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I have a 1998 C5 Corvette with popping clear coat and needs a new paint job.This is a project car which needs TLC. I have started sanding it but want a body shop or company to paint. C5 color is black. I will not be putting a custom paint job on it. I just want it to look nice? Can any one provide a high level estimate who has had one painted before? I can add pictures if you can provide support.
Thanks
Last edited by waynepeg; Oct 12, 2020 at 09:20 PM.
I had my '99 done a year ago. A PO had repainted a couple of panels (trunk lid and one headlight cover) and it did not match well. I had collected the expected dings and scratches for a 20 year old car, and then my father backed into it and smashed the left quarter panel and bumper cover. My regular body shop wasn't terribly interested - they only do a couple of full repaints a year and usually only during the summer when business is the lightest. I checked with a well known Corvette restoration shop and they told me it would be $15-20K. I took it to a shop that does a lot of high-end custom work and asked for a very good (not show quality), as good as OEM on the showroom floor, job. The owner, another Corvette guy, said that would be $13-15K but if I was willing to leave it for a while and they could work on it in between other jobs, he would do it for $11k. The insurance paid for about $2800 of that and my father felt really bad about it, so he chipped in. I know - seems silly to spend that much on painting a car that is worth only a bit more than that . . . but I love this car, my father was the 2nd owner and passed it on to me (when he came home with one too many "just another car" and my mom blew her top and told him he had to get rid of at least one car). I don't care what it is worth on the market, it was worth it to me.
Sorry, Wayne, I am not a paint guy so not much help.
Hopefully you will get some good insight here, but you may also want to post this in the paint and body section at: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/paint-body-138/
Best wishes with your project!
I have not have a repaint, but after researching the cost after getting wide body fenders I found the general consensus to be $4-$7000 for a full repaint in a metallic color. I think a repaint from a reputable MAACO would be closer to $3000 for a metallic color.
I'd guess $2000 for a single coat black from MAACO or $2500 for black+clear. Double the price if you go to a body shop.
Full vinyl body wraps are around $2k-$2500 and can provide a pretty dramatic appearance upgrade.
I have not have a repaint, but after researching the cost after getting wide body fenders I found the general consensus to be $4-$7000 for a full repaint in a metallic color. I think a repaint from a reputable MAACO would be closer to $3000 for a metallic color.
I'd guess $2000 for a single coat black from MAACO or $2500 for black+clear. Double the price if you go to a body shop.
Full vinyl body wraps are around $2k-$2500 and can provide a pretty dramatic appearance upgrade.
Just to give you an idea of how much you can spend on a custom paint job, my '66 was taken down to the glass, sanded, gel coated. sanded again, color coat, clear coat. No body work. Over $10,000.00... GOOD LUCK!
Wrap it. Painters overvalue their work. Anything over 4 grand is a rip-off.
Yes agreed I just had a 87 Buick GN painted $5,500 . Not much body needed and did have to take it back 3 times for flaws, . Shop around and look at some of their work.
Good luck.
Wrap it. Painters overvalue their work. Anything over 4 grand is a rip-off.
I don't agree with this. Obviously, you don't know how much good materials cost as they can be 2-4k by themselves. Plus, laying down the paint is the easy part. It's the prep work beforehand that makes a great paint job. Then you have the cut and buff....
I'm starting down the same path. My clear coat has been peeling for years and I've been patching it with spray cans. But finally this year it all went to hell and I don't think there enough spray cans in the world to fix it. I'm stripping the clear coat off myself and will start getting estimates for painting. If I had a garage I would just do it myself. At the prices you guys are tossing around I could build a garage and paint it myself. And then I'd have a garage too.
As has been noted, the surface preparation is everything. Every defect in the substrate, no matter how small, will telegraph through the paint, and often appear amplified along the way. Laying the paint down is not always easy peasy either. Some paints flow well, with the atomized droplets blending easily into a seamless film. Other times (weather can be a serious enemy) the paint will result in each atomized droplet a stand alone bump on the surface, lending a dry rough feel.
Haven't looked here in central Florida yet, but in may places a spray booth can be rented by the day or hour. The best paints are very expensive, but there are some options out there that won't empty the bank and will look good for a number of years. Eastwood will sell you their respected base coat for $215 a gallon, and their clear coat for $150 and up. As good as House of Color, or PPG finest? No. But not poor either, and not $135 a quart, plus catalyst. https://www.eastwood.com/ew-midnight...220-50071.html
I'm starting down the same path. My clear coat has been peeling for years and I've been patching it with spray cans. But finally this year it all went to hell and I don't think there enough spray cans in the world to fix it. I'm stripping the clear coat off myself and will start getting estimates for painting. If I had a garage I would just do it myself. At the prices you guys are tossing around I could build a garage and paint it myself. And then I'd have a garage too.
You'd have a garage and a lousy paint job. just sayin....
I've checked a couple of places to paint my entire 98 (since sold). Neither place didn't even want the job. They said there is more $ in repairing cars and getting the insurance $.
You can go cheap, you can go expensive. Bottom of the barrel will probably cost you $1500 and come back looking presentable, but flawed upon closer inspection with orange peel, bad edges because things like trim and handles were just masked around, etc. A top end paint job can cost $7-10K or more, but you're also talking about getting back a near flawless finish and the car essentially gets disassembled and done correct all the way through.
I unequivocally disagree with painters overvaluing their work. For a proper paint job, prep is absolutely instrumental to obtaining a quality result. Components are expensive anymore. Then the time spent in finishing. It all adds up.
I just got a quote from a reputable Corvette shop here in central FL to repaint my NBM Coupe, with totally dead clear coat. He quoted $5000 paint it. That is painting all panels on the car. Knowing that all of the horizontal surfaces will need stripped, and the cost of materials, doesn't seem horrible. But considering my car is a $6500 car, caused me to hesitate.
I have a 1998 C5 Corvette with popping clear coat and needs a new paint job.This is a project car which needs TLC. I have started sanding it but want a body shop or company to paint. C5 color is black. I will not be putting a custom paint job on it. I just want it to look nice? Can any one provide a high level estimate who has had one painted before? I can add pictures if you can provide support.
Thanks
My rear driver fender is starting to peel. I often wonder how much MAACO would charge me if I pulled up, and then pulled all the panels, trim, and weatherstripping off the car so they didn't have to mask anything, then told them I'd reassemble. Unfortunately the nearest MAACO is 2+ hours away, so that would be a tricky proposition.
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C5 Paint Job
