Cost of getting a paint job

[Topcat]

As I'm finding out, "nothing that looks that bad" is only that way with the paint covering it up. I am stripping mine myself right now and after two hours with a orbital sander, i got half a front fender down to metal. take your time and enjoy the dust.

I agree.

Strip as much as you can with paint stripper and putty knife. Then go over it with a sander. Blast your car only if you have lots of rust and pittting after stripping. Blast only where the rust is. No reason to blast good metal. 

[jimynick]

I paid $1100 to get the body, doors, deck, hood and valance media blasted and then epoxy painted. That was supposed to have been a deal, but I doubt it. That's also when I learned that my (as I thought) pretty decent Challenger was actually a lace table cloth disguised as a car. Get ready, here it comes! 

[GranCuda1970]

But But Bondo and all metal is stronger than steel!!

[1970 RT Challenger 1970]

I hear Maaco paint jobs are only $200.00......

All at the same time on your car, one guy is sanding, one guy is priming, and the last guy is painting. In and out in a few hours!

[jimynick]

Most of you guys are probably too young to remember Earl Scheib- "I'll paint your car for $29.95" 

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Most of you guys are probably too young to remember Earl Scheib- "I'll paint your car for $29.95" 

Yeah, I remember Earl.   

[ChallengerHK]

Most of you guys are probably too young to remember Earl Scheib- "I'll paint your car for $29.95" 

Friend of mine got his car painted by Earl. They handed us a couple rolls of masking paper and tape and told us that anything that wasn't covered was going to be painted. True to their word, every little thing we missed was red 

[David_Lee]

Friend of mine got his car painted by Earl. They handed us a couple rolls of masking paper and tape and told us that anything that wasn't covered was going to be painted. True to their word, every little thing we missed was red 

When I was a much younger man in the 70's. A friend and I went to Earl's to get his VW bug painted, while we were waiting the manager came out and asked if we were interested in working there. OUr starting pay was going to be around $2 an hour. WE would be washing and then help masking the cars for paint. In about a month if we wanted and if the position was available we could start painting cars. We decided to go somewhere else for the paint job.

[usraptr]

To have my entire car blasted, inside and out, top and bottom and then epoxy primed cost me $1200.  That was with the doors, front fenders and hood already removed.

[Topcat]

Media can be hell to get out of a car.

If you insist on a total blasting, then get a blower and then after, go after it with a high PSI blow tip.

Repeat this process until the blower dies and then your compressor turns red hot and siezes. 
Sand will still be coming out.

[elitecustombody]

Ever done sandblasting before?

If you sand blast primer off, it comes off in a hurry.

If you sand blast one layer of paint, you blast off the first layer before it starts going onto the next one.
Ever try 3 layers? That's gotta be thick. Turn the PSI up to work faster is asking for warpage. So you can't work fast. That could be more time labor per hr.

Factory paint was very hard paint. Almost like powder coating. After experience on sand blasting, I would leave the OEM paint on if the car is not rusty underneath.

In summary, it will take quite a bit of work whoever does it. I would get some estimates first or consider using paint stripper to remove a majority of it if yourself if you're concerned on saving some money.

There's a lot to learn about sand blasting. Consider your options before just "dropping it off" so you don't have any unexpected surprises later when the bill comes.

I agree about blasting, but the part about leaving original paint,I don't. I did a 69 Dart not long ago and was planning on saving original paint, but when I started feathering, I found that just about every panel had surface rust under factory primer and paint, so I would never trust 40 year old paint,there wasn't much of quality control or quality materials back then.

[elitecustombody]

I paid $1100 to get the body, doors, deck, hood and valance media blasted and then epoxy painted. That was supposed to have been a deal, but I doubt it. That's also when I learned that my (as I thought) pretty decent Challenger was actually a lace table cloth disguised as a car. Get ready, here it comes! 

$1100 is more than a deal, if you knew what it takes to do that, you would know. Cost of media,time to blast,time to clean out the media out of the car,time to apply epoxy primer,cost of epoxy,not to mention the cost to run the equipment,wear and tear on equipment,it adds up. I had a local powdercoater trying to charge me $6100 to just blast a 55 Porsche 356 Cabriolet  

[ChallengerHK]

I had a local powdercoater trying to charge me $6100 to just blast a 55 Porsche 356 Cabriolet

I have a sneaking suspicion that among the less scrupulous companies, the price of performing the work is based more on the value of the car rather than the effort. "This guy has a 356 Cab? He can afford it." 

[73EStroker]

And if you get the car to bare metal then as soon as it is done get some epoxy primer on it before you do anything e;se. Prevents the moisture from attaching to the metal. Ever see a bondo filled car with bubbles - that is because they put the bondo on to bare metal. I have seen both ways and the guys who do the primer first have bubble free cars - one of them (a chev) free from bubbles for 18 years now and it gets wet.

[GranCuda1970]

I remember earl he was before free beef!!!! at les shwab!!