The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Anybody found a good painter?

We can't paint our own stuff in So Cal without a lot of special and expensive equipment or an expesive fine!!!

It's amazing but $10,000 paint jobs don't look 10X better that $1000 jobs!!!

Doesn't matter how much I pay!!

I seem to get 1-3 Good jobs from a shop and then garbage

Anyone know someone that's good? Won't turn my stuff and hard work to junk?

Yes, I found a good painter:
Painter

Wal Jim ;

You know I'm fond of those One A Day typ cheapo places , I take the vehicle apart so they don't spray the door handles and bumpers etc. then I refuse to pick it up if it's wrong .

I've gotten some really good paint jobs out of Earl Schieb typ - places , of course these are not show rigs , just my low end used cars and beaters .

Single stage paints always , never _ever_ that fancy-schmancy two stige crap .

Gord

That's what I'm talking about !!! Charge you the national debt and your truck looks like it was painted with a brush!!!

If you could find a good painter that does jobs on the side and then rent a paintbooth. You should get a better job all the time. You can also really keep an eye on things that way. It is hard for a shop to stay consistent and they have a lot of overhead. Avoiding their overhead will allow you to pay the painter good and he should stay motivated.

Jim - I think you have hit on a universal problem in the industry. I talked to alot of people to get a recomendation for a painter, and most of them said well so and so did a great job on my car but I would not go back to that *#!*#**.

I'm having a similar problem, the guy that's doing my truck does fantastic work BUT he has had my truck 2 YEARS. The body work is all finished and I have some pieces painted but for some reason he just can't seem to get the job finished.

Sorry I don't have a solution but I think it's the nature of the business.

George

Around here, I hear it is supply$$ and demand$$. The shops with the good painters and high overhead are making big$$bucks doing the insurance work and don't have time to do old truck paint jobs. If they do have the time they want to get the same profit they get with the insurance jobs that they crank out.

I'm still looking for a painter also.....

Buddy

Call me lucky, but I think I found one less than a mile from the house (I took Tony P and Joy over there one day). Yeah, he's had my stuff over a year now but that's great -- it's not in my way around here (Free Storage).

The guy is an old guy who does restoration work on the side. Around here, you can get good restoration work done reasonably priced. You just can't be in a hurry.

John

Yet another reason not to live in Kalifornia.

I am guessing it is the paint fumes, one of my good friends is paint/body man-he cannot nor has he ever finished anything. No one will take him any work any longer, he won't do it. Says he will, but never does. Brian

10 grand is brutal,but it's 6000 bucks around here for the best and ya wait for months,given the difference in cost of living between Ca and NY,it's about the same.And NY has less strict painting laws.There's alot of good painters, but less great painters.
That's why my 37 has a primer job.

Contact a local community college or trade school, and find some students in the tail end of an auto body program. See if one will paint for parts and minimal labor rate. Tell him or her - "If it's good enough, you'll get free advertising from me." If it's not good enough, well, you're only out a few hundred bucks and it's probably better than what you started with...

$10,000 is probably about right if the shop has
to take it all apart and reassemble. It cost
me about $5,000 and I had to completely
disassemble it and put it back together. I
even built a special dolly for the cab, rented
a truck, and hauled it all down to the shop. I
also had to make sure all the pieces were in
separate piles for interior and exterior paint.
Didn't realize how many parts there are on an
old truck. I also realize why a lot of people
take them apart and never put them back together. It can be depressing at times when
you see all the parts. Cecil.........

51J,
Nice pics on Webshots! I hope my GMC looks that good someday.

Buddy

51 Jimmy, where is Aptos CA? I didn't see you driving in Walnut Creek a few weeks ago did I? I saw a beautiful truck the same color as yours all done right going right near my house. I think you are down south but still, it was that exact color.

Its 10 miles south of, dare I say it, Santa
Cruz. You didn't see my truck. Its geared
for about 50 to 55 highway speed, so I don't
go very far. Besides, its usually to cold or
wet for my baby to be outside.

51Jimmy -- 10 grand for a paint job??? Sounds more like a restoration to me. When you say they disassemble everything, do they derust, fix dents and do all that, too? If so, I think we're talking about something that goes significantly beyond a "paint job."

When you say "paint job," I think of some one sanding down the existing finish, priming it and then top coating with a new finish. Maybe some loosening of the fenders, if required. But what you all are describing sounds pretty close to a frame off resto to me. And no wonder it costs so much.

Just trying to compare apples to apples here

Thanks,
John

Around here NE Ohio,paint jobs are $4000.on up.One guy charges $8000.on up,(The sky is the limit).He does beautiful work.A friend of mine had him paint a 67 GTO,and it turned out perfect.Once in a while you can find someone to do the job for $2000.but the quality is not there.Restoration work is also out of sight.It is an expensive hobby.

I have a 3 yr old grand-daughter that will paint it cheap, just for more experience

I've got more than one paint job here that any three year old wouldbe proud of

John there are guys here that tell you they charge $80 per hr

Paint looks like they charge a lot more!!!

I have a trailer and do a lot of car hauling for guys around here. In the past couple years I have hauled maybe 20 cars to and from body shops for paint and the prices I have seen here range from $6000 - $14000 for a nice job on an old car or truck. Usually the owner has taken the car apart, stripped it to bare metal, welded in the patch panels and roughed in the body work. The body shop then does the finishing body work to bring it up to their specs and primes and blocks it. I haul the car there in pieces and bring it home in pieces. (shiny pieces) I would say if the car was together and you wanted a "driver" quality job instead of a "show" type job, the prices would be less. Seems like everyone wants perfection nowdays. (myself not included!)

I have a couple of brother-in-laws that work in body shops doing late model insurance work. They make good money doing this and don't even want the problems associated with doing old cars. At one of their shops, if anyone comes in with an old car (older than '80's-'90's) for paint, they tell the customer that their paint jobs start at $10,000 for old cars. If the customer doesn't run away from sticker shock, then they actually will give him an estimate. The estimate usually falls in the $10,000-$15,000 range, but they do beautiful show winning work. Good paint requires even better bodywork and prep and that takes time.

Your right John, I was thinking a full
restoration paint job for 10K. A normal
paint job in this area is between $3K to $5K.
Cecil.......