I was quoted $1400 to repaint my 1993 convertible factory black with all prep work done by the shop (no rust at all, one tiny dent), good place my friends have used, high quality pros. They were real busy and I did not get a chance to ask these questions below.

Anyone who has had their car painted, please let me know what kind of prices you paid. I am interested in knowing:

- Does $1400 sound ok for factory black, no body work needed, all prep by them?
- How much extra $ (labor and paint cost) it is to change the color to a candy or metallic red-orange, copper or WRX blue, including engine bay, hood, trunk and door frames?
- How much would it save if I stripped off all the trim, interior, etc myself?

All input welcomed, let me know what you paid and what you liked and disliked about your experience.

Funny, after 26 years of playing with cars I never had to / wanted to get one painted out side of insurance claims.

Edited: clarified $1400 includes all prep

I'm getting my vert' painted soon too! $1400 sounds high at first, but thats what you're going to run into for a legitamate paintjob. Mine is going to be about $1000, and thats with a buddy discount.

If no prep work is involved, than $1400 is very high. The fancier paint will cost you for materials and labor as well. The fancier colors are multiple stages, unlike gloss black. So it takes longer to do. As far as stripping peices off, it will save you money, but for the exact amount you'll have to talk to the shop you're taking it to.

Thanks for the comments Krash. For simplicity on the door frames I am tending toward OEM black, not a bad color at all. I just get jealous of bright colors, my last bunch of cars have been very muted. Grey Hyundai DD, Black 'Vert, before that my white s13 hatch, grey Suburban, silver Subaru.

I also have to redo the vert trim all around the top and windows - it's all faded unevenly half black half dull metal. My car spent it's first 13 years outside with I'm guessing no wax ever. Trunk and hood paint was wasted, trim burnt to a crisp, interior warped to hell and back (mostly solved with a black coupe door and hood swap).

How about those vinyl wraps? I saw one and was impressed with the look and feel, but does it last? The price was about $650 for a smaller car.

I paid $1800 to have my vert painted factory super white and have a two tone color match done with my silvia fenders for the gunmetal grey. $1400 doesn't sound bad. So long as they do a good job with prep and wetsand to keep the peel down.

For the trim, I recommend powder coat. I sprayed mine with plasticoat and I haven't been impressed. I'll be redoing mine with powdercoat when I do a full teardown and respray.

blkvrtswp wrote: How about those vinyl wraps? I saw one and was impressed with the look and feel, but does it last? The price was about $650 for a smaller car.

The vinyl wraps do look great, but I don't know anyone that owns a car with it. I've only seen them at shows. My assumption is that they won't hold up that well to daily-driving abuse or weather conditions and will start to peel. I don't know anything for sure though, thats just a guess. I'd rather have real paint any day though.

Hijacker wrote: For the trim, I recommend powder coat. I sprayed mine with plasticoat and I haven't been impressed. I'll be redoing mine with powdercoat when I do a full teardown and respray.

Dude, that is a great idea. I'm definitely going to do this when I take my car in for the paint. I might even get them coated in a dark charcoal metallic (It looks good in my head, but I'll have to mock something up on the car to make sure ).

Hmmm.... These flat paints do not require the multiple coats like a candy or pearl or metallic, right? I saw a <cough> Honda with almost this color. Tempting to try a professionally applied flat color. Maybe not orange but I kind of like it.

Any one have a pic of a flat color 240sx other than black, grey or white? I have to reinstall one of those older Need for Speed PC games and paint a 240SX some flat colors!

That's awfully cheap...a real paint job usually starts at around 4000 and goes up.

Flat paints are a pain in the butt.
You won't be able to polish out scratches.

Razi wrote:Flat paints are a pain in the butt.
You won't be able to polish out scratches.

also you cant use anything other than soap and water to cleam it. if you scratch a door, to repair it the entire door needs to be re-painted. For $1400 all theyre goona do is strip your clear coat off and lightly sand the paint to even it out. Then lay primer/paint on your semi smooth surface and throw that s*** in the oven. if youve got thick bondo anywhere it will most likely crack when the car comes out. MAACO and Earl Scheib make you sign a form saying they are not responsible for that too

Razi wrote:Flat paints are a pain in the butt.
You won't be able to polish out scratches.

This is teh truth.

asoomal wrote:That's awfully cheap...a real paint job usually starts at around 4000 and goes up.

That might be area specific, and for some crazy custom stuff. We bought a totaled 2007 Pacifica and painting it at a professional place with the factory metallic paint was like $2000.

It usually costs them a grand for supplies lol.

The $1400 was for OEM black, including all prep. My vert has ZERO bondo so that would not be a concern. But it sounds like flat is not the way to go because of the maintenance / durability. Thanks for the info!

I spoke to the shop again and he told me 5 quarts OEM black paint is around $400 for my small car, and it's around $1000 labor. For standard HOK Candy, metallic, pearl - paint goes up to ~$650 + other supplies $200, labor DOUBLES, including door frames and trunk frame but not engine bay. So total is $2850.

If I remove all the trim he can knock off $100, but he warned me they can be tricky to remove and easy to bend. I'll probably have them remove it and not reattach so I can powder coat them. Hijacker - thanks for the advice, Krash - I like the charcoal metallic idea, let me know if you photoshop it or anything!

I will probably stick with good 'ole OEM black.

Color swaps are expensive, and unless the whole car is taken down to bare metal, you will see the old color pop up somewhere that was missed, mostly under the hood or door jambs. You're doing the right thing by keeping the stock color.

Don't do the vinyl wrap ! One rock chip, or small tear will allow water to enter underneath, which basically starts the process of the area peeling away.

Sweet I just bought these from a local guy:

OEM JDM rear under pieces


PDM front lip & side skirts


Just put a $350 dent in my paint piggy bank, but I will have it refilled by Spring 2013.

Good deal!

All of that for $350 is one hell of a deal, especially if those are really OEM valences.

Supposedly shipped used from Japan, I will see on Tuesday! Yes, it is a great deal especially with no shipping.

How'd it turn out? That price sounds about right. I like matte all the way.

Legit deal on the skirts, lip and rear valence. I just picked them up. One tiny crack on one rear side piece, but the lip and side skirts are brand new and undamaged.

Schwing!


Now let's see if I can stand waiting until spring for the paint job, or if Mr VISA will be called upon to help out sooner.....

Cant wait to see them on and painted. That is a great deal BTW!

I want to see this too...
Thinking of repainting too...


Also live in NY.

Ok, so the shop wants nothing to do with the body parts. They only do stock insurance work, nothing custom.

I am thinking about doing the paint job myself.

Pros:
> I have time, patience, a nice enclosed carport to use as a booth.
> Black base coat / clear coat is supposed to be very forgiving, as most mistakes can be fixed by sanding and/or buffing. I have a new buffer/polisher.
> My car needs zero bodywork.
> It is a small relatively easy car to paint.

Cons:
> 1st timer, bound to make mistakes.
> I will have to rent or buy a spray gun, compressor and other supplies.

So...... any advice? I am checking with other shops this weekend, but I expect with the body parts it will go over $2000 and that is a tough sell for me right now since the car doesn't really look that bad. (faded parts are FB, RB and trunk). BTW that is a SOHC lip on the front.

The car looks good man! Do you really need to paint the whole thing? You could just paint the bumpers

Also, I don't think black is forgiving, white is though, its hard to see imperfections on white paint. If you do end up painting the car, just make sure you take time and do the prep-work right. Any monkey can spray the car, but the prep work is what really shows. I think you're just going to want to scuff the paint up enough to take the clear coat off and then smooth it all out with some high grit sandpaper.

I'm sure there is someone else on here with more experience that can chime in on exactly what you need to do.

Gah! I have to stop surfing for 240SX parts at lunch or I will be broke(er)!

CF Fender flairs, sold for about $75 more than fiberglass?!??!?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320974173343?ss ... 1438.l2648



Thinking about it......

It wont look good unless you space your wheels out accordingly. But I do like the look

The tires do stick out about 3-5 mm already, and I have some 5mm spacers. I might throw the spacers on for the heck of it to see what it looks like.

If I am going to do it myself, I might as well paint the whole car. The only real good spots are the fenders, quarter panels and hood. Everything else could use fresh paint, mostly due to pinstripes that left ridges in the paint and some deep scratches on the drivers door. Especially the windshield surround.

EDIT: I just found a compressor to borrow, a good contractor one. And from reviews on Harbor Freight of the $35 HVLP Auto paint gun, it should work just fine for my simple task. I think I am going to work up a supplies cost list.

I picked up this coupe trunk with a spoiler I really like. It is low profile & thin, and I like how it complements the rear valence ridge line. Also NY is a real ball buster on third brake lights. It must be "permanent and functional".

Of course, taking the spoiler off the trunk resulted in 3 out of 4 bolts snapped off, and the cover for the LED module also has 3 out of 4 screws stripped.

Has anyone SUCCESSFULLY used a screw extractor? I swear I break them off more times than I get them to work and now I just skip them.

I'm hacking away at the bastard screws this weekend with my Cobalt drill bits & Dremel if necessary.

Never had luck with screw extractors. Usually, I try to get ahold of whatever piece is left sticking out with some small vice grips. You can always try to take a thin drill bit and drill the screws out.

Gratz landing that spoiler though. I think that's the K's aero style if I'm not mistaken. Not a huge fan of it myself, I prefer the look of the factory USDM/standard K's spoiler. But that one will set your vert apart

It is close to the Silvia K's Aero one. But it is curved like the front-ward edge of the trunk and has a lip on the top edge, where the K's one is straight across and perfectly flat and rounded off. Looks like the same LED light too.

I also do not care much for the K's one - too pedestal looking, reminds me of a Pontiac. The one I found is more curved and hugs the trunk lid.

I liked the stock spoiler for years, but with a paint job coming it is time for a change. I looked at dozens of different spoilers and lips, but the lack of 3rd brake light eliminated most of them. The one I got popped up on eBay for $119 shipped the day after Xmas. It was fate.



Thanks to anyone who's car is here in my 'research' photo - I think they all look great.

Post pics of how painting goes, and your impressions on the harborfreight gun.

I'm considering going for a whole harborfreight paint setup, with a compressor (with the expectation that it will not last, being harborfreight), gun, etc, when I get time and money to rip everything off my car. But they have a few auto or "professional" guns, I wasen't sure about which one.

Are you planning on going with black still? I've read, and it makes sense, that of the simple colors, black is one of the hardest and white is about the easiest. I was going to change my red to off-white.

Random question that I've been wondering that you might know, when you're painting I assume it's really important to preserve the sticker on the driver doorjamb? Do you just have to mask around it, or is having a US-legal vin enough to get one re-printed somewhere?

I will be detailing the whole process - I have been pouring over forums on car painting and there is a lot of help and advice out there.

I decided on Indigo Blue urethane basecoat / clearcoat for the color and I'll paint the door jambs but not the engine bay or trunk interior. I plan to mask off the door jamb stickers. I am using a pretty cheap paint brand with good feedback on eBay from thecoatingstore.com - UreKem. Full kit with 1 Gal BC 1 Gal CC and activators is $180, plus 1.5 Qts of primer / sealer for $43. Some surface cleaner for $10 and $25 shipping gives a total of $258.

http://shop.thecoatingstore.com/Indigo- ... BCCKIT.htm



I ordered this gun from Harbor Freight, plus 3 small disposable in line moisture filters and a cleaning kit - total $48 shipped.

It has great reviews and has the right nozzle size for the paint I am spraying. Also has the pressure regulator built in at the gun so adjustment is easy. I found many opinions that this gun is the best bang for the buck by far, and that you have to go over $300 to get anything better that really makes a difference. For DIY use you can't beat it. Currently on sale $20 off!

http://www.harborfreight.com/high-volum ... 66222.html





I have confirmed I have a 2 bay garage all to myself for 3 months starting in June so I can really take my time. I expect around another $75-100 in expenses for plastic, 3M tape, breathing & eye protection, sandpaper and tack rags etc. That brings the total under $400. If I get decent looking results this will be a huge money saver.

Before the paint job I have to replace the top, install hood pins, swap the lip, install valence and side skirts. Spring can't get here soon enough!