flamingdragon

Hey H-T,

I have been looking around for autobody shops to paint my EH2 with a complete color change from Milano Red to Captiva Pearl Blue. I've gotten quotes for $4800 for full exterior and interior with both base and clear and was wondering if this sounds too expensive or just about right. Previous experiences welcome!

JDMswagSerf

The price depends on what the shop will do. I assume they will remove any removable panels and paint them inside and out. If thats the case, then it sounds like a fair price for the labor and paint.
If all the quotes you have recieved are around that price, then try to negotiate with the shops for the best price.
With a price around that area, make sure the shop removes your panels for paint and color sands it and buff its after.

If the shop is only going to mask the everything and paint what they can see, I wouldn't pay anything over $2700 for it.

flamingdragon

Thanks for the reply, I am planning on stripping everything down and taking all the glasses out and basically towing it to them as a rolling bare shell. I have gone to other shops and one even quoted me for $15k for a full paint job, which to me is some bull$h!t.

JDMswagSerf

So they are just going to sand it, do any body work and spray it? Or remove the panels/doors? Or are you doing that too?
$4800 is too much if you remove everything, in my area and in my opinion.

$15k?!
I would expect them to pull the engine and give you a show car ready vehicle.
I guess if most of the quotes you are getting are around the $4800 range, then it must be a fair price.
Still seems too much though if you're removing everything.

flamingdragon

I would basically remove all panels, they would just sand, primer, paint, and clear basically. But I asked the guy how much the difference was between painting the interior vs only painting the exterior, jams, and engine bay, it was only like a $800 difference.

Yea for $15k I might as well go look for a type r
I would love to find a place that could do it for $2-3K, another local shop said he could do it for 3k but only exterior and jams.

JDMswagSerf

$800 for the interior and $4k for the car? Lol, $4k is too much just for the outside.

The $3k sounds like a fair price. Full color change and jams.

Are you looking to have the car look as if it was never the original color?
I would go with the $3k price and tell them you will be removing all panels and if they can paint everything on the panels in and out, as well as the trunk jams and the top of the fenders where they bolt to the bay. They might charge more but not near $4800.
You would live with a different color engine bay, but would save around $2k.

flamingdragon

Yea, i was trying to have it so everything is the color i want and it looks as if the car came with that color. The painter said for 4800 he would paint clear inside and out and make it consistently shiny (i guess that means show quality but im not sure..)

I have been thinking about just getting some POR15 and doing the interior and engine bay the battleshi grey color but the guy would still charge $3k for the exterior paint job. To me, the $1800 extra to get everything fully matched would not be a huge difference.

JDMswagSerf

It doesn't mean show quality, it just means it will look like any other car with painted jams. Anyone who paints jams would make them consistently shiny.

You should go with the first quote of $4800 to have it all looking original if thats what you're going for then.
Unless the $3k guy offers to do it for a bit more but less than $4800.

Some advice, don't do grey on the jams. It will look bad, trust me. It would look better just on the bay.

flamingdragon

Yea that is my thought. I am still looking around for more estimates right now, so maybe someone will do it for a more affordable price.

I know if i just paint the interior myself, it would probably be cheaper but it would be nice if the shop would just do it all.

JDMswagSerf

Are you removing the doors as well when you get it painted? If so, it will come out better if the shop does it all at once. The color will also look more uniform. Doing it yourself on the inside then a shop on the outside runs the risk of having 2 different shades on the in and out.
Why not ask the $3k guy how much more to do the engine bay? $3500 sounds like a fair price if he agrees to it.
The engine is out, yes?

Crazy the cost for a paint job. Back in 2011 I had a backyard painter paint my car for a little less than $1k. Body and door/trunk jams, color change.(silver to a blue similar to the color you want) I just painted the engine bay myself. Only real failure I see is where he didn't scuff up the trunk jams and the paint started to lift there after a few years. Rest of it still looks good.

flamingdragon

Yea I would remove doors and hatch. I was thinking if the shop painted the door jams and I just got the same shop to give me a gallon of the same paint and spray the interior myself.
But you are right, having the shop do it all at once would make it look better. And yes, the engine will be out along with the dash, seats, carpet, interior pieces, basically just a rolling shell to spray.

The $3K guy bashed on all of the body work that needed to be done and kept emphasizing how it wasn't worth it because the car was crap, so Idk if i want to go to him.

Yea, I was also debating spraying it myself in my garage but there's small kids in my neighborhood and i don't want any of the fumes to get out and cause any complaints.

JDMswagSerf

Yea doing it all at once would be best.
Dang, it will be a breeze job for the shop.
I have never painted a gutted car, but I assume it would need very little masking if doing it all at once.

Yea, you will get some shops/people who will say that, "the work is worth more than the car value". Best to stay away from them.

Do you have the skills to paint it yourself? If you do, consider renting out a spray booth and spraying it yourself. You will save a ton of $. Just need supplies and your time.

flamingdragon

Yea, I wouldn't imagine it being that hard especially if nothing needs to be taped. I am not sure how much more paint would be used for the interior (i'm thinking maybe half a gallon) but it shouldn't be that much more expensive.

Yea, i've gotten a bunch of those, otherwise nobody would want to get their car painted.

I haven't had any experience painting yet but I would definitely consider trying for this project. I have looked around for a paint booth to rent out but no luck so far.

JDMswagSerf

3 quarts ready to spray would be enough for the interior.
So 1.5 quarts of unreduced paint will do it.

If you do the inteior yourself, at least let the shop do the jams and you do everything after that.

flamingdragon

yea i'll see how much it would be for that.

I am also thinking that maybe finding another hatch that is already captiva pearl blue and just doing a respray would be cheaper..

JDMswagSerf

Yea, that would also work, but you would have to wait for a shell right?
Then buy it, and wait to sell yours. Seems like it will take a while.

flamingdragon

Yea that's the only thing lol

KandyCRX

I don't even want to tally up the money I have put into materials to paint my car. I painted it myself. I color changed the entire car and painted the jams. Just to give you an idea of what I put into my car. The clear coat in materials was a bit over 400$. House of Kolor 1 gallon of UFC35 with catalyst and reducer is around $400. I flow coated my car which means that I sprayed the clear 2 times. I ended up needing 1 more quart of clear to finish the job. My car has a tri-coat which means there are 3 coats of different paint ontop of the primer. Using custom paint makes the price go up also. Good luck with it.

Honda4LifeB18C

How did it go? How much did you pay?

flamingdragon

Ended up putting the shell up for sale and picked up a captiva pearl blue one. Still needs respraying but a friend of mine has a body shop and can give me a discount. Hoping to get it done soon after fixing up some rust and dents.

91integraLSVTEC

i was going through this while trying to find a shop to paint my DA. Every shop i went to here in orlando fl gave me a quote for 3-6$k and one even said $12k. The shops that give you a high quote just means "to get the f out of the shop with yo **** *** rust bucket cheap ***, get a real job get a newer car and get good insurance" cause basically most body shops make a living off of insurance claims off the newer cars. unless your willing to pay $600 or so ,painting old rusty cars like ours to brand new is not view profitable because of the time and labor involved. Your going to have to search a bit harder and find an independant guy. CL is a good place to start. and if he has a facebook you can check out his previous work.

flamingdragon

How much did you end up paying? And did you do a full color change with interior, bay, and jams painted?