Anyone know of a good shop for hood or car painting? Approximate cost to repaint my GTI hood? Anyone? I really have no clue so I’m looking for a general estimate to repaint my hood either white or black to repair the road rock paint damage.
edit A good shop would be good input too since I want good work instead of the cheapest place, ya know?
I do alot of paint work… many on here can attest to my work. and I have pictures to prove the finish already posted up under my sections.
Black or white? I assume you are not color matching this, if you were you should blend into fenders to do a proper hood re-shoot. Just to let you know, if its just rock chips on the front edge, that can be body worked and blended into the existing paint on the hood, and the entire hood relceared, and can get away without having to blend the fenders like if it were a full new replacement hood respray.
You have options for paint: about $40 a pt for a simple solid color base or $80+ a pt for a simple solid color base in much better paint. The higher end color would be recommended if it were a OEM color match deal, becasue it would blend better. If you have say a white care and want a black hood for fun… there is no need at all to use crazy expensive base.
The clear I use is very good, $80 a qt. The clear is the most important part, next to color and blending techniques. A cheap ass clear will fade in a month, and a top notch clear will be better than an OEM finish.
All my paint work is cut and buffed to remove any dusts, lint or something that might fall into the paint… it happens to all of us, its part of the job.
I am done with nitpickers over cheap paint jobs, its a waste of my time. I have spent hours taking my time, and cutting/buffing the clear to look better than the OEM color on the rest of the car for “cheap” jobs… only to be nitpicked to death when the rest of the car is in far worse condition than the work I just did. You ask for cheap, its not going to win a show, but its also not going to fly off, or cut your finger on dirt and bugs under the clear coat! I would much rather put my time into something, making it ADD perfect for a customer willing to ask for, and pay for the quality and effort I put forth.
that being said.
Around $145-160 will cover materials; quality high build primer to block the hood out to glass, pt of middle of the road solid black or white base, the better clear, and cut/buff materials. +$25 if you want underside painted too
$300-400 for labor, depending on hoods condition. If its just a few rock chips, its like .5 hrs for repair time then prime and block. If there are dents, rust, or worse, you are looking at more time and cost. +55$ if you want underside painted too.
there are your options. Browse my work on here or on Facebook (www.capitalregioncustoms.com <- click that it will get you to our FB page), the pics show the finish you will get with the above est’s.
here is a mazda 3 hood we shot:
This was red… now its ZR1 GM blue metalic:
WRX rear fender rust repair, rear quarters and bumper were blended and re-cleared:
3 more recent ones… but you get the idea. if you like what you see… PM me and lets talk. :number1
That looks really good and that seems consistent with the prices I’ve been given. As I’ve said before with my passenger door bend/paint chip from ice buildup at the lower portion that meets the front quarter panel, I’m going with MOAR FAST before I go with paint and looks. BUT, the finished product definitely involves paint.
http://shift518.com/showthread.php?t=26899
Saved in my gmail for future reference. Thanks for the time.
Not a problem. If you have any more questions, just ask.
Recent experience made me have to post this and ill sticky it under my section too.
Paint work is a “get what you pay for” type of job.
Anyone who has wrecked a car and went through insurance knows how expensive it is to repair a car back to OEM quality. I have posted some before and afters for those types of work, and none of them were less than a $2000 hit. Infact a deer that took out a 09 Cobalt’s hood, fender, headlight, bumper, radiator and dented the door caused $3800 in damage. Thats paying for proper blending work, removing trim and panels to do the work right to the point that untrained eyes and even dealerships wouldn’t know anything ever happened.
Here is the short and sweet of it:
Panel painting, IE a hood, or a fender is a total crap shoot on matching up. Me as the painter cant waive a magic wand over the paint can and make it match 10 year old paint. Even new cars might not match. I have seen it go both ways; 2010’s panel painted are a shade off, and 2001’s panel painted are dead nuts a perfect match. Its not the painter, its the paint, the mixers, the car, and the manufactures formulating the paint codes.
Blending panels can take a decently matching mix of paint, and make it so that when clear is shot over the effected panels, makes it hard to impossible to see the slight differences in shade, or even color… if there even was any. Blend time adds up FAST. That can take a bumper replacement from a $400 panel spray job to $1300 real quick. Tri coats (base, pearls/metallic mid coat, clear) its 2X the blend time out of the book. Example A pearl white (tri coat) trunk replacement would cost around $2100 to shoot the trunk, and have to blend the fenders and bumper, then clear the entire ass end of the car. And on a color like that the odds are way against you getting a panel paint job to match.
Materials costs come into play when you have an honest painter selling the job. We repaired a Shift members 2011 WRX that rode a guard rail, that paint, base coat wise was money well spend on high end paint. Something that could be $65 a qt for run of the mill costs $265 for high end stuff. The high end stuff coats better and is easier to shoot in general, and the color matches and pride that goes into the paint itself is much higher. I challenge anyone here to look at his car and tell me what panels we shot on that car. If its an older car, or the value in the owners eyes doesn’t warrant it necessary to spend the extra money on high end base, money can be saved " if its not a terrible color to work with. I dont stand to make anything off using cheap materials, infact it could bite me in the ass and cost me time and money… so I wont steer you in the wrong direction.
Finally over all finish quality. Customers have 2 options in my book… Show/OEM quality, and “just paint it so it looks ok” quality.
Example, panel paint a hood for me show/OEM quality (should be blended, this is just an example) I would quote no less than $700 labor. Thats NO body work, top side only and no labor needed prior to paint other than clean, mask, scuff and clean again. The cost comes in the time AFTER the paint is sprayed. I will put a bit more clear down (+2 coats more than normal), which costs a bit more time and materials wise, so I can cut and buff it to glass. No runs, sags, raised dirt’s, fish eyes, or severe orange peel. I have take 4+ hours to cut and buff a hood becasue it had to be perfect. Time and materials add up quick. Ever price out DA sanding disks?!? 
If you are looking for the “just paint it so it looks OK” job YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. I will lay the base as good as any other job, no differences there. Clear will be a dust coat and 2 wet coats. Dust gets in paint no matter what kind of booth you have, its going to happen. There is a fine line between a run/sag and orange peel… pay me show/oem quality for it and ill walk that line, otherwise its going to get shot as well as I can to be efficient. I am still going to cut and buff the work to get the major flaws out of it, but I am not taking extra hours to get every last tiny fisheye or pucker from a deep dust out, not to mention risking blowing through the clear and starting all over again. You are paying me to make good decisions to achieve both quality and efficiency. While it may sound bad, this isnt some Maaco hack job, but without sounding cocky it will look damn good for what you paid for. Ninety1two40, Norwood, Drunky the bear, Yetti VR, OhNoPOPO, Ollie, and many others on here I have had the pleasure of painting stuff for them and can attest to the care I take in my work. If you are unhappy with a major flaw or something I may have missed, I will usually offer to fix it to make you happier right there on the spot. I just shot a old hood only based off the VIN’s color that came up in the computer, color wasnt even close. I eat the cost for another pt of base, clear, 3 more hours time, and shot it again… then took $50 off the cost to boot. Thats a major problem and something I cant live with by telling them to take it away. If there are a few little fish eyes or sags that didnt buff all the way out, I am sorry but thats as far as this job/cost is going to take it. All I am asking is to be realistic with your expectations, not sure how else to put it. Heck call up another big name 100% body shop and get a quote to compare that should tell you alot, if i can match or come close to their results at 1/2 the price, I would consider it a win.
Sorry for the book, but I need to put this out there to save future headache’s and questions. Thanks for your time.
so Sir KrazyKid, if i wanted a full paint job on a vehicle, and i were to do all the body work and supply the paint, how much would labor be to shoot it in white primer, 2 coats of base, clear, then wetsanding and buffing?
skid unless ur a proffesional im.sure mike is going to have to fix ur work and is gunna cost more od just let him.do it
@chriscaz krazy does great work check out is section on here for capital region customs
I’d imagine this is the most annoying thing you could ask a body guy. lol
+1 for Krazykid and crc’s awesome work
im no professional, but i have done bodywork before. it’ll probably amaze you that it didnt look like shit. so fuck you.
*In violation of rules and policies of the site.
You are missing many key details I need to make an est:
Here is the thing. If you brought me a car with “body work” already done and just wanted it painted… I generally wouldnt do it. Reason being, reputation. If your body work isnt on par with mine, and I just shot it it could have; missed lows, waves, sanding scratches, shrinkage, miss-shaped lines, etc. then my paint would show that. When people ask “who painted the car” and you say CRC, if its not followed up with a “But I did all the body work” every time, people assume I did the body work… not good for my rep. Little test… what filler do you use? Whats the final grit you use prior to primer/sealer? What do you use to sand your work? on a flat panel do you sand vertically, horizontally, circles, X’s??? I want to gauge the level of work, no offense… just want to see how much work you are actually saving/making for me.
If you wanted anything more than a “make it all one color” paint job, I would be going over all the body work and remainder of the body myself anyways. Maybe fixing your work, maybe not.
Also “2 coats of base” shouldn’t be a demand… coat number is a necessity and differs every job, every color, ever paint type, etc. There are many variables that can make it a 2 coat, 3, or 8 coat job. Shit paint that doesnt cover needs many coats. Lights shot over darks need more coats. metalics need about 2-3 good wet coats then a few high speed high pressure dust passes to smooth the flake, pearls need 4+ coats… You tell me the color, and Ill do the hard work.
I could take a “ready to spray” car, and paint it for $1000, or $10,000. it all depends.
:rofl
it’d be FoMoCo Reef Blue, most likely on a fox body mustang (quite possibly on a 240, i love it on any car). it’s a metallic, and honestly i dont know much about spraying paint. i know the basics, like a dark color sprayed over a white base will stand out more, and a dark color on a dark base wont.
the exact brand of bondo I’ve used i don’t remember, but the #1 rule of body work is to lay it on no thicker then i believe a quarter.
last grit paper before primer is 640 or so. i don’t have the materials here so i couldn’t tell you exactly.
i thought your dad owned a body shop
aaaaand you’re asking for a quote on paint on a car you don’t even have yet?:facepalm
And you really don’t have to refer to Ford as “FoMoCo” every time…just saying:skid
Relax he is an expert ok…:lol
LKSi- he does, but he wont do a whole car. he’s mostly collision repair, and literally no custom anything.
That’s weird
