stroked 383

My front bumper has about a thousand rock chips in it, my rear bumper has the spider cracks, and there are several door dings around the car. There is also a nice dent from some jackass at a parking lot in the passenger side rear quarter panel.

I had a guy that paints cars come out and look at my car. He said he'd let me buy the paint, but he'd charge me $600 in labor because basically the whole car will need a re-shot of paint.

Last time I got a quote, it was for $1700 but that included paint. I can get the paint color matched down the street but paint not included, $600 is good right? This includes painting the clear, and he is going to paint my cowl black as well.

He said it'll look like a new car. I have a 94 Quasar Blue Metallic color btw. How much did you guys pay for the touch-up repainting of the front?

slomarao

i would want to know what he going to do as far as sanding and pre painting work? Next is he going to wet sand and buff the car afterwards?

I would want to know exactly your going to get your money. 600 sounds cheap for all that work.

shock6906

Be very skeptical of it at that price. Get a contract with the guy stating explicitly what he will do, and for God's sakes, PUT A TIMELINE IN THE CONTRACT. Learn from my mistakes, I went to the guy with the best price I could find and ended up getting f***ed big time.

stroked 383

He said he can have this back to me in about 2 days. Plus I'd take it to his new shop so technically I'd see where it would be. I would like to take progress photos, ya know!?
What all should I get in writing?

shock6906

I was told I would have my car back in a week and a half. After 14 weeks in his possession it STILL wasn't finished. Get exactly what he's going to do to the car in writing. What parts of the car he's going to paint, get him to outline what he's going to do for prep work, if he's using primer, base, and clear, have that put in there. Get the price that he's going to charge you, get a date that he promises to have it done by, and if you really want to keep him honest, set up a clause where it costs him X dollars/day if he doesn't deliver by a certain date. Nothing makes a guy stick to his word like the thought of it costing him money if he doesn't.

I wish I had taken all these precautions when I got my car painted. You bet your *** I will in the future. Of course, this could backfire on you and he could say he doesn't want to deal with you under those terms. But if that happens, you were probably going to get f***ed in the first place.

Sorry to rant, but I have a severe distrust for body shops these days, especially the small-time guys.

6SpdLT1Z

You get what you pay for when it comes to paint.

Car Enthusiast

not necessarily, but I know more than a few paint guys

just remember paint is on of the most easy and fixable things that everyone is scared to do themselves

stroked 383

Yep I went and got my paint yesterday color matched to my spoiler...2 quarts color, 1 quart clear. He will provide all the black for the cowl on the hood. While there I asked about him and everyone had heard of him, and there was even a photo of a car he painted in the store.

Shock, I got it all written out in a contract that stipulates everything from what exactly he is going to do, to how long he's going to keep it. (2 DAYS!!) He just seems like a very genuine guy and from what I've seen, he is very good at what he does.

My final cost is going to be $600 and I buy the paint (3 quarts). He will strip down the front bumper to plastic, same with the hood, fix all the key scratches, re-aline my hood, fix my rear quarterpanel dent and fix the spiderweb cracks on the rear bumper, and paint the cowl black. He is going to also touch up my engine bay and re-spray my headlight buckets black so they blend well with the hood.

Hell for $600...what do I have to lose? I can paint pretty well and if it really doesn't look good, I know I can personally fix it! I just figured give this guy a shot because his stuff all seems to check out.

And guess where I found him...??? Craigslist

shock6906

You cannot judge a paintjob from a picture. Take a look at the picture of both of my cars in my sig. They look pretty good, right? Yeah, in pictures they look great. In person they were both pretty screwed up right from the start. Granted these pictures are after the paint had been on the cars for a little while, but that just furthers my point.

The guy I went to seemed very genuine as well and from the other cars I had seen, he looked like he did a good job. I ended up getting screwed big time, because he was about the biggest liar I've ever encountered and his paintjob quality was terrible on my car.

Of course you could get a good guy, I've just had terrible experience in the past. But I guess that's what happens when you go to the cheapest guy in town. Sigh...

stroked 383

If I get out to Evanston and get this Buick Regal GS...the camaro is getting paint this weekend. I'll create a before and after thread and take pics w/ my D50 so it'll be nice and clear
I also mentioned to him that I've done everything else with this car and would like to either help w/ some of the prep work, or at least get photos of the process. He said no problem! We'll see.

shock6906

My Z-28 picture is taken with my D40x. Oh, and be leery of doing work on the car yourself. Of course he's willing to let you help, because if anything's wrong with the paint, he can easily lay some blame on you.

stroked 383

damn ur right....well I'll take photos and make sure he does it right!