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I'm looking to get my car (Mustang) repainted. It's about 6 years old only but has really bad paint due to living in some harsh conditions for a few years and some scratches due to my fault. I'm not talking about a Maaco paintjob or something similar. I want a good paint job.
I'm thinking 2-3k for a nice paint job? Anyone ever done this and can offer any advice or pricing?
And if you are wondering why I want it painted. It's mine (no payments) and I'm tired of looking at this eyesore. It only has 40k miles so it still has plenty of life and I'd really like to enjoy it more.
In my experience body/repair shops have always done the best job with repaints. I would call your insurance company and see which ones they recommend. On my insurance, if I use one of their recommended shops, repairs are guaranteed for life. Not saying the paint would be guaranteed, but it just goes to show you how those particular shops stand behind their work.
My current car's paint didn't last 6 years before the clear coat starting going and the paint started rubbing on me everytime I touched it. I got it painted by a body shop, cost around $2k (but that was 7 years ago) and I've kept up on the washes/waxes and so far it looks brand new. Get it painted well but don't forget to wash/wax (real wax, not those spray on kinds).
I agree with the body shop recommendation. Ask the local auto paint supply place who does good jobs at a reasonable price. Avoid chain paint shops like a plague.
When I had a really good paint job done, the quotes were between $4000 and $6500. I chose one for $4500 based on references. They did a really nice job. That was for a very small car though. I kept the same color too. Changing colors is expensive. Mustang could be more.
Without looking at your car I can't say, but maybe a good detailing would revive the paint enough that you'd be satisfied with it? A good overall paint job is a *lot* of serious work, but a less-than-good job basically trashes the car. If you have paint all over, no serious dents, no (or few) scratches that go down to the bare metal, polishing and waxing the existing paint probably is a better deal.
Don't change the color, unless you want to spend the $ to probably take the front fenders off, hood off, etc. so the door jambs can be done properly.
With the CA environmental laws, you may be better off going to a shop in Nevada.
A high quality paint job can easily be more than your estimate... I have seen recent jobs (on small newer cars) at about $7k. Prep work on an older car is very expensive and paint costs are quite high. Unless the car is especially dear to you consider having a professional do what is needed to repair what bothers you and skip the full paint job.
How nice do you want it? You can spend as much as you want. I have painted cars and motorcycles for prices ranging from $700 (motorcycle) to $10,000 (high quality show car, 97 points overall).
Do you want all the trim removed, so no edges show?
Do you want all dings and dents repaired?
What quality of materials do you want used? Expect to spend at least $500 for good quality paint and primer.
Insist on 2-stage (base/clear) if you want anything resembling longevity without major maintenance.
Modern urethane clear coats do not require waxing, but it can help.
I don't recommend asking your insurance agent about shops, there are too many ulterior motives here. Judge by reputation, and visit the shops. Ask the manager if you can talk to the painter. He will know some shortcuts which may save you money.
You can go with the lowest bidder, but sometimes you get what you pay for. You should be able to get a decent job for $3-4000, depending on the above.
Not to repeat myself or anything, but if you don't want to spend more than $4000, you may be better off buffing out the existing paint. If you don't know how to do this, and/or don't want to spend the time, either a detailer or maybe the same body shop you would consider for the paint job might be able to do this for a few hundred bucks.
I have painted a few cars in my time, it's really time consuming to do the prep *really right*. For a skilled person who's good with their hands, a lot of the prep work can be done DIY, you know a really crazy idea might be to take an auto body class at a local community college and use your car as your own project. You might want to take your first steps with some other car, something you won't have to look at forever. This might or might not work for you depending on how handy and patient you are.
Google Larry Lyles, he has some good CDs that at the very worst will help you understand how there really *can* be $10K worth of work in a paint job.
Did I mention that doing really first-rate paint work involves, like, a *lot* of work?
Before you take it into the shop, try to remove as much trim, lights, etc. as you can. Some shops just mask off stuff and don't get it all the way.
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