Took my 2000 XKR convertible to a supposedly "quality" paint shop for a quote to get a full-body repaint. They quoted me $11,600....
Sounds a little excessive, does this sound normal? There is no body work required other than a few minor door dings.
I get the feeling they over priced it because the really don't want the job. I'm about ready to do the job myself.

 

That's not bad if they do two part urethane base and clear coat and then cut and buff to eliminate orange peel and other minor blemishes.

 

I'll let you know as I will be getting a few quotes over the next few days

 

Research all of the paint shops in your area that have been doing business for 20 years or more and then go get quotes from at least three or four of the top-rated ones. You will then have a much better perspective. Be sure to ask to see examples of their work. The best ones have massive portfolios that they will be willing to share with you....

 

A little perspective....the left rear fender of my 98 XK8 Coupe was keyed in a parking lot. The scratch was to the primer and about 8 inches long.. Cost $1200. (that's the accepted Insurance Co. quote.)

 

WOW!!!! The paint job is going to worth more than the car.

I retired too soon.

 

That's the whole problem with older cars, Quality, empathize QUALITY, paint jobs cost a fortune, usually much more than our older cars are worth. There are plenty of shops that will charge you the price of a quality job but still won't do a satisfactory quality job. As Jon said above, do plenty of research. I had my rough '70 Mustang coupe painted for 750 bucks at a production paint shop about five years ago. It was a cheap color change job, skipping door jambs , trunk and hood surrounds. No additional bodywork was included. I had done some of my own. Was it a job to be proud of? No. Did it look better than what I started with? Yes it did. I knew what I was getting for my money. I'd seen cars leaving their shop that were much better finished but prices were nudging the five thousand dollar level. These usually included some body repair. I've never going to spend a lot of money on painting any my old cars. I spoke to the owner of a body shop that specializes in repainting classic Corvettes and he told me that the price averaged 10,000 bucks. This was almost ten years ago.

I'm not suggesting that you cheap out with your car. Good luck in finding a shop that can do a satisfactory job for the best price. Here's a pic of that Mustang.

 

That quote is very high. I hope your not taking it to a Jaguar dealership. They farm the job off to some little guy in the back streets. Pay him a few hundred charge you thousands.

Take a look around Id bet you get it done for a third of that price at the most.

 

I would say that $11K should get you a show quality job. Assuming no dent repairs or other body work a GOOD paint job around here will run you $5-$6K at an independent shop. Insurance quotes are often TWICE what the job is really worth.

 

I've restored several classic cars and yes, I can see $12,000 for "done right" at a very reputable shop. They have to nearly dismantle the whole body of the car if they are going to avoid having masking lines around all the trim and not let the paint "bridge" over adjacent panels to crack later, etc. That's at least a week's worth of work to take it apart and put it back together again without scratching anything. I always do the R & R myself to save the money and then trailer the bare car body to the shop. I recently had a Corvette done that I took them just the body mounted on a special dolly with all the fiberglass repairs already done. All they had to do was spray it for $8,000. It would have been about $13,000 - $15,000 if I'd driven it in there and handed them the keys.

Now in the past, I've gotten some really good paint jobs for much cheaper. I even once back in the late 80s had a guy paint a Mustang for me in his home garage that turned out spectacular. The guy worked at a Chevrolet dealer body shop by day and did classic cars for people at home evenings and weekends. I found another guy like that some years later, saw several examples of his work at our local car show and arranged him to paint a car for me in his home shop. It turned out awful, made him do it over again with not much improvement and wound up having to pay somebody else to do it over a third time. He was retired and I think losing his eyesight. So while it worked once, it was a bust the second time so I probably won't ever take that kind of chance again. When the commercial shops are so expensive its tempting to try to find those "deals" but stick with a professional shop in an industrial building with a sign over the door, rent to pay and a reputation to maintain.

But I also learned the hard way that its the guy in the paint booth and not the manager or owner or anyone else in the shop that the reputation is built on. Besides just the pure skill which takes years to develop, the painter may not do everything but he makes the call if the car is ready to be painted or otherwise will send it back out for more prep work if he's not happy. I once had a car painted based on a friend's reference as his 65 GTO looked fantastic and another friends 76 Trans Am also turned out great. Mine was a disaster. Turns out the guy who'd painted the other two cars left for greener pastures the week before they did mine and the new guy wasn't any good. From then on, I made sure when I asked for references, I asked "who" and not "what shop" and then I went in and met the painter in person and talked about what car's of his that I'd seen so that he'd know what level of quality I was expecting.

Currently, its summer car show season. Probably tomorrow, depending on the weather, there's a car show somewhere around Columbus. Go browse around and when you see a car that you like the paint, ask the owner who painted it and if they don't mind telling, how much. About a third of classic cars you'll find the owner did the restoration himself in his garage at home, a third bought it already done and the last third will be able to give you a reference. If you are like me, you will find that you have expensive tastes. Don't be shocked if some show cars were painted at upwards of $20,000. But I did once run across a guy who was young, just recently opened his own shop and was doing concours quality work for half the usual price. Unfortunately now twenty years later, he charges like the big dogs and has a year long waiting list but I got three done on the cheap before he made it into the big leagues. You may get lucky that way too if you ask around.

 

I agree with all the above. For that sort of money Id expect a complete strip down of the car. Inside and out. Not just a mask over. The sort where you could change the colour, or color if your American, so by the time they had finished there would be no sight of the previous colour/color. A very high quality job indeed.

Only guys who are experienced in this type of work will know the true cost and quality of work etc.

This is my car with just an overall paint job in progress. It cost less than $620 your money. As you can see though it was a mask up job rather than remove everything. As I said though this was just at the masking up and prep stage.



This is the quality of the finish.



I am very lucky, and I know it, that the guy who owns the place I have known for years. Always taken my cars to him. More of a friend than a business deal these days. Unsurprisingly he is a very busy chap and you have to book him months in advance. Aston Martin, Rolls Royce to new Camper vans are done by him sent to him by the dealerships.

 

Just like everything, 'You get what you pay for'. Are you doing a color change, getting a couple of clear coats only, or the 'Full Monte". Like someone said, get at least 3 estimates and examples of their work. Then you will have something to work from, and an idea as to how much you need to spend.

 

Here is a car I painted three years ago. It was necessary to do this outdoors, so I used acrylic lacquer/ clear coat. We disassembled and sand blasted everything and the whole project was almost three months. It would have been a lot easier with a shop and paint booth, but the car was almost perfect.

 

That is beautiful. Doing it outside, how did you avoid getting it covered in kudzu??

 

I agree with RJ, a great paint job can be done at home, outside, picking the right days to paint.
Have a look at my album of the Roadster, done in 2005 with base coat clear coat and lots of metallic in the paint. With out the metallic a good HF gun will do the job as the sanding and buffing will get the final mirror shine.
Like RJ, piece by piece and some type of cover over top, small tent. You must wear a mask, this new paint is dangerous.
Not everyone has the time or room, but what satisfaction on the completed job.
On the XK8 convertible, lots of places to break the job of the day a big tent would allow for the whole thing. Don't even think you are not going to get dust and bugs in the paint, but the base coat can be sanded out before the clear and shoot that are again. The clear will look great at first then a couple of days later all the dust will show up, but now is were the money maker comes in.
Sanding the clear down in 5 or 6 stages of finer wet and dry sandpaper, up to 3000 grit. Now the new buffing compounds and buffing sponges are so much better than the big buffers as without them the old ones took some learning to not burn the paint off the edges.
So now you know how to do it, just still going to cost you $2000 in paint and equipment. LOL

 

My friend also invested over $1000 in a compressor and sand blasting gear so he was at $3000 with free labor. Paint isn't cheap.

 

a friend had his XK8 Coupe keyed all over while parked for dinner a few months ago. a regular insurance policy not collectible or specialty paid just over $8000.00 for a complete repaint including the bumper covers for color matching with all R&I's of bumpers, trim, handles, glass moldings, etc. performed by a high quality collision repair shop known for its refinishing work. the insurance quote included complete preparation, blocking, primer sanding, sealing and paint in original color along with final blocking and polishing. these are New York City numbers reflecting the higher costs of doing business here for which insurance companies adjust their compensation rates. the car looks amazing. the job took 3 weeks.

 

Never known any show quality paint jobs to be done "outdoors" but it is entirely possible for a novice to do a show quality job at home. When I ask around at car shows, I find probably 20 to 30% did it themselves at home, but generally in a garage. However, also asking them how long it took and how many "do-overs" they did in the process I've heard some very eye-opening stories. When a DIY job looks great at the show, its because the owner was willing to put in the time to get it just that perfect.

 

Phil, don't remember bragging about how easy it was. I said it could be done as you confirmed by others at car shows. Do over because you sanded through a thin area on a crease, big run that you didn't see until you hit it with 800 grit. All part of the DIY experience. If you are not prepared to learn and have some fun with it, or in a big hurry, you need to just pay the guy and get on with it.

 

In a former life I had to do/supervise paint works on large scale civil infrastructure.... painting ain’t rocket science but there’s definitely science involved.

You’ll need time, patience, the right equipment plus sheer luck. Spray in one even direction (of the car) especially for metallic paint.

You must enclose the car.... just do it. Plus make sure there’s no dust anywhere during the job as any slight breeze will put it into wet paint.... including breeze from you moving about. Wear overalls and a hat. Hair stuck in paint is a nightmare to fix.

Big tip on home DIY - once sanded down, prefably to SA2.5, use paint solvent to clean the substrate, then when dry immediately prime it. Don’t wait. That’s why it’s better to work panel by panel. Don’t over do each paint spray. Less is more and make sure you don’t overdo 100micron per coat. If it looks thin, be patient, and wait. Then put a second coat. Thick paint suffers from thermal differentials through the thickness, so it’ll crack and peel... this may take years in sunshine but thick paint always peels from the substrate.

For the PU lacquer finish, make sure the substrate is really clean, and you are not disturbed by a opening door... breezes kill a “popping” even thickness clear coat.

If if you have access to ionic charging, make sure you disconnect the car battery first before charging the body and spray gun.