Vaker

For those who painted thier f-bodys themselves. How hard was it? And how much did it cost?


Everywhere I go for estimates are over $2,000 since its a color change, and to be honest I kinda want to do it myself, I read 2 books on how to paint, and I can get my friend's uncle which works at a bodyshop to help me. But...How much will it cost me?


I'll need a paint gun, and paint offcourse, sand paper, prime etc, for those who have done this how much did it cost you, and how long did it take?

nick418

honestly man, i would save the money up, and bring it to a PRO. But if you wanna do it yourself : / Its still gona be alot of money and hard work..... Wouldnt u rather for it to look rite?

Gumby

Well you can do it your self cheaper if you do not count equipment. I never do cause a tool once bought can be used for years. If you threw them away after the job then I would equate them into the total cost.

But a color change is allot of work. Your gonna have to gut the entire car and most of the engine bay. Hood, hatch n doors should come off to get it all painted right. a color change is one PITA as you gotta get at every nook n cranny.

$2000 inst bad for all the work that must be done.

Gut and assemble the car yourself and they may drop the price $800 or more.

Vaker

Yea I know this really good place by my house, they do Great! paint jobs, I suppose if I take all interior out for them, door panels etc, they might drop the price. I guess I'll just have to do some Overtime for a few weeks, and just get it painted there.

jocww

try it and if it doesnt work go take it to the pro

Vaker

It's just that I'm probably gonna spend :


$300 carpet
$500-800 leather seats
$200 roof liner
$800 GTA rims with caps, lug nuts

That's about $2,000 just on that...And then another $2,000 for paint that's 4k into the car without 1 performance upgrade, not even new tires! :'(

Gumby

Well thats your choice to make.

There are two types of car guys


The ones that will spend $40,000 on rims n tires for a 4 cyl car with a rod knock.


The ones that put 500hp engines in a rust bucket with two bald tires / slicks.

Morley

I painted my car last winter (mild winters in GA) in my garage.
Price breakdown is:
$300 for paint (primer, base coat, clear coat, reducer, a gallon if each and a pint of flex additive)

$20 in sand paper for wet sanding
$15 for 3M perfect-it buffing compound (a qt)
$50 in supplies to make a paint booth in the garage

Took 2 days to strip the car, ie remove mirrors, ground effects, locks, handles, spoiler, lights, front & rear plastic bumper covers, etc and mask it off.
One day to sand and prime.
One day to wet sand the primer and prep for base/clear coats
One day to paint 2 coats base 5 coats clear.
Three days to wet sand and buff
Three days to re-assemble the car and apply decals.
One day to put in the new weather stripping.

Lots of work and a lot of the interior had to come out to get at the ground effects and front & rear bumper covers.

Vaker

I'm the type that will 'restore' his car, then upgrade it's performance.

meanfarmer

Morley is pretty close on products & supplies to paint and of course,
It depends on what colors used.. Reds and Midnight blues
costing more than your basic colors such as white's and blacks.
Once you get tooled up, You no! By having all the left over products It makes your next job a little less exspensive..
I've learned on painting vehicles like demo derby car than to
race cars than on to basic street cars than the next step was to
do a nice car 57 chevys, vets, camaro, even a bug and a few
other along the way...My best was 65 Buick Rivie very Cool car..
So, if you decide to take this job on, It seem's like a never ending job but the end rezolts is very gratafing( sorry on spelling )..
Oh by the way, Paint guns there is a differance!!!!!!!...
You want a good job Don't skimp, get a Quality Gun..
Get a good one It's a tool for a life time as long as you keep it
clean..
sorry for long message got a little carried away!!!

Airpak

around how much would it cost for a paintjob where your not changing the color?

nick418

holy shnizzers! Man that 2 grand easily right there... I still go with the PRO. Or if you wanna try out 1st, go for it... If it doesnt have awsome results. GO to a Trusted PRO , that knows what hes doing. i kno som body shops that are sloppy and unprofessional and should be outta buisness, so you gotta watch out for those kinda Body Shops.

Morley

2-3K depending on the shop. For a color change done RIGHT, figure on 5k or more.

Nocturnall

I've been sanding off rust and filling in with bondo, if I stripped the car down to metal, sanded it and had it ready to go for a shop think that would drop the cost much? I wanna go from Grey to a darkish blue...

Morley

Don't go to bare metal, that will cause the shop problems. If the paint you have isn't peeling, just sand it down to the factory primer if possible, but not required. Get it all leveled and feathered out, remove the front and rear bumper covers, door locks, handles, marker lights, tail lights, windshield molding, ground effects...everything. A shop may only charge $1000-$1500 to paint it. 90% of the cost is in labor and most of the labor is prep.

Aviator857

If I were you I would paint a beater first before painting a car I wanted perfect, I can spray very well but I always have a hard time adjusting the gun, Also if you paint some of your friends beaters you can help off set the cost of the equipment. A very professional paint job can be done if the prep is done right, and finishing is done right.

Keep as much bondo off your car as possible, level dents as much as you can and if its real bad get the part replaced.

Most really good shops don't like to touch cars that have been preped at home, especially if its been striped and primed. I would just take all the stuff said above off the car and have them clean, sand prime and paint.

Morley

Agreed, don't prime the car yourself if you are going to have a shop paint it. Sanding it yourself shouldn't be a problem...BUT!!! Make sure you wash the car throughly before sanding. Wash it with something like Tide (laundry soap) and water and make sure you get it completely clean, then do your sanding. The less sanding the shop has to do the better off you'll be price wise (though they will sand it some before they begin painting.)

Gumby

A pro perfectionist painter would goto bare metal. A paint job is only as good as its foundation and you have no idea what under the paint until you look. Going to bare metal is the only way to know for sure you have a good foundation. Sure you can skip it and most do but the results will vary. I would not give a warranty on a paint job with 20 year old factor paint under neath. And who knows what under it.

I have said it in several threads but I have found more rust under good paint then I did busting through the paint. It will run and grow for a long while before it bust out. You will not see it, fell it or be able to tell its there until you strip to bare metal. I'll post a pic of some I found.

My motorcycle gas tank and Firebird has both been that way. If I had not gone to bare metal I would have new rust popping through in 4 years I bet. As it was hidden under good paint, with no signs of it being there.

Aviator857

What about a car that has no rust on it, and the paint has never came off the car would you still go all the way to metal? My car has never had a scrape that went to metal and I have not found any rust any where on the car, excepth the k-member and rear end housing.

Just checking, I know I will be taking it atleast to the factory primer though and getting rid of the enamel on it and the van nyes paint from the factory, but as for the primer it is solid.

Vaker

Man of all the restoration objectives this is the most complicated...I'm gonna have more problems with this subject than I am with rebuilting or swaping the engine.