how much should a paint job cost?

As many of you know i bought a white 98 z28 about a month ago. I removed the ground effects, changed the front bumper cover and did a bunch of work to the front suspension, rear shocks,etc. i am almost ready for some paint. The front bumper color is artic white, the front fenders, hood and doors are white but a different shade.From the rear quarters back is yet another shade of white. I made a call to a local body shop and of course they said i had to bring it down to see it. Which i knew they would. I told the lady on the phone i just want it the whole car sprayed the factory color. She said it would be around $4000.00. WTF!! I want to find somebody local who will let me prep the car so all they have to do is paint it. I'm so pissed that someone would actually think they were worth that much. I painted a ford truck once that looked pretty damn good once i was done but i think i want a pro to do this car. Any ideas?

[MrMojoRisin681]

Most places quote 2nd gens for about $8,000, if not more. Alot of places only like to do insurance work. Quick, easy, and out the door.

[willasc]

I think how much you want to spend on a paint job would depend on how much you value the car and how you use it. $8000 is nothing for a trailer queen, but not appropriate for a daily driver because it will get chip and stratches. If you plan on keeping her, by all means spend a bit more, but I wouldn't spend more than the car is worth, that's just my two cents. You can get a decent paint job for around $2-3000 at lots of places, and you don't even have to prep it yourself.

[meissen]

To give you an idea, I paid $2100 for my paint job... and that was just for the hood, front bumper, front ground effects, side ground effects, rear ground effects, and then the Brickyard spoiler. The painter also blended my rear bumper and front fenders.

[WMCC DENNIS]

Ol Time Rock N Roller On Board

Like they say, " you get what you pay for..."

My 1980 Camaro was a very straight car to start with and was painted black, block sanded three times and had three coats of clearcoat. $4, 000.00 + on that one.

Currently, my real fire on the hood and front facial, including two coats of clearcoat will run around $ 2,000.00.

The two Tondeau covers, which had to be painted to match the car color, Flames airbrused on, and two coats of clear, cost $800.00.

[meissen]

Yeah. Just make sure they do a good job. I have "wrinkles" (not orange peal, physical 3D wrinkles.. like saran wrap was laid over it and wrinkled the paint before it was dry) in my clear coat on the front fenders when they blended. It annoys the shit out of me. One of these days I'm going to break down and wetsand my whole car and then buff it back to health once the wrinkles gone.

[michigan2500hd]

I agree for the most part you get what you pay for. Maybe i will do it myself. If anybody on here has experiance painting car would like to do it let me know. For some reason i was thinking it was only going to caost around $1200-1500 to paint it.

[GETGONE]

I painted my truck and used low end Omni paint that's made by PPG and some left over stuff my dad and I had from other stuff that we'd painted. I had about $700 total in materials, paint, primer, clear, sanding paper, masking tape, etc. We took the bed off the chassis and the topper down to just the fiberglass shell and painted it and two toned the bottom part. It turned out pretty good but still took a lot of time and effort sanding and trying to get it smooth. It's not perfect but it's my daily driver and is now chipped up from driving it 2 years year round. The material's not cheap and neither is the labor. You could always go the Macco route if you dont' care about your wheels, windows or anything else having paint on them! You can sand and prep the car yourself to save time and money at a shop. We scuffed the factory paint on my truck with 600 so it was totally dull and then primed and painted over it. You can prep your car by taking as much off as you can and sanding it all down so it's ready to spray.

[StudManSam4thgen]

it really all depends...i work at shepards auto body in pawpaw

a paint job can cost you 500 bucks and it can cost you 15,000+, really just depends on what your looking for

[WMCC Dino]

The body shop that painted my car did some body work,changed the color,and added the flames and I only paid $5000. And that included me buying me chrome moldings. They are in Grand Rapids. Call me or shoot me a pm and I will give you the details.
616-890-0704

[thursday12889]

wow, thats expensive, 8gs is alot. I can get my car done professionaly for 3700. Thats what they quoted me anyways. And I know their work is good because they do work for the dealership I work at. And by professional i mean they take everything off of your car and paint it piece by piece and when they put it back on they make sure all gaps are perfect and everything lines up like it should. And theres a lifetime warranty on the paint as long as you own the car. Any bubbling, fading, flaking, etc. you get it repainted for free. I can give you their number if you want and you can give them a call. They do something like 2 primer, 3 base, and 7 clear or something fancy like that.
Yeah and that was a price for my whole car, me not prepping it or anything and the price also including body work. But there you can prep it and they will paint it.

[WMCC Gary]

wow, thats expensive, 8gs is alot. I can get my car done professionaly for 3700. Thats what they quoted me anyways. And I know their work is good because they do work for the dealership I work at. And by professional i mean they take everything off of your car and paint it piece by piece and when they put it back on they make sure all gaps are perfect and everything lines up like it should. And theres a lifetime warranty on the paint as long as you own the car. Any bubbling, fading, flaking, etc. you get it repainted for free. I can give you their number if you want and you can give them a call. They do something like 2 primer, 3 base, and 7 clear or something fancy like that.
Yeah and that was a price for my whole car, me not prepping it or anything and the price also including body work. But there you can prep it and they will paint it.

Thursday not burst your bubble or anything, But I know what bodyshop that you are taking about and they are not any better than anywhere else. I have seen allot of there work both good & bad. I know Several people that work out there. And good friend of mine paints out there, and they do shortcut some things on a regular basis. I have used Every body shop in Three Rivers and Some are better than others, but pretty much the same. The shop you are talking about is not my 1st choice as far as where to take my stuff but it is my second choice.