real cost of a great paint job

The finishing end of this trade is one of the least respected. Always has been, maybe always will be. Not by everyone, but enough to make it true. I mean they do a #1 perfect job in 3 days on TV, right?

 

I painted my Mercury in my garage. It was my first paint job. Granted I read up about it and asked a lot of questions from other painters willing to share there knowledge. It turned out nice but you can pick it apart if you desire to. But it is a good feeling when someone asks who painted it and I can say that I did it then they ask if I would paint there car for them. But most people get sticker shock for a good paint job. I have painted several cars since then and still learn more every time. One suggestion for anyone who is thinking about dong it themself is to start with a solid color nothing with metal flake. Metallic colors are easy to shoot once you have learned good gun control and proper application of a mettalic paint.
P.S my read was $80 a pint for the base coat. I about fell over when I heard it. It is Dupont.

 

Was that the Corvette at the Marlborough Main Street show? If so, I'd leave it as the patina'd barn find it is, touch up, drive and enjoy.

 

That's why I like original patina and you need not worry about the soon to happen scraps, dents, and bug juice and all the polishing and wiping you have to do to care for it......no thanks.

Nothing wrong with a great paint job.....just not for me!

 

I have been very lucky to have my brother as a partner in the rambler build . he has been in a body shop for 40 years and knows his way around sand paper and a spray gun . we have had a few conversations about the real cost of the paint job on the rambler . after all is said and done he said if he were to quote the job , the cost at the end would be somewhere in the $8000-$10,000 range ! I spend my days in the service dept. so when I heard what the cost even a pint of paint was , not to mention the cost of "good" clear - I was shocked . and to top that off , the paint is a tri stage , so the mid coat price was unbelievable to me . I sure isn't the old EARL SCHIEB job .

 

I got quoted $20-25K to do a 41 Ford. Including blasting/ stripping, patch panels, and black paint. It will be near perfect.

 

31Vicky has nailed it, and so has 55chrysler
Anyone can paint - all it takes is some skill and lots and lots and lots of practice and hard work - or at least that's what I've been told.
I've painted a couple of cars - they didn't turn out show-good, but better than they were before.
Don't expect miracles the first time you try, you'll get better the more you do and remember, the worst you can do is to have to sand it off and try again.
Good luck

 

I had a pint of House of Colors Metallic Root Beer mixed for a motorcycle and it was $117.00 a pint. That was two years ago and that would be $468.00 a gallon then. It was a cafe racer and the frame was black so it was just the seat faring, gas tank, fake oil tank headlight and front fender which did not require much paint.

 

Some of the prices you guys are quoting are enough to scare a guy to take up bicycling. But, it is what it is. There's no doubt that even a "decent" paint job can make a car look nice. Almost a years tuition for a college kid or paint for the ride? Damn.....

 

No;it's pronounced PUH-TIE-NUH!

 

Kind of reminds me of Vagina Baked Ham.

 

Ok, so why is paint so expensive? Is it the government regulations or is automotive paint made of some rare substances? Other paint in stores seems to be relatively inexpensive. Are the new water borne automotive paints going to be more competitive?

 

I have heard stories about the automotive paint only costing eight dollars a gallon at one time. In the eighties name brand paint was around $20-25 a gallon. Good paint jobs are labor intensive that's why it does not make sense to use box store paint. They still sell affordable automotive paint, if you want something nobody else has then the paint gets exspensive. You won't use $1000 a gallon paint if the car sits outside and the sun bakes it. There is not a paint made that will go the distance sitting in the AZ sun 24-7.

 

If there is little money being made painting cars, I wonder why so many folks want to get into the business?

 

In our area there are more shops shutting down than are opening Most of our dealerships have closed the body shop portion of the bussiness

 

Perhaps it's 'cause they don't know what they don't know.

Folks in the business who know how to stay in business know their costs of material, and overhead then price accordingly (like any good business). Those that don't usually don't last long (used to be 80% of small businesses failed in the first 5 years of operation.........probably still something around that number). And not to sell the difficulty of running a successful business short, there's much more to it than just knowing costs of operation (especially if you have employees...........).

 

I'm going to tackle painting my trailer before I even try to shoot a car or truck. I have a pair of old Dodge Sweptline pickups that I'd like to paint eventually, but the paint on both is actually pretty presentable.

 

I cannot say for sure why the prices are so damn high on paint but I can tell you that waterbourne paint is NOT more competetive in my experience. I work in a collision shop(but don't paint) that uses PPG water paint and it is damn expensive. There is a learning curve with using it if you are used to solvent paint. Also, touch up is pretty much a waste of time. I cannot really imagine spraying waterbourne at home, best do it in a legit booth with all the fans and BS you need.

 

I have done paint at home and in shops for a lot of years. The costs of time and material escalates at an alarming rate these days, it seems. The cheap stuff will never look quite as good as the expensive stuff. My 36 is home brewed and I have close to 3,000 in a black base coat/ clear coat, using good materials. That does not include labor, of course. By comparison, I painted a Harley with Chromalusion paint (the kind that changes colors) at $305.76 a pint! That was 10 years ago. Maybe 10 years from now we will think that is cheap!

 

I thought I wanted a paint job. My 39 has a great patina, I like it. A few years ago it was caught in a windstorm that pitted the drivers side. I could not wax it out. Blew it off. A few months later was having a conversation with another car guy about the storm. We had the same insurance co. I called a claim and they said it was not to late and that they had many of the same claims from the storm. An appraiser showed up, never said a word about the patina, just felt the pitting. Sent me for a estimate. 12K and they wrote me a check for 6K. I did not get it painted because I would be afraid to drive a car with a 12K paint job

 

Must be something real special about Volvo red? I've used TCP Global's paints, about $150/gallon. Pretty good products.

 

A few months ago I was buying discontinued red polyurtheane paint for $70.00 a gallon. It has a long shelf life. I will just buy the hardner when it's time to use the paint. I have already used some of it, it works for me.

 

The day I bought a pint of Shopline red. It cost me $50. I like to use Shopline brand on parts that are not seen as much as the body. Shopeline is a PPG line of paint I used a hardner with it and it looks good. If you're going to paint over Shopline you must uas a hardner.

 

Are the waterborne paints also that expensive a gallon?

I have a good friend who works for a high end body and paint shop and about two years ago they changed all their paint spraying equipment and now they only use waterborne paint.

When I asked him what made them decide to change all the equipment he told me a very large part of their work is doing work for a Ferrari dealership along with BMW and a few others and all of those cars are painted with waterborne paint and have been for years so rather then loose the accounts they made the jump into waterborne paint.

Jimbo

 

In some states they make you use the water borne base coat paint. The clear is still solvent based. They are starting to discontinue a lot of the automotive paints that people are use to. You see the whole paint mixing systems at body shops for sale cheap on craigslist, they can't use the paint. I think a hobbiest is still able to use it. I use a automotive paint store that knows what is going on. California has different laws. It all ends up rolling down hill, once they make you use a certain kind of paint then it becomes easier to make everyone use that kind of paint. The body shops also know what works, they know when someone is changing the formula. I know someone that claims they know what kind of hardner something is by the smell, they relabel some stuff.

 

Don't know but I would recommend using caution when approaching a vagina with patina.

 

Yea, I wonder too. Back in the late 70s when I was in body shop school and painting cars on the side, they had this new paint trend [ Imron] probably not new, but it was the new way to go. I always liked lacquer but EPA regs or something drove it out of the shops. Maybe this was a change of the times. Went to the Dupont store last week and bought the goods to paint my firewall, thats all. $150 and change, and that wasn't the best line they carry. Not complaining, It could be a lot worse. I fully expect to drop 1500 or more in supplies for my fenderless car, easy. Labor-- forget it. hours and hours. Pros do the same thing. Hopefully better. I have had a lot of years to forget what I knew and I would hope that if I couldn't scratch out a decent paint job, the shop that I took it to would give me a great job. I have seen 6 to 8 grand around here for a complete job.

 

I've been makeing a good liveing painting cars for 9 years now but its all insurance work and I work for a company. When someone walks in the door and asks how much to paint there whole car the answer is they start at $6,000 and go up. That's why were lucky to get one a year and its normally a friend of the last guys car we painted. Eather way you can make good money painting if your good!

 

I've actually had good luck with "One Day Paint and Body". One car was a Vette. The paint job was $400, however, it was a re-paint with the same color. A local paint and body shop paints restorations for the Toyota Museum. Their price is $7K. My '32 3 window was painted black by a local high end rod shop back in 2000. It was $8K for driver quality which looked like a show paint job. That job now cost $15K. His body off paint jobs start at $25K.

 

ive painted and built toys for yrs....anything from 130 grand to 500 dollars....depends on what customer is willin to pay for...we all want good bang for our buck...
repainted a r600 mack truck for freind...we stripped paint...painted it hotrod flat black..sem paint..two kits...75 each...my labour..525 dollars..thats 25 dollars hour he bought sandpaper...maskin tape etc...total cost was under 1000...looks awesome..hes happy...now we are workin on other projects...29 ford prostreet tudor..has much more into it already...bodywork..primer.hours of labor...thank God its a passion..lol...this one should cost about 50 grand when done..total build...tci chassis was 10 grand ..secret is..have fun!!!
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