How much for new paint?

[m3f_KUpolo]

$6-7,000 seems like a grip to get a car re-painted...but if thats getting EVERYTHING re-painted including pulling the engine and whatnot then it seems about right. I have a local body shop that I send friends to who don't want to pay a ton to get stuff on their car painted. My friend got his eclipse re-painted in the gun-metal color, originally red and also had a full body kit installed, dents bondo'd, everything prepped and aligned, and the guy charged him $1,400. There were a few drip marks, but he painted under the hood, door jams, trunk, gas lid, EVERYTHING. The car looked awesome, but the engine bay was still red. The crazy thing is I went to a body shop to see how much it would cost to re-paint the front/rear bumper on my car and I got quoted $1,500-2,000 JUST for the front/rear bumper. I don't know where these body shop guys get the big heads from thinking they can charge that much, but they're used to insurrance companies paying whatever they ask. I could pay $2,000 and get a custom chameleon flame paint job on the front half of my car for $2,000. If I was to pay $6-7,000 for a paint job, it would have to be totally custom or else you could just get a newer bimmer with the color you wanted for the same price.





When it comes to painting you truely get what you pay for. There are cheap paint jobs to be had, but they use low quality paint. I will discolor over a short period of time. I would never trust a $1400 paint job. That's insane.

[m3f_Carlos Tra_9191ebbf2f]

why not just get it painted for free...like i'm going to

[m3f_MPOWR95]

Yeah, I wouldnt have gotten the paint job on my Bimmer....but it did look good for the cost! not many imperfections at all...just a few drips....but still wouldnt trust on MY car!

[m3f_Sirius_880bd69485]

$6-7,000 seems like a grip to get a car re-painted...but if thats getting EVERYTHING re-painted including pulling the engine and whatnot then it seems about right. I have a local body shop that I send friends to who don't want to pay a ton to get stuff on their car painted. My friend got his eclipse re-painted in the gun-metal color, originally red and also had a full body kit installed, dents bondo'd, everything prepped and aligned, and the guy charged him $1,400. There were a few drip marks, but he painted under the hood, door jams, trunk, gas lid, EVERYTHING. The car looked awesome, but the engine bay was still red. The crazy thing is I went to a body shop to see how much it would cost to re-paint the front/rear bumper on my car and I got quoted $1,500-2,000 JUST for the front/rear bumper. I don't know where these body shop guys get the big heads from thinking they can charge that much, but they're used to insurrance companies paying whatever they ask. I could pay $2,000 and get a custom chameleon flame paint job on the front half of my car for $2,000. If I was to pay $6-7,000 for a paint job, it would have to be totally custom or else you could just get a newer bimmer with the color you wanted for the same price.



Heh. We don't get big heads. Thats right on par for your cost of the font end. From the price, thats about normal with all the labour involved. Painting a car is a labor intensive job, and we make sure we get paid for it.

[m3f_99DakarM3_146594ecf1]

Well first you can never duplicate the factory paint. The color is sprayed & the sealer/clear is dipped - but it is not the typical sealer/clear from what I understand. I believe it is almost like a PVC clear coat or something.



Second, 6-7000 seems cheap to re-spray a car properly. Like everyone above has said you get what you pay for. Thats why you see these custom - real custom paint jobs, not the chamelon cheap **** - costing 15 grand or so. Their is an amazing amount of prep work to be done - lots of parts need to come off the car, dents should be repaired correctly - not filled with bondo, really if you wanted to do it like the factory you would have to strip almost everything. To do it right after each paint coat goes on it should be wet sanded to remove any imperfections and then sealed & cleared.



For 1 or 2000 you will get taped off moldings & engine bay where you will notice a distinct tape pulled edge at all the moldings, seals, etc... You'll have bondo on the car and you likely wont be happy with the quality if you are used to seeing factory sprayed cars. Drips, imperfections, and taped edges are easy to spot if you know where to look.

[m3f_Sirius_880bd69485]

We use the same paint system at work BMW uses factory, which I came to find out yesterday.



6-7k is just for outside, try 10-11 for a color change.



The clear is a standard clear, no pvc stuff, its not plastic ya know, if it was, paint wouldn't chip the way it does, and from what I understand, clear is sprayed at the factory, sealer and primer is diped. In fact, the clear has to be sprayed... you can tell this by how BMW shoots the panals... look at the hood for example, only the tops got clear, theres no clearcoat on the underside of the hood, same with the decklid and other various panals. If it was diped, you would have clear all over the place, but you can see on the edges where the clear fades out...



Everyone uses bondo, its just that not everyone uses bondo correctly. Wiping a panal from one end to the other is completely incorrect.

[m3f_Fishey]

I am going to say 6-7k

[m3f_99DakarM3_146594ecf1]

Sirius - I guess I was somewhat mis-informed on the pvc stuff. I didn't think it was literally a pvc layer - just pvc based or something, thanks for clearing that up. Bondo is ok if done correctly like you say, but for a few thousand you can guarantee it isn't going to be used correctly.

[m3f_Sirius_880bd69485]

Sirius - I guess I was somewhat mis-informed on the pvc stuff. I didn't think it was literally a pvc layer - just pvc based or something, thanks for clearing that up. Bondo is ok if done correctly like you say, but for a few thousand you can guarantee it isn't going to be used correctly.



Well. This is what happens at our shop (basic overview).



1) Person walks in, says they want an all over.

2) We inform them roughly how much its going to cost for just the basic paint work.

3) If by then they haven't run out of the shop yet, we'll write them an estimate on the car of what needs to be done. We'll point out any damage and ask if they want us to repair it. (We'll paint right over a dent if they request it). This includes repairing rock chips up front also.

4) If they agree.. we set date and they bring it in. Expect us to have the car for about three-four weeks for this process.

5) Any dents we need to repair are pulled out with copper rods first, then the metal is smoothed and then bondo is used, only enough to smooth it out. 1/4 in of bond = bad.

6) Cars painted, put back together, cleaned and returned to the customer.



Now, I prob just skiped a bunch of stuff, but I didn't feel like writing a book on it :P (prob too late)

[m3f_sk13]

So I have a couple very small chips on the front bumper (more like specks) and a really small one on the front of the hood from normal wear (little rocks from the highway). whats the best choice for getting rid of those? Is there something they can do to just touch it up without repainting the entire front or making the dents more noticable (Ive seen people put touchup paint on scratches and it doesnt look good). I want to make these little specks dissapear and then i will put on a clear bra, which shoulda been done in the first place.

[m3f_Carlos Tra_9191ebbf2f]

We use the same paint system at work BMW uses factory, which I came to find out yesterday.



sirius, what brand paint does your shop use..I heard BMW uses "Sikkens"...?

[m3f_Carlos Tra_9191ebbf2f]

I messed up. How do ya put someones quote(appering in light blue box)??

[m3f_Carlos Tra_9191ebbf2f]

sirius- what do you personally do at your shop?painter,prep,body,detail...?

[m3f_astan100_7ef66fbe89]

I messed up. How do ya put someones quote(appering in light blue box)??



Click the little reply button in the bottom right of the text box that you want to reply to.

[m3f_Sirius_880bd69485]

sirius- what do you personally do at your shop?painter,prep,body,detail...?



Customer relations, computer stuff, minor paint work, write up estimates, mount tires, do minor mechanical work, diagnose electrical systems on the DIS machine, detail cars, run errands, so on; so forth.



All around dude if you like.