembled. Well, yea.. they better at that price!

ProdigyCustoms
04-09-2005, 09:32 AM
Well my car is now coming up on seven months at the paint shop and the price has gone up to 10 or 11 grand with no changes on my end!!! This really sucks! Thought I would be assembling in nice cool weather, but here comes that Ariz. heat.

Man I have to learn how to do this. I just never have been able to figure out how to bump someone for my mistake. Seriously, it is a all too familiar story. I just never had the gut's to tell someone it was more then I said because I miss diagnosed.

coolclassiccars
04-09-2005, 04:40 PM
guys, i live in southern pa and i just had my 69 pace car painted,installed new trunk floor, both quarters ,outer wheel houses,lower rear panel,paint quality as good as it gets,20 dollars an hour,paid 1500 materials,3000 labor had the car for 16 months.i wasn't in a hurry, i'm talking spot welds in all the right places,top notch quality.if you want a quality job it takes time and money,a good body man is very hard to find.

mikes69z
04-14-2005, 05:47 AM
Cool,

And for $20 an hour!!?? Are you kidding me?

WELTERRACER
04-14-2005, 07:30 AM
I know a guy who does complete paint for under $5000

But he lives in Wisconson..

JoshStratton
04-14-2005, 10:58 AM
How do you know you are not getting 'reamed'? I mean, a body shop can tell you one thing...8-9 grand, but when you get the bill and they say it took an extra 100 hours and they charge you for it, how do you know it REALLY took an extra 100 hours and they weren't just playing pingpong in the corner? I have only taken my car to one body shop, but each time I have gotten a written estimate and paid for it up front. When I hear the stories of guys being charged more money upon completion, I wonder why they just didn't get it in writing before agreeing on the contract. Then they cannot be charged the extra amount. For anyone in Columbus, Ohio, this is where I go (well...until I started trying it myself). Nice people, quality work:

http://www.autometalmasters.com/

With any body shop, you can choose 2 out of 3 possible options with your project :

1. Cheap
2. Fast
3. Good Quality

Don't expect to get all 3.

68protouring454
04-14-2005, 12:46 PM
there are bad shops out there, i have a body shop, and you have to realize that for paint to last it has to be prepped properly and if you run into rust that pin holes when sandblasting, it needs a patch, so on so forth, you can't just bondo it, it needs a fully welded patch, then body work, well you get a few rust spots around a car, that you think can be cleaned up, but then when blasting the metal has gotten so thin it just pin holes while getting rust blasted off, and i mean all the black specs too, so you have 3-4 of those around a car and theres another 20 hrs or so between patching, body work, priming etc, some guys have to realiize the cars are not as solid as they think, do not get me wrong there are plenty of hack shops, liars etc, but i for one most of the time stick to my estimate, unless there is other work not listed in estimate, then of course i have to charge more, you don't get a 2nd fry for free do ya??? however as frank said if i under estimated the work needed to be done, i always eat my time, and chalk it up to a learning experience, anyways those are my thoughts
jake

trapin
04-19-2005, 05:11 PM
I have always found the prices I've gotten from painters and paint shops it little suspect. All it takes is a little elbow grease, and the right assortment of blocks to get it straight. Use good quality fillers and good quality primer and be meticulous about what your happy with and what your not. I'm not saying it's easy...on the contrary my car has been hard as hell so far. But I'm having fun.

BRIAN
04-19-2005, 07:06 PM
You will find it takes a little more than that. Price out just the cost of the basecoat itself. You can easily deduct a $1000 in just materials alone.

trapin
04-20-2005, 05:00 AM
OK....I can live with $1000 for materials, if I'm doing the rest myself.

I am tracking the costs of what my paint job is costing me. So far I've spent $275. That was for primer, reducer and all the filler and sand paper. I already had all the sanding blocks and the respirators. I have a slight advantage though because all my panels minus the roof and decklid are brand new and won't require much straightening that an old original panel would demand. The booth rental with gun rental will cost me $325 for the whole day (8am to 5pm). The base coat and clear coat are going to be $700 (these are the prices I was quoted). All the filters, tape, masking paper, sticks, tack cloth, degreaser is supplied by U-Paint-It. So far I'm at about $1300 for everything but I'm sure the price will fluctuate some. I don't see it going over $2000 but you never know. Even if it does go over a little...that's a huge savings over $5000-$6000.

MuscleRodz
04-20-2005, 02:01 PM
Unless all those new panels are old NOS, I think you will be amazed how much staightening you will have to do if you want a really straight body.
Another trick if you have not done it yet, bolt all the panels together in final form before you start body work to get the car straight as possible.When you disassemble for paint, make sure you keep track of where every shim came from so it goes back just like it came off. Another secret, get Rogan's Cuda book. It shows how Troy's shop did all the bodywork on the car.

Mike

trapin
04-20-2005, 06:10 PM
Thanks Mike, I'll check it out.

Believe it or not...all the panels on my car (with the exception of the hood) are Genuine GM body panels. They were all purchased through GM Service Parts Operations in the late 80's and 90's before they stopped production on them. They were installed in '94 and the car has sat ever since.

gtome
04-21-2005, 07:30 AM
I was in the same boat as you a couple of years ago. I wanted to paint my VW Bug. All my estamates were between $6000 and $8000 for the color I wanted. NO WAY I was paying that for a bug. So, I read and read to learn as much as possible. I went out and spent $1500 on paint and primer, bought a $500 SATA digital gun, a cheaper primer gun, $300 on a good polisher, $300 on a filter/drier, another few hundred on sand paper, tape, masking paper, a long john, blocks, compounds etc. Worked my nuts off for 3 months, did it all myself, and it came out awsome!! I loved doing it, the reward was undescribable. 2 weeks later a guy was checking it out and asked who did it, I told him "I did." He proceded to offer me $1500 to paint and flame his Harley. With only $200 in materials I made $1300 profit, just enough to pay for all the tools I bought to do my car. I have since done 2 more cars and 4 more bikes. That was enough to buy a $2500 air compressor, $500 air brush and mini-compressor, and have plenty of cash in my pocket. Its super fun, and great for learning. If you keep your prices resonable, they will come. I had a guy stop by yesterday with a $400 check to have me paint a toilet seat for him....how cool is that!! In fact, I am starting to have to turn people away, or make them wait. Wish I had more time. This all came about by doing that bug myself, never know what might happen for you!!

JoshStratton
04-21-2005, 07:35 AM
Do you still have that VDub? I have had 9 different ones through the last 5 years. I would love to see pics! I just sold my last 2 to complete another project.

mikes69z
04-21-2005, 08:38 AM
When I hear the stories of guys being charged more money upon completion, I wonder why they just didn't get it in writing before agreeing on the contract. Then they cannot be charged the extra amount.

Kuhl,

I agree with you and it's good advice, however, I spoke to 4 body / restoration shops before I decided to go with the shop who did my work. I found that no shop I spoke to would make any commitment other than $1K for stripping, approx $1.2K for material and $3K to paint the car. They all basically said they will not know the extent of the bodywork needed until after the car is stripped and they can determine what should be done.
As a result, my job was billed weekly where I could inspect what was being done and approve / disapprove the labor hours they charged. Since they were a restoration shop, I also added on other work that increased the cost slightly. My car was also a "turnkey" paint job. I basically did nothing - dropped the car off and let them do everything soup to nuts - disassembly, stripping, body repair, prep, paint, buff, glaze, and re-assembly. It cost more, but it was right for me and the amount of time I have..

But to make a long story short, based on what I went through, I think the only "standard" price I found was for stripping and painting. Which I found to be $1K and $3K respectively at all the shops I spoke to. Everything else depends on what you ask them to do. :-)

gtome
04-21-2005, 05:15 PM
I understand why no one will give a firm price. If I knew that bug was going to be in that bad of shape I wouldnt have restored it. It had one ding in the quarter panel. Appeared to be in great shape! I had to replace the lower 6" of the entire body!! Thats how deceving things can be. I also understand why they charge so much for the work. Its very tough and repetitive. I thought after I read all I could on it that it would be a breeze. I actually would just sand until my arms wouldnt work anymore, go in, and start again the next day.

JoshStratton
04-22-2005, 03:43 AM
gtome, what year is that VW? A 63? Kinda hard to tell without seeing the lights and no turn signals. VERY nice color! That is the color I wanted to paint my 79 TA. What color is that? I love those 5 spokes. I had them on a ragtop I had. Have you been to http://www.airkewld.com/ ? They are trying to create a pro-touring type atmosphere for VWs....awesome stuff.

gtome
04-22-2005, 08:24 AM
Kuhlryde, it is a 65. I shaved the turn signals and added 1950 pontiac tailights just to be different. The color is tangerine pearl from a 2004 special edition PT Crusier. I have been to Airkewled many times, I originally wanted to use their air ride on my car, but ended up spending too much money on everything else. So, I just lowered the rear 1 spline and put dropped spindles, and adjusters with a 4" narrowed beam up front with no shocks. That car is super fun to drive, its like a street legal go-cart. I have seen how they are stuffing 18's under bugs with performance driving in mind. Very cool!! I cant even think about driving mine like that with those 135's up front, its scary enough just getting caught in the rain!!