Projects Eight Thousand Dollars for a paint job?

It makes me wonder if the facade of primer black cars professing to be old school or vintage or some other such nonsense aren't really in essence, an excuse for not paying the money for a good paint job....understandable.
I painted for 25 years so I know whats involved.....labor, labor, labor...and EXPENSIVE paint products. Beware of anyone offering you a decent paint job for less than $5.K
And bare in mind, you are only going to get out of it as much as you put into it.
Just my $.02 worth...

 

I have seen a lot of "crap" work that wasn't cheap...and if you have to do it again..so much for "cheap"

 

I think that you've addressed most of my concerns about delamination; still, for the peace of mind, I'll probably go single-stage anyway. I know I'll sleep better at night. I appreciate all the comments, because my knowledge of body and paint stuff is only as recent as 10-12 years ago, as the parts guy who dealt with the body shop at a dealership. That's an eternity in the biz, I know. But I appreciate all the work that goes into turning out quality work...and I tip my hat to the guys who do it, and do it right. [BTW...the Sunfire with the delamination problem was bright red, if that might be a contributory factor.]

 

You might want to get the car all sanded and masked and ask Maco for a price to shoot it with their paint.

 

You site a couple of examples that are representative of "ancient" technology. We all remember the lacquer and acrylic enamel days but the truth is that the paint of today is light years ahead of those old finishes in terms of durability. Remember what happened to a lacquer job that wasn't waxed regularly? Remember when an acrylic enamel job couldn't even be touched with a feather duster for ablut a month for fear of leaving a mark in it. Remember what happened when you tried to spot repair an enamel job? There is no doubt that you did indeed witnessed the failures that you mentioned. I have an Olds 88 in my driveway that has peeling clearcoat, it's going on 17 years old, has seldom been washed and for sure never waxed, so I have no complaints about its condition. If that car had been apinted with the paints we remember so fondly, it's doubtful that there would be any sheetmetal left, let alone paint.
Base/clear systems are really the top shelf in auto paint today. They look good out of the box, and the ease of repair and blending is second to none. My hat is off to the paint manufacturers who have to formulate paints that meet not only the requirements for the suitablity of the product but also the ever tightening regulations forced on them by the EPA.
So, if you want apint system that is durable, resistent to fading and other UV degradation, easy to repair and fun to look at, you will use a quality base/clear system on your truck.

 

Not exactly what I meant. I love looking at great paint and glad that there are folks out there still laying it on. I love looking back at what Watson and Hines did and wish I could do that to my 60...Not gonna happen lol


I think it's just depressing that people do not understand that time(labor) is money and don't want to pay for quality work. These are the same damn people who will bitch about all the good jobs going overseas it seems.

 

repainted the bumper on my daily last night.... 108$ a pint for base... $30 for reducer... Add clear/hardner, 2k primer/activator, paper and everything else you're at $400 for a measley bumper.

 

^^^and how much paint do you have left, enough to paint two more bumpers?

 

You bought some really expensive paint $108 a pint is far from the norm. In essence. you can paint an entire car for $400 in materials and have it last just fine. It depends on many things, price does. Color is the biggest factor as well as name brands. Paints that are red, have pearls or such, can skyrocket a price. That's why there is the Omni line within PPG

 

A large swath of the public has to be exempt from this criticism because they literally do not have $8,000 to pay for a paint job.

Now if they have the cash sitting around and are just trying to get something for nothing, that's another story.

I would be happy to have $800 available for a paint job, let alone $8,000.

 

Having the money for something and understanding why something costs what it does are two different things. I agree that lots don't have the money for a good paint job but I also think that a lot of those same people think they are getting ripped off with the quotes they recieve.

 

Painted my OT '76 GMC Dually with a gallon of Kirker acrylic enamel, hardener, reducer, and 2 qts of 2K primer for less than $150. Of couse, I'm not counting the roughly 40-60 hours of work to prep it before I squirted that cheap paint on. If I'd wanted it perfect, I'd have another 100 hours of prep (block sanding what's that?). So, if count my labor at what I make perhour, that's about $2200 for a quickie enamel job. It pays to be able to do stuff yourself.

Brian

 

OMNI is shit paint. Not worth even using in most cases.

 

Everyones time is worth something, right?

So 100-160 hours of your time is worth x (whatever your wages at the day job are).
Would you put 1 months salary for labor, plus materials, plus electric bills into your paint job?
Would you save up for materials, take a month off and do it yourself ? What about a months paid vacation and do it yourself?

Getting ready for the day that it gets painted is where the time and effort is. Once the paint goes in the gun its over really fast.

 

You aren't by any chance related to 29NASH are you...?

 

I bought dupont chromabase... Have shot it many times. This paticular color was expensive, and the jobber could have taken me for a ride... I have paid as little as 60 for a pint of chromabase in a different color, at a different supplier.

You can't BC/CC a car for $400... Even with Omni. Omni takes twice as many coats to cover from my experience, so I'd rather spend more on better paint (chromabase isn't that much better). I have shot Omni and had it take 8 coats to get coverage with this particular green, when sprayed in sikkens, It took two. You get what you pay for.

 

Just about...

 

Don't tell me you can't paint a car in BC/CC for $400 because I have done too many to accept that foolish statement. and as far as coverage goes for Omni, again it depends on the color.

 

You know this is going to sound bizarre, but in some weird way I almost miss him.

 

Within the past 3 years?

Gallon of Omni clear - $82
Gallon on Omni Base - $100
Clear hardner - $40
Reducer - $30
2K Primer with Hardner = $80
Epoxy Primer with activator = $80

I guess $400 in shit materials you could do it. If the sandpaper, tape, masking, electricity, filler, icing, and other materials are supplied by the bodywork ferries. I mean its $30 a roll for the good DA paper per grit...

 

is right.

 

Not to mention your time is worth nothing. Yeah...

 

Paul you are one sick puppy!!

 

Do you really think my employer would let me take a month off?

If I needed an $8,000 service, knew I could do it myself, and knew I could get the time off, then, yes, I would probably take my paid vacation and do it myself.

But lots of us can't do a professional quality paint job, can't take the time off to work on it, and when it comes down to it, don't need anything that good.

Don't misunderstand me ... I know some paint jobs are worth every penny!

What I was responding to was a certain tone in a previous post that made it sound like some people are bad because they aren't knocking down their local shops' doors to buy $8,000 paint jobs. I'm just saying, understand that a paint job like that is a luxury product and not every person understands it, wants it, or can have it. And ultimately, nobody needs it. They might think they need it, but it's not a life or death matter. It falls under the category of "discretionary purchase".

It would be nice if more people understood the challenges of the craft.

 

.....which was the whole purpose for Chuck starting this thread

 

I have a good friend who I have known for over 40 years who has one of the world's finest vintage Ferrari collections. He explained it to me very simply: "If I have a $20k paint job the car is worth $2m. If I have a $100k paint job it is worth $3m"....

 

If I had 8 grand for paint, I'd do my car with a roller and use the left over money to build another complete car.

I'll leave the show quality paint to people who want/appreciate that sort of thing, because sure as night follows day I'd drop something on it, open a door into it, the dogs would climb over it, or something else would ruin it.

 

not to even mention that he panel painted it and didn't blend it from the sounds of it. That's when using quality REALLY stands out. The difference from almost the same and VERY noticable, to hardly even being able to tell. These are HUGE differences. I agree with you. Shit products are just not what should be used in most cases.

Lots of guys are here know so much. Wish they would post photos of how it is they know that....

 

Bottomline, As the original poster said $8000.00 for a quality pro paint job is fair, I don't care who you are or think you are, You are not going to turn out high end quality paint work in your back yard using the equipment you bought from harbor freight.........The guys here saying they can paint their car for $400.00 are correct, However although it may have color on it, It will not look the same as the one that was done by a high end quality Paint shop. honestly for the amount of work and time that goes into a Show car paint job, $8000.00 is not enough. This thread is going nowhere, As some of the people who think $8K for a show quality paint job is too high, Just do not Know any better, And prolly don't know what a real show quality paint job is. High end paint should look like a mirror and be as clear and crisp as a mirror and look like you could fall into it and not hit bottom. And let me tell you something, It takes a hell of alot of time and hard work to make it look like that!! Everything else is just production drivers quality for the most part. Anyhow, I am not trying to pick a tick with anyone, But for the ones who think that $8K is too much, Show your high quality paint work that you got done for less.

 

I've been doing bodywork on my pitiful car for weeks.

This is pure hell. I'd be impressed if anybody can do this stuff for years and not be a wreck physically.

It's a bitch physically and mentally. When people talk about paintshop jail, I thought they were talking about the car, not the painter!!! Cuz I sure would like to break out of the garage most days. I'm in solitary confinement.

You have got to be fucked up to do this for a living. Seriously. How could someone do this to themselves if it doesn't pay extremely well?