Paint and bodywork...how much is too much

Thanks for the heads up! I'll make sure everyone I know hears about this one. Just because someone can afford 143K paint job doesn't make it ok to rip them off.

 

What I was thinking when I decided to try this poll thing, is not to question how much bodyshops/painters charge for there work, but simply to get a feel for, how much the average hamber has invested in the paint and bodywork total supply's and labor??
Whether they did it themselves or had it done.

I guess the reason I am asking, is after reading some of the 8 grand thread, I feel totally out of place here.
I am (please excuse the term) starting to feel like a "closet ratrodder" even though I didn't intend it to turn out that way.
I am just a simple blue collar working guy, with a family, bills etc,etc.
And is no way I could ever afford that kind of cash for a paint job, regardless of the quality.

I have done all the mechanical work to my car.
I have scrounged, bartered, traded, built,including several freebee items, I have got from other car guys and scraped together everything on it so far.
Including but not limited too, scaling deep hollows, to retrieve that rusty part off of that junker, that has been laying there upside down for the last 40 years.

And now its time for paint/bodywork, and I will have to do that myself also.
Not because I necessarily want to, or have the skills, but because I have to, if it gets done.
So what I will be shooting for is something slightly better that a brush or rattle can, but will still fit my wallet and skill.

My car wont be what most people would like, but I dont like car shows anyway and the enjoyment I get from mine, is working on and riding it.

So I guess what I was wondering, in the poll, is how many people on here is like myself.
Just doing the best that they can with what they can do themselves, and can afford.

 

1 1/2 hr each way = 3 hrs @ $50 =$150
fuel 8 gals @ 3.50 =28
-----
$178.00 outta yer pocket
to not get a job
I think I'd be chargin the guy sumthin

 

I have about 1000 in materials. I used cheap omni paint and my truck was in primer when I got it. I blocked it by hand ,over and over till I got sick of doing it then shot it with single coat. Very far from perfect, far from nice,but looks ok for what it is, a cheap paint job I did myself.

 

Shadetree, It's not brain surgery, mostly it's alot of work in prep and it doesn't have to cost a fortune to paint your car as many would have you believe. For less expensive supplies and forums to help you with the process, check out; autobody.com, smartshoppersinc.com, and Southernpolyuretanes.com. After 40 years as a carpenter, the first car I painted was my 56 T-Bird. I've only taken it to one car show, but outa approx. 300 cars my Bird got the trophy for best paint. The 50 is the most recent one I've painted. Good luck.

 

that's how I did mine, I spent somewhere in the $1000-2000 range, and spent several weeks working on it. The only part of it that I feel requires the help of someone with more equipment and expertise than I have, is spraying on the final paint. The rest of it is just work, and you can do it with a relatively small expenditure for equipment. Of course I cheated in my cost estimate and didn't include the cost of my compressor, sanders, and other tools, because I didn't buy them to do that job, I had them already

 

Clean Cut.
I usually spend a few hundred on supplies at Carlisle. Don't know where the guys get the stuff, but they have it every time for the last 20 years. Things like razor blades, applicators, and chemicals are cheaper if you look. Some of these guys do the weekly car swap meet and I see them a few time a year. Those industrial supply houses aren't the cheapest, they count on the big budget industry not looking at the price.

 

Could you please give my shops contact info to the Pontiac owner? LOL!!!

 

With good stuff 2000 or so to do it yourself, 5 times that to have someone do it for you, and 10 times that to do it yourself, fuck up, then have someone do it for you.

 

You're not the only one. I can't afford that kind of cash, so I drive them in original paint with whatever repairs I make primered. People flock to my car when I park it among the nice ones.

 

Sometimes you pay because you cannot do this specific part of the job. And there is no shame in not being able to do it all. For some folks, beside the skill level, it may be safer and easier for someone to do the work. In some cases, the shop that does the paint wont let you prep the body or get it to a certain point as they may not be able to warranty the job.

Even with the TP Tools paint turbine, and the BASF Limco Synthetic Enamel, Reducers, Hardender and the Slick sand base, I am still under $1000.

But again, its skill level meets project needs, and how good your shop is.