Hi, I was curious as to where you guys have gone to get your cars completely re-painted, your input on the quality of the work and a ball park estimate of how much you paid (if you don't mind me asking). The wife is allowing me to paint my silverstone either championship white or berlina black. thanks, i appreciate any input i could get.

 

Where are you located?



The cost of the paint job is dependant on what you want to do. Are you just painting the outside? The door jambs? The engine bay? The inside of the Trunk? To just paint the outside is, obviously, the least expensive and will ultimatly hurt your resale as it's obvious that the car's been painted everytime you open a door, the hood or the trunk. I would personally always opt for the door jambs and the trunk. But that will require some disassembly to make it happen, and you might want to be careful with your seats and carpet and perhaps remove them yourself. Even going so far as putting in a crappy used seat that can get overspray on it and not cause a problem. The engine bay is a BIG undertaking, as the motor has to come out to do the job properly. In some cases, you can get away with it. Like if the car is red and you are going to black. Or anytime you are painting a black car. Unfortunatly, I think Silverstone would clash with the white, but you MIGHT be able to pull it off with the black.

I've never painted an enitre car, but I'd expect to pay $5-7,000 for a very good exterior paint job with no repair work. Depending on how much of the removal and replacement of the interior you do yourself, you can add in the jambs and trunk for probably $400-$700 more. The sky is the limit on the engine bay. I can't even guess what that might be, and you'd have a TON of options there.

I have no idea the condition of your car, but if it's relatively stock, you might consider selling it and buying one in the color you want. That will likely be cheaper and easier in the long run.

 

thanks for the info, there's definitely a lot more to consider than i thought and it is definitely a lot more costly than i thought. sorry forgot to mention i'm located in the northwest suburbs of chicago and i have an 05 that is basically stock, i only have it dropped. once again thanks, i appreciate the input.

 

You could consider getting the car wrapped, but that isn't exactly cheap either. I think a decent wrap job runs $2-3k.

 

I'm currently in the process of getting my Silverstone repainted to Championship White, my car should be ready by next week.

Prices can change depending on where you go. I havent been in the car scene in awhile and its been years since I've been to a show (HIN etc etc) but there's quite a handful of body shops that advertises at the shows. I remember a buddy of mine who wanted a complete change over at Gold Coast bodyshop (back when they were on North Ave) cost 5,500 on a Civic with body work.

My AP1 is currently in storage at my buddy's warehouse and one of his tenants from his building use to own a body shop, so he's doing the work on my car. I'm getting the door jams and trunk painted. I just gotta find some time to either pull out the motor with my buddy or we take off as much of the sides as we can to paint the engine bay.

Obviously I will be posting pictures of my car once everything is complete.

 

I think I'd rather spend the money on a newer car in the color you want. But that's just my humble opinion.

Call Huntley Collision Center 847-669-5260. They did all the paint on my car, and a few others in the area. Speak to KC. They may not be "close" for you, but they do excellent work at a reasonable rate.

My estimates are just ball-park. Give them a call for a FAR more accurate quote.

 

I HAVE had plenty of cars repainted. Anything from just an exterior respray (including door jambs and underside of hood and trunk lids) to full tear down, chassis color swap.

The most I paid was $8000 for my 1994 Prelude, but that included shaving rain rails, door handles, fuel filler door, license plate inset, all key holes, and bumper mounted parking lights. It also included installing door popper, a manual hidden door unlock, relocation of fuel filler neck, custom plate mount, custom color mix, custom metal flake clear coats, motor pull, engine bay painted to flat black, and quite a bit more. This was at a shop that specialized in HIN type of cars (and no it wasn't Bodywerks).

I also had a full bare chassis paint swap done on my Integra. The body shop was given a 'close to bare' car...it still had all windows on it, one seat, dashboard, steering column, headlights, tailights, all panels, and motor in the car. Basically it was a bare as it could be but still drivable to the body shop. The shop pulled the motor, the dashboard, wiring harness, etc. and did a full spray to Berlina black. They then reinstalled everything to get the car driveable back to the house. I paid a local member to reinstall everything (his name is Midwesta). All in, that job cost about $4500.

The least I've paid for a full repaint was just around $3000. They painted everything except for the engine bay and included some small custom stuff here and there. The work was top notch and didn't need to visit the body shop for subsequent visits to finish or fix minor things here or there. They are located in the NW 'burbs and will be getting my other S2000 to paint swap as well. They are A&L Autobody in Palatine. IF you're interested in seeing the car they did, you're more than welcome to come over or meet up somewhere. If you come over you can see and compare an average to good quality paint job to an excellent paint job, both on S2000s.

Since I've been in the import scene (since 1992), I've had work done at 11 different body shops. My S2000s have seen 7 of them. Of all of them, I'd highly suggest going to three of them; I'd suggest one of them more for the custom color swap more than the other two, but that's just because they've worked on more S2000s than the other two.

1) A&L in Palatine
2) Body Shop of Barrington in Barrington
3) Collision Specialist of Illinois in Crystal Lake (they do GREAT repair work)

If you're going to the do the paint swap, I'd suggest having someone like Midwesta help you part the car (if you don't have time or know-how to do it yourself). Take the car to A&L to get the paint done; then have Midwesta help with the reinstall of everything that was taken off. The more you can take off, the cheaper the costs is going to be; especially with the S2K. Things like the soft top, trim pieces, and interior plastic panels really get in the way of getting a full respray done.

If you're up for taking a suggestion, I'd suggest doing the ITR color; champ white with a berlina black windshield frame (and down the road, a black hardtop).

My 1st s2000 was originally Berlina; and I LOVED that color. But I also spent a lot of time taking care of it...10 years down the road, with a paint swap, I miss the color. But I enjoy being able to drive the car and still have a great looking car 30 minutes after detailing more. Plus, you can always see a Berlina Black S2000 at a meet, especially here in IL....you'd have to wait and search to see a Championship White one (which would be nice to just open up the garage door to see one).

Sorry for the novel.

 

@ enthusiast128: definitely looking forward to seeing how your silverstone --> championship white will turns out

@luder94: i appreciate the novel, it was quick read and if you don't mind letting a complete stranger take notes on your car i would be interested in seeing how the finished product came out (as long as it's not too far out). i work at northwest community hospital and live in algonquin (a quarter mile west of the algonquin and randall intersection). i'm pretty busy until next week but let me know what works for you.

 

I live in Algonquin too, just behind the Best Buy.

 

On the recommendation of Urmil (Luder94), I've used Barrington Auto Body for a door respray after some schmuck scratched it up. While they're certainly not at the cheap end of the spectrum, I don't think they're out of line with their pricing.

But I think ruexp67 is probably on the right track with regards to cost. I asked Barr. Auto Body to guesstimate the cost of spraying my entire car, inside and out and every nook and cranny. They said I would be looking at at least $5,000, possibly close to $8,000 depending on how much time it took them. Of course, that was assuming they disassembled and reassembled the car themselves. They also told me they'd probably take around 3-4 weeks to do it too...

Either way, good luck with whatever you decide...

And last thing. There's a part of Urmil's S2000 where the paint is purposely thinned/faded so that you can see the carbon fiber weave through the coloring. I think it's fncking sick looking. If you meet up with him, be sure to take a look at that...