Take it from me, go to a good shop and demand examples. I paid $5000 for my complete paint job. The car came was delivered to the shop stripped and sanded to 150 grit. The body paint was an easy two stage, color and clear. The top was sprayed silver and flaked silver. My instructions were monster flake. When I showed up to see the car and asked what I think. The first words were, "I hate it." His eyes about fell out. They didn't use nearly enough flake so a lot of base showed and they must have ran out of monster because they threw micro on there as well. I fought to have it redone but they wouldn't make good. I pulled out of there, stopped about a half block away and called Har****, whom was my first choice, but couldn't afford and asked advice. I was so upset. Final thoughts. Don't make price a factor. Get exactly what you want and let price determine how soon you can get it.
i own a body shop and have for 11 years now (im 28) always done custom paint never any insurance jobs unless were slow and the bills need paid... i just flaked, and candied the roof on my chopped 53 sedan delivery... i have over 1200 in materials two gallon of clear two quarts of silver base and two cans of hok big silver flake and two quarts of green candy... i just dont see how it could be done for less than 2k on a smaller roof...
That's what I'm thinkin'.......but it really depends on what ya have in mind...... It doesn't take THAT much paint to shoot a roof, esp just single color with 'flake ........now, if ya start doing multiple colors, masked panels, etc..... then yeah, I could see the price easily reaching $3000+, easy....... But then again, I do all my own painting, and paint is cheap compared to the labor..........
And you are in Kansas, which may count for even a lesser rate for your work(not quality just that you are in a more rural area?) I think about $2K would be reasonable , depending on what it looked like once stripped
I think it's a matter of what you want in the long run. If you don't want something that you're going to look at later on and regret skimping on the details, spend the extra cash. If you're just looking for a temporary something to set your car off a little, you could get by cheap. Something I learned early on is your layperson is going to love your car no matter what because it's not a f#ckin' Honda, Car people, on the other hand, will pick your car to pieces, not because we're ***holes( well, not all of us), but because that's our area of interest. Look into doing some of the prepwork yourself. I did some of my own and I figured out really quick why quality paint jobs cost so much- it's not materials,man, it's prep work. And what looks smooth to you becomes wavy as a stormy sea when that clear hits. My .02...
Just wanted to thank everyone for adding some real numbers to this thread. Pricing seems to be a touchy area sometimes and it's nice to see some honest discussion about it. Before going into this I was guessing that it might be in the area of 1500-2000 so I'm feeling confident that I'm not too far off.
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