how much for a paint job?

[cinnabar]

does anybody know what a reasonable price quote should be for a paint job? The original coaton my 97 corolla has lost that shine that I want. So a new coat and clear coat is what I'm looking for, no custom work. I've gotten a variety of quotes. I'm just stickin it out there and seeing what you ppl have come across.

[TokyoRacer]

At a local shop near me that does restorations I could get a paitnjob for about 2500CDN. The guy mixes all his own paint and everything..but it takes like 3 weeks to get a car paitend there..he doesn't charge overly much..but takes his time..

[A Diddy]

for just one coat with a clear with it its like 400 - 500bucks CND with no body fixing...but they dont strip the car down they just paint form the outside..no doors nothing

[cinnabar]

Mine needs some body work. My brother who owned it before me ran it past an old utility van and dented all the panels from the rear passenger driver side door to the wheel panel up front. It didn't really do much to the paint except chip it off in a couple places. If I can get the body repaired I was hoping that they could just do a touch up around the bad spots and put another clear coat on, but RED is a hard color to duplicate without glaring differences. There's a MAACO shop where I live that I'm probly going to have do all the work. Sounds like I'm getting into 2k+ at least to get it looking good... not looking good for a good return on investment if I sell it I guess.

[redgtxdi]

I have a couple of suggestions depending on how bad your paint is currently...........


#1.) Get some clay bar. Get some Meguiar's *scrub it* car cleaner polish. Or their #1 stage *cleaner*. Then get some Meguiar's *Gold Class* wax or their "Car Cleaner/Wax" and go to town with as much elbow grease as you can muster.

The clay bar will take surface impurities out.......(You need to use it with topical spray. Mother's has a kit, or you can use Meguiar's kit but they both use their spray solution which is ESSENTIAL to do clay-barring).

#2.) If you don't think that all of the above would satisfy, you might ask to see if they'll do *just* the clear coat!!

In many cases, your paint color is quite safe underneath the clear & another coat of clear will simply make it look super shiny!!

Just some thoughts!

[stubborn1]

Remember, with paint jobs you get what you pay for.

Maaco has never been known for outstanding paint work. My friend bought one of their cheap paint jobs and they actually painted over bird crap on the car. The masking work left a lot to be desired too. I've always heard a decent paint job with minor body prep will cost around $2k US.

If it were me, I wouldn't sink the money for a good paint job into a car thats 9 years old.