How much $$ to paint a car???

[BerettaRacer]

I have a chance to buy a reasonably clean & straight used car, desirable body style, but the color is way out of line for my tastes.

 

These days, what kind of ball park figures are we looking at to put a decent, color change paint job on a mid size car??

 

Not a show car/hot rod, not a MAACO special. Just decent paint for a daily upscale daily driver.

 

Thx

[Skywagon]

Paging @realshelby to the bat phone. 
 

I don’t know. Terry will. Had a bumper painted on wife’s Lexus. $600

[Hosstage]

Part of it depends on how much you're willing to pay. Do you want all the trim removed, all the seals, a full on proper color change, or are you ok with masking off what doesn't necessarily need to be removed, but will still have the original color underneath? It won't show with a quick cursory glance, but can easily be found with just a little investigation. Things like rocker panels trims, chrome side trim, etc.

Take a walk around the car and notice all the hard to get at areas you wouldn't normally think about, but show thru, behind grills, bumpers, lights, etc.

Anywhere from $2k to $10k would be my guess.

[roadscholar]

hosstage is right, anywhere from around 2 to l0k or more depending on a lot of factors. good painters are hard to find and when you do they aren't cheap, don't put a cheap or even average paint job on a car, it'll ruin the value and you can't undo it. in fact best not to change the color, the car has to be disassembled to do it properly, doors, hood, and trunklid off, sunroof out, fenders unbolted, glass and interior out, engine out and all the ancillary stuff under the hood, etc. bottom line, probably better to find another car, be patient there are plenty of others out there.  

 

 

[szurszewski]

If you want the car and absolutely can’t do the color, consider a wrap. A good one will also run thousands of dollars, but it won’t tank the value of your car. 

[randy]

If it was me I would do a wrap but as noted above finding someone to do a quality wrap is just as hard as finding someone to do a paint job, so ask around and make sure you get lots of recommendations and lots of references

[randy]

And just for reference, my son has a show car and he has the show car wrapped and it gets lots of positive comments

 

Now at most show cars the wrapped cars and the painted cars are in two different sections so I’m not saying a wrap is equal to a paint job because it’s not

but for every day use a wrap is awesome

[81delorean]

Had all the paint redone on my car and it cost me $1K, but then again the only pain on the car is the front and rear bumper, the rest is stainless steel. Glad I could interject with useless information to help you out. I'm bored at the moment. So do you care to divulge what kind of car it is (because I'm a car guy and nosey)? Makes a difference if your looking at 2 or 3 stage paint, all the trim removed, any bodywork that needs done or whether it comes to the shop prepped and ready. 

[Rougarou]

Sheesh, if color's the only concern, I'd drive a pink Mary Kay Cadillac if the price was right

[realshelby]

22 hours ago, BerettaRacer said:

I have a chance to buy a reasonably clean & straight used car, desirable body style, but the color is way out of line for my tastes.

 

These days, what kind of ball park figures are we looking at to put a decent, color change paint job on a mid size car??

 

Not a show car/hot rod, not a MAACO special. Just decent paint for a daily upscale daily driver.

 

Thx

A couple of posts here are on the mark. Repainting....is completely different from a color change. Color change involves painting inside all the door, trunk, hood openings. That...can be done on a "driver" without too much disassembly. Masking all the trim, weatherstrip, etc. can be done to a level where most would have to look close to see a change had been made. The problem I have with this method....is that there is almost no way to paint the outside of the car AND inside the doors and trunk at the same time. So, you paint inside the body...then you have to VERY carefully mask all that off AGAIN. 

There are just too many variables to quote an idea of cost. That will vary greatly between shops. Some will lay down one color coat and two clear coats and hope for the best ( saves paint, which is expensive). My "guess" would be at least $8000 on the cheaper end of something that won't blow off the car in a year. As Rougaru said, I can learn to LOVE the color it is now for that much money!

 

A couple pics of my 1965 Mustang progress....Pic of fender is after final buffing. I was testing some methods to see what works. Note the image of the trees in the paint, it is that shiny and the DOI ( distinction of image) is top shelf. Will do final buffing on body after a couple more months ( allowing paint to shrink ). I have about 40-50 hours JUST in sanding the paint before the buffing/polishing process.....

[BerettaRacer]

Thx for all the replies.

 

Sounds like it won't be reasonable to pull this off.

 

I can buy the car for MAYBE $2-3K below market. It would be a daily driver but it deserves decent paint, so even if we go to the mid level of some of the numbers posted, say $6-8K, that puts me WAY underwater before I even tackle the deferred maintenance of bringing a 15 y/o car back to life.

 

That $$ would be better spent picking up a newer model bike.

 

As far as picking up another specimen of the same make/model? At the moment there are only 2-3 viable candidates in the country. The closest other one was about 800 mi away and sold 2 days ago, I was going to go look at it a day or two after Christmas.

 

The next closest one is 1000 mi away and is listed $2K ABOVE market value, and it's exact condition is unknown, just relying on seller's hype.

 

Several days ago I inspected and drove one "supposedly" nice example, and while the body and paint were pretty good, the car had led a hard life, and interior was shot.

 

Merry Christmas all.

 

[szurszewski]

I love that the mystery continues. 
 

putting in my guess as 2008 Honda Fit with a really oddball option package. Maybe a first year Scion Xd.

[roadscholar]

25 minutes ago, szurszewski said:

I love that the mystery continues. 
 

putting in my guess as 2008 Honda Fit with a really oddball option package. Maybe a first year Scion Xd.

 

9 hours ago, BerettaRacer said:

As far as picking up another specimen of the same make/model? At the moment there are only 2-3 viable candidates in the country.

 

that pretty much eliminates anything from korea or japan, there's a shitload of that stuff out there. 

[wbw6cos]

Yeah Bill, enquiring minds want to know what vehicle you are thinking about being painted.

[roadscholar]

tough one but if we (hopefully) eliminate french, italian, and swedish (modern ones anyway) that leaves british (not many of those left) and german. personally i'd leave out vw and audi although they do have a few sought after models, especially if mpg or performance is specifically the goal. assuming it's not amurican (maybe vette or mustang but what else could it be not that's worth an 8k paint job), which leaves merc, bmw, or porsche but then i'm completely biased so there you go : ) narrowing it down any further would be a wag.

 

merry christmas guys.

 

 

 

[BerettaRacer]

    

 

LOLOL

C'Mon guys, it's gotta be a tow vehicle to get the bike to the 'ARTS and Un next summer.

 

A clean, low mileage, Cadillac CTS SportWagon.

 

Preferably around 50-75K miles. Accident free, from a rust free zone. If 2010 0r '11 it needs to be the V6 3.0L, a 2012 or '13 can be either V6, preferably the 3.6L

 

Something that looks a bit like this.

 

 

[roadscholar]

18 minutes ago, BerettaRacer said:

C'Mon guys, it's gotta be a tow vehicle to get the bike to the 'ARTS and Un next summer.

 

now you give us a hint. how about a pink one, i've heard they go pretty cheap.  

[BerettaRacer]

6 minutes ago, roadscholar said:

 

how about a pink one, i've heard they go pretty cheap.  

Hence the new paint job I was asking about, LOL

[roadscholar]

yes, i know : )

[Hosstage]

Oh, you want a nice paint job.

$10k

[BerettaRacer]

41 minutes ago, Hosstage said:

Oh, you want a nice paint job.

$10k

Can't have the MaryKay pink show thru!! 

[BerettaRacer]

As I said above, I drove this one a cpl days ago.

 

Body and paint nice, but interior very tired. Not a good past life.

 

 

[Skywagon]

Hmm. don't mean to be mean spirited...but you are worried about how the color looks vs. the rest of the car, station wagon, or whatever that thing is.  I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder....and hard to behold that one for me.

 

That said...I hope you find what you are looking for.  I've been searching for a 58 Chevy that I can afford for a while.  Most Chevy old-timers think the 58 is fugly....but I like it.  348 ci, auto, plaid interior...

[BerettaRacer]

8 minutes ago, Skywagon said:

Hmm. don't mean to be mean spirited...but you are worried about how the color looks vs. the rest of the car, station wagon, or whatever that thing is.  I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder....and hard to behold that one for me.

 

That said...I hope you find what you are looking for.  I've been searching for a 58 Chevy that I can afford for a while.  Most Chevy old-timers think the 58 is fugly....but I like it.  348 ci, auto, plaid interior...

Good examples of the V trim are running $150K, so somebody likes 'em.

[roadscholar]

a '58 impala with the big block 348 was the first car i got to drive (not counting an allis-chalmers). it was fast, especially for a ten year old that had to look thru the steering wheel : ) 

 

for decades they were overlooked by collectors but now their subtle, understated design (by comparison) is appreciated and has withstood the rest of time.

[Rougarou]

9 hours ago, BerettaRacer said:

Can't have the MaryKay pink show thru!! 

 

As I said, if the price is right, I'd roll with a pink one, I'm a function over form kinda guy.  We were close to getting a SportWagen in about the 2010 timeframe.

 

 

Goodluck in your searches

[wbw6cos]

The only reason that I would not want to drive a Pink one is due to the fact that I would got stopped everywhere and people would be wanting to place orders for cosmetics. 

 

 

"Oh sorry, this is my wife's car, ma'am. "

[Rougarou]

53 minutes ago, wbw6cos said:

The only reason that I would not want to drive a Pink one is due to the fact that I would got stopped everywhere and people would be wanting to place orders for cosmetics. 

 

 

"Oh sorry, this is my wife's car, ma'am. "

 

 

"ma'am, all we have left are facial products"