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toolapcfan · Aug 21st, 2002, 11:23 AM

Changing colors is expensive because they have to shoot all the jambs and then you're still going to have your original color in the engine compartment and the underside of the hood, maybe the trunk they'd do the underside of. Can you imagine getting a chip in black paint with red underneath? No, they'd probably shoot a primer sealer over the red after they did any body work and blocked it off, and most likely any chips would reveal that primer sealer, but big chips would go through to the red or even deeper. Dark colors show dirt easy and hide no imperfections, light colors do the opposite. My XE is charcoal gray and I love the color, but despite that I like it better than the red on my SE-R, I think I'll be glad to have the red hiding dings and dents better and not showing dirt that much. As nice as metallics look, realize that they cost more, not only because the paint costs more, but they're trickier to shoot, and if you ever need touchup work done, forget about it being a spot repair, because metallics don't blend well after the fact. They'd have to shoot the entire panel and even then you'll be lucky if it matches closely. I'd stay away from Maaco or any cheap places, they're using a single shot enamel for those cheapy paint jobs. Get several quotes from places that you've heard good things about, and don't neccesarily pick the lowest bid. Aside from any body work, assuming typical prep, I'd say that $1500-$2000 would be what you could expect to pay for a good paint job. And believe me, it's worth every penny. You'll be out $500 in materials easy to try and DIY, and you'll spend more than $2K worth of your time trying to do it.

Quickest and cheapest paint job I ever did was my wife's '91 Tempo. I worked on it two full weekends, and on week nights during a week. I repaired lots of rust and reshot the entire car with Dupont Enamel. I spent $100 on paint. It came out pretty good considering but the rust came back in a few spots, which is to be expected when you do a quickie.

Aug 21st, 2002, 11:23 AM	#4 (permalink)
toolapcfan Your electrical friend Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 2,177	Changing colors is expensive because they have to shoot all the jambs and then you're still going to have your original color in the engine compartment and the underside of the hood, maybe the trunk they'd do the underside of. Can you imagine getting a chip in black paint with red underneath? No, they'd probably shoot a primer sealer over the red after they did any body work and blocked it off, and most likely any chips would reveal that primer sealer, but big chips would go through to the red or even deeper. Dark colors show dirt easy and hide no imperfections, light colors do the opposite. My XE is charcoal gray and I love the color, but despite that I like it better than the red on my SE-R, I think I'll be glad to have the red hiding dings and dents better and not showing dirt that much. As nice as metallics look, realize that they cost more, not only because the paint costs more, but they're trickier to shoot, and if you ever need touchup work done, forget about it being a spot repair, because metallics don't blend well after the fact. They'd have to shoot the entire panel and even then you'll be lucky if it matches closely. I'd stay away from Maaco or any cheap places, they're using a single shot enamel for those cheapy paint jobs. Get several quotes from places that you've heard good things about, and don't neccesarily pick the lowest bid. Aside from any body work, assuming typical prep, I'd say that $1500-$2000 would be what you could expect to pay for a good paint job. And believe me, it's worth every penny. You'll be out $500 in materials easy to try and DIY, and you'll spend more than $2K worth of your time trying to do it. Quickest and cheapest paint job I ever did was my wife's '91 Tempo. I worked on it two full weekends, and on week nights during a week. I repaired lots of rust and reshot the entire car with Dupont Enamel. I spent $100 on paint. It came out pretty good considering but the rust came back in a few spots, which is to be expected when you do a quickie. __________________ Rob '93 SE-R PM or e-mail me for Progress swaybars $190 shipped, B13 Progress coilovers $1300 shipped and B13 Progress LCA brace $160 shipped. Last edited by toolapcfan : Aug 21st, 2002 at 11:33 AM.