repaint costs

[lieu910]

My buddy wants to have his GN stripped and repainted. What is a fair price for a show quality paint job?

 

[TampaTurbo]

repaint

I had my G.N. repainted about 4 years ago.Not a total strip, but they did strip all the top surfaces and did some dissasembly. At that time I paid almost $4000. It was a very good job and I have had many compliments from other people who do paint work. Don't go cheap and check on the progress regularly.

 

[Drop Top]

I restore cars for a living. Mostly muscle cars and more Morpars then anything. But it all costs the same. It all depends on how bad the car is to start with. If your stripping the car all the way down to bare metal. Its not cheap. For a job like that I would charge after stripping. A bare minumum of $4000 plus materials. Materials means everthing form sand paper to buffing materials. That would cost anywhere from $800 to $1500. This is all depending on how bad the car is after you uncover the metal. How much previous body work that needs to be redone and how much rust you find.

I generally charge by the hour. Most if not all restoration shops charge this way. If they don't they wont be in bussniss long. I charge $45 per hour. But depending on where your located it could be higher. If the shop charges lower then $35 hr. Be carful of the work they put out. Make shure you check progress regularly so they dont cut corners.

 

[MaxVO2]

**** $5000-$10,000 around here depending upon how much body work needs to be done, and how you bring it to them. Since most places charge by the hour, anything you can do to make their lives easier in terms of removing trim, badges, etc.. will make it cheaper.

Black is the hardest color to do a great job with as it shows every little ripple, etc.. due to poor body work. The biggest factor in cost is prep, the paint itself is relatively cheap. If you have lacquer check on your hood or trunklid as many GN's do, it has to be sanded down to bare metal otherwise the cracking will return. It just adds to the cost.. Wet sanding repeatedly, etc.. just takes time. It's a crazy amount of work.

I laughed when a friend of mine took his moms Cutlass Supreme years ago to Earl Shives to get painted for $129, after he got quoted $2000 from a better place (this was back in the 80's..).. It was like an assembly line, with a bunch of guys just masking the car off with newspaper out in the open, quickie sanding, etc... It looked ok from about 150 feet away after it was done, until you saw that they had painted the badges, the trim, the window mouldings, and there was overspray inside the windows... It almost looked like they had run the car through a car wash that used paint instead of water to clean it..

Billy
Montgomery Village, MD

 

[Red Regal T]

Re: repaint

Originally posted by TampaTurbo
I had my G.N. repainted about 4 years ago.Not a total strip, but they did strip all the top surfaces and did some dissasembly. At that time I paid almost $4000. It was a very good job and I have had many compliments from other people who do paint work. Don't go cheap and check on the progress regularly.

I'm familiar with this particular job, and it's a very nice job. I was happy for him, because he got his money's worth. Be sure you know the reputation of the people you choose to work on your car. Price doesn't guarantee you'll get a good job. Another local guy just bought a T with a very nice, recent, paint job. The cost of the paint job on that car was $6900.

 

[turbo39151]

I just got my 86 GN repainted for $2800.00 Base/Clear w/ PPG. Door jambs and inside hood and trunk. Included all bodywork (not too bad just lots of small dings). It took about 1 month but I removed the all rubber mouldings, wheel well mouldings, headlights and trim, and bumpers. They removed door handles, windows and trim. They did an excellent job. The car was wet sanded and buffed several times. The owner comlained about black cars the whole time but did an awesome job and was actually recommended by fellow TR enthusiasts...

Benny's Auto Body
6215 University Avenue
San Diego, Ca 92115
(619) 582-1446

I don't know that he will want to do other full-paints again, especially black but I told him that I'd recommend him anyway...

Just my two cents..

 

[Brer Rabbit]

lieu where u at?

If ur in the Chicago area u r in luck, my 86 limited was just painted yesterday, and it looks fantastic without even being wet sanded and buffed. The guys did it as a favor so my price was crazy low, but these guys know there gonna be lined up with buicks after people see the job they did on my car.

 

[green95ss]

I paid $9950 total, including a TON of bodywork to get everything straight. The car looks fabulous now--Multiple coats of DuPont black with even more coats of clear on top. That price also included new weatherstripping, quarter glass, power window motors, and power door lock actuators.

I live in Morris County, NJ, which is just about the most expensive place in the world to buy anything. You can pretty much bet that you will not pay more than I did...I had a little help paying for it, though.

Thanks,

Guhan

 

[The_Big_J]

I paid $3400CDN 2 years ago. Body was nice with no rust but when they stripped it the found the passenger door had been dented and filled with bondo. I had them take that out and pound it straight. I'm pretty happy with the job they did - biggest thing I think is go there every day and keep tabs on them. I would just show up and walk into the shop and take pics of the progress. I think this keeps them on thier toes and lets them know you expect quality work.

The only thing I would have done different was to have the quarter glass taken off too. Very hard to notice the 'line' along the weather guard - actually no one has noticed it - but I do and it bugs the crap out of me.

 

[2GNS4ME]

If ur in the Chicago area u r in luck, my 86 limited was just painted yesterday, and it looks fantastic without even being wet sanded and buffed. The guys did it as a favor so my price was crazy low, but these guys know there gonna be lined up with buicks after people see the job they did on my car.

Brer,

Can you send me pics? Im looking to paint my car within a year... did they do the body work as well? How much you think they would charge for a paint job?

Thanks
Joe