Projects Eight Thousand Dollars for a paint job?

the hours add up if you are getting a showroom finish..I usually get a bottle of scotch(Single Malt of course) to paint a vehicle,,mind you the kids are surprised at how many hours are involved in bringing the truck to the point where the old guy gets off his butt and squirts the paint. Now the grand total on this paint job was about $215.00 paint and shop materials included. It's all about the labour and 8k is a lot of labour,,,the same shop surely has a lower priced paint job that will look great,,just not the extra hours required for a showroom finish

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22832895@N08/6856656065/in/photostream/lightbox/

 

Can you re-write that whole post. I don't know what you're talking about other than you have a bottle of scotch and are probably 3/4 of the way towards the bottom of it.

 

My cousin told me "You can paint a car with 5 spray bombs, but if you want a slick job it takes 8 cans".

 

$215 in paint ????????????
Gotta be anutter 29Nash type of guy.
Do ya put in on with a brush or a garden sprayer?????????

 

Yeah, but yer trigger finger gets sore after 5 cans !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I worked out a trade with a friend of mine who owns a body shop and is without a doubt the best car painter I've ever seen. Luckily he knows zero about home theater, which is what I do, and we made a trade, his paint job for a theater in his new home. I told him I would do my own body work (I think I heard him laugh when I said that) and bring him the car ready to prime and block. After about a month he came over to look at my handiwork. All kidding aside, I was proud of my progress and just knew he was going to be amazed at how good I was. Shoot, I figured he would probably beg me to come to work for him. He walked around the car for several minutes and didn't say a word. I thought I might even have seen a tear in his eye, that's how confident I was that I'd nailed it. Then he said, and I quote, "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but please don't do anything else to this car." Notice that he said "to this car" not "on this car". It was like he was telling me that I was afflicting the car instead of working on it. His wife was with him and she was turning purple trying not to laugh at me. Since that day all of the body work and paint has been done in his shop on nights and weekends, and I have learned a ton. He has taught me all that he could on how to do it the right way and I have learned several things, namely, its very, very hard work, its very time consuming, and it requires skill and training. You can't just go and do it (well) without knowing what you're doing. I would never want to do it for living, its just too labor intensive. My hat is permanently tipped to the guys who do it day in an day out. You guys earn your money.

 

finaly finished a car[ model a] last year, made from parts i have had for years. paint was 3 quarts from ace hardware, some old reducer, 2 throwaway brushes, role of tape, about $50.00+-. took it to a ritzy car sho at local airport, parked in area of hi dolar cars, 300sl rdster, ferrari, other such cars. man from GARAGE SCEAN tv show walked right past those cars and spent about 30 min doing a shoot on my car w/$50.00 paint job???? must have been the 2tone combonation. my 34 coupe was real cheep, was in home depot, were selling out some rattle cans for $.01,[one cent] apiece, bought $.50 worth painted my 34 back in 1992, still looks good, has been in lot of mag. [not feature]. my rdst. pu paint less than $500 made the cover of a mag plus many inside pages... must be whats under the paint?? guess i'm just a cheep ass...

 

Hiring out paint and body work is like hiring out drywall installing and finishing ... Money well spent!

Only problem is finding someone that will get the job finished in a timely manner. I think I was in my panel around 12 or 13K for paint and body. Too bad it took three years to get it out of paint and body work hell.

 

The rate of progress is ultimately related to the rate of customer involvement and cash flow. Of course, managing time is almost more important than managing money. Just sayin, not directed at anyone...

 

I paid right at $8000 for my paint job... that was removing everything, supplies, and repairing some damage... yeah, I went w/a flat clear, but from all of the other quotes I got (gloss and flat), $8000 isn't that bad of a deal... I wouldn't think twice about doing it again... took a big ass chunk out of the work I'd have to do myself... and this is after I paid a friend $1500 for a paint job... rushed through prep, no primer, and a single stage satin black... I'll be the first one to tell you, you get what you pay for...

started out


first rush job


to this

 

I've enjoyed this thread. I wish all of my potential customers would read it.

 

Ha!..buy one of those can spray triggers and problem solved (ask me how I know)

or you could spray like my co-worker, he uses his thumb..no shit, and it works great

 

A buddy's girlfriend has an older Acura and asked if I would paint it for her because she knew that I did good work. She had gotten an estimate of $3K from the dealer and didn't want to spend that much. I told her to run back to the dealer and take their estimate...she didn't, ended up with a $700 job from some place that advertised in the PennySaver. The car came back blue instead of green...the can of leftover paint that they gave her was some no-name brand and the paint was like jelly. The idiots had catalyzed the all the paint. You really do get what you pay for...

 

Hey man, that's nothing! I had my car painted by seven monkeys using my nine-year-old sons "colour by numbers" paints and a shaving brush and won the Ridler.
Paul

 

I started doing body work and painting about 53 years ago. It seems like it gets worse every year. I had a doctor ask me what it would take to restore and paint his 64 chevy 2 dr. ht. when I gave him a price [this was not a cherry car] he about stroked out. I told him he would make this much in a day the way he charged. He said he had to go to school 9 years to learn his profession. I told him I had been learning about new materials and new aways to do things for 50 years and still didnt know it all. I left and changed doctors

 

A paint & body client of my wife told me that $200 is what a repair the size of a dollar bill costs. His story not mine for what ever its worth. I tried it once , learned I sucked at it. Ill stick to being a lineman. It looked just like I did it when it was done

 

I really hate the term "paint job". It implies little about the work required to "create a surface", which is really what you're looking at. A candy apple pig may have a pretty color on it, but it's still a pig. Decades ago my vision changed. If anyone remembers those funky posters you would stare at until you saw a fighter plane or King Kong, it's sorta like that. I can't look at the finish layer without trying real hard. I "read the panel" of every interesting car I look at. I see grain in painted wood bodies on brass cars. I see parking lot stripes that don't match from the door to the 1/4 panel or front fender. I see ripples from overzealous DA sanding. I see draw marks in new steel streetrod bodies. I can't change it now, and the depth of the reflections are what I strive for. HOK calls it DOI or "Distictness of Image". No paint made will make that happen. Caling custom work a paint job is like saying a bumper was "dipped" in chrome. Just sayin. Carry on...

 

I love your posts!

 

bwahaha

bingo

tell us how you really feel...

 

When I fart it sounds just like the Glen Miller Orchestra

 

I think I summed it up pretty good zman

 

Didn't you try to build a belly tank a few years ago?

 

I was thinking the same thing myself ...

Henry Ford dragged his feet for years over the issue of whether WATER PUMPS were worth the extra money.

He sure didn't pay a skilled technician to spend 100 hours finishing a paint job.

I am truly wowed by the work that many people are doing. It is hard work, skilled craftsmanship, and sometimes art. But it may be more work than is necessary in some cases ...

In fact, the paint jobs people are describing are FAR beyond the paint job that brand new cars come with. I don't mean the bottom-of-the-line Chevy. I mean $40k - $80k cars. I see a lot of new luxo cars with obvious orange peel. If I paid that much and got that paint job, I would be mad. I am sure many here feel even more strongly about it. But I think it's worth noting that most of their customers DON'T complain.

The work may be excellent, but most people may not need excellence ...

 

Honestly I'd settle gladly for the bottom end chevy. If it shines it's all good in my book. I'm not into winning trophies anymore. I just don't give a shit. I just want a good durable paint surface that I don't worry much about. I just want to drive it and have fun.

I remember when going to car shows stopped being fun for me and I remember exactly why...

 

i just got my car painted and will post pics this weekend.. obviously it all depends on your car's function: car shows, concours, daily driver, weekends, cruise nites, hobby or your only car? like everything else, everyone has their own dream and vision, it's yours to enjoy without going broke and many, let's face it, dont have the scratch to invest thousands upon thousands on their vehicles..

 

Many great posts. Think I have learned much about the painting, etc., of vehicles. I too however, agree with drjones96 and others that said they are not looking for show quality. For me with my $ available for my vehicle, most of it will be for mechanical and safety concerns first and foremost.

 

Perfect analogy btw...I "see" the same stuff you do. Occupational hazard I suppose....

 

I do not mind paying more for quality paint. Quality lasts and I don't want a car that waves at you as you walk by.
I see some guys brag about their 4k paint jobs. They say no way are supplies that much to do a quality, hi end job. Then I look at their cars. Thats fine if it floats their boat. But do not tell me its quality when the gaps are all over the place, the car looks like it was blocked by Stevie Wonder, and it has more texture than an accoustic ceiling.
I have an ot car and a customers 32 roadster at a shop now for paint. The ot a 66 Nova is being done on a rotisserie and the roadster is getting a very nice driver paint job.
I know what materials cost because I did body and helped to paint the coupe in my avatar. I like to use better materials. The companies like PPG spent more in R & D then the off brands

 

that bellytanker looks cool, maybe my next ride...have had cars over the years w/good paint jobs where you can't get out of site of your car or have to post a watchman. i'm to old and life is too short for that anymore. i like to drive my cars where you dont drive an $8000 paint job. boniville, lincoln highway,blackrock,hillclimbs,etc, have been in restraunt and come out to find kids on running boards, in the car, on the roof,on fenders. parents don't control kids or themselves anymore. super paint jobs are cool if thats what you like, i just like them on someone else's car.....lobuck rules

 

i was at a buddies shop yesterday and somehow got roped into blocking a quarter panel.....it sucks ass. i'd gladly pay for the labor, prep and have someone else do the work