hey,

I'm going to start off by saying that i am not familiar with body painting or anything that has to do with the exterior of the car, but i want to paint my car and fix some dents and scratches that the car has, now here is my question :

i went to a body shop today and told the dude that: i want them to paint the entire car kind off the same color, but a little bit more silver, i also told them that i wanted them to fix some dents and scratches from an accident, and finally i also let them know that i wanted them to install the gst/x spoiler and that they would also have to fill the wholes out and smooth everything out.

now the thing that is concerning me is that when they gave me the estimate it came out to only $1100, for all that work!!!! thats cheap!!!

what do you guys recomend me asking them, as i told you before i am new to the body work world, so what do i have to look out for, or what should i ask them??? because i think that is cheap for all the work involved!

i really apreciate any feedback!

I would say that is pretty cheap as well. Find out what their other work looks like. Check the orange peel to make sure it is consistent whenever they respray another vehicle.

$1100 is fairly inexpensive. I was quoted about $2300 for a respray. That's no door jambs, no dents, just a respray. The guy who quoted me will color sand the paint so there is no orange peel though. He doesn't do work for anybody without color sanding the orange peel out. He's a bit obsessive.

That is pretty cheap. I would ask around to see if you know anybody who has had some work done by them to see the quality. I would have guessed it to be over $2000 for that type of work. Also, what type of paint are they using? That is a big factor in knowing how long you should expect it to last and if it will peel, etc.

i was quoted 2000 for a color change door jams under the hood ect ect but it was a hook up price.

No way in hell i'd pay that.


When all is said and done, i will have spent $500 doing my body work, prepping and painting the car myself.

With painting the money isn't in materials. The money is in the labor. Prep work, spraying, finish work.

so what do you guys think, what should i ask them then? i have no idea whats going on with that price, even i think its way to low for all the labor, so i dont know, just give me some opinions and i will go ask them whats going on.

thanks again

I'd ask them anyway. If i wasn't so adamant about doing my own work (or most of it), i'd jump on that.

Most places charge anywhere from $2500-$4000 around here. (Charlotte, NC)

thats a very good price it is good work . dont put extra silver in the paint tho because you will never match that color if u ever get something repainted .

Originally posted by barza21
so what do you guys think,

I think you should spend $50 at the junk yard. Buy a fender with some decent dents in it for cheap. Then pick up some bondo at the autoparts store, some rattle can primer, and a variety pack of sandpaper. Take your practice fender home, sand some of the dents down, get them out as best you can, fill them with bondo, sand it all smooth, and then prime it. See for yourself just how much time it takes to do it right, but how relatively easy the physical work is.

If you were to do the prep work yourself, you might have to wait longer to have the work done, but how much money would you save? :wary

Hell. Even I'm considering a respray in 2008. Shhhh! ;)

EDIT:
I painted my hood in an evening with Rustoleum. It came out pretty good, imo. I also painted the faded window trim on the Galant shortly before it blew up. No pics of that off my phone yet.

http://www.dr1665.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=36

To be perfectly honest, since you do not really have any experience in body work, repair, or welding ( to close up the holes in the trunk, I would most likely find someone to do the work for you. But then again it all depends on the quality of the job you want. If i was in your shoes, I would definetely look at some of the other cars he has done to base you decision on. Doesnt matter how good the price is if the workmanship is shit. I used to work at a custom body shop and most of the time when we would respray a car back to factory and remove dents we would charge roughly 1700 -1800 dollars. That is including dent removal and such, usually another 300 for jams. ( And thats for good work, not some lame ass mako or Earl Sheib pant job.) I personally got my car sprayed to show finish for 2500 jams n all. A budddy of mine did a similar project to his 240sx which he also had no experience. After it was all said in done, he a.) spent 1,000 dollars on materials paint etc, b.) Took him over 2 months since he was working on painting it himself and he has a full time job. c.) ya the car is one color, but it looks like shit. I mean any idiot can apply bondo and spray primer because honestly its almost imposible to mess up, since you can always sand it out - but thats not the hard part, the hard part is making your paint lay right, espically your clear. And if you were to do this yourself - it would be in a garage right? Ya, good luck with trash. I strongly reccomend let a pro do it :)

Imagine the service industry like a triangle with 3 sides - fast, cheap, and good. You can only have 2 of the sides at the same time.

Good - Fast - and Cheap
If you want it good and cheap, it wont be fast.
If you want it fast and good, it wont be cheap
If you want it fast and cheap, it wont be good.

9 times out of 10 you get what you pay for. jus imo. :)
Also you got to look at what is the value of your time, I mean the best part of going to a professional shop is the speed which they can turn a job in. Ya im sure anyone can sand and prime a fender or something small, but without the right tools, repainting a car is a monster of a job, jus fyi :)

when I was working at a body shop, I did a "self quote" for shits and giggles. had the techs quote me labor for all the dings and dents, figured in spray time an materials plus replacing some of the window trim pieces and finish work (color sanding and buffing) I was looking at retail ~$7000 (I used to work at a grocery store, lotta little dings) doing 90% of the prep and finish work myself it was still gonna be close to $2000, doing the painting myself and just paying for materials I was in for about $600 and a case of beer. this was about 4 years ago and paint costs have gone up with the price of fuel (gas was still under $1.50 a gallon)

Ok, so you wanted to know what questions to ask the shop.... Here ya go.

Ask them exactly how they pull and fill dents and what compound they use.

Ask them how they are going to go about filling the holes in your hatch and quarter panels left-over from the low rise spoiler.

Ask them how many coats of paint and how many coats of clear they will be using.

Ask them about how well their booths are ventillated.

Most likely, they'll use bondo or fiberglass to fill the small dents in (probably without drilling/popping first). For the scratches, they'll either feather edge or use glazing compound.

Get back to us with what they tell you.

awesome, i thank all you guys for all the help and different opinions, to the dude that posted above me, thanks i will go ask them that and will try and research a little bit on it myself. thanks again, i will let you know what they will tell me.

just a quick note on mine, that pricing was for a custom multi layer paint job. silver base topped with HOK candy organic green and 4-5 layers of clear.

2 stage color/clear would have kicked it down about a grand

ohh, so how many coats of paint are good after a good sanding?? and after paint coats is there something else that is supposed to be sprayed on top of the paint?

If the body is straight and all prepped and the original paint isn't damaged to the metal, all you really need is 2-3 layers of paint, primer layer, color layer and then clear layer. primer only where repairs have been done

my paintjob that I'm working towards is gonna be special, the car is gonna look black till the light hits it just right and then it'll pop deep green. to get the best possible effect it'll need a glasslike finish which requires more clearcoat layers so that it can be sanded and polished to perfection without burning through the clearcoat

dude that's really cheap, i got an estimate for paint job, quater panel repair .. and dents for $1900 it might not be that bad but still too much.. if i can get it cheaper. ill do it..

ok, here is the update on what is going on:

i went into a different store and asked for an estimate and asked how many coats of everything and what materials they were going to use and this is what i got:

the dude at the store told me that they were going to apply 3 coats of paint, and 2 coats of clear.

as for the hole filling, he was going to use some fiberglass, and some bondo to smoothen everything out.

to fill the holes of the spoiler the same thing, fiber glass and bondo and then he would paint the whole thing.

i also asked him if he was going to take the front and rear bumper off to paint it and he said no, that everything was going to be painted on the car, but not to worry that he would get to every single whole and ditch.

well the final price came out to the same one as before $1200, and he would install the spoiler and everything!!!!!!

I AM STIL NOT SURE, I ASKED EVERYTHING THAT WAS MENTIONED ABOVE AND GOT THE SAME PRICE, SO WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK???????
feedback would be greatly appreciated! i am lost, you guys are telling me that you are getting charged 2500.00 and up for only a paint job, and me, im doing a bunch of stuff to it and im only getting charged 1200, that is what is getting me worried!!!


P.S. the dude at the store gave 6 years of warranty on the paint job, is this good?

ohh, i forgot, sorry, he said that he would sand the whole car also before he painted it.

thanks

Originally posted by barza21
ok, here is the update on what is going on: i went into a different store and asked for an estimate and asked how many coats of everything and what materials they were going to use and this is what i got: the dude at the store told me that they were going to apply 3 coats of paint, and 2 coats of clear. as for the hole filling, he was going to use some fiberglass, and some bondo to smoothen everything out. to fill the holes of the spoiler the same thing, fiber glass and bondo and then he would paint the whole thing. i also asked him if he was going to take the front and rear bumper off to paint it and he said no, that everything was going to be painted on the car, but not to worry that he would get to every single whole and ditch. well the final price came out to the same one as before $1200, and he would install the spoiler and everything!!!!!! I AM STIL NOT SURE, I ASKED EVERYTHING THAT WAS MENTIONED ABOVE AND GOT THE SAME PRICE, SO WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK??????? feedback would be greatly appreciated! i am lost, you guys are telling me that you are getting charged 2500.00 and up for only a paint job, and me, im doing a bunch of stuff to it and im only getting charged 1200, that is what is getting me worried!!! P.S. the dude at the store gave 6 years of warranty on the paint job, is this good?

he obviously doesnt know how to do things right if he is gonna fiberglass and bondo the spoiler holes . it wont last a long time like that . must be welded . i highly doubt it will last 3 years without cracking or showing through the paint

so what do you guys think?? should i go for it then??

my car is currently white, but i have this crazy idea of changing color, if i change color i will probably paint it black!! what do you guys think?

Originally posted by barza21
so what do you guys think?? should i go for it then?? my car is currently white, but i have this crazy idea of changing color, if i change color i will probably paint it black!! what do you guys think?

Find a better body shop or find a different color. White hides a lot; Black shows all.

I will quote my old neighbor who used to be an auto-body person... "Most professionals have a hard time with black"

I'm in the process of getting my car ready for black, and I'll be spending a LONG time on just making sure that everything is straight enough, especially after removing a landau top. Even though I want black, I'll go for something else, I'm confident in myself, but not that confident!

black will cost you a LOT more, the pricing I stated for my paintjob earlier was partly to prep the car like it was going to be black.

glassing the holes and bondoing them smooth won't last more than a couple years. I glassed a hole in the rocker panel for the vintage Porsche I have a 2 years ago just to make it look decent. I made sure I did a job that would be shop quality and it's starting to crack and look crappy