Paint job prices - eye opening...

[tuff86]

So, i'm painting the engine bay of my levin myself - just for a holiday project, that is fine but i've decided to leave the exterior to a professional as i want this car to be capable of winning an award or two (hopefully) so doing it myself is out of the question... The problem is i went to a respected (decent but not top of the line) panel/paint shop and if there is minimal prep needed and they use average 2 pot paint then the price is 5k, if nice paint is used and a small amount of finishing is required then i will be paying 7k.

My question is: is this a massive amount to pay or is this just average?

I've never personally paid someone to spray a car as we've just done them in the home garage using a Dulon Lacquer - total cost usually being about $800 for all primer, thinners, paint & clear.

The last job we did was my levin which came out ok but not exactly 'show quality' by any means. The term "nice from a far but far from nice" springs to mind.

All input regarding price is welcome

[KIPH8N]

Contact 4ageboi he has now got a storage for painting cars does a mint job too. Always keen to paint toyota's.

[Dell'Orto]

Auckland prices huh! Sounds like they didnt want to do it. $7k ought to be them doing all the prep

[Akane]

WTF is your car like a golf ball or something? $7k is steep!

At that price you can spend $5k on materials to practice over and over again and then paint the car yourself.

[GTsedan]

Im not surprised by those numbers. The price of full resprays is like a length of string. Did you mention you wanted a 'show quality finish'? The price also depends on what kind of prep work is involved. Is it just a sand back, prime, sand, spray? or are we talking rust and filler work? Quality paint is by no means cheap and can get very expensive depending on the colour/pearl you are after.

But if you have a mate who is a painter, it changes everything....

[iOnic]

That's about right for a retail paintjob if it's not a basic colour and it's a full respray (door jams/boot etc). Not gonna win anything by paying $&#$% all.

[Grrrrrrr!]

Materials and labour add up fast..real fast.

I recently got prices on basecoat and clearcoat for painting the MR2.

PPG deltron in a gunmetal/pewter metallic = $150/ltr for basecoat.
D8140 clearcoat kit = $600ish.

So 4 ltrs of basecoat + a clearcoat kit = $1200.
Add to that primer, sealer, reducers, masking materials and thats an easy $2k in materials without any panel work. Those are walk in off the street prices, but a paint and panel shop will be adding a margin onto their trade prices anyway..

If you want good paint, plus a good finish and things done properly, its going to be $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Are we talking a drive in/drive out job, or are you dropping off a bare rolling shell (stripped interior, all lights, trims and glass removed)? there is probably about $800 worth of labour to remove everything and clean the cavities etc before any serious prep work begins.

[tuff86]

I have the car as a bare shell at the moment (except for the diff and rear suspension) and am performing the whole j-blood widebody change myself, also fitting up an origin kit, all prep work will be performed by myself, the prices were for a light rub down with no rust removal or dent repairs, just supply paint and roll it into the booth, assembly after paint to be performed by myself too. Will do a bit of asking around various shops on monday once they're open but that may just be the standard price by the sound of it?

[Grrrrrrr!]

Sounds a bit high for light rubdown + spray of bare shell assuming you aren't looking at any flip-flop colours or other fancy/wanky shit..

By full prep you mean you are primering and blocking the shell? Or are you talking about them scuffing the existing paintwork then blowing fresh basecoat over it?

Some places will be relucant to spray over primer they haven't applied, in case the primer has adhesion issues and the owner tries to come back at them about it.

[tuff86]

yep i'm primering and blocking the shell, no wanky shit paint, just an old school 80's colour - a metallic version of it anyway. Just shocked really with the price, was maybe dreaming when i thought 3k was an average price for just the outside, i also didn't realise 2 pot products were so expensive as we've only used lacquer in the past. May just have to matte black it as a temporary measure until someone buys my kidney which is going on trademe

[Mr.Phreak]

You might find that price is a ballpark with some prep included as I imagine most paint shops get all sorts of people coming in saying they'll prep their cars and turn up with it looking a mess and if they sprayed it as is, the customer would whinge.

Usually trying to help someone out by doing things cheap ends up biting companies in the ass.

[tuff86]

Thats a really good point in which i overlooked tbh, may pay to finish what i'm doing then get them over here for a more accurate quote, good work.

[Grrrrrrr!]

Paint prices are very variable depending on (perceived) quality. If you want an idea of the prices of the basecoats look at the prices of the tinters at Spraystore and then at the metalux2 tinters on the same site.

Clearcoat kits range from $160ish to $600 for a kit (6-7Ltrs of RTS clear), Is a $300 kit half as good as a $600 kit, or is it more like 90% as good?
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[fevil]

Also consider that in their quotes is IRD, ACC, overheads etc.

[Mr Ree]

Ouch $7k!!

But as has been said, the shops always factor in alot of overheads, and never quote on the low side as it will always bite them on the arse down the track.

I feel your pain though, I want to respray my car but just cant bring myself to hand it over to any old panelbeater I dont know/trust. Too many horror stories over the years takes its toll lol

Im too old now, and all my friends that used to panel/paint through my teens/20's, are no longer in the trade and have moved on to less dusty occupations=NO HOOK UPS

[samlloyd]

If you sand and primer it yourself that can save you a heap but only do this if you have a painter that can do a cashy or something to spray it properly.
It doesnt matter how bad your primer spraying is, you can sand it down.

I did this on one of my cars. Was baked in an oven aswell, total price maybe $1k?

Not a bad finish either

[Babz]

$5K does not sound steep. Depends on what you want done. I had my car painted without labour and the materials cost just over $2500 with my painter mates discount. 2 years ago. A basic paint where the clear and paint are mixed should not cost much but if you go for a 2 part paint and show finish then yeap mega bucks. the base and prep is what cost. the better the prep the better the outcome. If you prep it yourself then most places will not guarantee the work.

[iOnic]

^ Many won't even do the job at all. Our painter at work always says "Prep is the hard part, if you can do a mint job of it - you don't need me to paint it". He's been in panel and paint for 40ish years now.

[evil_si]

Ouch that's crazy money.

Mind you i guess retail, I was quoted 1250 to fix a couple of trolley dings and touch up the bottom of side skirts by a shop.

I know a couple of painters that like doing homers, 1 is in Auckland and the other in tauranga
Pretty sure both have done cars that have won awards,
If you want there details flick me a pm

[FST4RD]

My Legacy wagon got completely keyed, and when I mean completely every single panel including the roof except the rear bumper and petrol flap got keyed Just before christmas. Then some douche bag backed into me parked on the side of the street, I was in the car at the time (3rd time this has happened to me in last 2 years! )
So lodged 2 insurance quotes. Went to the panel beaters for them to look at. Cars insured for $4800, he said by the time they get a new bumper, bonnet, fix the radiator support and all the other bits, repaint the full car from top to bottom and oven bake it it should come in under the value of the cars insurance value. I was worried all this work would be more then the insurance value and they would write it off...