Canary94GT

I've never gotten a paint job done before, so I am wondering: What is usually included in getting a paint job? I know the price has actually come down over time.

Do they take all the trim off, sand it, then paint it usually? Is the reason places like Maaco are so inexpensive is because they use cheap paint, or don't prepare the surface well enough? Would a more expensive paint job mean they do a more thorough, gentle job with your car?

I just want to know what's involved in painting a car for if I ever want to get it done (and a good job done correctly)

4reboy

Well you can take all the trim off yourself to save some costs. But basically there is no straightforward answer other than usually the more you pay the more stuff the shops will do to better the paint job. I think the saying "you get what you pay for" definitely falls into paint jobs.

With Maaco I'm not sure if they even primer the car, or if they do it is definitely extra. If you prep the car yourself, block sand, and all that good stuff then a maaco paint job can actually turn out pretty good and last awhile. If you color sand the car and then buff it after words as well you can actually have maybe a 5 footer paint job for low cost, you just have to invest some time and sweat of your own.

This can also go for any paint job though, but any real body shop will cut and buff their work afterwords to ensure quality. Better paints can also ad to costs of a paint job, another reason why places like Maaco and earl schibe are so cheap.

probably 99% of a paint job is the body work, not the actual final spray. You're going to need many coats of primer, and block sand a looott if you want a straight car and better paint job overall. If you can't afford to have all these steps done then definitely paint it a lighter color. Darker colors show more flaws, so don't get a black paint job if you don't plan on spending a lot, unless you want it to look like crap. Stick to whites, silvers, reds, light blues, etc. for less flaws to be shown if you don't want to spend so much.

This should give you the gist of a lot of it, hopefully others with more knowledge than me on the subject will chime in here!

Canary94GT

Thank you so much 4reboy, you answered a lot of my questions.

Randys66gt

4reboy is ssssoooo right! I had a friend that did his own body work at home and must have spent thousands of hours on it and he painted it in his driveway, no covers or enclosures and it looked SEMA ready. Sure did change my thoughts. It's ALL in the prep!

4reboy

there are also many people that have painted their car with roll on paint with actually spectacular result. You can do your whole car by yourself for like $100 in materials or something like that

I believe this is the thread that started the craze (or at least one thing that started it)
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...0&fpart=1&vc=1

here's one more
http://horsepowersports.com/paint-yo...for-under-100/

connor90 on this forum did his old car like this, he said it was nothing spectacular but it sure did look nice in the photos and he planned on redoing it anyway only taking more time to make it look better. search for some threads on his car if you can.

What other questions do you have? I kept my response shorter because I was tired and about to go to bed post um up here and I can try to help you out if others don't get to it first

Derf00

A couple of other items to keep in mind regarding paiting costs. Metallic paints require a clearcoat and if done inproperly, the clear coat can ruin the entire final coat (orange peel, oxidation, etc). Silver is a metallic paint. Metallic paints also tend to show when a new batch is mixed in order to finish the job because there may be a slight difference in the mixture or dispersion of the flakes.

as 4reboy mentioned the prep work accounts for a lot (most) of what goes into a good paint job and the costs. For example, a coworker of mine is getting a 1969 torino GT he bought painted. Total cost is $7K. They stripped the car down completly (excpet for the drivetrain) and sanded all the way down to the metal. They then cut out any rust, welded new sheetmetal in, filed, sanded, spot primered, resanded, all in prep for the first primer coat. After the primer coat they'll resand, reprime, then spray.

1971mach1

I've had Maaco and Miracle do about 5 cars in the past and they turned
out nice (not concours but good quality). It's better to get the longest warrentee you can afford, they'll use better paint and spend more time on prep. Definatly do some prep yourself, take off the trim. I never took out the windows and they turned out good except once where there was rust in the channel. Make sure there's no rust under the new paint, it will bubble up and spread quickly.
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Canary94GT

That's what I was wondering. All that for $7k? Seems like not a bad deal to me. I say that because we're probably going to have to cut out some rust near the wheel wells when we ever do ours.

But I'm not really interested in stripping the car myself, so paying someone to strip it, fix the rust, and do a great paint job for $7k seems like a steal.

HGC

I did my own prep and sent the car ready for a covering of high build primer, block sand, paint, clearcoat and buff. That was $1600.
I did the disassembly and reassembly of all the trim. Took a long time and can be tedious.
With metallic you will want to have the valances and fender extensions on the car but separated from the body with spacers or washers. That way you get even paint, and avoid having the paint fill in the joints.

The first pic shows the front fender extension prior to painting. The second pic shows the quarter panel extension after the painting.

HGC

Most new cars are no better than a five or 10 footer from the factory. It's a rare paint job can stand truely close scrutiny.