Budgeting for a paint job

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Rocket Man

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Shady dealers don't even spend Maaco money--they spend less then that.
First thing I do when looking at a used car is evidence of a ****** paint job because that’s usually hiding something. Maaco has ruined a lot of used cars because once they get overspray on everything because they don’t believe in removing trim the car is pretty much shot. It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t even messed up when Maaco got it- sometimes they take a car that needs a bit of paint and a blend from a decent bodyshop and instead they spray the entire car with the least amount of prep possible in order to maximize profits. Sell paint=$$$ Sell labor = $$$. Screw customer = priceless,they don’t need return customers. There’s a sucker born every minute, that's what PT Barnum said! :p
 

JPS0284

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It’s big $ because ALL the clear has to be removed and a lot of prep has to be done. That with the size of the panels for paint & supplies makes it close to $5k+ here in Cali.

It’s one of the reasons I spent $2.5k on the hood & roof, had the rest color sanded and professionally prepared for resale. Trading for a metallic paint paid off as well as all the other do dads.
They don’t strip it down to the base coat, they’ll 320/600 the truck spray the base then giver a couple coats of clear then sender down the road. I’m no expert but started learning automotive finishing from a buddy’s dad when I was a teenager. I have a compressor setup with a desiccant dryer in the garage for touch ups.
 

JPS0284

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First thing I do when looking at a used car is evidence of a ****** paint job because that’s usually hiding something. Maaco has ruined a lot of used cars because once they get overspray on everything because they don’t believe in removing trim the car is pretty much shot. It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t even messed up when Maaco got it- sometimes they take a car that needs a bit of paint and a blend from a decent bodyshop and instead they spray the entire car with the least amount of prep possible in order to maximize profits. Sell paint=$$$ Sell labor = $$$. Screw customer = priceless,they don’t need return customers. There’s a sucker born every minute, that's what PT Barnum said! :p
That place was terrible..you could do a better job with a case of duplicolor base and some 1k clear of the shelf from autozone
 

JPS0284

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If you're keeping it the same color you won't need to remove the clearcoat. With no body work needed that's what we would call a "scuff-n-shoot" and would involve scuffing the entire truck then blending in all of the faded or chipped areas then new clear on the whole truck. Depending on your location, paint code, and if you go with PPG, I would say $4-5K range with supplies and labor.

I have a new pre primed bumper cover coming this weekend. Do you need to hit it with adhesion promoter before spraying base?
 

JPS0284

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I’d say that’s unrealistic. Body shop that I trust and know does professional work quoted me $8600 to repaint my Yukon xl Denali in 2020. And that’s here in Southern California.
That’s nuts there’s probably less than 6-700$ in materials to paint a full size suv. I just picked up a pint of ppg for like 40$ish , base is 1:1 color to reducer in most cases
 

Tonyrodz

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They don’t strip it down to the base coat, they’ll 320/600 the truck spray the base then giver a couple coats of clear then sender down the road. I’m no expert but started learning automotive finishing from a buddy’s dad when I was a teenager. I have a compressor setup with a desiccant dryer in the garage for touch ups.
Scuff and spray. Taking the old paint down is more money. I've seen some shops paint over dirt--actual dirt.
 

adventurenali92

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That’s nuts there’s probably less than 6-700$ in materials to paint a full size suv. I just picked up a pint of ppg for like 40$ish , base is 1:1 color to reducer in most cases
Not to sound rude but obviously the cost of materials is not the only factor in how much it would cost to repaint a vehicle of this size….. and also not to sound rude but I highly doubt a pint of paint would repaint a vehicle of this size, at least not to the standards that this body shop does work to.
 

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