New Paint Job - How Much? What about adding more clearcoat paint?

[Thejoyofdriving]

New Paint Job - How Much?

What about adding more clearcoat paint to the existing paint?



Does any one know about how much it costs to get a new HIGH QUALITY paint job in red, no fancy candys or pearls.

[Mike Pennington]

Re: Question about repainting

Depends on many factors..

1) How much body work ?
2) How much color sanding / polishing you wish ?
3) Are you changing color ?
4) If so, are you doing jambs etc...
5) Quality / brand of paint being used ?

You can spend 5K - 15K (Maybe more) very easily !!

Mike

[saleem]

Re: Question about repainting

Depends on many factors..

1) How much body work ?
2) How much color sanding / polishing you wish ?
3) Are you changing color ?
4) If so, are you doing jambs etc...
5) Quality / brand of paint being used ?

You can spend 5K - 15K (Maybe more) very easily !!

Mike

what about the $289 ambassador special at double a (HONK HONK) m-c-o

lol just kidding

[Thejoyofdriving]

Re: Question about repainting

Ya, im changing color from silver. I just want a show car red finish, with lots of clear coat and high shine, gloss, reflection. I just want to know a price range. Thanks.

[soonercivic]

Re: Question about repainting

Door jambs, engine bay, and trunk add alot to the cost and are probably important if your changing the color. I have been quoted as much as 9k for a color change paint job without the engine bay.

[Thejoyofdriving]

Re: Question about repainting

9K, wow.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Question about repainting

9K, wow.

Changing colors is much more expensive than just repainting a vehicle the same color as what's on it now. If you're keeping the same color and the body work is very straight, you can sometimes get away with just removing the easily pulled exterior trim, masking a few other things, sanding the panels down and shooting new paint. This is not usually optimum though if you're going for a true show car finish.

But you want to change colors. That means at the very least pulling out all the interior trim near the doors so that the door jams can be shot. You also need to pull much of the trunk trim. Then there's the little issue of the engine bay. There's just no way to spray things inside there with the engine in the way. Even a modern car that doesn't have exposed inside fenders will still usually have a visible firewall, at least in places. The best way is to pull the engine.

But even if you try to pull just some of the trim pieces out of the way, masking the balance can be very difficult, and you really don't want to get overspray on the interior fabric, plastics, etc. As you can well imagine all of this removal of trim, pulling the engine out, gutting the interior, etc takes time and you end up paying full hourly labor rates for the work.

A really good respray of the same color as the car has now can easily run $5000. Changing colors, because of all the extra work can double the price, and the overall quality isn't any better. In fact, there are issues about damaging the fresh paint when putting it all back together again.

Not trying to steer you away from it, just making sure you know what you're getting into. I would recommend you take a day and talk to some local body shops, look at the work they've done on other cars, and get some prices. Estimates are (or darn well ought to be) free, and you'll get an education on painting in the process. Should be a fun day, in any event.

[veedub Mike]

Re: Question about repainting

Just to give you some idea:
A friend of mine wanted to change from silver to black.
But instead of changing the color (cost for this would have been around 8K in USD) he sold his silver car and got himself a black one with pretty beaten up paint. Same model, mileage and year of make but 1000 less than what he got for his silver BMW. And also the door jambs and engine bay were already black. So he paid 5 grand for a perfect respray of the exterior panels and that was it.

[Thejoyofdriving]

Re: Question about repainting

I didnt know it would be running in the high Ks I guess im going to keep my silver, until my next car. BTW how much does it cost to get another few layers of clear coat put on top of my existing original clear coat?

[Mike Pennington]

Re: Question about repainting

This isn't something that is done much either.

You see...paint has a very mechanical bonding action to it, that is why you need to sand....that helps makes the paint stick to the surface below. So if you wanted to just re-clear your car, they would have to sand the entire car...

Well....that gets into do you pull trim, do you mask off trim...all depends on the $$$$ you want to spend

Take that a step further...when they are sanding the clear for adhesion, many times they sand through...this means they have to go back and re-prime that area, and shoot color on it before they clear....More $$$$

The best thing to do is just keep it silver, and keep the clear that is on there, unless you really want to open a can of worms or your checkbook

Mike

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Question about repainting

I didnt know it would be running in the high Ks I guess im going to keep my silver, until my next car. BTW how much does it cost to get another few layers of clear coat put on top of my existing original clear coat?

How can we calm your concerns about having such a limited amount of clear coat? I've seen you bring this up more than once. Honestly, unless you're polishing with a very aggressive polish on a weekly basis, or constantly wet sanding to remove bad defects, you really don't have anything to worry about. Sure, maybe if you have a low quality paint job and the amount of clear was suspect because of that, then maybe you would. But my understanding is that you're driving a fairly new BMW so you really shouldn't be so concerned. Relax, enjoy detailing and driving the car. Your clear coat will be around for a long, long time.

One of my cars has a clear coat paint job that is just crazy soft, my other cars are hard as rocks. I treat them all the same, which is to say I baby them. I'm no more concerned about polishing off all my clear on the "soft" on than I am on the others.

[Thejoyofdriving]

Re: Question about repainting

Ya, you are right, i am concerned about my clear coat. Maybe its just my natural attitude towards every thing, worry worry and worry some more. but any way, i have seen many pics of clear coat failure, and needless to say..not a pretty sight. perhaps my concern is not well placed. i just dont want my finish to get dull or lose its luster because of diminishing clear coat. and i also dont want the next guy that buys the car from me to be polishing and all the sudden..oopps no more clear coat.and doesn't more clear coat = more shine or luster, gloss, whatever you want to call it?

[the other pc]

Re: Question about repainting

... i have seen many pics of clear coat failure, and needless to say..not a pretty sight. ...

You’re sure right about that.

Just keep in mind that those are finishes that have been severely abused and/or neglected. By removing contaminants from your finish with chemical and gently abrasive cleaning products you’re reducing the chances that it will happen to your finish any time soon.

.... i just dont want my finish to get dull or lose its luster because of diminishing clear coat. ... ... doesn't more clear coat = more shine or luster, gloss, whatever you want to call it?

Single stage finishes are shiny without any clear coat at all. Gloss comes from the smoothness of the surface. So whether it’s a clearcoat/basecoat or a single stage coating you get your shininess from cutting out (or better yet, avoiding) any disruptions to the smoothness of the surface (scratches, etching, oxidation, etc).

Yes, it’s possible to compromise the integrity of the finish by grinding away too much of the top surface. It’s a bad idea to make a regular habit of using sandpaper or heavy cutting compounds.

By using good wash and maintenance techniques you’ll avoid instilling defects in the first place. Then it only takes occasional use of very mild products to keep it looking great for a very long time.


PC.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Question about repainting

Ya, you are right, i am concerned about my clear coat. Maybe its just my natural attitude towards every thing, worry worry and worry some more. but any way, i have seen many pics of clear coat failure, and needless to say..not a pretty sight. perhaps my concern is not well placed. i just dont want my finish to get dull or lose its luster because of diminishing clear coat. and i also dont want the next guy that buys the car from me to be polishing and all the sudden..oopps no more clear coat.and doesn't more clear coat = more shine or luster, gloss, whatever you want to call it?

Like Paul mentioned, the clear coat failure pictures you and the rest of us have seen here and elsewhere are due to neglect, not overpolishing. I just don't see you as the type to neglect your paint.

There is a limit to how much gloss you can obtain from any painted surface, but that ultimate shine doesn't come from how much clear is there, but rather how clean (lack of surface contaminants) and flat (lack of swirls, holograms, orange peel, etc) it is. Clean is easy enough to accomplish with a good clay bar treatment. Flat is another matter. A good deal of the reduction in swirls you see is actually a rounding over of the edge of the micro fine scratches. Remember, these are so fine you can't even feel them with a fingernail. They only as visible as they are due to light refraction and reflection off the very sharp edges. That's why as soon as the sun starts to go down, or you park in the shade, you can't even see the swirls any more. It's also why you can effectively fill them in with a little potion your pour out of a bottle, rub on the surface and remove! But in order to obtain the ultimate in gloss, luster, whatever term you prefer, you need to remove the orange peel. The only way to do that is to wet sand, cut and buff. If you're going to do this then a thorough test of the paint thickness is critical when dealing with a factory paint job, or with an aftermarket paint job you would apply more clear than usual. This isn't because more clear equals more gloss, but because you fully plan on sanding a fair amount of it away!

Do a search for wetsanding here at MOL. There is a forum member who's name escapes me now that has a shop specializing in wet sanding factory paint jobs. There's a link to his website around here somewhere.

As for your concern being well placed or not, I think it's more a matter of you still learning and being very young and eager. I think that's great actually, and I like the idea that you're asking questions rather than just jumping in and doing something wrong then coming online and asking how to fix what you just screwed up!!! It's much easier to teach, and to learn, how to avoid a problem than how to fix it.

[SKP428]

Re: New Paint Job - How Much? What about adding more clearcoat paint?

I JUST PAINTED THIS DUMP TRUCK AND THE COST TO PAINT JUST THE CAB WAS AROUND $1500. OO FOR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT ,THAT WAS NOT WITH LABOR . PAINT, CLEAR ,SEALER PAPER AND TAPE .PAINT IS NOT CHEAP ANY MORE.REDS AND
DARKER COLORS ARE MORE DUE TO THEY TOOK THE LEAD OUT OF THE PAINT AND COST MORE TO MAKE THE TINTS FOR THE COLORS.