I know this question been asked a million time , but i still need to ask it :
How much should i expect to pay for a good paintjob ? i dont want o pay over 2k and i dont want to paint it somewhere too cheap ( maaco , earlscheib) .... so how much quality should i expect for the price ...etc

i was quoted 1400 with fixing of things... which isnt bad.... since there is a lot of damage on the car

if your buget is under 2k, your not gonna get a show quality job.
1500-2k should get a professional looking, decent job.
no runs, sags, or surface imperfections.
the low side will get you less cut and buff time.
the more you pay, the better the prep work should be. THAT is where all the work in a paint job is.
applying the paint is the easy part.
for your everyday average paint job, with some minor door dings ect, i would expect to pay ~1500$ for a full basecoat clearcoat complete, the more you want them to remove, IE windows ect, expect that price to jump up a BUNCH.
if you have ANY peeling or "checking" of the clearcoat, expect HIGH estimates.
g/l

yea i have lots of peeling of clear coat.... question... is there a way to blast off the old paint, and clear coat? cuz i have a huge area where its chipping off the door

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Here is My story .... i had 4 HUGE dents on my car , one of my buddies told me he can fix them for me and i said ok ( he did his own car and it was good) .... he used a sliding hammer ( or whatever that thing is called) ... he put holes in the car and then covered it with filler and everything ...he told me to come back later so that he can sand them ..... anyways , about an hour later and the filler wasnt dry yet !! so i called him and he realized he didn't put hardener !! well , i will spare you the rest of this , i dont realy want him anywhere near the car but now i have holes covered with soft muddy body filler !! and i dont know what to do , and i dont have that much mondy saved up so i want a decent service for a price.....i keep hearing horro stories about maaco and Earlscheib ..... i know you pressure2 work at a maaco and you make it sound really nice .... but i dotn want to drop money on pain for a car that i am KEEPING and then regret it ...

Well as stated. $2,000 isnt going to be that great of a paint job. It will look half decent but probably is no where close to what you are picturing.

Now if you strip the paint from your car yourself and fix any issues so its ready for primer and paint then $2k may get the job done to your satisfaction.

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Pressure2's car looks Great and i believe he did it at maaco standards except it was his own handy work ....i dont have any body experience at all and i dont know what to do/how to do it ...

a decent /good paintjob will cost around $1500-$3500. It all depends on the quality of workmanship, prep work, paint, amount of time put into it. My paintjob cost me $2000 with repairing my 1/4 pannel after my accident. So, replacing 1/4 pannel, full sanding down, 3 layers of paint, 5 layers of clear and doing only the door jams, not under the hood, or under the hatch. I got a quote for sarah's coupe gettin painted at my buddies body shop and he wanted $1200 for full colour change, gettin rid of any rust and re-painting the entire car including every thing except under the hood.

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CHANGE OF PLANS : i backed into a car and now i have to pay my saved money to the guy i hit !!! so .... car has to wait , i also been turned down by a bunch of body shops because the car was worked on ( and messed up) already..... i am thinking of doing my own body work and paint prep to insure myself of good results.... so i need help with that ... ALOT of help..... i am just hoping the estimate on the dent i put into the guy's bumper doesnt cost me too much


Explanation: my budget for paint is cut in half now .... i can only spare 1-1.5K .... i dont want to get a maaco or earlscheib paint job due to hundreds of people telling me not to !... so i will have to go to a "better" place where they do it right and spray good paints..... but in order to cut down costs , i need to do my own body work and paint prep .... so can anybody tell me a list of things that needs to be done ? i will buy one of those lil books that explain body work and try to learn as much as i can from the internet and then give it a try ... i cant make it worse and if i get frustrated then Maaco it is !! thnaks for you help everybody

This post has been edited by NaderG: Oct 4, 2007 - 10:44 PM

I am going to say this for the good of humanity and primarily yourself.

Unless you have been working with body repair as a profession somewhere before do not start this project. You will end up doing about half the decent job they do and turning it into a disaster. Trust me there is nothing worse than overdo what you are about to do such as break lines, break curves, not follow slopes, have stuff tilting, improper ground surface etc etc etc. Also from point you are done// lets just theorise you do accomplish your task. a quick rain will soak well into primer thus everything you have done up to this point will go bye bye.

Do this.
go to maaco, go to anywhere and get the bodywork done. That will cost you about 700 tops. Save up a little and get car painted elsewhere

got mine done at a little shop for $533 paint was flaked to the good heavens! looked like it rained at night on a clear day.

I will put it like this, its not always the shop you go to its how much work the people doing it are willing to do. some maaco shops will half ass the crap out of you and some wont. go to their yards and look at the final product. my car had a few MINOR imperfections but think about it... why pay 2k for a paint job thats going to get knicked if you drive alot (and being that you seem to be accident prone like me...go cheaper, and use the rest for some other cool mods!

what anus is going to be looking at your car with a magnifying glass? UNLESS youre showing, but overall you will DEFINATELY be okay if you have 1k to spare!

i guess i wont be doing any bodywork myself , i looked into it and it does sounds tooo complicated .... what else can i do to ensure i get the most out of my low quality paintjob ? i am thinking things like taking of the emblems and other small stuff so that they don't mess up on masking and stuff ......

Bump: can anybody give me some quick tips on how to get my car ready for painting ?
body work will be done by one of my friends who took a bunch of body shop classes before, but i still want to get the most out of my money so :
i want to take off the emblems , how do they come off ??
i am thinking about doing the sanding myself because i dont want them to do a quick job and have paint falling off the car later , so how should i do that ??
anything else ?

This post has been edited by NaderG: Oct 8, 2007 - 5:15 PM

to take off emblems,u:
Items needed:
· Hairdryer
· 20+ pound fishing line or dental floss
· Pair of gloves (preferably thick)
· Some type of goo remover

Step One:
The first thing you should do is wash the vehicle to free it from any dirt and debris. You do not want to have any small particles get between the paint and the badges when you are trying to remove them. Washing the vehicle first will allow for a clean surface and reduce the risk of scratching the paint.

Step Two:
Use a hairdryer to heat up the badges. Be careful when doing this as you do not want to get too close to the paint or use too much heat. This can damage the paint, so use just enough heat so that the adhesive on the back of the badge softens up a little bit. If you are not comfortable in using a hairdryer or do not have a hair dryer, you can let the vehicle sit in the direct sun for a few hours on a hot day to soften the adhesive.

Step Three:
You will need some fishing line or dental floss. If you choose to use fishing line, get a high breaking strength such as twenty pound or more so it will not break continuously. I chose to use dental floss because that is what I had on hand. Dental floss will break a few times, but it is cheap and it gets the job done. Wear gloves for this part because both the fishing line and the dental floss can cut into your hand. Take the string of line or floss and start flossing through the back of the badge. This will cut between the paint and the back of the badge releasing it from the vehicle. Continue doing this until the badge is off. You may need to heat it up as you go to keep the adhesive soft.
Step Four:

Once the badges are removed you will be left with some sticky goo on the paint. Some simple goo remover will take this off. Once the surface is clean and free from any residue, you can re-wash and wax the area to get it sparkling like the rest of your paint!

You now have a clean and uncluttered surface on your vehicle.

copy and paste is god...lol theres a vid somewhere on the net lol

This post has been edited by CelicaST_CALI: Oct 8, 2007 - 10:03 PM

try n find some detailed threads on here about prepping for paint

if you do a descent job on dents and sanding yourself, then take it to a descent maaco around you for the rest and paint i think you will be happy. as said previously, dont spend alot for a GREAT paint job. ive done about 4 paint jobs myself with what facilities i have access to and they look fine imo, not show car WOW fine, but new car fine. i know whats wrong with the job and where and im trying to get better so i can at least come as close to a 5k paint job as i can without breakin 1k to get some good paint. coomer did the yelli celi himself with tractor paint in his garage... research alot and i say to try it yourself or at least have a large hand in the prep work. i think you will be far happier with a less quality paintjob you did yourself than droppin 3k to have someone do it for you.

start practicing on pieces of sheet metal with cheap products. then work up and eventually try your car, or a beater car (which you can use later while your celi is out of commission)

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how do i remove the main ones from the front bumper and the back ??

OK , everything is done ! ... i just dropped off the car to get painted for 900$ , a 2 stage paint job with plenty of prep work ! ... one of my dad's friends has a used car dealership and he sent me to the body shop where he gets volume discount... they do a good job ! ..... i apologize that i didn't take any pics of the car before the paint job , but i guess i will post some afterwards..... now i need to buy emblems : i want a TRD emblem and the Toyota emblem ..... any body knows part numbers ?

Anybody know that part number for the Toyota emblems and a TRD emblem , i tried searching but i cant find them.....

good to hear bro! glad youre having some money left over!

that means we split the remainder?

are they painting the door jams and under the hood as well? cant wait to see pics!

part #s for you
TRD Part #'s
and just contact your local dealer about the Toyota T's.

i am keeping it black , so i dont think they will paint the door jams and underhood or trunk .... BEST thing is that my dad decided to chip in so i am planning on lowering the car once i get back

i already ordered my tricircle emblem and will buy a TRD emblem from Ebay
i am just wondering if 3m double sided tape is enough to stick the old emblems and nameplates back to the car?


ADD: where do i get SSIII spliters replicas from ??

This post has been edited by NaderG: Oct 11, 2007 - 9:16 PM

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i think sombody is selling them here? or is that the lip? i cant remember...

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i think it is vincent doggy , but he only made a few of them

Nader...let me know how it goes bro...im at a very low budget too and i want my car to be repainted...stripped and primer and all that stuff you're looking for...if it is 900, i think i can spare...pls let me know and if you can be of any assistance for me too

This post has been edited by chacha: Oct 13, 2007 - 12:36 AM

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i didnt strip and primer it .... he just said he will sand it down , but unlike other volume people , he will take his time doing so .... stripping and priming the car will probably cost you a bit more ..... also , the 900$ include a volume discount that i got through my dad's friend.... but even without it , that shop does good work for a good price

Getting my car back tomorrow !! i wanted to go see the work in progress but i was too busy , i still have an unanswered question : what should i use to put the emblems back on ???

Anybody ?? what should i use for those emblems ?? like a double sided 3M tape ? anything better ?? help !

double sided 3m tape works perfectly. But dont put them back on right away..let the paint set for about a week untill its fully set and hardened. I use 3m tape for all the logos i put on my car over the last while. It works fine and its hard to pull them off too.

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Thanks , i got the car back and it looks pretty good .... minor things wrong here and there but overall , this is a bargain for 900$ , i will post pics ASAP

i guess pics wont do any good now .... i am such an idiot , i got yelled at by my dad and i got really mad ... i was supposed to take his car out of the garage and put mine in , anyways , i was angry and as i was putting my car in , i scratched it ...... amazing ..... the car only looked good for a week .... i dont know what to do now really