I paid $850 to have both front fenders painted last month. Included removing bumper, lights, liners, badges etc. Quoted $450 to paint the bumper.

 

more details are required...

does $1700 include the price of the fenders? in canada, brand new oem fenders are $529 each.

is the panel brand new OEM? if yes, it's much easier to prep/paint

if it's brand new aftermarket. prep time might double due to the little imperfections that will need to smoothed out.

if it's a used panel, it'll take lots of prep time

blending is also a lot more work than just painting a single brand new panel.

the quality of paint also plays a factor. for example, a decent clear coat goes for $400/gallon. if a shop wants to go cheap, they can use the cheaper stuff that's $100/gallon.

also, in order to remove/install a fender, the front bumper has to come off. you have to factor that time too.

 

thats pretty cheap man! u get what u paid for

 

Gotta realize you are not driving a Civic anymore

 

[QUOTE=Moddiction,Dec 22 2010, 08:36 AM] A full front end by me is about $1000 hood, fenders, front bumper and lip. Lifetime warranty on the paint and all as well.

 

Insurance claims and private sales are 2 different animals. Body shops gouge when you're coming for an insurance claim because insurance will pay. I got a windshield done through insurance and it cost almost $1000 on an invoice, the same shop did a windshield privately without insurance company involvement for $300.

2 fenders is going to be 4-6 hours of labour and maybe $200 in material. A pint of GOOD PPG is less than $100, all the other material will fall under shop supplies and will be cheap. If you're paying a couple grand to have a few body panels painted you should concider anal reconstructive surgery because you have been thoroughly butt raped.

I know people who can go to a mechanic and pay $1000 to have a front brake servicing (new pads, turned rotors and new fluid). I can replace all 4 discs and 4 sets of pads w/ slotted rotors and racing pads for $150 and I get WAY more for my money. If you let tradesmen take advantage of you, they will. I can spend 5 mins programming a part for my plasma, use $1 of material and charge someone $100-200 for a 1 off CNC cut part and they will pay. Trust me, it shouldnt cost more than a couple thousand to paint an entire 2K.

 

Right. And ignore the blending prep while you're at it. Oh, that's right, we're talking about blending. Which requires more than just 4-6 hrs of prep.

A good blend requires reclearing the doors, bumper, and hood. So now we're talking prep on those panels. Which is quite a bit more than just 4-6 hrs. So let's say 2-3 hrs per panel in prep time, plus the doors take an extra 1-2hrs to prep because of all the stuff that has to be pulled (yes, I know, I've done this myself). Now we're talking 12-18hrs of prep time. At $80/hr that's around $960-1440.

Then we get into paint. And you might be able to get a pint's worth of clear for <$100. You'll also have to get the two (or three, depending on your process) colors mixed and so on. So let's say $300 for paint.

Suddenly we're in the $1260-1740 range. Add in the buffing and extra little bits, and $1700 doesn't seem so to be that bad.

My quote included shaving the bumper - license plate holes, emblem holes, and tow hook cover. That's another $300-400 in labor/prep. Which puts us in the $1560-2140 range.

That's not including time in the paint booth or reinstalling the door handles/locks/etc or final detailing, but I'll let that slide and include that time in the prep time.


Sure, the OP could get the bumpers painted for $1000. And he'd not have the blending done properly. And while the paint match might be close, a critical eye in bright sunlight can see the difference.

 

Just anther $1000 you should have your whole car painted that way you wont have to deal with paint and blending where it wont match certain areas of the car.

 

Im not sure where these people get quotes from but i've received a quote from a custom painter who does amazing work. He quoted me 1500 for a whole car. this included door jams. as well as under the hood and also said for another 100 he would do the engine bay since the whole car is stripped. I asked him why he was 1500 cheaper than other shops and he said "Go to a shop that handles insurance claims and your going to get raped. I do this because Im retired and love to paint. I may take longer but in the end your not going to need to sell a kidney to have a great looking car" Find your self a shop like this and you'll get a decent price.

 

I'm sorry, what part of my breakdown indicated a raping?

You're talking about 1500 to paint a stripped car. I'm including costs to prep the car in my quote.

I even took my car to a friend of a friend who has his own paint shop at his house where he does after-hours jobs...and he quoted me 2700 for the front end including prepping and blending. My buddy expected it to be 1500 or less. It just didn't work out that way by the time we were done including all the prepping and blending.


Strangely, my quotes and what I paid are not all that out of line for what other people have paid for full paint jobs. If we're getting raped, we're all getting raped at the same rate (cross-country, mind you).