RANT!! Outrageous prices to paint my 84 hurst!!

[80Maliboo]

$5500 sounds about average depending on what all they are going to do. It takes a lot of labor to wet sand/color sand a car.

My neighbor builds hot rods in his spare time and is an excellent painter. To these guys a proper paint job doesn't start until the $8000 mark. Heck, he had a some paint for his hot rod that alone cost $1000. Granted it was red which is typically the most expensive of the colors.

Those are show car prices. Anything above 2000 you might as well keep going until you hit 7k+. A basic repaint of a car should never excede 2000 with prep work. If youre looking for a show car paint job then pay more of course, but I get the feeling youre not looking for that. $3500 for paint is like running 12.5:1 compression, too high to run pump gas, but not high enough to take advantage of running race gas. $3500 is too high for a decent repaint, but not nearly enough to spend on a high quality job. $4000 for prep work is a joke. I would never spend more than $800-1000 for prep.

 

[joe_padavano]

Sorry, but time for a reality check. $5500 for a quality job is not unreasonable. I do all my own paint and body work and materials alone probably cost me $1000 for a car. That's not just paint but paint but primer, sealer, clearcoat, sandpaper, filters, masking tape and paper, cleaner, glazing putty, etc, etc. Keep in mind that a good paint job is probably 80% labor and 20% materials, so you can see that $5500 is about right. If you don't like that, try Maaco, but expect to get what you pay for.

Yes, some vendors such as Summit now offer low-cost paints. I have no experience with the quality or durability of these paints. Brand name materials such as PPG, Dupont, or Sikkens will cost you.

 

[84hurst]

Thanks for the good imput, I guess i pretty much got sticker shock when i started hearing these prices, i'm to the point now that one way or another its getting painted as for i already have a lot of things taken off of it and im not just gonna let it sit there, so if more $$ is what i takes then i guess its gotta be done cause like many of you said, its not something you want to cheap out on and be in this same boat a few years down the road. Im going to a few other reputable body shops this week around Lansing which is a lot bigger city so we'll see if having competition gets the price down a bit.

 

[joe_padavano]

Those are show car prices. Anything above 2000 you might as well keep going until you hit 7k+. A basic repaint of a car should never excede 2000 with prep work. If youre looking for a show car paint job then pay more of course, but I get the feeling youre not looking for that. $3500 for paint is like running 12.5:1 compression, too high to run pump gas, but not high enough to take advantage of running race gas. $3500 is too high for a decent repaint, but not nearly enough to spend on a high quality job. $4000 for prep work is a joke. I would never spend more than $800-1000 for prep.

If Maaco-quality prep work is all you want, that's fine. Expect them to paint right over the dirt, however. Once again, you can trade your labor for cash. Do as much prep work yourself (assuming you have a painter that will accept that) and save the labor costs. Disassemble as much of the car as possible to remove trim and simplify masking. Block sand the car yourself (and get a true understanding of how long that takes to do it right). Be sure to thoroughly wash and clean the car with Prep Sol to remove any silicones first, however. Again, with a painter who is willing, you can even shoot the primer yourself and block sand it before having him spray the color. The problem here is liability. If there's a problem in the future, the painter will claim it was due to your poor prep.

 

[84hurst]

$5500 sounds about average depending on what all they are going to do. It takes a lot of labor to wet sand/color sand a car.

My neighbor builds hot rods in his spare time and is an excellent painter. To these guys a proper paint job doesn't start until the $8000 mark. Heck, he had a some paint for his hot rod that alone cost $1000. Granted it was red which is typically the most expensive of the colors.

Those are show car prices. Anything above 2000 you might as well keep going until you hit 7k+. A basic repaint of a car should never excede 2000 with prep work. If youre looking for a show car paint job then pay more of course, but I get the feeling youre not looking for that. $3500 for paint is like running 12.5:1 compression, too high to run pump gas, but not high enough to take advantage of running race gas. $3500 is too high for a decent repaint, but not nearly enough to spend on a high quality job. $4000 for prep work is a joke. I would never spend more than $800-1000 for prep.

Yes you hit it right on im not looking for a "trailer queen" im looking for something i dont have to be afraid to drive on a nice day. Just to clear up some other post i would NEVER even consider a place like MACCO , i only plan on taking it to a reputable shop. Now i wonder this, do i need to go to these places an ask them what 4k will get me and go from there?? or wait for their price?

 

[cdg1984]

$5500 sounds about average depending on what all they are going to do. It takes a lot of labor to wet sand/color sand a car.

My neighbor builds hot rods in his spare time and is an excellent painter. To these guys a proper paint job doesn't start until the $8000 mark. Heck, he had a some paint for his hot rod that alone cost $1000. Granted it was red which is typically the most expensive of the colors.

Those are show car prices. Anything above 2000 you might as well keep going until you hit 7k+. A basic repaint of a car should never excede 2000 with prep work. If youre looking for a show car paint job then pay more of course, but I get the feeling youre not looking for that. $3500 for paint is like running 12.5:1 compression, too high to run pump gas, but not high enough to take advantage of running race gas. $3500 is too high for a decent repaint, but not nearly enough to spend on a high quality job. $4000 for prep work is a joke. I would never spend more than $800-1000 for prep.

I guess if by basic repaint you mean just doing enough body work to get the paint to stick, not messing with the door jambs, not taking anything off, not smoothing out all the little waves, just one coat of paint and one clear. If you expect to get a decent looking paint job for 2 grand your either dreaming or you know someone really cool who REALLY hooks you up. Most body shops wont even do crappy paint jobs like that, because if someone see's their car and asks where they got it painted and the paint looks like sh*t, that reflects badly on the body shop. I used to work at a body shop and you wont even believe how much time and labor goes into a decent looking paint job. Not trailer queen quality, just a good looking job.

 

[DRIVEN]

You started your first post by saying your car is solid and rust free -- then went on to say it needed replacement doors and had surface rust from sitting and needed "minimal" body work. My brother is a bodyman by trade. The shop he works for now won't even do completes anymore. He does the occasional side job (in my shop) and will not consider a complete for less than $3k -- and that is on a relatively straight, small, and rust free car (we don't salt our roads and aren't near salty sea air). Most people that aren't involved in the industry grossly underestimate the amount of work involved and the cost of materials to get a quality paint job. The materials on my dad's El Camino (tri-coat pearl) was over $1600 ten years ago. You get what you pay for. For a *nice* repaint you should expect to pay $3-5K. Custom or show level jobs will obviously cost more. With that price you will likely get some sort of warranty. Also, understand that any parts replaced with aftermarket (non-OE) pieces will require additional labor to make them fit right -- because they won't. Extra labor = cost. While the lower initial cost can be tempting, aftermarket parts usually end up costing more and the quality isn't as good.
Sounds like you need to decide what you want to end up with.
A. Maaco or Scheib
B. Learn to do it youself
C. Pay a pro to do it right

 

[supercrackerbox]

This is one of those deals where you get what you pay for. Also keep in mind that all these cars were painted with single stage laquer paint. If you want the new paint to last any reasonable amount of time, the car will have to be stripped completely down to bare metal. Modern urethane and epoxy primers and paint won't work well with classic laquers.

Also remember with these cars, you can never claim perfectly straight and rust free until you get them completely disassembled. If it sat outside long enough to get surface rust, I guarantee there's more rust that you don't see.

 

[DrRansom442]

maybe it's just me too, but you are tou-toning .... ofcourse it's going to be higher than just shooting a single color.

 

[84hurst]

You started your first post by saying your car is solid and rust free -- then went on to say it needed replacement doors and had surface rust from sitting and needed "minimal" body work. My brother is a bodyman by trade. The shop he works for now won't even do completes anymore. He does the occasional side job (in my shop) and will not consider a complete for less than $3k -- and that is on a relatively straight, small, and rust free car (we don't salt our roads and aren't near salty sea air). Most people that aren't involved in the industry grossly underestimate the amount of work involved and the cost of materials to get a quality paint job. The materials on my dad's El Camino (tri-coat pearl) was over $1600 ten years ago. You get what you pay for. For a *nice* repaint you should expect to pay $3-5K. Custom or show level jobs will obviously cost more. With that price you will likely get some sort of warranty. Also, understand that any parts replaced with aftermarket (non-OE) pieces will require additional labor to make them fit right -- because they won't. Extra labor = cost. While the lower initial cost can be tempting, aftermarket parts usually end up costing more and the quality isn't as good.
Sounds like you need to decide what you want to end up with.
A. Maaco or Scheib
B. Learn to do it youself
C. Pay a pro to do it right

When i said rust free im talking about the usual rust out (rotted) areas to the point major patch work would have to be done, the only surface rust is on the roof which is small because its got t-tops. And as far as the doors i have a perfect set so the condition of the current doors is null and void, just some time to transfer the guts over and prep and paint. At this point im ready to throw $4000 at it and according to you that will get me a "nice" repaint, which im fine with. as i stated earlier im not looking for a trailer queen that im afraid to drive. This car wouldnt even hit 1000 miles a year and sits in a garage so its not like its being beat down the road every day. I find it hard to believe that a reputable body shop wont touch this car for $4000.