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You are correct if you don’t mind a few sanding marks here and there....or you don’t mind some orange peel...but then don’t be surprised when you show it some place or go to sell it that people just aren’t appreciating your car. You get what you pay for. There are no free rides unless you do it yourself!
Yeah, I'd mind. Sanding marks, grind marks, sags, runs, orange peel, dirt are not part of a "decent" paint job. They are part of a sloppy painting job. Price doesn't justify the painter doing sloppy work and that's what you're describing.
Nor are those defect you mentioned part of a Factory OEM quality level paint job.
I suppose it's now time to mention one $1500 paint job and a $2200 paint job I've had in the last ten years that have none of the defects you're talking about. And it was guaranteed not to have them before I paid a nickel. One was done inside of a couple of weeks, the other about a month. Neither are Corvettes but both were stripped to metal. The $1500 one by the painter, the $2200 one by your's truly with soda blast. No overspray anywhere. Painted under the hood, inside the doors, trunk, everywhere.
Not show job. Just factory level new car quality. Maybe I should move outa' here so I can pay through the nose for the next car I have painted.
PS. If you had to have your Toyota Camry repainted due to some type of damage to the paint or bigt collision damage, how much do you think your insurance company is going to pay a shop to repaint your car to factory level quality? I can almost guarantee it won't be anywhere close to numbers mentioned.
Also there is nothing wrong with using Earl Scheib/Macco for a 10 footer if that's what your after....
Everything doesn't have to be OMG expensive, these are just used Chevy's.
The problem I have Mr. D is that the OP asked how much a paint job costs. He did not ask what a 20 footer cost. Your opinion has to do with what might be good enough for you, but does not answer the question asked. Had the OP asked what does a 20 footer cost I'd have remained silent, I have no idea, never asked or paid for one. Your response speaks to my point, we should be on the same page on what a paint job is (to each of us).
The problem I have Mr. D is that the OP asked how much a paint job costs. He did not ask what a 20 footer cost. Your opinion has to do with what might be good enough for you, but does not answer the question asked. Had the OP asked what does a 20 footer cost I'd have remained silent, I have no idea, never asked or paid for one. Your response speaks to my point, we should be on the same page on what a paint job is (to each of us).
Dan
I think the OP's question has been answered very well. The answer is, "it depends".
After seeing the photos of C-1's and C-2's on the other thread, I'm thinking of having my 62 repainted. It's 97% original paint with all the touch-ups and typical paint cracks to substantiate it, making it a good 20 footer. I haven't been around classics for decades so was wondering what does a decent paint job cost these days? I know it can all depends on what level of strip and paint the shop would do, but I would appreciate and comments that give me a price range to consider.
Butch
Where do you live? Maybe someone can refer you to a few local shops that can help and give a fair cost estimate. Or just shop around. However don't be surprised if autobody (collision) shops say "not interested". Many have been through restoration work before and choose to stay away as it clogs up the flow of their collision work which is usually done on a shorter time frame.
20K for a paint job is crazy. All they are doing is opening a can of paint and spraying it. Shop around. You can get great jobs for under 10K. Unless you live in the state of nuts, CA.
Yeah, I'd mind. Sanding marks, grind marks, sags, runs, orange peel, dirt are not part of a "decent" paint job. They are part of a sloppy painting job. Price doesn't justify the painter doing sloppy work and that's what you're describing.
Nor are those defect you mentioned part of a Factory OEM quality level paint job.
I suppose it's now time to mention one $1500 paint job and a $2200 paint job I've had in the last ten years that have none of the defects you're talking about. And it was guaranteed not to have them before I paid a nickel. One was done inside of a couple of weeks, the other about a month. Neither are Corvettes but both were stripped to metal. The $1500 one by the painter, the $2200 one by your's truly with soda blast. No overspray anywhere. Painted under the hood, inside the doors, trunk, everywhere.
Not show job. Just factory level new car quality. Maybe I should move outa' here so I can pay through the nose for the next car I have painted.
PS. If you had to have your Toyota Camry repainted due to some type of damage to the paint or bigt collision damage, how much do you think your insurance company is going to pay a shop to repaint your car to factory level quality? I can almost guarantee it won't be anywhere close to numbers mentioned.
My biggest challenge was finding anyone who would even do the job. For any price.
Sorry, didn't mean to ask a stupid question or open and old wound by asking "how long is a piece of string", but I did get the answer I was looking for.........which is very expensive. I need to try the buff and polish route 1st, as suggested by Capevetts, as I can do a lot to this car for $20K. Wow! Prices have certainly changed in the past few decades.
Thanks guys, I really appreciate the feedback!!!
Butch
Butch;
When I was hunting to find my C2, I included the costs of a paint job in my algorithm. This resulted in me turning down an offer on a very original, very honest '63 vert, as the original paint was shot. This meant (to me) that it was not a good driver due to appearance, and costs of a repaint would result me having more in it than it would be worth.
My '65 came with 10 footer paint, but it was a complete no-hit body. It was good enough to live with.
However, with studying some videos, getting advices from some pros (DUB), and picking up a few inexpensive supplies, I have begun restoring my finish. While I cannot offer technical advice, I highly recommend trying this method.
I started with some Meguiar's polish, and it turns out that it is removing scratches, minimizing some blemishes, and bringing a nice shine up. It will not fool anyone that it's a fresh paint out, but it's at least $10K cheaper. I'm going to next practice some touch-up paint in inconspicuous areas to learn how to blend those repairs in.
In my opinion the primary reason Corvette paint jobs cost so much is the obsession to have them look far better than anything that ever came out of the factory.
When they were built they had some waviness/ ripples in the fiberglass. You can see it it unrestored survivor cars, particularly on the hood. Now it is assumed that any good paint job must be block sanded down to a dead flat/smooth surface. That is a huge labor cost.
Factory paint jobs were single stage paint, just primer and one finish coat Now it’s multiple coats of both base color and then clear with sanding in between - more labor and materials.
It seems that everyone insists that the only correct way to paint a Corvette is the new way - which to me is essentially show quality.
I see nothing wrong with a driver car foregoing some of the new prep and being closer to “typical of factory production” - to borrow a phrase from NCRS.
I soda blasted my car myself. I spent 2k on soda at wholesale pricing. I used maybe 6 gallons of Vette Panel Adhesive for filler at $140 per gallon. A gallon of good 2k primer is over $200 clear $300 a gallon. I can't begin to imagine what this would have cost but 20k wouldn't have gotten it done but I'm doing a lot of glass replacement. This yellow Vette I painted with and for a neighbor over a thousand I materials for single stage paint. I would guess this paint job would have easily been 5k of better.
There is the NCRS judging for points paint job, and then there is IMO, the good paint job.
Though it wouldn't surprise me if an NCRS paint job costs more to properly duplicate the original body waves, orange peel, over spray and thin spots.
Doug
See, I think what you are talking about is detail, or effect, attempting to duplicate original mediocrity. You still have to strip/prep correctly, use good products and do most of the sanding. I think what you are talking about is maybe less or no cut and buff, but I am steadfast that there is only one right way to paint a car. I'll have to accept that many will be happy with a job short of done right or cannot afford to pay what it costs to do it right.
I just don't see body work as properly available in good, better, best as in cheap *** furniture vs Ethan Allen.
I guess I'm truly amazed that paint can cost $1500-2000 per gallon and other prep materials can raise the material cost to $6000 to $8000+ . That just sounds like extreme rape to me. I understand EPA, insurance issues and all the other BS that goes with manufacturing paint and with operating a paint shop, but material costs and labor to accomplish the job are just astounding to me. You can paint a single or twin piston aircraft for less than these numbers.
Not any more, you can't. I'm a pilot, and I've been down that road before too, and there's no escaping the REAL costs of a proper paint job (unless the painter is your brother, and is already independently wealthy)
I have a recent example and experience for you as I am going through this myself.
I've been saving up to paint my 71' for about 4 years now, I finally started getting quotes from local paint and body shops, a couple of "customs" shops and even a "corvette" shop.
I wanted to drive in/drive out, strip it to glass, color change etc etc...basically a full body on repaint.. Every quote I got was $15-26k.
I sat on it for a while, searching reviews, looking at cars painted by these shops etc..... Out of curiosity, I hit up the shop that painted one of my motorcycles, he quoted me $10k, drive in/drive out....Naturally I jumped on the offer. I waited 4 months to get it in his shop, gave him half the money down, then he called me 3 days later, backing out of the job, saying he under bid it and it was more work then he wanted to deal with...
So I went back on the hunt again for months, I knew about a local customs/classics shop that does EXCELLENT work, but they are extremely expensive. They have painted 3 of my dad's cars, and honestly out of my price budget.
After months of research, worry, panic about quality, reassembly, etc etc, I decided to have that custom shop do it. They quoted me $22-26k, not counting parts. I've been waiting 4 months to get it into them, and its scheduled to go in the shop in 2 weeks.
It was a bit out of my budget but...I'm looking at it as I'm paying for peace of mind, a proven product and I KNOW it will look excellent...
I figure I will forget about the expense, but I won't forget about any flaws or shitty work that is done so...I'm biting the bullet and gonna make it happen.
After all, I love Top Ramen for dinner...
The point of my story is, price shopping is smart, but sometimes paying the premium for a PROVEN product is worth more in the long run...
Good luck on your hunt for a shop....Its a stressful job for sure.
PPG increase's their price by 10% every year!!!! Tell them to lower costs, 1 quart of blue toner used to mix paint colors body shop cost with discount $280.00!!! Gallon of straight black toner almost $500.00, don't even ask about red toner price's. And most body shops won't even take on overall paint jobs due to cost and customer expectations and loss of reputation for not show quality work. Also who wants to work their a$$ off for Walmart wages when you have a family to raise, were not all lucky enough to be retired.
prep time is the $$$$
- strip
- fiberglass repair
- prep
how many hours at $85-100 /HR for GOOD experienced body man then paint- price only goes up with better product. Don't cheap out at end ~$3K for the better paint that will last
PPG increase's their price by 10% every year!!!! Tell them to lower costs, 1 quart of blue toner used to mix paint colors body shop cost with discount $280.00!!! Gallon of straight black toner almost $500.00, don't even ask about red toner price's. And most body shops won't even take on overall paint jobs due to cost and customer expectations and loss of reputation for not show quality work. Also who wants to work their a$$ off for Walmart wages when you have a family to raise, were not all lucky enough to be retired.
Yep.... I was told materials to do my car will be over $3k.....Literally just the paint/sanding supplies.
06-05-2018, 04:13 PM
