painting the Fbody
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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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..)
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.
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.
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.
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.

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?
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.


