Paint & Body Work Custom Painting | Panel Repairs & Replacement

painting the Fbody

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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 01:09 PM
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Default painting the Fbody

So I went to a shop yesterday after getting my tornado damaged SS hood in need of repaint.

I spoke to the shop owner about repainting the hood, and fixing some spots on the car, cracking, spidering etc.

he said he'd re-do the entire car, pewter/black, mount the hood, a new door, black berger, black camaro grill insert, black and pewter on the hood, black on the B pillar, install a new fender, new front bumper (I provide all parts) for $2500.

Does that seem too cheap to yall? The car has good paint now. I don't want to go with something that's not going to be a good job. I asked him if that would be a stock quality job. He just replied "you'd be happy with it."

in the past when I've had classic car projects and I've called paint and body places, I've been given quotes as high as $10,000 for a paint job, so I'm suspicious. This guy seems to be really passionate about this and loves his work, he also does work for insurance providers, and had some interesting rides out front that I *assume* where his projects, but I dunno. sounds too good to be true to me.

Whattyall think?

I'm not looking for anything fancy. bout the only thing that even requires 2 colors on 1 panel is the hood.

oh.. 2000 z28.
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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 01:19 PM
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i would check out other cars hes worked on before. Then youll kinda know what to expect.
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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 01:21 PM
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Sounds possible, not like there will be much body work other than sanding and such. I would expect it to be at least as good as stock. Best bet is to see some of the guys work and especially look for examples that have been painted a while...not fresh.

I had my Chevelle painted for $1600 (included a bunch of body work, rust repair, panels cut out and welded, etc) and it looked amazing...but it didn't last. After 5 years the hood, trunk, and roof had a clearcoat failure. Combination of thin coats and me keeping it detailed so often I would imagine.
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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 01:28 PM
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Sounds close.... I was quoted 3500 locally to completely paint mine.... 13-1400 if I did all the prep work and bodywork.
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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 01:38 PM
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I wasn't planning to prep anything, just show up at his place with the car on a trailer, hood, spoiler, door, fender, bumper in the bed of my truck and say "have at it."

the car's in good condition, there's only 1 dent on the driver side rear 1/4 and there's some bubbling in the B pillar's black paint.

I drive the car all the time, rain and sun, so it needs to be durable, and look as good (and last as long) as stock. I guess I should get some competing bids too just to be safe.
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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 05:31 PM
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Originally Posted by DarkFox118
So I went to a shop yesterday after getting my tornado damaged SS hood in need of repaint.

I spoke to the shop owner about repainting the hood, and fixing some spots on the car, cracking, spidering etc.

he said he'd re-do the entire car, pewter/black, mount the hood, a new door, black berger, black camaro grill insert, black and pewter on the hood, black on the B pillar, install a new fender, new front bumper (I provide all parts) for $2500.

Does that seem too cheap to yall? The car has good paint now. I don't want to go with something that's not going to be a good job. I asked him if that would be a stock quality job. He just replied "you'd be happy with it."

in the past when I've had classic car projects and I've called paint and body places, I've been given quotes as high as $10,000 for a paint job, so I'm suspicious. This guy seems to be really passionate about this and loves his work, he also does work for insurance providers, and had some interesting rides out front that I *assume* where his projects, but I dunno. sounds too good to be true to me.

Whattyall think?

I'm not looking for anything fancy. bout the only thing that even requires 2 colors on 1 panel is the hood.

oh.. 2000 z28.
Not confidence inspiring words there...

I've worked on cheap paint jobs, and to get them to look proper, it will end up costing the same as a "real" job, if not more.

$2500 is way on the cheap, especially with that much body work to be done. I'd stay far away.
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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 05:33 PM
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Originally Posted by thunderstruck507
Sounds possible, not like there will be much body work other than sanding and such. I would expect it to be at least as good as stock. Best bet is to see some of the guys work and especially look for examples that have been painted a while...not fresh.

I had my Chevelle painted for $1600 (included a bunch of body work, rust repair, panels cut out and welded, etc) and it looked amazing...but it didn't last. After 5 years the hood, trunk, and roof had a clearcoat failure. Combination of thin coats and me keeping it detailed so often I would imagine.
What kind of detailing were you doing?
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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 05:52 PM
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I was right at $10,000 dollars and I stripped the powertrain and interior out of the car. I also bought, on top of the $10,000, a nose and front fender and replaced all the weather stripping. This was to go from black to sunset orange met., he even pulled the rear window from the deck lid when he painted.
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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 10:19 PM
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Originally Posted by GoFast908Z
Not confidence inspiring words there...

I've worked on cheap paint jobs, and to get them to look proper, it will end up costing the same as a "real" job, if not more.

$2500 is way on the cheap, especially with that much body work to be done. I'd stay far away.
well, I mean as far as "body work" goes.. it's removing 1 dent. The rest is installing panels. I mean.. if he REALLY wants me to I can rough the things into place before I bring it and he can align the panels. I can probably rough the hood in and the fender pretty easily.. I can take the headlights and turn signals out.. heck it's gonna be trailered there I can take the front bumper off, burger panel off.. and bring it to him with the separated color parts already separated.

I guess the question is what SHOULD I expect to pay for a simple stock quality paint job?



That's the car now. It's been repainted before in a few spots because it was wrecked, but it looks fine to me as is, it's just the idiot who wrecked it kept screwing it up with scratches and things afterwards.. and the guy basically said he'd have to "spray" the whole car to match the color. I'd ASSUME that he'd sand the whole car, reprimer, repaint and reclear.. but.. I'm no expert on paint (obviously..)
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Old Jul 15, 2011 | 11:14 PM
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Don't ASSUME he'll do anything. Get it in writing, exactly what he'll do.

You're asking him to remove install numerous panels. The car has also been hit before, so I'd figure some bodywork beyond a dent. The labor on it alone should be a fair amount and when factored into the cost he gave you, that worries me.

If you want a OEM quality paint job, expect 4,500-6,000.
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Old Jul 16, 2011 | 07:46 AM
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$6k seems like a lot for this old car. I mean that's probably more than it would sell for. In fact I KNOW that's more than it would sell for. From what I can tell this car's only worth about 4.. or even less apparently from the classifieds here. It's worth more to me than I could sell it for really.

Only reason I was going to have anything done was to install the SS hood I picked up, because it needs to be repainted. I honestly don't care about the scratches, the dent, or the cracked fender. This is a driver car and it looks fine, it'd just look better with an SS hood. I wasn't even going to paint it from the pictures but when I got there the guy explained it was in a tornado. (my fault for not asking more questions, got it anyway. It's straight, just surface scratches, and it's already pewter.)




I can install the SS spoiler myself, can't be that hard. Just gotta find one in my color.

Last edited by DarkFox118; Jul 16, 2011 at 08:22 AM.
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Old Jul 16, 2011 | 09:51 AM
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Well thats what an OEM quality paint job should cost.
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Old Jul 16, 2011 | 10:29 AM
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Thanks for the info. I don't think I'm going to have it painted then. I won't bother fixing the door or the fender. TBH I've considered selling or even parting the car.

Mods don't increase value, and I'm already rather severely over-invested in this car, and it requires quite a bit more work.

I'm glad I caught this though. The guy seems like a nice guy but his price seemed unusually low, especially when he said he had more business than he could deal with. I'm happy enough with the way it looks now. I'd be less so with a crappy paint job AND be out another $2500 on this car.
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Old Jul 16, 2011 | 11:28 AM
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It probably wouldn't be a crap job, just not a very good one.
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Old Jul 16, 2011 | 11:44 AM
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from my undertsanding a stock paintjob isn't a very good one.. so if it's less than stock, it's crap in my book.

I went down and looked at that hood, a good shop could PROBABLY buff those scratches out. I just need to find "the best" auto body shop in atlanta, and have them take a look at it.

or I could try to sell it for $500. I paid $700 for it, but that's my fault for not asking more questions... but.. I'd rather use it. It looks good enough that I have half a mind to just try to install it myself and run it scratched up until I can find a good shop to buff it out.
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Old Jul 16, 2011 | 12:57 PM
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and I went ahead. It could use a good bit of adjusting in the hinge itself (high on the pass. side and too far forward both sides despite rubbing on the cowl if it goes any farther back) but.. it's on for now. They woulda had to take it off to paint it anyway.



This car is a project car, or at least that's what I bought it as. then gas prices got so high I had to quit daily driving my pickup and started driving this thing because it gets 20mpg city without any effort and I can still have fun in it within it's limitations. It can't burn tires or even break them loose, but it's still quick and nimble enough for traffic.

Question, what would $2500 get really? I mean I'm not familiar with how one paints a car. Looking at other threads on paint I was seeing people stripping their cars down to the metal, doing bondo over waves and imperfections.. the only "body work" really that I can see that needs to be done is 1 dent removed. The rest is probably just a sand primer spray and clear. I mean, yes, I know your foundation is important, but can't a new good stock paintjob go over an old good stock paintjob with minimal effort?
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Old Jul 16, 2011 | 02:42 PM
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Originally Posted by DarkFox118
from my undertsanding a stock paintjob isn't a very good one.. so if it's less than stock, it's crap in my book.

I went down and looked at that hood, a good shop could PROBABLY buff those scratches out. I just need to find "the best" auto body shop in atlanta, and have them take a look at it.

or I could try to sell it for $500. I paid $700 for it, but that's my fault for not asking more questions... but.. I'd rather use it. It looks good enough that I have half a mind to just try to install it myself and run it scratched up until I can find a good shop to buff it out.
If you want it buffed out, call a GOOD detailer. I fix shoddy body shop buffing constantly. They just don't know how to buff properly.
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