I realize that there are factors that will affect this, but can anyone tell me about how much I should expect to pay for a new paint job for my '97 Convertible?

It is currently dark green, but I'd like to change the color to a deep blue metal flake. I don't have a need for top-of-the-line custom paint or anything like that, just a decent job that will be complete and look good. Oh, by the way, if it makes a difference, I live in Virginia Beach, VA.

So, what range should I expect? Thanks.

This post has been edited by shaunrichard: Mar 20, 2008 - 12:51 PM

for flake and a brand new car.OOPS I THOUGHT IT SAID 2007..my bad.....do it right and expect 3-4 grand IF DONE right with the engine bay and stuff painted...

the flake is expensive!

like i say to everyone call and get some guestimates

feen

This post has been edited by speedfeen: Mar 20, 2008 - 3:56 PM

Really, it depends on how much you get done. You can goto maaco and prob spend 500-1000 but they're going to do a shabby job. Now where as another paint shop, will charge you 3 grand or more, but do your engine bay, pull your taillights, remove/replace the trim, ect, where as maaco will just tape em up and spray away.

It all depends on if that even matters to you. Some of us have paint jobs SOOOO bad, that we're willing to spray paint it to hold over, while some of us have custom grafix. How bad is your car and how much needs to be painted will relate to what you will spend...

Keep the green. I wish I had green.

If you plan on ur celi bein a daily driver i wouldnt get a flake or candy. if it gets one littlr mark or scratch its much worse than gloss or metallic. I am gettin one in April, metallic orange for 2500, your best bet would be to just go around to different places getting estimates. also i had a friend go to the local tech school and they paint for free just to get experience. Good luck, keep us posted

anywhere between $800 and $3,000

When I repainted my vert, I just kept it the white and added a few layers of gloss, which cost me a lil over $1,500.

Thanks all for the posts. To try to answer a few of the queries, my current paint isn't bad; I just have a couple of dings around the edges. There are no bubbles, there is no rust, it really looks pretty good, especially for a 10-year-old ride. I just really love blue. Don't ask why - I'm just queer for the deep blue. I also think I showed my inexperience with such things (as if this entire post isn't proof enough) when I said metal flake. I meant metallic finish. With regard to what kind of job I want done, I want something that's going to look good for the remaining life of the car and I want it wherever I can see metal. Finally, yeah, I should just go ahead and call around. I just asked this question here because, as mentioned, I've never done this sort of thing before and I want to get a general idea if I'm being rooked or not when I do talk to someone and I generally don't like dealing with salespeople anyway so all the info I can get otherwise comes in handy.

Hope this clears some things up and that I've not stepped on any toes. Thanks again for all responses.

From my small experience getting my car painted :
- i found a small shop that was willing to paint it with 2 stage paint ( 2layers of paint and 2 clear coat ) , and also pull the dents in the body !! which was a great deal. Now everybody warned me from chepa pain jobs because usually it turns bad as the car doesn't receive much labor and is done bad ! However , on my car , i thought it was painted very nicely with very lil defects with the paint , Overall , labor done on the car was great but the materials used were not so great ( my car is black at night , looks brown in the sunlight lol ) ... so my suggestion , look around alot ! get estimates and always look at the people's work , preferably in sunlight and not the shops lighting ... if u want to save some $$$ and still get good paint , find a shop that does good work and get a list of materials needed , then go buy good stuff yourself. changing the colour will be a pain since you will Definitely have to pay more in order to paint inside of doors and trunk , and your engine bay will remain green so goodluck