[SentraXERacer]

I open my hood and it sounds like there are a bunch of rocks inside, and then a big piece of rust from inside the hood comes off in my hand! No rust is visable from the outside except for a little piece on the side of the hood. WTF? I know I will have to replace the hood since I noticed it bouncing up and down slightly while going 65 mph. (yes it was closed all the way) How much does it cost to remove small amounts of rust at the body shop? How much will a total respray cost? (I am thinking a subaru blue) I know you have to make an estimate but how much extra will painting the handles and mirrors cost?

 

[phil_minchoff]

Obviously this is all speculation and estimates, but doing touch ups on rust spots shouldn't run you any more than 1K. I spent about 900 to have my CRX's rear wheel wells redone. That involved cutting out the rust, welding in new steel (no bondo!), and then the regular sanding, repainting, etc. But if you're into just buying a new hood and repainting the whole car, you can get the basic Maaco 300 dollar job (wouldn't recommend) or in the other direction, the sky is the limit with paint. If you think outside the box and go crazy, you can spend thousands of dollars there. Its all up to you.

 

[toolapcfan]

A good paint job is likely to run you at least $1K-$3K. That's with no bodywork except a few dings and dents. Find someone who does the work on the side for a good price if you can deal with the downtime.

 

[SentraXERacer]

lol, what does the Maaco USA job look like? Has anyone done a repaint through them before? Do they just mask off areas like the lights or do they take these off? How many colors do they offer? Does it cost more if you want to paint your car a lighter color than it was at the factory? My Sentra is the crappy Metallic Dark Gray, and as I said I love the Subaru blue, Do you think Maaco can do that? Do they do custom colors? How long do they keep the car (how long until I can drive it again) (I have to get 2 school!)

 

[Centurion]

I've had several Maaco jobs and they are pretty decent. The trick is to do your own prep work, or pay them for the extra body work (rust/dents).

 

[toolapcfan]

My Sentra is the crappy Metallic Dark Gray

Watch your mouth buddy! My '93 XE was that color and I still like it better than most colors, better than black.

IMHO, any light blue is not going to look good on a B13. But you gotta do what's right for you.

 

[SentraXERacer]

Toolapcfan: lol, I just don't like the color dark gray since the bumpers were not painted the same color! Can Maaco paint it the same as the stock color? I am not thinking about a baby blue or anything, a nice dark blue is cool. Centurion: have you had several Maaco jobs on one car? What colors did you get and do they do custom colors?

 

[toolapcfan]

I must have poor eyesight. Not only did I think my side moldings were painted body color for the longest time, I didn't notice the bumpers were a different color for a long time either. There are several ways to think about paint. You can spend a ton or you can spend a little and in the long run they'll likely both last the same amount of time before a repaint will be in order. It's just one of them will be show quality and one will not. To be honest I'd consider the Maaco route. OEM paint on our cars is pretty shitty as it is. I'd just make sure I understand crystal clear what I am getting for my money. What kind of prep work will be done, what kind of paint and process, warranty/guarantee, all the fine print being understood. The most I'd spend on a Maaco paint job would be $1K and the most I'd spend on any paint job would be $2K to $3K. Now I'm talking all paint work and little to no bodywork, just fixing a few dings with some glazing putty, or maybe some rust spots that you could put a finger over. Now, if you're capable of doing some of your own prep work fine, but I wouldn't breath a word to whoever paints your car that you did the work. If possible cover the work up and if they discover it and say anything about it, which they likely won't, you didn't know about it. The reason I say this, is that you can't give them that edge, the window to say, "Well we can't guarantee our work over the top of someone elses work." I don't know if they do say that kind of thing or not, but I wouldn't doubt it, so be prepared. It's your investment, and you don't want to pay for a service/product and not get all the benefits of what you're paying for, being the guarantee/warranty that Joe Schmoe gets when he comes in and gets the same thing done, but doesn't get screwed out of the warranty/guarantee because he didn't do any of the prep himself. That would suck, especially when it's your fault by trying to save money and doing it yourself. So there's some things to think about. Let's say you did a crappy job of repairing a few dings, and you paid them to include repairing any dings that they find. So they missed your crappy one because it was almost not there, you know it's there, so you say, "Hey, what's that?" And they fix it or refund you some money. I'm not saying take these people to the bank, but just be sure you get what you paid for, that's all.