I'm going to drop my GTA off at a highly recommended local body shop this week, finally after 2 years of saving lol. It's an old guy who does custom hot rods and it a friend of a friend. He takes his time and it pays off in fantastic work and insane low prices. I'm not doing a color change and not painting under the hood until next year when my engine is out for rebuild. It looks damn nice anyway.

Anyway, I've never had a car painted. What do I need to know and do before I drop it off to him to make things easier? Here is a quick list of things I'm going to ask of him and parts I'll be taking to him:

NOS Aero Wing (Mine is cracked)
NOS Front Ground effects (Mine are cracked)
NOS Door Bumpers (The 3 piece strip on each side of the car)
NOS Emblems
NOS Complete Weather Stripping Kit
NOS Taillights
NOS Front License Plate Mount
NOS Front Inner Fender Liners
I already had TDS install new door hinges too.

What I want done:

Hatch and T-Top trim repainted in GM Trim Black
Door and hatch Key lock surrounds repainted in GM Trim Black
Area in front of fog lamps/turn signals repainted in GM Trim Black
All body panels lined up correctly
All plastic parts like GFX, wing, door bumpers, and fake hood vents removed from car and painted seperately. The front and rear bumper covers can stay on I guess.
He will also be fixing a large shallow dent in the middle of the passenger door.

I guess my concerns are, is it best for him to remove, paint, then install the new weather stripping or just have him mask it off? What about the rubber around the door mirror bases?

I plan on removing the license plates and taillights before dropping it off.

What should I really expect and what is asking too much? I'm not rich and don't want to come off too **** either. I don't want to start asking stupid questions or making so much work I can't afford it. Roughly from speaking with him before without going into this detail I'll be paying about $2.5-$3.5K for an $7K job when it's done which I expect to be 2-3 months although he is VERY light work-wise right now.

Thanks!

 

If it were me, and I know you're every bit as picky as I am, I'd completely disassemble the car. With the expense of the NOS parts, and the attention to detail you want, I think you're going to be disappointed if it isn't completely disassembled and painted as it was originally. There's only so much that can be done with masking, and I think the tape lines would bug me. It sounds more like you're just having some basic body work done, and a respray, so complete disassembly probably isn't what you have in mind. But then maybe your best bet would just be to talk to the guy doing the work and tell him what you expect, and then trust him to do what he thinks is going to give you those results.

 

for the best results and if it were me , WAIT untill u pull the motor and get all paint work done at the same time.
but if u cant wait make sure every thing necessary is removed ie windows/trim/wether striping/winsheild out hatch off hood off, and for a full color change doors off so the jams can be done properly.
just my opinion man.

 

After talking with the body shop yesterday, he also wants me to remove everything from the car before taking it to him except the hood, hatch, and doors. He also says for sake of saving $$$ I shoould put everything back on myself too. He says before taking it home he will help me to install all the new weather stripping in his shop too. He wants to hatch off to better paint under where the top of it bolts to the roof but he wants it left on during most of the prep for dust and stuff. He is a 1 man operation (paints only hot rods and muscle cars usually, he had a PCP AAR 'cuda in there yesterday!) and says he will just need my help when ready to remove the hatch before paint.

So it looks like I'll start removing everything like the GFX, wing, hood vents, inner fender, power antenna, license plates, side markers, etc. this weekend.

I'm for sure not going to do under the hood right now. Next year when the engine is out I'll remove everything and have him respary under the hood. It's just the same outside base color without the clear anyway. Mine looks almost perfect as is right now anyway, just scratches around where the hood spring is.

 

To each their own. If he's charging you that much and your taking everything off but the doors and hatch, where's the savings?

Last all-over I did I charged 2900 for it and I took everything off.

 

3500 is cheap. I'm paying 5500 now for mine to be completely stripped to the metal and redone the right way but he is doing all disassembly and whatnot.

 

The final estimate is about $4,500 now.

 

$4500 and you stripping the car? He's going to be walking away like a fat rat. I'm also going to be doing a complete paint on my car $3500 from bumper to bumper. I'm not going to do it until next year when I pull the engine out and strip the inside. I need to change the heater core and interior while I'm at it. It would be better to wait until the engine is out and do it all at once.

 

Ditto that...
for $4500 HE (the painter) should be removing the parts AND putting them back on.. Even if it is a top notch 7k paint job. If you scratch something by lets say you putting a door mirror on the car is he going to fix the scratch? I doubt it.
I know if you have the money its just as easy to go ahead and dig in, but IMO for $4500
I would let them do EVERYTHING.

 

let the body man do the work, thats why you're paying him! $4500 to paint a disassembled car is robbery. Its not like your car is a POS that needs a ton of work.

 

There is no THEM. He said it's a one man operation.

I understand your wanting to take it to a recommended place and by how much work your saying he would like you to do before taking it to him, $4500 isn't bad(if he was to do all the work that is.) There is a guy(can't remember his s/n) that just had his car repainted platnium something and with engine bay and exterior it came out to around $6000. There are places that do it cheaper and may/may not do as good of a job, but if you find comfort in knowing for sure he'll do what's expected, it's worth it. From reading your posts on these boards, it's not a project car...it's a restoration.
Ask as many questions as possible. Make it clear to him what you want.

 

I know its a one man operation I read that clearly....
One man operation, two, three, four, fifteen, twenty....
it should not matter......
If the one man operation needs assistance with the parts being removed, he should not having a problem dropping the price a tad either.....
Keep in mind all paint and body is 95% labor......
He mentioned a couple of other examples such as
NOS Aero Wing
NOS Front Ground effects that he wants done...
Is the customer supposed to uninstall and install these parts as well as part of said price? What about stripping the car to bare metal? For the money we are talkin here the customer should be getting a complete strip down, paint and final buff.

Part of the subject line to thread is " what do I need to know?"
he needs to ask the one man operation LOTS and LOTS of questions and not assume anything....
That's usually when these kinda of jobs fall through...Not enough questions asked as to what will actually happen to the car while it is in the shop..
The customer also ASSUMED this is going to be a 2-3 month job.....
One man could do it in this time...but what other customers do the one man operation actually have to work on, and what type of jobs are these other cars?
Ask questions is all I am saying.....
I have seen people me included have theyre cars sit in body shop "jails" for two years or longer on jobs that are supposed to only take 2 weeks to complete...with a 15 man crew to work on it!
They tell you this to get your business.....
Just ask a LOT of questions to your one man operation is all I am saying..

 

I must admit I am torn now.

On one hand, I could just respray the front nose, new wing, front gfx, passenger door, fix a 1" dent from a bebe gun rear of the gas door, paint the trim on the hatch and T-Tops GM Trim Black and after a good cut and buff be just fine. My paint really isn't bad at all aside from what needs to be redone lol.

OR

I could do this right like I wanted but now I'm seeing that I didn't know what I was getting into. Just for there to be no lines, I am looking at removing weather stripping from the windshield, T-Tops, and rear hatch. No way I am stripping the engine bay because it doesn't need it but I do want the inside edges of the hood painted and also the fenders. Then what about the door jams if I leave the doors on the car? I still have the complete original interior in the car.

I'm starting to think I'm not ready for a complete repaint and that I should wait until 20 years from now when I strip the entire car down to nothing

 

I did not mean to cause a ruckus...
Im sure many will vouch on this but if your car has good paint on it already you won't or should not have to take it down to bare metal. If you are not changing the color of the vehicle you more than likely wont need to respray the jambs either. If your car has good paint on it and its not faded, you might could just get away with painting your new body parts that you want added.
Sounds like to me that your just wanting some detail and bling added.
If you have a garage why not do it yourself?
You mentioned:
"Hatch and T-Top trim repainted in GM Trim Black
Door and hatch Key lock surrounds repainted in GM Trim Black
Area in front of fog lamps/turn signals repainted in GM Trim Black"
These are all cut in items. Mask the areas off and paint em yourself just be careful not to get over spray on the rest of the car.
These areas:
"All body panels lined up correctly
All plastic parts like GFX, wing, door bumpers, and fake hood vents removed from car and painted seperately."

If you are afraid to spray these items yourself, take these items to a local
maaco in your area of you have one. They can probably paint just these items
for less than $200 and install them on the car yourself. If that sounds less then "A"
quality to you (which maaco has experianced painters in the business all you are talking is spraying here and not prep) OR take these parts to your one man operation and let him spray them for a flat fee.
Stuff that needs alignment. If all the parts that need alignment are in good shape, take some time to try to align them yourself. If you can't align them
yourself to your satisfaction, why not take your car to the one man operation let him align the panels, pay him for only aligning the panels, and if these panels that are now aligned need painting, why not paint them yourself?
Mask the area of the car and paint away!
Don't be afraid to do it yourself!

 

I don't want to paint it myself because Id rather hold the shop responsible for color matching it. also the correct type of paint is illegal here however this shop owner lives out of town in a different environmental zone and can order the right paint using his home address.

I don't want to mask off and paint all the black trim myself either because I want the prep to be done correctly which I don't know how to do. I have a 2 car garage but no room to work with my other car and motorcycle in there. I recently moved and it's STACKED with crap lol.

Geico wrote me a $1881 check for my passenger door that I did a claim on last week, I only had a $100 deductable. The dude was cool and even factored in new emblems and everything, he was a car guy too, also know the guy I planned on using for doing my car and had nothing but great stuff to say about him.

While most of my paint is great, each panel has it's own little ding or scratch that's bothered me for years lol. I don't know how much more cutting and buffing and Zaino'ing I can do on this old paint but I fear it's at the end of it's life lol. Grrrr, I just wish a full repaint weren't such a pain in the *** lol.

 

Understood....
Sounds like you are heading in the right direction.
Just curious....What all did the one man operation want you to remove?
Also....Why not post some complete pictures of your car in this thread so everyone including professionals in this business can more see what we are looking at? I realize that any paint and body person would need to see the car in person but we could get a general idea anyway.

 

He keeps talking about lines from where the clear will stop that could peel in the future and I’m freaking out. I have this issue behind the T-Tops under where the top of the glass hatch is. I want the inside edges of the hood painted and also the fenders done but he didn’t sound happy about doing that with the hood and fenders on the car. Just for the sake of not masking off where weatherstripping hits and for no lines from the clear he makes it sounds like I need to strip everything lol.

Here are some pictures but they don't reflect the dent in the passenger door, the 2 cracks there are now on the aero wing, and more rock ships on the nose. Everything else is the same.

He wants me to remove everything myself then put it all back together myself. He only wants to deal with the prep and paint and I wanted to just drop everything with him and pick it up done, not do all this work myself. He makes it sound like it would be almost 5K if he does it all himself but I don’t have that much.

 

more...

 

and a couple more...

 

Time for a few more folks to chime in here but from what I hear you saying sounds like he DOES want to give you a great paint job. And by giving you the BEST that he could give you would entail pulling fenders and stuff like that BUT...
Also looks like your paint is in very good shape from the photos..
He is wanting to do the best he possibly can with body parts off, hatch, ect..
Completely understood..
I think in the end its going to be your call. If you do not think you are going to need assistance in R & R GFX, wing, hood vents, inner fender, power antenna, license plates, side markers, etc then go for it. Just seems like a LOT of money for what he is going to be actually doing here. Again, Just MHO here.
I know this is a tough business and its not for everyone. I am willing to bet he wants your money though. Why not put some pressure on him to to do everything his self for that kinda money though. I just got a quote from a guy that does show quality paint work as well for $1800 just to respray my vert.
He does this kind of work:




Now keep in mind the above photos were part of a $6500 restification process... Including taking down to the bare metal..
What i am saying is you can get high quality work for less even by the best in the business.

I guarantee you with just a respray when i get my vert back it will look as good as the 67 you see in the photos if not better. For $1800 and me not having to remove anything for prep. The guy painting my car has only about 4 employees. Again in the end its going to be your call. If you are comfortable with removing all those said items and shelling out the full $4500 go for it.
Im sure it will be show quality when its done from what i hear you saying.
Just talk him down a bit on price if you possibly can if you are pulling parts.
Just by what information we have in the thread, if it were me I am capable of pulling parts and putting them back on, but I would NOT want to.
If I did, id counter off him to do the job for 2k and see what he says.
Even 2k is still HIGH in my opinion.

 

Well he said it could be as little as $3K if no unforseen issues pop-up, which I know won't. Problem is I have an issue dropping it off without a hard number and he is not willing to commit to one. I wish he would commit to a number like $4K so I could counter offer but he won't lol.

He even offered to let me in his shop during the process to remove stuff if I don't have the means in my garage. The guy is great but I'm not diggin the possible $2K swing + or -. I'm fine removing most of it if not all, I just don't want to reassemble. I want him to do it so he is responsible.

I guess I'll swing by his shop again and talk to him some more. He is recommended by everyone so I won't even consider going anywhere else, I'd rather not do a full repaint just so I can still use him if I have to.

 

Don't do it without a hard number in stone. He is conning you. He can fully see the job that is in front of him and what it will cost HIM AND require cause if you DONT it will be all of $4500 or more. DON'T ASSUME that it will be LESS than $4500 as he has not assured you that it WONT be. DON'T remove the parts in his shop.
Thats a con too. Are you insured if you get hurt in his shop? Doubt it.
Tell him flat out you don't want to remove anything as you don't want to have to put them back on and be responsible for scratching his nice new paint. See what he says. Tell him you have talked to others, and you want him to do it but the $4500 is more than you can afford. See what he says.

 

One more thing. Get a SOLID time on when you can expect the car back within
a few week time period.

 

Ok, thanks! I'll speak with him again tomorrow after work and post back.

Alex

 

Doesn't sound too outrageous to me...

What about woking with him in the preping, removing GFX and assembling? It would save him time and you some money! Plus it would give you some experience for your next project!

A few questions I would have are: What kind of warranty is he providing? What happens in the future if it bubbles or starts peeling? How about touch up work for rock chips or scratches?

 

This thread is very useful to me as i'm in the same boat as the topic creator. Only difference is I have to find a body and paint shop for a reasonable price which is a tough challenge. Not to high-jack this thread but when I go to take my GTA in once I find a place, I do want the shop to disassemble my car and paint all the parts the right way but I'm keeping the colour (black) the same and having some minor bodywork for a few dents,etc so is it necessary to get the paint stripped down to bare metal or is that only feasible if your changing colour? Just wondering as anything I don't need to do I will hopefully save some money. Thanks, Josh

 

Alright I guess I'll throw in my 2cents worth here. Those other guys are right old guy is hosing you. $4,500 and your doing most of the work except actual body prep and paint. Sorry but I wouldn't give the guy more than 2,500 if you had to do all that to get him to touch your car. Now if he does good work backed up with a warranty then 4,500 is a decent price for an overall job with him doing all the work his self. Like the others said okay you got all these freshly painted parts laying in the floor waiting for you bolt them on. Your in your shop got a piece of ground effects almost hung unknow by you tell you get the other side you put a nasty scratch to the metal on the side you weren't watching. So then what are you to do. Call the guy up and say hay while I was doing the rest of your job I scratched the hell out of my car much to fix it? So would say maybe looking around for someone else. In Cail there has got to be more than one paint shop I am sure. Good Luck with your Fire Chicken.

 

How does anyone really know what the average cost for this kind of job would be in California? If you're worried about the price, don't just take the word of a bunch of people in different regions. Shop around and make that determination yourself. If the guy has a reputation you trust, and is willing to do the job the way you want it done, and the price is comparable to other local shops, why not?

 

I am going through the same thing with my 91 GTA right now. I totalled it almost 2 years ago after hitting a deer. I have disassembled a lot of the interior, the car had both bumpers removed, all the ground effects, and lots of other parts. I do not trust a shop to put all the bolts, screws, nuts, etc., back in their proper place. I've labeled all of them and put them into ziploc bags so I can put most of the car back together myself after it is fixed.

I had to take my car to a body shop to get a guaranteed estimate done before I found it out it had to totalled. They took off the passenger fender, and front bumper, and other odds and ends. When I got the car back, they slapped it back together as quickly as possibly, put the wrong bolts/screws, etc, in the wrong places. They also left off my passenger rocker panel splashguard and threw out over two dozen bolts, screws, nuts, etc. This was supposedly at a reputable shop as well.

If I were you, I would disassemble the car yourself and reassemble it as much as possible. You should also put together a detailed list in Word of everything you want done to the car as well as all the detail work. For example, painting certain bolts, painting a couple of the rubber hood bumpers, etc.

Just my 2 cents.