Can anyone give me a reasonable estimate of what a decent bodywork/paint should cost me? I'm talking finishing off the bodywork and paint, doorjambs and all. I have all the panels you aren't seeing and will have new A-pillars (or whatever they're officially called..the frame pieces for the windshield) in place. I was given an estimate sign unseen for 5k-7k, then the same after I sent the pics. Seems pretty high. I'm not looking for something top end. This is gonna be a driver, not a major restoration. I don't want waves in the body or flaws, but it doesn't have to be amazing. Anyone got an idea of what kind of price I should be looking at? I have a friend who had similar work done for $3,500. Any opinions?

 

Heres the thing you asked for an opinion so I will share some thoughts... When you want to get a car painted the cost of the paint job is the prep work. It does not take a great deal of special skill to spray the paint, no insults intended to painters. The cost of the paint job is really the prep work you have to do so you don't have waves etc. in the body. So how much is the time to do the job worth is what you have to ask. How many hours and how much time is going to needed to get the paint job you will be satisfied with? Figure your not going to have more than a few hundred dollars in materials to maybe a thousand.. So if I asked you to do what ever a professional does in your line of work, how much should I expect to pay an hour? I figure most people are pretty happy about 100.00 per hour but that's for a pro. Doctors lawyers etc more but the average joe job, plumber painter electrician engine builder etc.. So figure an hour to actually put the paint on the car, how many hours will it take to get ready. Figure its an 8 hour job just to align all the body panels and get them acceptably close not perfect. Then figure the body work, every little dent and ding adds about an hour. Then you have to sand the whole thing, I mean we could cut corners but down the road when the paint flakes off your going to be pissed we cut time on sanding. So figure its going to take about 45 to 60 hours to get it ready for paint. Were at about 5 to 6 grand to get this far and figure about a grand in materials. So how much do you want to pay, I mean how many hours of what do you not want done to get the lower price? Just think big picture yes you can get any car painted for 299.00 right now at Maacco and save a few bucks... But then you have to pay to get all that removed later so how much did you really save? In my opinion you want a paint job of any quality your going to spend 5 to 10 grand. And if you want something really nice be prepared to pay 10-20k .. I am not a painter and not affiliated with any paint shop... Good luck..

 

5-7K seems reasonable for a decent paint job depending on how well the metal work that has already been done. As you grind and weld you tend to push warps. These warps are almost impossible to see without paint on it. In most cases even with a pro installing the panels you need 2-3 high build primer coats and blocking before paint. I have a friend with a paint shop and to do jams under hood and trunk areas starts at 10k. That is NOT the top end jobs. That is the customer is not going to yell at me when its done job, a little better then a factory job. He estimates 100 hours just to get the car basically straight and panels aligned. He charges $75 per hour. The rest is paint/primer about a mile of tape and a lot of paper all the EPA crap he has to deal with and a small profit. He works a lot of hour and is not getting rich.

If the 5-7k is a no go on your budget you should think about doing it yourself. I would avoid anyone who says $3500. I find it hard to believe they are going to be buying the right system to bring the car up from bare metal. There are a lot of resources that can help you learn how to do this. By the time you are done (if you do a good job) you will realize that 5-7k is a deal.

 

I appreciate the detailed reply.

The thing is..I don't see there being even 45 hours of work there. Every panel on there is new with the exception of the hood and inner fenders, which both are blemish free. No dents or dings to work on. No rust. It mainly just needs fitted properly and bodywork on the rear where my dad has had to alter the panels a bit. Obviously even the new panels have a little scuffing and such, but it really doesn't seem like a 5,000 to 7,000 dollar job.

I don't want to insult any body men/women out there with what I expect to pay, but I have a feeling there's a big discrepancy in price as well. I'd just like to know what's a fair price, and I'm willing to pay that.

I/we have had this thing for almost 15 years and due to life circumstances/time/distance/plan changes/money it's never been on the road. At this point I'd almost be completely happy to drive it in primer. It's very frustrating to have something so cool always just out of reach. We've even talked about selling the whole project, but we've got so much father/son time invested over the years that letting go of it just to buy something else that runs/drives doesn't really feel right. The body/paint is our major sticking point. We have a drivertrain ready, most of the suspension stuff, etc. We'd just need to reassemble.

 

just saw that second reply. thank you.

maybe i'm totally off base. i dunno..lol

 

there is another Camaro forum that had a 5 page listing on cost of paint, but not sure if I can post the place here
send me a PM or do a google search for the other place and check under body shop forum "cost to repaint"

 

Even is a factory new part like a fender or a door is not flat. It needs to be leveled. These are stamped part and they are far from perfect. If you just put a layer of paint over a new door you are going to see ever imperfection in the metal. Aftermarket version are worse. Once you grind or weld in a given spot you add imperfections (I think you referred to these as waves). The more heat you add the worse the imperfection. Many pros have started using TIG welding on panels, it take longer to weld but saves so much more time in body work because the TIG weld has less heat when done right.


If you are one a real budget and want to enjoy the car pick up a cheap sprayer and shoot some satin black on it. Any metal that has been exposed to air needs to be acid etched either with a acid etch primer or a acid etch prep. If you have never looked into it Eastwood is a do it yourself place you could also check in with your local auto paint supply company some are more willing to help a do it yourselfer then others.

Like Kevin said and Icecobra said. Painting the car is the easy work, Repainting a car that has already been leveled is easier then bring one up from base metal like you are doing. You can even find guys that have painted cars with rollers and Rustoem with decent results but those are cars that are already level.

 

For you I would make a safer bet and figure you want a decent job, and its going to be higher than lower.. I recently fixed the lower fender support piece and lower valance, purchased a new valance. The grand total to get those to pieces painted 800.00 out the door. I also the next week sanded down the lower fender area where I had a small amount of rust that had grown between the lower support and fender. I spent 8 hours and about 50.00 in materials to get the area rust free and sanded and a spray can of color matched paint. Spent almost 5 minutes spraying it on and another 5 minutes on clear. Then had to buff and polish the whole fender and since now it looks so good I am going to probably spend another 8 hours on the rest of the car... 3500 for a total repaint looks pretty cheap from the bleachers out here. Its not as easy as it looks when you have to actually do it... I would tend to agree with others and look to get the sheet metal hung and pay for that, then smoothed and primed and sealed.. Then maybe save for the rest of the paint job.. Probably then its going to be about 3500.00 for paint and polish... If you do it in stages it does not hurt so bad...

 

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I never really thought about breaking it up, but driving it in primer for a while would be perfectly fine with me. I actually think that looks pretty cool when done right.