Since my motor will be out this winter I'm considering having body work done. Car was a daily driver for 11 years and still has all original exterior. The paint is cracked everywhere, but the body is in very good shape. Car has never been hit. There is a small line of rust on the inside of each door at the very bottom on the seam. The muscle car restoration place I went to said it's a solid car, but because of the poor paint and light rust on the doors, the car should be stripped. It won't be a body off job, they would just pull the doors, fenders, hood, etc and take everything down to bare metal. I realize it will be thousands and thousands of dollars, but what's a ballpark figure I can expect? This involves me dropping the car off as is and picking it up next spring/summer. Thanks.
Ballpark cost to strip and paint?
- Thread starter MNwe4
- Start date
chopped39
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2004
Is this a t-top car? If so pull all the weather strips and glass to make sure there is no rust issues there. I would pull all the glass anyway. Have the car soda or media blasted saves alot of time and labor. If the car needs no body work you are probably looking around 6k. Any major body work and price can go over 10k real quick. Ive seen 3k paint jobs but how long it lasts is the answer. good luck
No, not a t-top car. Yes, all the trim and glass will come off. However, none of it will be done by me. The car will be dropped off in complete, original condition as it is now, minus engine and trans. The shop owner told me jobs like this are around 15k. That's a boat load of money, hence the reason I'm asking for others opinions and experiences.
- Joined
- May 27, 2010
15K is an average ballpark for a good restoration paint job. Expensive yes. Take a look at all the things this guy has to do. Remove all the trim and interior and glass. Probably chem strip it down to bare metal. Etching primer, then like 2 coats of primer and sanding. Paint which is expensive in itself, the thing you will be paying for is the clear coat getting blocked down about 3 times so it has a mirror finish on it. putting it all back together. Now if you deliver the car stripped down a bit with the interior pulled that will save some coin but you can shop around there are alot of hungry younger body and paint guys out there who are hungry for work and are motivated enough to do it for less money. So you could still find a very nice job for 5-6K out there with all that work done.
How I Did it for cheaper.
I am currently doing this on my 84 T-Type. Got original quotes all in the area between 7500 and 10k. I dismantled the whole car myself. Stripped the whole car. Wow that was a a real pain. Many coats of paint to sand off and strip. I ordered all new seals, fasteners, fillers, trim, emblems, grill, new front header, winndow clips and coutless other things. Pretty much if i took it off and it didn;t look new or I couldn't clean up to look new i replaced it. I did minor body work myself and did lots of reading on painting cars. I also spoke with and learned a lot from local body shops. I oredered the priimer and primed it myself with about 3 coats. board sanded and put another coat of primer on and sanded again. Once everything was primed im guessing i had about 150 - 200 hours in it so far and about 3,000 in parts and materials. Then i had to make a decision. All this work and risk screwing up the final paint and all for nothing or do i contact someone to spray the final for me. My body guy gave me a quote of 1,100 to smooth out ann rough body work i did, base coat and clear coat it, then wet sand and buff. I reassemble the car and he wet sands and buffs it after i get it back together. So in total i will have probably about 4500 in the full exterior restoration. A lil less that the quotes. Worth the pain and headache of saving that amount of money? Maybe. I learned a lot and when it is all done I know that everything was done the way i wanted it done and i can take pride in knowing i did most of the work. Its a nice project to do SOME yourself and save lil money. Keyword, SOME. I would def. recommend taking the car apaprt and and seeing if they will knock off some of the bill for you disassembling and reassembling. I am very pleased with how it is turning out and hopefully it will be all done by the end of the month. By the way this was a two year project for me. Partly b/c i got tight on money for about a year and half in the middle. I'm Starting a new thread with some pics of the progress so far.
I am currently doing this on my 84 T-Type. Got original quotes all in the area between 7500 and 10k. I dismantled the whole car myself. Stripped the whole car. Wow that was a a real pain. Many coats of paint to sand off and strip. I ordered all new seals, fasteners, fillers, trim, emblems, grill, new front header, winndow clips and coutless other things. Pretty much if i took it off and it didn;t look new or I couldn't clean up to look new i replaced it. I did minor body work myself and did lots of reading on painting cars. I also spoke with and learned a lot from local body shops. I oredered the priimer and primed it myself with about 3 coats. board sanded and put another coat of primer on and sanded again. Once everything was primed im guessing i had about 150 - 200 hours in it so far and about 3,000 in parts and materials. Then i had to make a decision. All this work and risk screwing up the final paint and all for nothing or do i contact someone to spray the final for me. My body guy gave me a quote of 1,100 to smooth out ann rough body work i did, base coat and clear coat it, then wet sand and buff. I reassemble the car and he wet sands and buffs it after i get it back together. So in total i will have probably about 4500 in the full exterior restoration. A lil less that the quotes. Worth the pain and headache of saving that amount of money? Maybe. I learned a lot and when it is all done I know that everything was done the way i wanted it done and i can take pride in knowing i did most of the work. Its a nice project to do SOME yourself and save lil money. Keyword, SOME. I would def. recommend taking the car apaprt and and seeing if they will knock off some of the bill for you disassembling and reassembling. I am very pleased with how it is turning out and hopefully it will be all done by the end of the month. By the way this was a two year project for me. Partly b/c i got tight on money for about a year and half in the middle. I'm Starting a new thread with some pics of the progress so far.
turbo39151
anycoloraslongasitsblack
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2002
Speaking from experience... Take the time to try and pull some of the stuff yourself... If you do, you will save money and maybe learn something in the process.
Additionally, whenever I mention full paint to body shops they all cringe because it is very time consuming and a royal PITA to remove all the trim and weather strip, and everything else. The last TR I delivered to a body shop was stripped bare of trim with all the extra parts to be painted in the trunk. The body shop was thrilled! All they had to do was to strip the paint (which I could have done- but don't have the facilities for) and shoot. This was a totally rust free car and had never had any issues so there was nothing left to do but paint.
If you drop the car off as it sits and want a "nice" job, expect to pay alot of money ($7-10k is probably a good place to start) and expect for it to take a while... My last one took 6 months, delivered as mentioned above--- Looks like glass...
I have another car on a rotisserie right now.. That one was delivered with the front clip off, doors off, entire interior (dash and all wiring pulled)--- It will be a complete frame off. According to the resto shop I have already saved thousands (with an "s") by doing all of the disassembly...
Best of luck to you
Additionally, whenever I mention full paint to body shops they all cringe because it is very time consuming and a royal PITA to remove all the trim and weather strip, and everything else. The last TR I delivered to a body shop was stripped bare of trim with all the extra parts to be painted in the trunk. The body shop was thrilled! All they had to do was to strip the paint (which I could have done- but don't have the facilities for) and shoot. This was a totally rust free car and had never had any issues so there was nothing left to do but paint.
If you drop the car off as it sits and want a "nice" job, expect to pay alot of money ($7-10k is probably a good place to start) and expect for it to take a while... My last one took 6 months, delivered as mentioned above--- Looks like glass...
I have another car on a rotisserie right now.. That one was delivered with the front clip off, doors off, entire interior (dash and all wiring pulled)--- It will be a complete frame off. According to the resto shop I have already saved thousands (with an "s") by doing all of the disassembly...
Best of luck to you
Thanks for the info guys. Good advice. I'll have to consider pulling some of the stuff myself in addition to having another chat with the shop owner and visiting a few more shops. For the quality this place turns out I don't think 15k is outrageous, but it's getting a little expensive for my taste. Going to a frame shop today to see if they can tell me why my body is shifted noticably toward the drivers side. I replaced body bushings last year and tried to shove the body over, but no luck at all. Couldn't get it to budge. Maybe I should tackle the engine, body alignment, and just have the engine bay painted while the motor is out.
I had my t-top done this year.
I removed pretty much everything, trim, interior, all weather strip, bumpers, opera windows, fillers header panel, grill, bezels, etc
My guy did a strip and paint, a nice job on a set of rear danko fillers formed into one piece and painted some of the trim for 6K.
I spent another $1500 on all new weather strip, misc gaskets, new headliner, visors, air dams, front and rear fillers, door sweeps, handles etc.
Just got it all back together recently and it looks great.
I removed pretty much everything, trim, interior, all weather strip, bumpers, opera windows, fillers header panel, grill, bezels, etc
My guy did a strip and paint, a nice job on a set of rear danko fillers formed into one piece and painted some of the trim for 6K.
I spent another $1500 on all new weather strip, misc gaskets, new headliner, visors, air dams, front and rear fillers, door sweeps, handles etc.
Just got it all back together recently and it looks great.
allblackcars
War Eagle
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2009
I didnt expect to pay anything over 2k but I discovered that i was living in the 70's.....:redface:
When i got several estimates done it was in the area of 10k....Here is how mine turned out and it was
taken down to the metal even though I didnt post all prep pictures.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/show-car-restoration-body-repair/351112-new-paint-job.html
When i got several estimates done it was in the area of 10k....Here is how mine turned out and it was
taken down to the metal even though I didnt post all prep pictures.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/show-car-restoration-body-repair/351112-new-paint-job.html
The best thing to do is to do as much as you can yourself quarter windows take all the moldings off take your interior out the lights as much as you can also Bare metal is the way to go you'll find things hidden that will save you a buttload of money on the future or having do dish out for another paint job if your paint starts bubbling from prev bad bodywork...also get good paint my paint has lifetime warranty from HOK! yea lifetime warranty expensive!! but i paid for quality do not get a single stage on your car!!!!!!!!! my car took 3-4 months of hard work and countless hours of me helping out and bothering.. any rust can be taken care of with a good welder/body man..i promise once your done u wont look back great feeling of accomplishment and also YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE expect to dish out 8-12k it sounds like alot but you can easily point out a 2500 paint job next to a bare metal resto
chopped39
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2004
What he said is what to look for. A warranty. Any good body shop will give lifetime on paint. I have seen cars painted for $2-$3000 and in a year the paint is falling of car. Anyone giving a warranty is going to prep the car right. My good friend told me $6,000 and that is with the $5,000 he owes me These guys do crash cars but they do a lot of restos and Show cars. I took the car apart and they are putting it back together. The shop Custom Auto 630-543-2200 410 vista Addison il 60101
These guys do crash cars but they do a lot of restos and Show cars. I took the car apart and they are putting it back together. The shop Custom Auto 630-543-2200 410 vista Addison il 60101Ship it to me without the motor and i will do all for $6500.00 http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/sh...dy-repair/358006-wayne-bender-experience.html
GetOwnedVette
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2006
If someone told me 15k to paint my car Id tell them to go Fvck themselves. Love my Buick but this isnt a Ferrari Enzo..lol .....If you have hookups 3k...no hookups as stated above a good paintjob is going to be 5-6 grand.
Don't get me wrong, I was shocked by the price. However, based on what I saw at the shop and other cars of theirs that I've seen they are definitely a top end place. This price was basically for a full restoration without taking the body off of the frame and minus the interior. Bumpers, fenders, hood, trunk, doors, and glass would all be pulled. I'll own this car for the rest of my life so I'm looking to have it done right the first time. 15k plus parts is more than I can afford though.
chitownz87gn
Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2012
I'ts been about 7 years since I've worked at a body shop but the prices you guys are throwing around are outrageous! I could do a total strip down for 3k if I had the time!
ad up materials ppg base coat clear coat 1000$ primer filler abrasives tape paper solvents compounds pads etc another 1000 to 1500 so u would work for 500 dollars not included electricity water u use stuff adds up quick
