thetered

I have an 84 that the clear coat has come off and needs a new paint job, I know about how much i would expect to pay if I was taking a "metal" car with body work and dings to pull out and such, but how much would a good (not a 300 dollar maco deal) paint job run approximately, no body work or anything needs to be done.

Grease Monkey

I did all the prep work myself and it would have cost me about $700 just to spray the paint I already bought.

But I had a few cracks that they fixed and it cost me about a grand...

xlr8nflorida

[QUOTE=Corvette for life;1559327816]I did all the prep work myself and it would have cost me about $700 just to spray the paint I already bought.



You get what you pay for - you would probably be happy with a 3k paint job but more then likely it will run in the 5k range.

10k and it will be flawless.

thetered

whoa, 5K is probably more than my 84 is even worth eh...

Brian9

a decent paint job is right around the 3k-5k range notice i said DECENT....

xlr8nflorida

Well, you have a decision to make then

how picky are you? Can you do prep work yourself? Got any friends who paint?

zr1fred

You're probably going to have to shop around (unless you use Maaco or Earl) to even find $3-5k! Just the paint alone with base/clear in PPG or Dupont is close to $1000. Restro shops are $10-20k. For a driver, Maaco can do a pretty good job, just make sure you go with base/clear, NOT intregal clear! And figure on spending alot of time detailing up the over spray/ bad masking.

thetered

Wow, looks like I am deffinately going to have to exhaust all my resources to see if i "know somebody" ha! I'm just looking for decent, as its just a driver, I guess I'll have to deffinately check around then, thanks for the input everyone.

xlr8nflorida

cv67

If its just for a driver, prep it yourself, or have some friends over who know how...Then get Maacos best paint job...Spend another $300 to have a pro color sand and buff it, should look presentable. If I had to do it all over again thats what Id do. High dollar paint jobs arent worth it from my experience .

slicked25

I painted my old 300zx with auto spray cans that cost 250 bucks for everything. Should've used an air compressor to spray it on and it would have been a lot easier. I had originally planed on doing the front and rear bumpers but did the whole car and looked great. You’re sort of nervous at first but it's relatively easy once you get the hang of it. It took longer getting the car ready to paint than actually painting it.

This is where I got the paint for the Nissan but haven't a clue it it'd work on a Vette.

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/

Z51JEFF

As stated above,you get what you pay for.Nice paint jobs start around $5,000 and go up from there.Ive got a friend that just finished a project and to duplicate the paint job would run about $15,000.Not too many people would be willing to pay that kind of cash for a paint but..................ya get what ya pay for.

NocarbutaVetteforme

I have bought alot of paint from them and they do seem pretty reasonable. In fact I just bought some for a small scratch on my Viper. Hey, if you mess up, you are still back to sanding and getting it painted.

Cruisinfanatic

Paid a little over 3K to the local chevy dealer last April. Its certainly not perfect, but as others have said, you get what you pay for. They removed the bumpers, headlights, door handles, all trim ect. Included also where new exterior window sweeps. They also guaranteed against the clearcoat from coming off for life.
http://invite.homestead.com/vette_du...op_800x530.jpg

GREGGPENN

It's not that much different for fiberglass. (And, it depends on whether you remove the bumpers or not. Bumpers are a b!tch to align on a vette so, they charge a little more to r/r them).

Whatever you'd pay for a metal car (without removing bumpers) is really what you should pay for a vette. If they want more, they're dinging ya. Both cars have to have the bad paint removed and smoothed out before repainting. Fiberglass requires sanding whereas metal CAN have bead blasting or chemical strippers. But, beadblasting/stripping is uncommon -- even for metal.

I agree $1K is the approximate cost of materials. It's about 40 hrs @ $50/hr to really prep things well with good tools. Then you have to pay the painter..... That makes for about $4K mininum.

For an older car, doing the prep yourself, getting MAACO to paint it, and a good shop to "color sand" it gets you the best bang for your buck. I agree with Corvetteronw on this -- if you're not really into a complete restore. This option would be $1K - $1,500.

Gregg

myvettesblue

i paid 3500 for mine but also helped him out in taking parts off and replacing you dont have to spend 5k to get a nice paintjob here is a pic of mine the day i brought it home from the bodyshop

IrishMac

Some good tips. I'm going to move this to Paint/Body so maybe you will get some more info.

VtVette

That's the unfortunate truth of paint work - If paint jobs were cheap everyone would be driving beautiful looking cars.

I like the idea of prepping the car yourself then having a Maaco spray it. You can request good quality paints I'm sure.

If you don't have a Maaco go to a local automotive paint store or auto parts store that is also a distributor of good automotive paints (PPG, Dupont) and ask to talk to the person who runs the paint dept. Tell him you have a Corvette that is a driver and you are looking to have a reasonable paint job done. He may know of someone in your area that does "daily driver" jobs on the side.

If he doesn't know someone like that and you are willing to do the prep work ask him if there is someone in the area that could spray the car for you if you prep it. Chances are good he will know of someone who can at least do this for you. Get the guys number and ask if he can take a look at your car at his convenience. Tell him your situation and ask him what he would like to see as far as prep work performed. Prepping a car for a reasonable paint job takes time but it's not beyond the ability of a person with no body work experience assuming your body is in good shape.

You can get all the advice you need to prep the car here on the forum. Then when it's prepped if you have it sprayed by someone who does paint work you won't have to worry about all the issues that come up with not having sprayed a car before (and especially the safety issues of spraying without a booth).

I think these are probably your only bets to get a good looking job at an affordable price.

ChickMagnet

I feel your pain, nice paint jobs will cost more than your 84. You can get a stage 2 paint job though at Miracle I think for around 1800 or so...I took my old mustang(R.I.P) there and they did a good job...but you need body work so perhaps more. The fact you need body work will raise the price considerably. I wouldn't spend more than 5k, or else you might as well sell your 84 and use that towards another c4 with an already nice body and paint to begin with. Good luck.

roger55

Have you thought about doing it yourself?
Lots of resources here to help you learn.

Yeah, you would have a large investment in the equipment. But then you have the capability of doing it again down the road and the satisfaction of having done the job yourself.

The reasons not to do it yourself are; you don't have the time, you don't have the space or it's not something you would want to repeat down the road.

Roger