Getting back in the game. Have car I would like to have painted before next season. What is the going rate for a good paint job. No rust camaro.

Every car is rust free LOL.. Seriously you need to ask yourself what you are willing to pay... 8-10k for a good paint job with good materials. And even higher for show quality jobs.. And that is 1 color. Can you find someone to paint it for cheaper probably ,but you get what you pay for with paint. Most have no idea how expensive paint supplies are.. Good quality paint and clear are pricey..

I have $13k in mine. And $3k+ of that was materials. And it's one color: Black. I know the car was rust free because I replaced every body panel myself. And I don't feel that I was overcharged.

Wraps are much cheaper and could be changed a few times to have a different look over the years for the price of paint.

It depends who does it. A friend who got laid off from the local Buick dealership after 20 years did this one for materials and a tip at the end. You just gotta look around for being in the right place at the right time, be patient. This is a 10k plus job with top shelf materials. This guy wanted to paint this car for his resume. He has more cars to paint than hours in the day because of it just from posting his work on his FB, he's turning down work.

Old adage. Quality ain't cheap and cheap ain't quality.

Guess I am old. I remeber when we got funny car painted for 2500 bucks. Not sure how many coclors in it. Pic is avatar. Well was 25 years ago. Damn I am getting old when did this crap happen.LOL

Even cheap street junk paint job is high now. Wrap it is.

10K is starting point for middle of the road materials and moderate quality. If you want best of the best all around 20K is what you should expect.

If its a racecar, wrap it, or rattle can it. Way cheaper and you don't have to worry about washing and waxing it all the time, plus the chips and rock pecks don't matter either.

FYI i just finished painting my own dragster, i stripped it to the aluminum, epoxy sealer, then painted with Limco Supreme (BASF shop line) single stage black with a flattener. Sandpaper, paint cups, sticks, strainers, etc. etc. etc. was 1200 bucks. High end paint would have been somewhere around 1800 to 2000 for the same package. This is the third all over dragster i do in the past 10 years, and the 5th all over paint job i do in the same time frame. The last one was my 72 nova i had roughly 2500 tied up in primer, bondo, paint, sand paper, etc. etc. etc. That doesn't even include all the mess and extra lights and visqueen and trips to home depot to get my shop ready to paint in.

Mike Rietow PS the red nova above is badazzz..... Your painter buddy is a good painter!

If that job was all over body work AND paint i wouldn't touch it for less than 15K and if i had to take it apart and put it back together to jam it in, likely closer to 20K

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:
Wraps are much cheaper and could be changed a few times to have a different look over the years for the price of paint.

Wraps are not even in the same Galaxy as good paint. Wraps are not cheap either 4k and up depending on designs and colors..

quote:

Originally posted by Triple Nickel:
Mike Rietow PS the red nova above is badazzz..... Your painter buddy is a good painter!

If that job was all over body work AND paint i wouldn't touch it for less than 15K and if i had to take it apart and put it back together to jam it in, likely closer to 20K

Yeah, this dude still lights up when anyone starts talking about painting muscle cars. Muscle cars and 60's Corvettes. Talented for sure. Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by RacerVX54:

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:
Wraps are much cheaper and could be changed a few times to have a different look over the years for the price of paint.

Wraps are not even in the same Galaxy as good paint. Wraps are not cheap either 4k and up depending on designs and colors..

Never said they were. But I can sorta do math and 4k is cheaper than 10k. I will say they are probably cheaper in the middle of the country than back east.

I got froggy and tried painting my car myself. Luckily I had some pro help for coaching but he wouldn't do it only give me advice. It was a huge undertaking for a first timer. Much respect for the dudes that do it everyday. car turned out good for a first timer painting in his garage. The line look like they don't line up but they do its just the camera angle. I spent countless hours and about 3K on materials. I used middle of the line DuPont paint and some higher end Hot Hues paint. have violet pearl in the clear. anywho this is a project I wont do again, wrap it or pay someone to do it s my experience.

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/...815955/enhance[/url]

I'll never forget the day back in about 1981 when i had a 67 Camaro.Strictly drag car. Had a complete to the metal job done. Back then i spent 3 grand for emerald black. You would swear it was made of black glass. I pulled the car out of the garage to load onto the trailer. I swear he had it 2 months. Here it is in the driveway, Kids 2 doors down, throwing the league ball/pitcher catcher deal. Right into the right door. I about cried.

quote:

Originally posted by Triple Nickel:
10K is starting point for middle of the road materials and moderate quality. If you want best of the best all around 20K is what you should expect.

If its a racecar, wrap it, or rattle can it. Way cheaper and you don't have to worry about washing and waxing it all the time, plus the chips and rock pecks don't matter either.

FYI i just finished painting my own dragster, i stripped it to the aluminum, epoxy sealer, then painted with Limco Supreme (BASF shop line) single stage black with a flattener. Sandpaper, paint cups, sticks, strainers, etc. etc. etc. was 1200 bucks. High end paint would have been somewhere around 1800 to 2000 for the same package. This is the third all over dragster i do in the past 10 years, and the 5th all over paint job i do in the same time frame. The last one was my 72 nova i had roughly 2500 tied up in primer, bondo, paint, sand paper, etc. etc. etc. That doesn't even include all the mess and extra lights and visqueen and trips to home depot to get my shop ready to paint in.

One piece body plus the nose?. Mine is a panel car.Did it in single stage white and 2 coats of clear.Mine both inside and outside were painted when i got the rack. PITA.

Guys next door were only charged 1600 for this wrap. He even came to the shop to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Nx2wpQeu8

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:

quote:

Originally posted by RacerVX54:

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:
Wraps are much cheaper and could be changed a few times to have a different look over the years for the price of paint.

Wraps are not even in the same Galaxy as good paint. Wraps are not cheap either 4k and up depending on designs and colors..

Never said they were. But I can sorta do math and 4k is cheaper than 10k. I will say they are probably cheaper in the middle of the country than back east.

That 1 color Wraps can get up to 7=8k easy and higher.

Mike Rietow, Your car looks excellent. You tell your friend to keep up what he is doing and forget dealership.

I do wraps and paint. Honestly I’m only decent at best, at both. I’m in the Midwest. I’m semi retired, no overhead, and really don’t do what I do for the $. Don’t get me wrong, if I cannot make a buck I’m not gonna do anything. I’m not gonna be rushed and am picky concerning what jobs I take. You would not believe how many individuals crap their pants when I ask for $2500 labor to do a color change wrap I’m talking inside doors, bumpers off, all fenders loosened, badges, door handles, etc. Extremely labor intensive. I laugh uncontrollably when I hear, “ I could get my car painted for that much money “ That paint on the Camaro looks mighty fine to me!

quote:

Originally posted by SLICKSTER:
Mike Rietow, Your car looks excellent. You tell your friend to keep up what he is doing and forget dealership.

Nick's been bang'n em out. I agree, too talented for dealership work anyway. Thanks Man

TD 3550,

I ended up buying PPS cups and tops, which only come in a box of 50 or 100 can't remember which, epoxy by the quart is way more pricey than epoxy by the gallon and i use the stuff on other things (painted a few rims recently including this car), 2 boxes of 80 grit, 2 boxes of 180, and 1 box of 320, 1 gallon of thinner, 1 gallon of reducer, 2 gallons of paint stripper, a few rolls of masking tape to tape up the shop doors and walls, scuff pads, tac rags, 6 quarts of paint, 2 quarts of flattener, some icing to fix the nose, 1 quart of fiberglass and hardner, some 1.5 oz mat, etc. etc. etc.. I'm sure i'm leaving some things out.... but this is what you gotta buy when you are doing this at home and actually know what you need ahead of time. If you were doing this every day you could over buy on 1 job then use materials for 3 cars, but you dont' get that luxury when you are doing 1 car every 2 years or so.

I ended up with a 2 extra quarts of paint and 2 quarts of epoxy sealer. I guess if you weren't scared to run out of materials or had a magic formula for an exact calculation of how much material you were going to use, you could reduce the materials bill by 25% or more, but for me, the absolute worst case scenario during a home paint job is running out of materials in the middle of a paint job on a Saturday night. I'll spend the additional 25% on materials as insurance.

My car is a panel car, never painted a 1 piece body but would assume materials would be less. Mine was inside and out stripped, epoxy, then single stage black, 1 full coverage coat of epoxy, then 1 touch up coat of epoxy, then 2 full wet coats of paint inside and out.

OH and PS, this was single stage black. Essentially I'm spraying color and clear all in one shot. All said and done i used right at 1 gallon of paint, but mixed up that's about 1.5 gallons total sprayable material because i used roughly 1 quart of flattener, and it mixes at 4:1:1 basically. We are close on total material use, i may be a little heavier, but i did put 2 coats inside and that really wasn't necessary just couldn't do it without overspray getting all over the inside as this was where i started my painting in the booth. Sprayed insides first so as to not get overspray on outer surfaces. I could have pinched back some on the inside i guess.