Thinking of repainting my Coupe- Ideas welcome

scottevest

scottevest

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I went to my local body shop to inquire if they could do some touch up work for me, and he said no problem for not big money, about $500 all in. I met with the owner, and he was working on some classic cool cars of his own. I asked how much to repaint the entire thing, properly, with same color or new color. He said $3000 for same color and $3500 for new color. I asked if it would be done right, not cheap, and he explained the process, i.e. 5 coats with clear coat, removing all the trim, etc. I told him that I am very particular, and although I don't intend to show it, I want it "right". He said I would be very happy.

So, my questions to you are as follows:

-am I crazy to do this?
-what questions should I ask him to ensure he is doing it right?
-next, would you change the color from black (not the original color btw). I like the yellow, or some of the greens/blues done in the day. He said a color change would include engine bay, etc.
-are there any special things I should consider doing while I'm at it to deal with any rustprone areas, or replace seals all around?

I am thinking of having him redo my 1970 VW Bus first to make sure he does good work. He said he would do that for about $2000, with a color change for a bit more.

Thoughts are welcome.
 
Sounds way too inexpensive to me considering cost of quality paint, labor for the trim, windshields removal/replace, engine bay, etc. These cars are expensive to prep for paint so I'd be very skeptical. What does his other work look like and what kind of cars?
 
Get the details, Scott

I'm not aware of anyone that can do a good full repaint on any car for $3500. But if your current paint is in truly excellent condition and your local labor rates are really low, maybe it's possible. Around here the painting materials alone would run roughly $2k. How many hours will $1500 get you out there? Around here it'll get you between 25 and 40 hours. 40 hours is not a lot of time do fully redo a paint job.


Here in NE, a good paint job can't be done for under $5-7k.
(1) removes all glass, lights, bumpers, rubber, trim such that the repaint edges all end up hidden or along a sharp metal edge (under the hood). Anything less will lead to visible lines or paint that eventually flakes up. Given how the E9 trim attaches, this could take up to a day (8 hours)
(2) take everything back to bare metal. I would include the lower body areas that are have rock -chip coating under the color/clear. (8 hours)
(3) Catalyzed etch prime, then high-build primer and blocking until it's perfect. If your body was already perfect, this can be finished in a day (10hours)

(4) retape everything, clean/prep, then paint (1 long day)

(5) Let it sit for a month or two to harden (maybe just storage fees?)

(6) wet sand the entire car to remove all orange peel and any other slight surface imperfections. (8 hours)

(7) Buff/polish (4 hours)

(8) Reinstall glass, rubber, trim. Just this last step can take a careful body guy a day or two. Ask Stan how long it took to put all the pieces on right without scratching anything. (10 hours because you want to go a lot slower and more carefully)

What's that ... close to 60 hours. And, will you replace any of the trim/rubber?

John
 
Great Idea

I would show some concern as to the material 1800-3000 just for the paint. I would even question a 5000 paint job. I do wish you all the best in your build but the labor and parts is what does make some buyers of these car shy away.

One of my cars is in the state of ready for paint I mean they don't even hardly need to mask the thing and it is costing close to ten, that's with me putting the thing back together myself. Non pebble beach finish.

Sometime in dealing with these cars you do get what you pay for.

If I can be of assistance please let me know.
 
You asked....

that means there's a choice.

I thought it might be appropriate being the car came from Texas to listen carefully to this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAS5sbt-8yE

My vote- take the conservative approach and get the things done that bother you for the $500. You'll discover soon enough if you want to hand over black beauty for a dye job. You're way too intelligent to think that $3k will be the end of it and be satisfied. There'll be nothing you can do about it now after the deed is done.

In the words of the last knight in the quest for the holy grail, "Choose wisely."
 
color change...

and a $500 increment for a color change! Um, maybe at Earl Schieb.
Color change means you have to pull the engine and detach everything back to the firewall (including removing the firewall pad). Then you have to remove the cowl panel cover, heater hoses, wiper motor/linkage, all stickers, etc. The front headlight bucket area needs to be fully stripped out as well, including radiator, AC components, and ideally the front lower valance. The trunk has to be fully stripped out, including elephant skin (if you still have it). To do it right, you should also do the inside door skins, floors, underside of the trunk/hood, behind the IP.

I would conservatively guess a full on color change should add an additional 35% t0 75% to the cost of an good paint job, depending on whether or not you want the color change to be easily detected.

I'd suggest you spend some time (this entire summer) watching some projects progress at your painter's shop. See how complete the dis-assembly is, whether it really all goes down to bare metal or if he skips areas. Does he mask off parts left on the car? Does he pull the motor and firewall pad? Do the engine and trunk bay wiring all get pulled off the sheet metal and wrapped up out of the way? Etc. Does he pull dents and then weld up and grind smooth the front/back of the dent studs? Once you've seen several of the shop's "bare metal" jobs you'll have a better feel for their quality and thoroughness.

I'd find a better shop and live with the fact that a color change and good paint job that'll last a couple decades will cost you $10k and up.
 
i completely agree

makes no sense that "good" shops require about $10 to do it right, and someone says they can do it right for less than a 1/3 of that. I made similar mistake MANY years ago with my 635csi. Got a horrible paint job and I resented it ever since. Not gonna get it painted there for sure. Do you think I can trust him to remove some dings, straighten the hood and fix the door. He says he will have to paint portions of hood and rear quarter panel but said they would match perfectly. Stupid?

I will take my bus there and try to get a discount at that. I had the bus painted 2 years ago for $1200, and it actually looked alright. Different car for sure. Thinking of going yellow bottom, bright white top. It's a 1970 VW Westy.

Thanks everyone for saving me.
 
My 10 cents-- my painter said there would be no change from 200 hrs to do a proper bare metal re spray ( that is if that's what your after)

Even if it was 150 hrs @ $60.00 pr hr it would be $9000 alone, plus $3000 materials--- $12000 all day long

For just a re spray over the exiting paint??? I would think $6 - 7000 would right for a real nice job


The big thing for the coupe is having to take the belt line trim of, a must, to do a proper paint job, and as anyone who knows this is a pain the arse job, because all the windows have to come out, and then be put back
 
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It is easy to repaint a car for that price and have it look good for a year or two. 4 years down the road, you have a horror story that will cost even more to correct. I'd bet there are some talented shops down in Mexico that do quality work for decent money. Might be hard to find though. Eastern Europe is also the place to get low cost/high quality resto work. I wouldn't get the VW done for 2K. That to me implies it will take two days with the cost of paint.
 
Agree with the others on that price being suspicious. A color change will run $10k here in LA. Ask him for references.
 
A really good paint job would be at least $12,000
That assumes that when the old paint is stripped there are no dents, rust, bends, parts to be replaced, modifications (removing side markers) that you have removed the trim, badges, chrome, windshield, rear window, antenna, lights grill, etc etc etc. AND you plan to reinstall it all yourself.
Metallic paint...add more
 
So, would you even recommend the touch up work then?

Ok, so I am convinced not to do the full paint job, but would you not even allow him to touch up certain panels to remove dings and straighten the hood? He said he could match paint exactly but I don't want to risk it.
 
IMHO no way to match old paint like that exactly, you'll be able to see the resprayed area(s) - but i guess it depends on what his definition of exact is...

Like mentined before, get references and check some of his work - don't use your VW as a guinea pig.

scottevest said:
Ok, so I am convinced not to do the full paint job, but would you not even allow him to touch up certain panels to remove dings and straighten the hood? He said he could match paint exactly but I don't want to risk it.
Click to expand...
 
Having seen your paint Scott, I would be very suspicious about that claim.
 
Where are you located? Here in Houston where the body shops have relatively cheap labor, you can get a labor intensive body-job for less than most places.

I had my roadster stripped down to bare metal, fenders off, all rust cut out and patched, and some welding/hole filling.

The car was blocked and sanded w/ many layers.

Then I got a 3-stage metallic PPG paint job.

Total cost was $3,100

Cheers
James
 
Even in Idaho, the quoted price for a quality full repaint is way too low, which makes me kind of leery. Got an estimate from a San Francisco body shop Ideal Auto Rebuilders for a bare metal respray (Sikkens) and necessary body work for about $14K. Now this does not include major rust repair such as front fender and/or inner rocker panel work. Engine bay repainting (r/r motor and ancillary equipment) will add another $3K. In Northern California, these quotes are about the going rate for a quality full body repair/repaint.

Visited IAR's ultra clean and modern shop recently, I came away very impressed with the owners and the shop's workmanship on a recently restored 2002tii. The paint work on this and a few other restored classic European cars is just first rate and beautiful. There are very few body shops in the SF Bay Area that are willing and capable to do full body repaint nowadays, so finding one is quite a revelation. Will probably bite the bullet and go ahead with this project later on this year.
 
jamesw said:
Where are you located? Here in Houston where the body shops have relatively cheap labor, you can get a labor intensive body-job for less than most places.

I had my roadster stripped down to bare metal, fenders off, all rust cut out and patched, and some welding/hole filling.

The car was blocked and sanded w/ many layers.

Then I got a 3-stage metallic PPG paint job.

Total cost was $3,100

Cheers
James
Click to expand...

Any chance of you sharing the shop name ?
 
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