repainting gfx = $$$ ??

[AlienInv8r]

Whoa man. I went to two body shops in the past few days and have been quite shocked at their estimates for me. The first place I went was a really good body shop, the one that did Pewter2K's flame job, and he told me it'd run me about $1,000 just to strip and repaint my old ground effects. He also told me it'd just be cheaper to buy an entire new kit rather than repaint my old ones. Second thing, I went to Maaco to see what they'd say so I'd at least have semi-decent paint to hold me over until I can do the whole car. They gave about the same estimate, and said that they could actually paint my whole car for cheaper using one of their plans (minus gfx). Is it seriously usually this expensive to repaint simple ground effects?? I was thinking it'd be like $4-500 total. Just curious if anyone else has ever had theirs repainted. The previous owner got mine pretty messed up so I wanted them redone.

On a positive note, the guy from the good body shop said that he'd paint my whole car for about $2500, and I know his work is definately good. So I have something to save up for over the next year. But does it really cost this much to get gfx repainted, or did I just choose two shops that're pricey (I expected maaco to be like $100 since they do the whole car for $200)??

[Ted]

Yea, my bodyshop usually does them for 400-500 bucks or something like that. Usually they're really scraped up so it's a lot of work getting them smooth again. But keep looking for a shop that does them for around that price, you'll eventually find one.

[AlienInv8r]

Wow, I would've never guessed that much then. I went ahead and found a very close spray paint to my silver, and actually touched it up myself. I figured I may as well save up and just get the whole car done at once with a really nice job all around. My spray paint touch-up doesnt look too horrible, from 10 feet back you can barely tell. I just sanded off all the flakes, then went through the prime/paint/clear steps. Of course it's nothing like a real paint job, but it'll hold me over for the year till I can truly afford what I want. I can handle a goofy looking car for awhile anyways, extreme looks aren't the top of my priorities anyways. It looks decent from a distance, and I'm just gonna plan for the future I guess.

[ July 23, 2003: Message edited by: AlienInv8r ]</p>

[tdaddyz]

mine was $100, and a ticket to watch me play football. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Loochy88]

a guy at an autoparts store i met did paintwork on the side. i saw some samples of hiw work, and decided to paint mine. he did it all for 300 bucks. wonderful job.

[Arctc Wolf]

I suggest taking off the ground Fx and taking them in to be color matched to the car. get the paint code from the inner door, and have them just paint the ground FX themselves. the color may be off due to the sun bleaching ur car's paint for a while, but won't be off by much.

[TurboKillaZ]

$1000 :rolleyes: what they smoking I wonder
go look around and you'll find a cheaper place.I paid only $250 for mine

[Firebird1055]

It costs a lot to have ground effects *properly* prepped and painted. Not $1,000 by any means, but it's not cheap. Mine are urethane, meaning they're basically rubber, and it takes 4 steps just to smooth out and prepare the pieces, then the 5th step is painting. I'm sure there are shops that can skip some of those steps, but you may pay for it in the long run. Mine are still sparkling white, and have a more "mirror" finish then the entire rest of my car, and I haven't even waxed them or anything. When they repaint them they'll probably have to take them off again, so that'll be an installation fee as well. Mine were around $500 to get them painted and installed, but I'm sure it varries. I'm not saying the guy didn't know what he was talking about, but $1,000 is indeed steep. Like everyone's said, just shopping around can yield better results, so good luck.

[Pewter2k Formula]

Jason....I think the reason Jimmy's price is so high is due to the fact that your GFX are in bad shape so it will take alot of work to get them nice and smooth. That's why he told you to go by a new kit and have him paint/install it. Like the other people said...its alot of work to prep them if they're in bad shape. And just remember...you get what you pay for. I dont know of any other body shops around that do painting/body work.

[AlienInv8r]

Yeah, I realized with Jimmy's shop it was gonna be expensive. Also, a large portion of that estimate was for him repainting my entire rear bumper and blending it into the quarters also. I forgot to mention that part...I guess I just didnt realize how much work went into repainting them. This is really the first time I've ever had to deal with any sort of body work since I bought the car in crappy shape (finally startin to catch up on me), so this is a whole new ball game to me. Jimmy did tell me if I bought a new kit that he'd do the whole entire car for me for $2500. So I'm gonna save up over the next year and hopefully next summer drop a wad of money to get my car looking really nice. I can deal with it being roughed up for a few more months so that I can have it done right and very well the first time. I really want to save up for a nice job, and based on your cars looks, I know I can trust his work and will go straight to him when I have the money for it.
In the mean time, I actually touched up my front gfx myself. I found the closest color silver I could find, and actually just spray painted it. I took my time and did all the prime/sand/color/clear steps, and honestly it doesnt look half bad at all, and it's way better than it was before. I'm pretty happy with it, and you seriously can't tell unless you're looking for it. So I've decided I'm going to save up over the next year, and buy the Xenon kit, then have Jimmy paint my whole car with a show car quality finish. I think I'll be very happy with that in the end. Now I'm just too anxious to save up that much cash, haha.

[ July 24, 2003: Message edited by: AlienInv8r ]</p>