Paint jobs?? (1 Viewer)

[placebo101]

hey everyone. i have an old corolla which i'm looking to do up a bit. nothing mechanical, just cosmetically - like new paint job, nice mags.. etc.

anyways, does anyone know how much it would cost to get a car re-sprayed into a different colour? i'm looking to go from a ivory colour, to a british racing green. i dont want the engine bay sprayed or anything as that would add to the cost.

 

[7th Sign]

deapends where you get the paint done mate,

If you go to a pro paint shop and get it done you could be looking to spend around $5 - 6000 maby more,

If you get it done at a cheaper place at like lekemba or some where dodgey liek that, the sort of place where you do the sanding your self with various gritt papers and a orbital sander, and you supply the paint your self you can get the cost down to around $1000.

 

[petar13]

Wow, ok. Think if you really need it. To do a colour change properly, you'd have to strip the car entirely, and do the door jambs, engine compartment and boot - areas which are usually missed on cheap jobs. It looks quite tacky to have contrasting engine bays and door jambs when compared to the exterior. Cheap jobs simply wipe the paint down with a chemical cleaner and then spray straight on - this will probably last around 2 years.
Expensive paint jobs may go as far as to strip your car of all paint, but definitely apply primer to ALL areas, before painting. Don't be surprised to be asked for something like $6000-$8000 for a professional job, which includes a lot of bodywork. You will be so very surprised how many little knocks show up when you have given the car a new lick of paint - so the bondo is usually a must. This may last you 6-8 years.

At the end of the day, the more work you do yourself, the less you will have to pay. Additionally, you get what you pay for.
If you could strike a deal with a painter to do the following yourself

- strip trim
- strip paint
- apply self etching primer
- sand
- apply bondo
- sand
- apply primer
- sand

Then give it to the painter, let them finish it off, by doing their own bondo and sanding, wherever you've missed something - and apply the actual paint. This should cut down on cost significantly. Typically, shops might spend 14-20 days on your body work and maybe just 2 days doing the actual painting. The more effort you put into prep, the more stunning the results.

However, back to square 1 - is it worth it?

 

[bowman]

but alot of the time they wont cover that sort of job with there something going wrong during the process

my cousin offered to do alot of the work to a paint job to his car, an the painter refused because of if something goes wrong with the paint, he can be liable for a mistake my cousin could have made

 

[loquasagacious]

I really cant see this being worth it - I think it would be a better proposition to sell your 'rolla and get something that doesnt 'need' a respray with the proceeds + money saved from not respraying.

I've done resprays myself but that is because my dad has the gear and I do it myself at my parents place, which cuts costs down to time and paint.

 

[petar13]

How old is your Corolla? If its 15+ it could be worth doing what Kieran suggested. I've done the same, and it's no biggie, if you take the time (took me 3 months). Buy a compressor (~100-200), a spray kit (~25), all the primers and paints (~400 - very vague) and go nuts. You can take your time, and with enough patience could do a far better job than the El Cheapo places. Go with a 3hp compressor if you can, as it gets frustrating when the smaller ones run out of steam, and you have to wait for it to compress all over again.

If it is newer though, you could really drop the resale value.

Nevertheless, it's quite an experience. Sometimes with a lot of frustration.

 

[placebo101]

its a very old rolla - '81. it has a pefect body and all, it would look great with a new paint job. i cant see myself doing it though... its gonna take some saving up to get those thousands, so i have a lot of time to think about it.

so how come even the professionally done jobs only last like 10 years??

 

[loquasagacious]

They can last longer but this costs more.

For the ultimate in lasting you would be looking at stripping back to bare metal probably an acid bath of some sort and then a bare metal respray.

This is also the ultimate in cost.

Lasting also depends on the type of paint (clearcoat/metallic v multilayer) and its maintenance.

eg if you had a relativly thick eg LOTS of layers (lots of cost...) multilayer job done you could then cut and polish for many years to maintain the look but ultimately you would run our of paint to cut away and reveal good paint underneath. eg my volvo doesn't really ahve the paint thickness to cop a good cut and polish these days (original paint from 1972 and all).

Now that we know that your budget is "needs to be saved for" I will again recommend against a respay. It is very unwise to drop several grand on a respray for a 20+y/o car. You will never recoup the investment and ultimately you are spending money on an old car that will never cut it performance, comfort, reliability, etc when compared to a newer one.

For my money drive around in your 'rolla for now and save up for a better car - eg a couple of grand should get you a gen1 (late eighties) Honda Integra this gives you a very capable car, comparable technologically to new cars, that looks great and has outstanding bang for buck.