Cost of a paint job

[piecesparts]

The cost of a killer job is going to be BIG---$20,000 to $30,000 is close. However, the cost of a complete general paint job in my area would be around $7000 to $10,000. That would be with little work on straightening the body. If you have dents, the cost averages around $150.00 to $200.00 a dent to remove and smooth. Now , that does not include the paint. When a shop mixes paint, they will look at a quart gun as being $50.00 worth or more, depending on paint type and quality. If you want a cheap job, then that is what you get. I have had a few paint jobs done in the past 10 years and I would not waste my time or money on certain brands of paint. To much work to get a "FAIR" looking finish. Spend the money the first time and do it right. Every painter has the type that he likes and works with, but the top brands are known as PPG, Sikkens, Dupont, and House of Kolor around here. You also have to decide what effect you are trying to acheive with you color scheme and which paint brand will get it the easiest. Some paints a able to change their hues with the use of a different colored base coat and that creates a unique effect when applied. Consider the use of pearls for a different look also. My daily driver is a basic white with a blue pearl mixed in the clearcoat. It trips people up in the sunlight.

Look for a body shop that does full repaints and then ask people around for recommendations. Just because they do work like that (NOT ALL body shops do resto work), doesn't make them the good choice for you. We have a fair amount of so called "GOOBERS" around my area also. They sell a quicky paint job to the kids, but I wouldn't let them touch my car trailer, much less my show truck. Remember if it sounds like a Hell of a deal, then look closer for the true story.

[piecesparts]

If you look close at the trucks and the mustang paint jobs, the finish on these are immaculate. The work on these is what a $20,000 dollar paint job is. The blue and silver truck was put together by a shop in my area that specializes in building quality show vehicles. The owner did NOT turn a single wrench in the assembly of the truck and he has over a $100,000.00 invested. I realize that is not what you want, BUT it is what you can work from or towards (in your mind). It is not hard to make a simple project look GREAT, if you do it properly the first time. If you invest yourself into the body work, you can save some serious cash.

Over the years, since I started on my truck in the early Nineties, I have invested a lot into my paint job and it was done by a friend of mine. The sanding and finish work on the flame job was over 80 hours to complete. Imagine what that would run into, of you were paying $50.00 and hour.

[DirtyLarry]

Back in 1999 when I still lived in Detroit I paid under $200 for a pretty decent daily driver type paint job. As it turned out my auto industry coworker cubicle neighbor was also a pretty decent painter when he was in collage. One Friday night we drove from Detroit to Grand Rapids, MI to use one of his friend’s body shop for the weekend to do a quick mo and blow paint job on my rig. By Sunday afternoon I was driving it back to Detroit with a fresh new paint job.

Being that my bed and rocker panels were already Rhino Lined and the rest of the truck was super clean (Southwest truck that was never driven in the MI roadsalt) we didn’t have too much body work to do. Pretty much DA it, spot primer, seal, base and clear.

To save costs, we used a common late model GM color that was close to my original paint color so we didn’t have to paint under the hood or in the door jambs. We actually, ended up spraying it a PPG 1998 Pontiac Montana Quasar blue. Between the paint, beer, 2 nights of Taco Bell and gas back and forth from Detroit to Grand Rapids, I think I spend a little over $200. Spent another $25 or so more on food and beverages few weeks later when he came to my house to do the fine sanding and final buffing.

Below is what 200 bucks in PPG paint, beer and food buy you if you have friends that know how to paint and have connections at PPG as well as buddies that will let you use their paint booth for free.

The first pic is the morning that we installed the bed and the second picture is my favorite picture that shows how the paint glows in the sunlight. The second picture was taken when the paint was about 3 years old and after I moved back to Colorado. 7 years later the paint still looks just as good as it did in 1999….just a few more tree scratches. Of course, the truck spends 99% of the time in the garage protected from the elements. It is not show quality but not an Earl Scheib paint job either.

[79underconstruction]

well me and my bro inlaw jus put plastic up around the garage and lceared it out and did all the work our selves to paint my sisters 87 Blazer. we sanded it all down and primered it with a black primer then sprayed the paint and let it sit for a day n a hald then sprayed it agian and then we color sanded it and sprayed again then color sanded it again and the pain job came out nicely. the paint we used was called glass black or somehting and we used this hardener called glass effect so we didnt need to use a clear coat.. after we buffed it out it looks like glass and very nice. all together we spent about 450 on materials and paint..