Ok. So my I took my car in for the interior with is looking great but I noticed something under the lights....My paint Job sucks. There is dirt and orange peel everywhere. I was talking to the body shop and the guy said clear coat and buff wont really fix it. He suggested Buffing and repainting would cost 4000-4500> I was not looking to spend nearly that.
I know paint jobs can cost 10s of thousands but what Should a decent paint job cost?

I am not looking to make a show winner but I just spent thousands on the interior and it looks new, but the body doesnt.

What do I do?

Also the body puts does great work and mostly specializes in First gen Camaros. I kinda screwed myself over when I was first doing the car because it has been sitting for like 4 years untouched and didnt really notice it before. It was supposed to go back after a few weeks or months but I was in school at the time.

How old is the paint ? Original? Any rust issues? Maybe all that is needed is a good buffing,I'm looking into this set up-- http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-568-adams-complete-porter-cable-7424xp-polisher-kit.aspx .Adams products are awesome.

depends on the shop and how you do it...one of our HALFers had his done at a Maaco shop for little over $1000, looks great....we have guys who spent $6 k or more, not much difference.... I spent +- $2500 for my vert...because rather than doing the entire car...I did "repair", had them fix some rust on rear qtrs, one did get a patch panel....painted up to front end of doors...$1250

3 weeks later I went back, did the fenders, hood etc...including repairing some rust under in the inner fenders...$1250...'repair' wont get the body shop as worried as when they do an entire car (is what my car restorer buddy told me)...car still looks great almost 11 yrs later...but I dont wax it...just polish , with Zaino...now done 6 times in 11 yrs!

Thanks for the tips. I mean the shop it great and all but $4500 is just way out of my price range.
The car would need to be sanded and repainted. I have heard some great things about maaco shops in the past.
There is no rust and all of the body work is done. No repairs except for a repainting a few things black where some spray got into the engine compartment.

Maaco has good shops and bad shops....just need to find one who "likes" classic cars

I'm saving up to reach $10K before I go looking for a shop - although guys from the local club all seem to agree in 1 in particular.

before i painted mine, i asked around and the cost was close to 10K+/-. the quote you got must be for the prep work not the paint. the paint cost me 2K alone. you might be getting more flaws then you bargain for.

How long does it take to actually paint a car? And how much for a couple of gallons of high-quality paint and then some clear coat?

I know I'm over simplifying it...I do think Bjorn's approach is pure genius.

Depends, it can take longer to mask everything than to actually paint. But it depends on how many coats, how many times you have to re-mask, how many colors etc., etc.. Once masked, one or two coats of sealer, two (or more) coats of base color, then three coats of clear can easlily take 6 to 8 hours.
The materials are the biggest expense nowadays! I spent over $1000 just for the sealer, one gallon of red base coat and a gallon of clear, along with all their associated activators, hardeners, reducers, etc. Paint prices depend a lot on color, red being one of the most expensive.

Thanks for the thoughtful response, Mushroombert.

I guess what I'm trying to get to is how much is the actual painting portion, rather than prep/body work that might need to be done? Based on your response and Bjorn's my rough guess is between $2000-$3000. Using the $1000 for paint and about 8 hours of actual painting time at $50 - $100 an hour, gets you to $1400 - $1800. Add in profit and misc. gets you to $2000-$3000.

While we don't know what paint was needed in the original post that started this thread, $4500 just for painting does seem high.

Depends on where you are as well, "prices vary by location." (And by the painters reputation.)
I made a deal with a good local guy, brought him my car mostly disassembled (takes even longer to paint that way as you are doing both insides and outsides of panels), all the body work done and primered , ready for paint. Even had some of the masking done. All he needed to do was finish masking, spray the sealer, color and clear. Cost me around $1500 for the labor (plus all the materials I had picked up.)

Wet sanding and polishing can get rid of most of the orange peel and sags. It won't get rid of the dirt specs unless they were introduced on the last coat of clear. Worked on mine and the paint is silky smooth now. I had 2 dirt specs, they are still there...but only I know where LOL.

Cost of my paint job...

$660 worth of paint. PPG BCCC
$1000 for booth and painter (paid booth, not painter)
40 hours to wet sand sags and orange peel and power polish back up. (Self done)
Have to repaint trunk one of these days...

I did not pay the painter as he did not deliver as discussed. I painted the jambs and trunk lid inside etc, and my work was flawless. Next one I do myself in a rented booth!

This question is like asking how long is a piece of string. There are just too many variables to say how much a paint job should cost. Local labor in omaha nebraska for a single tone 2k cut and buff finish to 1500 is 175 to 225 an hour. So if you are asking to have trim removed instead of masked and all the bells and whistles done it is gonna cost more than just masking everything off and shooting it. I do custom airbrush work but do occasionally do a full on job.

wow they make twice to more than twice what I do as an Architect...!

Thats what the shop charges the guy actually doing the labor only makes about 18 an hr. My dad owns a auto repair and he charges 118 for under hood and 145 for under chassie repairs.

it all depends on how far you want to take it.. do you want you door jams ect painted.. im looking at about a 6000 paint job on my car with metal work already done, but i want everything painted and perfect... do it once i say

I know , I ran my dads dealership for 7 years ,we had body shop too....and our service (not body)mechanics were wanting to get a salary increase...lol...I told them they were asking the wrong guy...I had just left an Architectural firm ,where I was an associate...made $40k /yr (1983) the mechanics ,if good, were making $60k....

Thanks for all the Input. Looks like I'm going ahead with it because I figure while the interior is being done by the same guy, I might as well go ahead with it even if it costs a little more rather than paying someone else to disassemble a bunch of stuff I just had put in. I also want to have the car back to drive for my first time this summer. I cant keep taking it place to place.

The original painter (sucks) basically painted everything one color. I mean almost everything. Even got into the engine bay and on parts that should be black.

I am now also making the car a little darker blue which I saw on a chevelle which he just finished....It should come out nice and looking like a finished car 6 years later. So far the interior is looking great!

Also, I do apologize for being a bit vague earlier, I know theres a lot one can do with paint.

Dirt and orange peel? Sounds like it never got color sanded and buffed. You might be amazed at the improvement if you just got that done.

I only go by references for an expense as this...something long term and cost over $4k. I would want to see work being done, know what they will use for primer, base and clear, know how many base and clear coats. Best to see a paintjob on someone elses car and ask.

If I plan on keeping the car for over 10 years and its a low production or numbers matching, I would spend more money for a higher quality paint and painter.

You can save a lot of money in labor by removing your interior, glass, trim, bumper and taillights yourself. If you remove the glass front and rear, the paint will look better and its a marginal reinstallation cost.

The dirt in the paint was really bad. I didnt notice all of it until it was under some real light.

Although it is not a matching numbers/low milage car, It was my grandfathers since new (even though nothing is the same from when he had it ).
So I do plan on keeping the car as a keep sake. Also, the same guy was putting the interior together for me so I found it more logical to do it all at once the painting and interior rather than moving the car shop to shop. Also, tis the season to be driving it. Hopefully I'll get it back in the next couple of weeks, put a new exhaust on it and figure out my radio situation so I can start driving her.

Also, I saw a bunch of the cars this shop has done. He specializes in first gen Camaros. And I found a color blue I really liked on a car he had just finished so I went with that. I wasnt in love with my color so rather than paying a ton to sand and buff it then clear coat it again, I went with something I would be really happy with.

I will be posting pictures in the next few days to give everyone a look.

I would also love to throw in a vintage air kit because it would be great to have some cold air flowing in considering the car originally had a/c. Now I just need the funds.

If anyone has installed one in their car please pm me, I have a few inquires.

Paint jobs are one of those things that you the owner decides who much it's going to cost. Do you want to spend $2500 or do you want to spend $10,000? It's that simple and this is one of those deals where you get what you pay for. It's not like a part where one supplier is selling it for $300 and another down the road is selling the same part for $210. With paint, if you pay $2500 you will get a $2500 paint job. Nobody is going to give you a $6k paint job for $3k. Not gonna happen...

Joe is spot on with this. There is a lot more to a paint job than what you see. Spend as much as you can allocate for paint. I did mine myself and it came out pretty good considering that I have less than $700 in the whole thing but it is by no means a "show car" job. Regardless of who you choose, as Banshee said, be sure to see more than one car they painted. Also ask to see pictures of those cars during the process.

ok so first and foremost never take a classic car that you want to be worth anything to that place that rymes with or is named after a shark cause they are one step above an earl schibe and you get what you pay for i did a complete restoration including installing new quarters and rockers parts not included for around 11000 which is actually very cheap for what i had to do but if you can get a paint job for 2500 not body work and detrimming everything but tbe actuall paint job for around 2500 your getting a good deal cause with the rising cost of todays materials it will cost the jobber 800 to a 1000 in materials keep that in mind when shopping for a paint job but for a good all over base coat clear coat paint job with wet sanding and buffing out trash and or orange peel is going to cost you around 5000 grand in most markets however a show quality job will run you double to triple that depending on the labor rates in your town