Get it painted!

[psl]

Can anyone in the Midlands area recomend a good paint shop that doesnt cost the earth? cheepest i`ve found is £800 for a windows out job!
Last time i got a viva sprayed it cost me £1700 but im not wanting to throw that sort of money at an every day viva! its not warm enough for me to do it on my drive and i need it doing in the next couple of months, once the welding is finished

[slant4]

Hi. if you have had a quote for £800 that sounds like a good deal to me . I have just spent 4 years restoring my HB including a full respray by myself. The cost of materials and paint must have been over £800 . The paint alone is were expensive . If there taking the windows out be sure the rubbers are good first, as they can take a lot of stresses being re-fitted, If they are not in the best condition you will end up having to replace them. If you decide to re-spray with the windows in , lift the rubbers away from the bodywork and slip a length of wire under, this makes masking and preparation easier and allows the paint to get under the rubber making a neater edge and stops the paint peeling away from this area later as often happens.
slant4

[pbottomley]

I would ask Andy at bodworx... he might have some good ideas and tips about whos good and whos bad.....

It might be easy to find someone who can paint a car, for £500 but is it a good job, will the paint peel after a month or two? I found a plce in town here who would repaint my HA for £400... all windows out as well. BUT I went to look at his workshop, and it was an unheated shed in his backgarden.

I have seen a few cars he has resprayed and they all looked fine from 5 foot away, but alas when one starts getting very close, one could see swirls and wripples at the edges.... I would rather spend a few 100 more on someone who has the quality, but as PSL says thats £1500 or more.

PSL at the end of the day one gets what one pays for.... maybe you need to try and cheapen the cost by doing the prep work yourself?

[bodyworx]

Everyone seems to understand the concept of "get what you pay for", which is good as i dont have to go over that, so basically heres a break down from what would be a normal 'respray' for me.

1, ASSESS
prior knowledge of the vehicles know rust/ rot spots is a bonus, but a decent shop will be able to see previous repairs and have a good idea whats probably lurking behind that lump of filler .
Talk to the customer, get as much information as possible.(they may know things that will save a lot of time and grief).
If someone takes less than 30-45 minutes looking round the car, its not been assessed properly!.

2, COST OF LABOUR.
A 'grey area' normal 'non custom' standard respray can take up to 2-3 weeks to be done properly, if someone says "i'll be finished it by the weekend ' expect the worst.
I normally can spend a minimum of 7-10 days on preparation ONLY.depending on what other work im doing to the car.
If its based on a 14 day job, depending on the labour rates there should be on average 100 + hours spent on preparation, so as an example take it as £30 per hour = £3000 (a repaint is normally not based on hours , im just showing these figures as a projection of worst case scenario)

3, CHOICE OF MATERIALS
Basically, cheap materials = *Bleep* job!, expect to pay £40 per litre minimum for 'half decent ' top coat paint, on average car 4-5 litres for a good build(dependant on the size of the car)
I personally prefer to use Standox and House Of Kolor prices range from £96 -£500 PER LITRE.
Use a good 2k high build primer (normally 3-4 coats = 3litres)
Good quality lacquer (if required) £50 litre / £200 a gallon.

4 , FINISH
There should be no dry edges, patchiness etc, all panels evenly and equally as smooth and glossy as the next, no 'orange peel' or swirl marks.
I normally spend 2-3 days finishing the car after paint, fully flattened and machine polished, sealed, left for 12 hours, re machined and final glazed/ waxed.
car fully valeted before delivery.

So in conclusion, Im not saying you CANT get a half decent job for £1500, depends on the circumstances ,known quality and how busy or interested the garage is, but a good quality, show worthy job will be in excess of that.
I dont know about prices south of the border, but on average, a decent job in Scotland by a reputable garage will cost £2000 + ,
Custom work is normally in the region of £4000 upwards depending on paint and bodywork.
A lot of bodyshops will NOT paint a self prepped car as they cannot guarantee the workmanship (reputation at stake), and to be fair ,yes it cost more, but its best left to the professionals if you want a long lasting good quality job.

hers one of my previous jobs, we spent 4 months /used 15 GALLONS of paint materials to produce this show winner.
the car has had 9 major magazine features and Im getting it back in in 2 weeks for a remodel for 2007 show season.

deconstruction;

ready for primer ;

primed;

Earls Court show: