Corvette Charlie

I am considering getting my car painted and was curious about others experiences..
What did the job cost
What kind of paint / materials
Who did it
Who preped it
How long did it take
Were you happy with the result
If you did it again what would you do different

sjr1971

I know nothing about painting car let alone fiberglass cars. I repair what breaks. I had my '71 painted in '84 for $2,400 . VERY expensive at that time. Changed color from Warbonnet yellow to a red color. 23 years later people still tell me it's a beaut. Always garage kept can't override the quality of the paint job . My avatar was taken in the early 90's . Never waxed then and looks the same now . Expensive now but worth it. Mine was painted @ CarLand Danbury Conn

roadrocket

I painted my car.

Cost me about $1000+ in material.

Painted with
1. PPG DPLF Epoxy Primer (2 coats)
2. PPG 2K Hi-Build Primer-Surfacer (4 coats block sanded between each)
3. PPG DPLF Epoxy Primer (mixed as a sealer 2 coats)
4. PPG Deltron DBC Basecoat (3 coats)
5. PPG DCU 2021 clear (3 coats then color sanded to remove all orange then buffed)

Did all the prep work too including a little body work... stress cracks repairs mostly.

I've got about 500 hours labor in the job including color sanding and buffing.

I guess it came out pretty good...I've got 2 "Best of Show-Paint" trophies to show for it, so I'm happy.

Yeah I'd do it again...hellva lot of work but it's the only way I could afford what would otherwise be probably a $10k to $12k paint job.

Steve

DR.Jay

I painted mine myself last Fourth of July
I stripped it, and did all the prep work with some help from the wife during masking.
I used the single stage urethane Crossfire brand from Napa.
The cost of supplys including HVLP spray gun was about $750.oo
Stripping the paint took about 2 weekends.
I did the prep, and paint work at night, and in the early morning when it was cooler (95+*) last Fourth.
The painting including prep, priming, paint, wet sanding, and buffing took about 50 hours.
I'm very happy with it even if it is a 10 foot paint job.
If I had to do it again?
I wouldn,t do it in 95* weather (with as much sweating as I was doing who needed a garden hose to wet sand)
I would drink more beer so I was not so nervous.

MotorHead

I got mine painted at Lengendary Motor Cars ( where they tape the show Dream Car Garage ).

They used Sikkens paint and it cost $10,000 at that time a few years ago, price has since gone up since then. Took a couple of months and I was happy with the results and I wouldn't do anything different again

sperkins

I also painted mine myself and it was definately worth it. Probably $1200 in materials total and about 350 hours with all the body work. Here's a link to my old thread about it. Good luck.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1515347

ZORA_RULES

I did mine back in 02. Check out paintucation.com. I used PPG products base coat/clear coat. Its a lot of work. So long as you have beer and patience though you can do it. You can make a functional paint boot with plastic sheating and box fans and filters. Probably cost me $1500-2000 grand and a lot of time. But its cool as you can say you did it yourself. I notice a few flaws but people always compliment it and can't believe it was done in a garage.

thrilher

I had a backwoods small time body repair shop do my prepping and priming & let this other guy paint it, they both did remarkable work.Just be sure not to take it to a paint shop that does insurance work. They do jobs that are fast paced to get the customer back their "commute" cars.

roadrocket

I had painted several cars before I did my '69 but it had been a while. I bought Kevin's tapes at paintucation.com too and recommend them highly. If you want to paint your car... and you want it right...when kevin speaks.... you listen. He doesn't teach you how to do a quicky short cut job... but rather one you'll be very poud of when it's finished.

Steve

rjken1969

I had a friend of a friend do mine. He owns his own body shop. Cost me $2200, including a color change, installation of both front and rear truflex bumpers and a new weather strip kit. It's not perfect, I would say it's a 10 footer. But I couldn't beat the price. In a few years I may do again in my garage.

ZL1powr

I painted mine 15 years and 160,000 miles ago. It is a shame that most of the materials I used are no longer available because the paint has held up extremely well. I used all PPG paints as follows:

DP40 primer (one coat)
K200 primer surfacer (three coats and blocked after second and third coat)
Thinned DP40 (one coat as sealer)
DBU base coat (three coats)
NCT1100 clear coat (four coats color sanded and buffed)

Cost was about $800 for materials

Edzred72

Had a retired GM body man that lives in my neighborhood paint my car in his 1 1/2 story three car heated garage.
I took off all removable body parts & interior.
He stripped off four layers of paint, filled, sanded, sealed, primed, painted, & clearcoat using Dupont Chromabase products.
He took off the hood, doors, and headlight buckets to paint them inside & out!!! Matt black on inside of hood & doors...silver inside headlight buckets.
Cost me $6,000 two yrs ago and took four months.



Eddie

BKbroiler

My freind painted mine in his garage 3 years ago. We used Dupont Chromabase/Chromaclear over the Dupont primer sealer, then primer surfacer. I think it is important to use one manufacturer's materials so everything is compatible. I chemically stripped the car with Captain Lee's. All materials cost about $1,100. Lots of wet sanding and buffing. I removed the rubber bumpers and we used flex agent in the clear on the bumpers. I am very happy with the results and would do it again. I'm still returning favors for my friend, the amatuer painter.

C3 4ME

Mine was painted last year by a painter working out of his garage. He has a booth set up there that he does side work. Cost me just under 3K. He used single stage urethane, and it was back to the same color. I delivered the car to him in bare fiberglass with all trim removed. He reworked all the sunken body seams and repaired a couple of very small spots in the fiberglass. It took me about 2 months of prep, and it took him about another 2 to do the repairs and paint. I'm very happy with the job. It is not a "best paint" winner, but looks very good on cruise nights, which is exactly what I was after.