$10 G's To Paint a C4?!!?!?
 

Hey! Just got my dad an '88 C4 as a Christmas present. Car is in great shape with just 78K miles, but it needs to be painted to be perfect. The paint is generally faded and the varnish has small hairline "cracks" throughout... to be expected for a 20-year-old car!

My dad took the car to a local paint/body place and was told that the paint job could be upwards of $10,000!!! :ack: He quoted $2,000+ for materials and loads of labor. He said that if you do a "standard" paint job over the varnish, it will only last about a year and then start to crack badly. To strip the varnish, he says, is a HUGE job with loads of labor... hence the outrageous price.

My dad loves the car, but cannot pay anything near that. We were hoping to pay "normal" price to get the car painted (ie ~$2,000).

So is this bodyshop guy full of it... or is this how it is? Has anyone successfully painted a C4 for ~$2,000 or is that a pipe dream?

Depends on what kind of paint job you want. I had MAACO do mine but I paid extra and went down everyday to watch and check the prep work and wet sanding. They did a decent job because they knew I was anal I told them so up front that I wanted a " GOOD " job. Mine cost $3k look at my pics. I was satisfied. I have since sold it so I can only say it was good for a year for sure.

What color is the car?

I am in the same park with the paint checking.

In order to paint it all has to come 100 percent off, or the checking will come back.

Mine is silver.

About 15 years ago I owed a C-3. It had three different paint jobs on it from the previous owners. It was fading, egg-shelling and cracking. I bought that paint striper that's is said to be safe for gel coats. It was a lot of hard work, but it did a good job stripping off the paint without harming the gel coat. I just made sure it didn't stay on too long to attack the gel coat. Never had a problem with the $600 paint job from Macco I put on after I stripped the car.

Just an idea, but be very careful. And do small sections at a time.

I prepped mine and had it painted at Maaco for a grand

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Contact a local Corvette club for some recommeded paint shops. Prepping and painting a Corvette is not the same as a steel body car and not every body shop is equipped or experienced to do one. The shop your father went to may be trying to discourage him because they really don't want the job. $10k for a paint job is getting into show quality territory.

:iagree: 100% they dont want the job but would find somebody to do it for them if the price was right. Check your local clubs as advised. GC

As a former bodyshop owner and operator, when a customer comes in and says he wants a "perfect job" and expects a lifetime warranty- I'd START at 10 grand.

that price won't even come close to what it will cost the body shop to keep this customer.

If you have a plastic car and it has started to "craze" , forget it. It ain't never gonna have a "perfect" paint job again.

bill

He doesnt want to do it, keep looking. Not that much to paint on a C4. Quality isnt cheap but you can do better than that. Much better.

[QUOTE=Arkybill;1564580867]As a former bodyshop owner and operator, when a customer comes in and says he wants a "perfect job" and expects a lifetime warranty- I'd START at 10 grand.
/QUOTE]

Thats about it,if you want quality,it costs.As far as stress cracks in an 88,Ive never seen or heard of a C4 with stress cracks.Most likely the clear coat is peeling and thats what being refereed to as VARNISH?In the early 84-85 cars there was a brace that was installed as a service bulletin if the car developed cracks in the C pillar at the quarter panel.Soda Blasting is one way to have the car stripped,cost about $1,000.

I have... cause I have several "paint cracks" on the hood; at the forward corner of the headlight area and a couple above the TPI molding. These are deep enough to break away if I pry it a bit. I know the previous owner put a second coat on top of the original along with a Cr@ppy job (there was paint on the old window moldings, 3rd brk lite molding, etc.

My 87 was repainted at the expense of the former owner. His wife was the principal at a school where the bodyshop's owner's kids went and he gave him the job at labor and materials cost. I'll check the invoice when I get home. Should give you an idea of minimum body shop costs associated with a decent job. About 4 years later, it has one rock chip, small on the driver's mirror. Looks like this job was pretty well done, not flawless but I'm extremely happy. However, the car only had faded paint before, no checking or damage.

Here's a link to some photos that show how it looks now:

http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...rtible/detail/

Never heard of "varnish" :eek: I thought that was the stuff you put on floors or furniture.

Corvettes have a base coat/clear coat paint finish. Sometimes you will see a lifting, hazing, or even cracking of the clear coat. That has to be dealt with and the typical solution is sand the car using mechanical methods to remove the finish and sart over.

A quality paint job is a lot like buying oats for your horse. If you want to make sure the horse has nice quality oats, you pay a good price. If you buy oats that have already been through a horse, that's cheaper.

Proper preparation is the biggest part of a quality paint job and the labor will be the majority of the cost. From what I have read, it sounds like the clear coat is peeling off which will require more than just a quick sanding to get new paint to adhere.

Any cracks wil have to be taken care of, chips and gouges have to be filled. Once the car is prepped, there are multiple coats that will have to be sanded each time for a high-quality finish. All of this takes time, and time (labor) is money.

The material cost quoted is way high especially if you are gong to repaint the car in the same color. A color change will cost more as you have to paint areas like door jambs.

Yo can cut some of the costs by doing some work yourself. Remove trim pieces like the taillamps, side mirrors, emblems, and trim. That save body shop labor and makes it easier for them.

So is $10K too much? It depends on the quality of finish you want to have on the car. You should be able to get a very nice finish for $5 to $6K that will last a long time. MAACO will probably charge much less than that, but IMHO, that's the "used oats" end of the auto painting scale.

It sounds like the shop that gave you the quote either doesn't want to do the work or they don't want to go thru any hassle if you are expecting a show-car level paint job for cheap. Ask various car clubs or go to car shows to get some advice on paint and who is a reputable painter. Stop at different body shops ans ask to see some finished work. Call some insurance agents and find out who does their collision work, then go there and look at their work.

Anyway, when I bought my 96 wrecked, I put a polo green hood on it and had the body shop paint it torch red. They mostly did insurance work, but he painted the hood, front end and upper door panels and mirrors...I had everyting disassembled beforehand. The cost was 500 dollars, but there was MINIMAL prep work. I think that taking the car down to parts so that there's no overlaping paint sealing the seams between body panels, eg rear bumper and rear quarter panels will make the biggest differnce in cost and quality. Stuff you can do yourself. Even my local Mako type shop here does a fine job when you bring him stuff that's mostly taken apart already. It gives him the idea that you're not just painting it to sell it.


Good Luck with the new car!l You will be proud either way when its done. These cars look great from 50 feet even with marginal paint jobs:smash:

Sam

Hey!:D I've painted a few cars, and depending upon the color,materials, using premium supplies should be around $1000 retail (complete repaint). There's alot of hungry shops out there, shop around. You may also want to consider just painting to the center line around the car unless there is problems with the bumpers, color match shouldn't be a problem if the guy knows what he's doing. Alot of shops have been burned by picky and unreasonable vette owners who want perfection at $5 an hour, so they automatically jack up the price considerably just for the aggravation. Communication is the key, and be reasonable with your expectations. Oh, and if you are going the cheap route, make sure you get base coat/clear coat, NOT "intregal" clear (Basically just hardened enamal) it won't hold up in the sun (usually).

NO WAY!! I have mine in the shop now getting painted....and i got estimates from 3 different shops that were all around 3-3500 for complete disassembly and prep and paint. all 3 shops have a great reputation and do plenty of work for my dealership. Keep looking around, 10000 is outrageous.
-Chris

If ya don't have anything nice to say or to move the thread foreward.......don't reply. Be very wise for the rules to be read. PM/e-mail issues or questions vs posting......also a rule:yesnod:

Agree here with Bill. I just finished getting my car re-painted (95), its original black as a result of last years fire storms :eek: out here in San Diego, CA. I can tell you that the cost was above 10 large - but the results are exactly what I wanted.

6800.00 for the repaint on my baby. but that was stripped,bumpers removed,trim removed,and cracks in the glass repaired.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h..._heads_007.jpg

Looks great!:thumbs: