Hope you are not using $300 as a point of arguement because I said I used to put out some paint jobs on the side for that. I guess I should have been more clear on this,as this is what I charged for my work,this did not cover paint and associated products,and I DID turn out some pretty nice jobs way comparible to a factory and probably as good as some custom jobs I've seen lately. I painted for 10 years before giving it up,and I know a lot has changed since but don't knock a low buck paint job, knock the low buck paint. nough said

 

My Car is a Daily Driver so I really don't want to spend over 1000 dollars on a paint job. 300 sounds good enough to me. But the whole Overspray thing scares me. I've got chrome pipes and if they got paint on them i'd be more than er P-Ed Off. Truthfully i'm on a budget guys i'm a senior in high school and working a part time job. So 1500 dollar paint jobs are not an option ( I gotta eat too lol ). I will check into Maaco a little more and if I don't like what I see then I will look into another shop. As for prep work and all of that i'm completely stupid so if somebody could tell me what to do i'd appreciate it. Thanks again guys.

 

My dad paints cars so it wasn't really a problem for me to get my 84 Camaro NBM. Even though he and I did all the work, I still had $500+ in materials. Took me over a month to get the car ready too.....but damn if it didn't come out looking absolutely awesome.



LT1Maro, if you have never had any experience with body work it isn't something you can read a book about and just jump in and do. I'd say that it is almost as much art as it is a skill. The patience and time required to get the car straight and free of flaws is immense. I remember working for 2 days on my car and then it would look like nothing had been done. Its not like bolting on a new part, where you install is and you're done. Just like your human body, most changes are gradual but very noticeable over time.

The best thing for you to do is find a well respected body man in
your area and just plan on paying the cash to get a good job done.

 

Ok Kandied we have digressed from the point of the origional thread. The Gt 500 KR in question resides in Blue Water Bay, FL. You can attend any classic/Muscle car show in the Northwest FL area and you'll see it. It's Black on Black and the owner had a Striking Cobra Air Brushed on the underside of the hood. (other than that it looks like it rolled off the showroom florr) Oh BTW you will also see somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 trophies with the car as well as a scrap book detailing the entire restoration process. Just because you got took to the cleaners by some shop that saw a sucker doesn't mean everyone on the planet is a rip off artsit. AND as far as putting my car next to a factory paint job and them looking comparable? DUH I believe I said in my origional post it doesn't look as good as a factory paint job just very decent for a daily driver.


Now back to the origional reason for this post. As far as prep work goes if your car doesn't need any body work you need to wet sand the entire car with 320 'wet or dry paper' (that's what it's called). You would be best served by having a sponge block which is a rectangular piece of hard rubber, to wrap your paper around. If you use your hand alone you will end up with finger streaks in the wet sand that will show up in the paint. Take a garden hose and cut the end off of it (so your don't scratch your car) or get a squirt bottle and wet the fender and start there. You will keep the water going (very low) on the car and wet sand the car all over. You will want to take a little extra time at rock chips and knicks to feather them to where they feel smooth to the touch. Make sure you don't feather too small an area or it will show up in the paint job. Now you will have to use your hand in some of the contours but try to apply the pressure with your palm not your fingers. When you get done wash the car off and dry it. You should have a uniform kind of 'satin look' to the whole car. Once you've done that take it to a shop of your choice be it $300-$3 million and get it painted. If you take it to a lower end shop have the guy look over your wet sand job and see if you missed anything and if not tell him you'd like it painted with no sanding work. If you take it to a higher end shop then I'd advise letting them do all the work since you're paying so much.

 

95NATE is correct about the bodywork issue. Since you don't have experience with that you would be better off letting someone sle do any bondo work. If all you need is a good wet sand and are going to use a low end shop I would highly reccomend you do the wet sand prior to taking it in. You'll get a better job.

Also 95NATE pointed out exactly what I origionally said. A good paint system material wise will run you between $500 and $700 depending on the color. And as he also said it certainly helps when you have family in the business. You can get an awsome job for way cheap.

 

im gonna have to stick up for kandied here and say if you havent seen his car in person you definately have no right judging it, i seen it at M8. no 3rd gen ever rolled off the line looking as immaculate as his does. id give it the title of the cleanest 3rd gen in existance. so you do get what you pay for and his is the best.

and out of curiousity do you even get primer for this 300 dollar paint job or do they just throw new paint over your old stuff. i know that wouldnt fly with me but ive seen it done, maybe it was a macco job?

Nick J.

 

I just brought mine in for a color change from grey to True Blue Metallic. This is running me $800 - $1000 for paint and $3500 total. The guy i brought it to is good with the body work and is painting the jams, hood, and hatch area. In about a week we will see how it looks.

 

CNCREG see that's where we differ. i think that when you repaint your car you should expect at least a dealership style paint job for your daily driver. you can state your opinions and even try to bring down what you think has been done to my car if you feel it suits, but it's still just your opinion and i'm really not seeing your arguement. you can not take middle of the road products and free labor that would be needed to do your paint job and say it's possible for someone else just off the street. even painting it your route i guarantee that if you think the paint looks good your opinion is either very bias or based on some poor examples as it just is not possible and have it look nice.........i'm not even talking show winning, just nice. not to say yours didn't turn out nice or that you aren't happy with it as i'm sure that it serves the intended purpose but for people who pay attention to the little details it's just to hard to skim by on that little.

i spent alot of time doing my homework before i had my car painted and i still didn't know everything i should have but the amount of money i saved was well worth it in the end considering most palces will not touch a color like mine for under 12,000. of course these prices are a bit higher then your average sand and paint deals but you have to figure on so many other factors that go along with my type of job. putting aside that the car is practicly already tore down there is the stripping of all the paint to metal, all the body work that is done which lists can be endless, all new pieces for the body like your stripping, glass, everything that is necessary to bring it to new condition. countless hours and costly products don't make things cheap. my car was in the shop for almost 7 months to do what was done.

if i walk into my buddies shop and he sprays a single base coat clear with sparing amounts of paint, sure i can make it look alright for a brief moment but its a simple fact that it will stand out as not being of a nicer quality job. i would have to do so much to the higher quality paint to cover that much or use cheaper grade which would definately be noticed. you find people doing this sort of thing all the time to dump cars on the market which is one of the principle reasons why so many worry about repaints when purchasing a car. leading examples cause quick fading, overspray, cracking/flaking paint, orange peel and many other things that are attributed to low quality jobs......and there is a reason for this. sure the quality of the paint matters but so does the experience of the painter and just as importantly the body guys experience and the prep work.

my point being on anything i've said is the average person looking for paint is going to have a hard time finding a decent shop to paint your car for under 1,000 which would include labor, chemical, possible teardown ( which should be done for a repaint) and all the other little things that are thrown in and that would still be a great deal if it was done right. meaning the cars imperfections were fixed on the body, things were prepped correctly and the paint was sprayed right. all of things which still aren't guaranteed in more expensive jobs. yes you can get by cheaper but most people who have tried often find out the hardway and have to deal with problems like above associated with cheaper jobs.

some of you may argue this til your blue, but it just won't happen. if you can't afford to get it painted right there is nothing wrong with that which is completely understandable, but don't be surprised when your car doesn't look as good as it could have had you spent a little more in the proper areas. not saying anyone should waste their life savings, especially on a daily driver but sometimes it's only a matter of a hundred or so that makes all the difference.

my best advice to anyone looking for a repaint is to check out some of the local car shows and talk to people who have been there before you to get perspectives on what is right or wrong and where to go in your area. here alone you can find a 2,000 difference just by going down the street and get the same quality jobs.

 

CNCREG i don't know why i didn't think of this before but are you using a something like a single stage concept color for these jobs, a base/clear mix in one? if that's the case i could see you getting away with a decent job granted you already had all the supplies for the body work. that would cut your chemical cost in half making a 300 or so paintjob very realistic.

anyone looking to do just a basic color repaint which wouldn't include the tri-stage metallic colors that are on some of our cars this would be a good avenue to look at and save alot of money. this way it's shot pretty much with half the effort which is not only cheaper for the supplies but it will cut the extra shop hours one would be charged for labor if you were to pay for that.

 

Kandied what kind of color options would I have off the top of your head with this base/clear mixture. If I could get a blue that's similar to the Vette Blue or a Viper Red i'd jump for joy. Thanks.

 

Aight Kandied this will be my last post as I just sold the car with the 'undecent' paint job for $3800 yesterday.

One thing you have done in all your post is trash the paint job I got because you can't understand how a $300 paint job can look decent even though it's not show quality (and you've never even seen it). You also said I talked bad about your paint job which isn't true. I have given your car it's props in all of my post I just feel you paid too much for your paint job especially with the amount of work you did up front.

Macco and other cut rate shops use synthetic enamels and buy in bulk. That is why their material cost are low and they can paint for so. cheap. Do their paint jobs hold up? Yeah fairly well. I had my wifes van painted their (another $4000 vehicle) almost 2 years ago. I've waxed it once since then, it gets washed every week or so and it sits in the driveway. It still shines good and looks decent.

You've said it and I've said it you get what you pay for. Was the paint job on my car even close to the quality and look of yours? Nope. But that doesn't change the fact it looked decent and I got $3800 cash for that very same car yesterday (Must not have looked too bad). Just because you don't understand how people can paint for so cheap and you have zero experience with anything that the shop I use has painted doesn't give you a right to trash mine and anyone else's paint job that doesn't meet your financial minimum's. I read back thru 2 of your post and you honestly cannot fathom anything but a in your words, "tri-stage to be right and respectable" and at a minimum 800-1200 just for paint. You have a very nice car with a very nice paint job but there are other options out there besides a $7500 paint job that will make a rag look like a nice car.

This whole post started with a guy in high school on a very limited budget needing to make his car look at least decent. Your $7500 option or even $2000 option is just not there for him. So I gave him an alternative. You took off with that and turned this whole thing into a debate over what you can and can't get for a gazillion dollars. The fact that you say you 'researched' into your paint and what you wanted is good as most don't do that, but the fact is I have spent nearly 18 years in and around the business. I've seen the show quality jobs like your car and even the low end jobs that sucked. That's all this guy was doing here is researching. I promise you I privately picked my car to death but at the same time realized what I paid and what I got. You on the other hand would be ready to throw me off a cliff when I got done picking it apart. Because contrary to what you may think I am one of the toughest critics, even on my own stuff.

 

94LT1Maro check out your supplier or body shop and ask what they have available. typically they are not going to look like the 3 stage metallics your talking about, however they do have some nice colors.

 

I'll do that and it doesn't have to be viper red just something similar in appearence. Just as long as it looks good and btw Kandied you have a bad *** ride. Hopefully one day my Camaro can be like yours but for now all I can do is save, dream, and drool. Thanks for the advice Kandied and everybody else. I'll keep you posted on what I decide to do.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 94LT1Maro
[B] btw Kandied you have a bad *** ride. Hopefully one day my Camaro can be like yours but for now all I can do is save, dream, and drool.


same here

Well kandied91Z I now know what colour not to paint my car allthough candy red is what I want.

I have a question What is the easyest paint to spray? and have it look good for cheap? and would that panit be easily painted over with Sunset Orange Metallic?.

Kandied91Z I know what you mean about paint being expenive. I know a painter he`s a friend of mine. he said he`d paint my Z28 S.O.M for $2000. he dosen`t use cheap stuff because his name is on the line.

I would love to slap on a 300-500 paint job just to make my car look semi good just till I can save for my $2000 Sunset orange metallic paint job . I`m thinking about spraying my Z28 primer black this year just to make it look good . The sad thing is my Z28 has a custom job on it it`s black with a purple tint so in sun light my car looks purple but the last owner who had it let it get scratch to hell and rusty . Mine is one of those cars that look good 100ft away. I guess if I tryed I could get 2000 by next winter maybe?

Kandied91Z your Z28 is by far the BEST Z28 I`ve seen of any year. I want to see your car in person so bad I could look at your Zed for hours. GREAT JOB!! one day I hope mine looks as good as yours Your Zed has got to be in the $20000 range. You don`t mind if I save some pics of your car do you?? I thought I`d ask 1st