Paint job cost for the LS?

[scjmc]

For those of you who have had your LS painted, or know a thing or two about it..... How much can I expect? I know that there are a lot of factors, so in my case I need a repaint because of heavy oxidation. I was thinking about changing the color too, and doing much of the prep work for the shop that will do the painting. I will be looking at the lower end of the price spectrum for the work since my LS is not worth much these days....

 

[ATrom]

You can get a single coat paint job here for 250.

But really for a decent paint job I couldn't see it being less than 2k

 

[BlackLS06]

I would expect around $4000 since a single panel can cost around $400 each for the a repaint of the same color.

 

[scjmc]

I live in Key West which is about 150 miles away from civilization. Local body shops want 6K because they charge by the panel about $600 each and are not really setup to paint whole cars. There are a couple of "cheap" places (maako, USA auto) in Miami that say 1K for base coat clear coat..... Has anyone had any experience with anyone like them?

 

[grotty101]

I live in Key West which is about 150 miles away from civilization. Local body shops want 6K because they charge by the panel about $600 each and are not really setup to paint whole cars. There are a couple of "cheap" places (maako, USA auto) in Miami that say 1K for base coat clear coat..... Has anyone had any experience with anyone like them?

I've heard nothing but horror stories about maaco.. even many cars being painted the wrong color.. (they wanted red and got yellow etc..) I wouldnt even trust them with my beater Nissan sentra..

Here in the middle of WI where I live I can get my whole car painted for about $1500.. and its a pretty damn good job.. I just got my rear bumper and trunk lid repainted for $250 and it looks very good!

 

[grotty101]

Ugh.. double post ..

But I will add that a buddy of mine got his 80's grand prix painted candy apple red for $1000, but I think he may be friends with the guy.. your best bet is to find a friend of a friend who can paint.. you may get a huge discount

 

[Andrizzle]

If you are going to do the prep work, maybe look into vinyling it. You can get gloss vinyl that looks just like paint - if you have the time, it can be done!

 

[grotty101]

If you are going to do the prep work, maybe look into vinyling it. You can get gloss vinyl that looks just like paint - if you have the time, it can be done!

After seeing your car, I strongly agree with you!

 

[Kumba]

Last time I had it quoted it was $4800 to do the full car the same color, more if you changed colors. That's doing it right where all the trim and rubber has to come off. If you did the full prep on the car so that they are just shooting it with color and clearing it then it was $1200 which included paint.

In short, it's all labor to prep the damn thing. The more of that you can do correctly, the cheaper it gets. Just popping all the trim off and sanding the car down knocked the price in almost half. If you finish sanded it and masked it for paint then hauled it over to them on a flatbed you could get it for the $1200 price.

I'd honestly just pay them to mask it if you were going to go that route. It's maybe a few hours extra to have them do it for you and then you don't have to worry about it blowing off on the flatbed.

 

[04SCTLS]

You could probably do the initial masking tape but not the paper
and it wouldn't blow off.
The initial taping is the skilled part of masking.
If you can do the prep then maybe you can do the tedious buff out work if you paint it with base coat clear coat.

That should save some money as well.

 

[scjmc]

I was thinking of taking off bumpers and trim, lights door panels etc. Maybe doing an inital sanding job. The problem is that I have to go so far to get it painted or even quoted. I would have to get quotes, and then strip the car and tow it back up there. I guess thats what I am gonna have to do.

 

[NickT88LSC]

I was thinking of taking off bumpers and trim, lights door panels etc. Maybe doing an inital sanding job. The problem is that I have to go so far to get it painted or even quoted. I would have to get quotes, and then strip the car and tow it back up there. I guess thats what I am gonna have to do.

Must suck to live in Key West




(sarcastic, can you tell)

 

[scjmc]

Yeah sucks LOL. Actually it is great down here, but I have to mail order almost everything. We dont have any salvage yards or anything, and main stream service is a long way away. Local shops charge 110+ per hour to work on things.

 

[Kumba]

Yeah sucks LOL. Actually it is great down here, but I have to mail order almost everything. We dont have any salvage yards or anything, and main stream service is a long way away. Local shops charge 110+ per hour to work on things.

Key West is nice... unless it's a holiday or spring break or summer vacation time. LOL

Last time I was down there I wanted to start deep sea fishing using tourists for bait.

When I used to go I would fly into key-west airport and just take cabs. The key is only about 3 miles long and 1 mile wide anyways. Not like you could really drive far to begin with. Plus with a cab you get curbside service