SoAlVette

Man, been getting estimates to get my 95 coupe painted. 5K so far is the best price for a good paint job. A lot of the shops don't even want to do it. One guy told me he does not do complete paint jobs any more because it is not cost effective, said he makes more money doing smaller repair jobs.
Of course Fact-O-Bake and Earl Scheib are not even considerations. Sure costs a lot to paint Vettes. My paint job is not too bad, but I have a faded hood, my Torch Red almost looks orange in the sunlight, and the targa and rear top have some clear coat peeling, the sides look pretty good. Sure would be nice, gotta save some more pennies.

callen91

Are you opposed to getting a 3m vinyl wrap? Much cheaper and if its done right it will look amazing. And will last a long time if taken care of

zr1fred

Some MAACOs do pretty good jobs, some do not. Have you thought about just getting the top half painted? Works pretty good on C4s with the belt line.

Cygnus

Great paint jobs are expensive no matter the make of the car. Some of those quickie shops can do an okay job if you do all the prep work.

cv67

Good work isnt cheap and cheap is never good.

Just dont understand why vettes cost so much. They arent removing door dings, its a small body no roof really- must be the picky factor they gotta deal with.
Strip, block prep tape then the usual. For starters anyway

ejscarfo

$5k isn't a bad price if the shop will be doing all the prep work. Have you gotten an estimate for just paint? You could do the prep work yourself, i.e. sand, remove trim, lights, etc. and then after its painted, color sand and reassemble it yourself.

mfi

I had mine painted last year..and the only reason was insurance paid for it..I got away cheap at 5.5K because I knew the guy but it would have cost 8. I thought about a wrap but I would have had to get the car primed as the wrap will not stick too well if the paint is a mess...

zr1fred

While I would agree that it would save you a lot of money, it also would relieve the painter of any liability if the job came out bad.

bangbgC6

$5,000 is not bad if you expect a good paint job you can be proud of.

There is more work to painting a Vette than other cars if you want a top notch result.
Wraps are cool if applied right, there is a growing variety of color options available, installation expertise is crucial and that does not come cheap either.

One of the most interesting new options people are trying is Plasti-Dip, if you want a matte finish. There are several You Tube videos showing them doing cars. They pre-max whatever color you want. The video I watched was a Black BMW that they resprayed matte white.

callen91

They actually do make a spray you spray over the Plasti-dip to make it a gloss finish. I've seen a few dipped wheels but not a whole car yet. It's gaining popularity though

GREGGPENN

There are a lot of steps in a good paint job. The cheapies barely sand, mask and shoot.

In a good paint job, bumpers and doors may be r/r'd. Weatherstrip might be pulled..or at least extra prep. With a fiberglass car, sanding to the gel coat is part of the process. I think they applied/sand a guide coat -- to make sure everything is chip-free/straight. (Essencially they re-primer it.) Then goes the paint. The paint gets wetsanded and polished to a mirror finish. Don't forget multiple layers of base/clear too.

Really, there are a lot, lot more steps to a quality job. And, most of it is labor. I'm betting it's about $40/hr for paint labor now. Maybe more.

BTW...Good paint is also expensive...as is a good paint booth. You're also paying for those.

Maaco/Sheib use much cheaper paint that might not hold up for more than a couple of years.

Nowhere Man

have you priced out the material cost lately. a gallon of good base and clear is easy $1500-2K. plus all the sand paper, and then time.

cgantner5150

This is why I decided to do it myself last summer. Spent about 1500 and I got to keep the 80 gallon compressor and paint guns.

Now, what would I charge to do a Vette for someone? Way too damn much. It was more work than I ever imagined. I took the Vette completely apart and stripped everything (3 different paint jobs).

I do get the satisfaction knowing I did it myself.

No need to spend 1500-2000 for paint. Do a little research, there are excellent alternatives out there.

roadcaqpt

Find out if your local community tec school has an auto collision repair course. Talk with the advanced course teacher an see if they will do the prep an prime then find a great shooter. Just took the course and repainted my 93 Eldorado Fire Red, Dupont Chromabase /clear coat, tape, primer sandpaper came to about $750.00 My labor, their shop and paint booth, little over 60 hrs labor est. Body shop labor here in NC is 48 hr. Came out fantastic.

I have some dings on a qtr panel of my 95 c4 and it is next.

corvetteronw

Here is what I did on a C3 I owned several years ago.
A coworker told me he knew someone who had a paint booth at his rural home. It was located in its own pole barn and the guy did paint jobs for used car lots in the area.
He and his two teenage sons sanded the cracked black lacquer off and repainted the entire car with black base/clear.
It turned out beautiful and later that same year I sold it at a Mecum auction at Bloomington Gold. The car still looked good the last time I saw a pic of it. The paint was done about 12-14 years ago and I paid about 1/3 of what a pro shop would charge.
So - check with the used car guys in your area and see who they use. I'll bet the mom and pop lots don't pay $5,000!
Now, if you want show car paint you will want to go to the local Cadillac dealer and find out who they use. You will pay for it though
Found an old scanned pic of the car. Not the best pic but the car did shine nicely.

Car was a converted 81 coupe with a 355 and some go-fast goodies.

cv67

Good idea really Caddy and Lexus usually have nice quality paint jobs on them.

Seals

Cheap, fast and good. Pick any two.

Cliff Harris

I had my '71 painted at a Cadillac dealer. Their in-house painter owned a Corvette. I even used a Cadillac color: Regency Bronze Iridescent. I did pick the color before I found out about this dealer, though.

ch@0s

Do not go cheap!!. I still don't get it, people will drop 2K on heads and 2K on wheels and tires but wont spend 5K on a good paint job. If you ever had to paint a car you would know why it cost so much a good paint job requires lots of time and talent too.

Vette Daddy

If you can get a good job done for $5k, jump on it. You need to find a young body man that does work at home in the evenings. These guys are hungry for work and will do what you want if you are specific.

To do the job right, all panels that get painted should be removed from the car. All of them, doors and all. Weatherstripping needs to be removed and replaced as well.

I generally charge around $12k for a paint job. More than most C4's are worth, unfortunately.

Bottom line is --- It's takes a lot of work to do a quality job. You get what you pay for.

If it was easy, everyone would do it themselves.