SPDEMON

Wow.

They should pocket much more than a measely $900. And paint for an entire complete job doesn't cost $350, unless its crap.

And autobody shops hardly charge much, it seems like a lot to you, but thier labor rates are usually HALF of a mechanics rate.

What do you think is more difficult, turning a wrench and installing bolt on parts, OR pulling dents, flattening them out to perfection, followed by priming and blocking, matching the color, and applying multiple layers of paint.

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

It takes 30+ hours of book time just to spray a car, not to mention the time to strip it, usually 20+ hrs, so if you can get a complete for $1300, by all means....do it!

black_sheep454

iTrader: (9)

U don't get perfection for pennys on the dollar, u wouldnt go the cheapest route on building a performance motor to save some money and expect it to run and last like the guys motor he spent 3 times more on. I did an overall on a 92 Camaro last month and had over $1000 in materials alone plus 70 hours in labor at 50 dollars an hour, which is cheaper because I have low overhead cost. You want to pay for a macco paint Jon that's what u get, the money you spend having it redone will cost you more when they have to strip off the shitty paint and start over

crookedbowtie

Good paint is expensive! Good labor is more expensive! I have painted a few things and learned from an old guy that retired after 20yrs of paint and body had won some impressive awards. The guy is very meticulous, prep work is 90% of the job and it takes time....lots of it. Stripping parts, masking, priming, blocking, cleaning, priming, blocking, cleaning, priming, blocking, cleaning, sealing, color, color, color, clear, clear, clear and that is if you have a very straight car to start with. This doesn't even take into account jam work, trying to keep dust down, mixing the paints, cleaning the guns, and not F--ing it up on the final heavy clear coat. Then if something bad hapens you are sanding/buffing or starting over. The guys that do quality work earn every penny they charge.

Bowhunter415

ya ive seen some at maco

92-T5

i agree my dads a painter and does great jobs .. ive got pictures of before and afters , and you do git what u pay for . but most shops do wanna just spot on cars so they dont waist to much material and that pisses my dad off cuz you need to blend and they dont allow em to so sometime the door dont match with the fender if the door only got painted !

92-T5

an macco sucks lol i went to be the painter helper once there and just the messy **** they do made me leave ... left during lunch and never went back cuz i wasnt gonna learn to do things right after seeing the jobs they do !

Camaro Chris

iTrader: (1)

You guys say you get what you pay for. I don't always agree. I'm in college now taking a body class and business management classes so i can start my own body shop. I am a fantastic painter, I can lay glass first spray. Its easy and i charge 1200 for a complete job. Around here the standard is 3000$ and i think its ridicules. But even though im a great painter if lost work by trying to help people out. Charging a low price people go "it must be crappy. What do i do charge way to much to get costumers back?

92-T5

yea my dad charges around 1500 with body work ,an material is expensive unless u use cheap paint like autozones duplicolor !!!
just buying a good spray run (sata) is like 700 sum bucks !! da (sander)an stud gun or welder (whatevr its called ) blocks for body work , hammer and dollies and then u need sanding paper , bumper plastic to repair bumper cuz bondo dont stick to plastic,bondo,hardner,tape,prep paper,razor blades,fine line tape (blue),Silicone Remover,primer,paint,thinner,hardner,clear coat,compound,polisher,wax, time consuming!!
etc.

black_sheep454

iTrader: (9)

You must not do it at a real shop for $1200. Try paying all your bills on materials, electric, rent, any employees you have, etc... And you won't have anything left for yourself

01 Trans-Am WS6

iTrader: (5)

Crack head paint jobs huh? Well my first car was a 1994 Honda Civic Ex Coupe, the previous owner painted it a "custom 3 stage candy orange" (rice, i know...but the car did have a turbo kit..just never got put on lol) Turns out the 3 stage orange paint was more like a home mixed garage special. The paint was poorly done. For starters the car wasent even sanded of its original color, just sprayed over. 2nd the guys didnt even have enough paint to paint the entire car. Some spots were clearly faded and had alot less paint then other areas of the car. And once he finally ran out of paint he used black paint to finish off the side skirts and very bottom portion of the car so it was an orange paint fading down into black paint at the bottom. Oh and the door sills and under the hood was still red, the cars original color.

XtremeDime

iTrader: (16)

^ you dont need to sand all the old paint away. Its a good practice to put some sort of urethane over scuffed up old paint but isnt entirely necessary its mainly to give you an better idea of how coverage is. As long as their is no metal spots, base coat should have no issues sticking to a properly prepped surface.

92-T5

yea my dad charges that 1500 with bodywork sometimes depending how much is need but for side job cuz he works for a company !! an i agree cuz my dad struggles with bills at time ..specially around oct-march then it picks up !!

Greekey

iTrader: (3)

Never had a crackhead paint job, but a few years ago, I was getting some suspension work done on my car. They were painting a car right next to mine and didn't bother covering my car. I didn't think much of it. Came home and decided to clay bar my car, and what did I find? Red over spray coming off my car

black heartbeat

iTrader: (1)

ya I alot of guys get screwed on paint jobs. Especially when the panel isn't prepped correctly. A guy I was talking to a while ago was actually telling me how some model f-body's plastic body panels had the release agent integrated into the plastic itself and need to be sealed before be painted again. If you dont' know that, the paint will peel crazy

94LTZ

iTrader: (5)

I had a buddy with a Cobra take is car to get a two tone. He wanted the bottom the stock dark red and the top silver.. Car looked great for all of three weeks till the paint started to just peel off and he found over spray every where.. Same guy that did that did my other buddies hood for his black T/A, the paint looked good for about a month and started doing the same thing..

92-T5

real recognizes real !! look at the cars painted like after two weeks when paints cured n ask em where they got their paint job!

Opher

best quote in the entire thread.

Unless you can do this job in about 4 hours you're losing money.

Bumper repairs are between $400-$1000 these days. Thats to remove a bumper cover, repair it, repaint it, and install it. Not much too it.

02BLKWS6MD

iTrader: (22)

Hey I only paid $400 plus materials for mine does mine qualify as a crackhead paintjob.

black_sheep454

iTrader: (9)

Thanks, I know what I'm talking about, we are in some tuff times and no one wants to spend good money for paint and body right now. Hopefully it starts to pick up soon.

For the other recent topic the best paint job in the world is worthless without proper prep work, that's what make a good paint job

FastRidesOnly

my 97gt was painted a dark silver metallic before i bought it. there was places where they didnt sand the bondo down smooth..and alot of fisheye on the front bumper.. wasnt no big deal to me cuz i was gonna change the color anyway.

my opinion is to learn how to paint yourself...save alot of money. its not that hard to hold a gun and pull the trigger. best way is to just fill the gun up and practice on a piece of metal that aint aint no good or something.