StealthElephant

Hey,

I'm looking for some feedback on my 87' Iroc.

A guy drove his car through my driver side fender/bumper and I backed my dad's car into my passenger door yesterday (I'm a complete idiot, don't adjust your contacts when your backing out of a driveway (also don't park BEHIND the driveway))

My buddy is gonna help me pull the dent out of the door (as much as we can, I "lucked" out, I hit the door SQUARE on the molding in the center and I was only doing like 1 MPH, so the dent isn't too bad, size of a watermelon, not deep, it'll crinkle a little probably, but it should pull out 75%.

I was just given a 400HP 350 by a friend of mine, which means the money I was going to use to make the car fast can now be used to make it look pretty.

I wanted to get the body fixed at the same time I get it painted (by the same shop if possible, I would hope this would lower the cost if the same place did all the work, I have a local body shop that has been around 20+ years, like 5 years ago they built a brand new state of the art shop, so they must be doing SOMETHING right if they grew enough to do that.

Anyways, I've been looking online and I have seen front bumpers/gfx going for about 500$, add another 200$ for a factory GM fender, another 200$? to have the door skin removed and replaced?(not sure on this)

For the paint job I'm not looking for the car to come apart. Sand it very well, prime, paint, clearcoat.

How much should I figure on being charged for that body work? I was thinking if the same place did it I'd pay like 1200+ for the body work, and another 1500-2k for a decent paintjob.

I'm really pushing it assuming I'll have 3k but thats about what I can put into it. Should I just wait till I have more then that? Am I looking at 2k worth of body repair?

I mean, hell, if it's not "impossible" I might be able to replace the front bumper and fender, but I was told that to get the door skin replaced it requires welding and stuff that I'd want a shop to do.

I'm just trying to weigh my options, if I can't afford to fix the body and still afford a "decent" paintjob I won't do it. ANY feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

TX_1987_GTA

iTrader: (1)

asking for prices of paint work is kinda tricky, thats kinda like do you want to eat. You can have McDonalds or you ca have a nice steak with all the trimmings. It depends on how nice you want it to be. You need to discuss this with your body shop. They are the ones that can see what the is going to need. Remember they have been doing this along time & they apparently are doing something right if they have grown as much as you say. Personally from a body shop assistant manager, and 15 year auto damage appraiser. I would ask you a few questions. Are you wanting the entire car painted? From what you have described I would guess at about $6500.00. in my shop. But I do not mask anything, I dissassemble the vehicle completely & paint the panels as the factory did. The only thing I can tell you is remember, you get what you pay for, specially in automotive paint. Cheap is not always the best..... Good Luck

StealthElephant

I don't want the door jams etc painted, and I don't wanted it dissassembled, or the engine bay painted. My cars black (which makes it ever worse since you see every imperfection) I'd like a "really good" sand/prime prep job, and just a good job spraying it with high quality paint/clearcoat.

Basically I want to be able to walk around the car and not see overspray or fisheyes or any other "obvious" signs of a cheap paint job, and I'd like it to last a reasonable amount of time.

I know for like 2k-2500 you can get that kind of "decent" paintjob, I'm more wondering about the body damage cost, and any ways to make it cheaper.

TX_1987_GTA

iTrader: (1)

to do the job properly you still must dissassemble certain things. like removal of side mldgs all ground effects, handles, lock cylinders, emblems, mirrors, bumper covers, side marker lamps and the list goes on....... This is for proper prep work to avoid your fresh new paint from peeling around all these items 6 months down the road. When I said before i was guessing $6500.00 that did not include jambs, underside of hood or liftgate or engine compartment. Third Gen cars are not the cheapest cars to refinish properly. You must remember the the hood, liftgate, fenders door & quarter panels & the outside mirrors are all metal. The Ground effects ( approx 8 pieces ) and the front & rear bumper covers & are Rubber or plastic and require diffferent prep work to refinish properly. also the rubber & plastic components will need a flex additive added to the paint so that it will flex slightly with the rubber & plastic componts. Like I said go see you body shop tell them what you want & they can tell you what they can do to help you. I dont know how clean the rest of the car is but get their pricing .... Each shop repairs cars differently, and everyone will have different quality, and pricing for repairs you just have to find a shop that will give you a good job at a price you can afford.

TomP

Stealth, you know you don't have to sand the whole car down to bare metal. 'Fact, that's not even preferred, unless you've got a million bux in your pocket. If the old paint is adhering to the surface well, with no checking/cracking/peeling/etc, you just need to scuff-sand it with 320 or 400 grit paper. 320 gives a good "tooth" for new paint to "bite" into. Then you could apply a primer/sealer (sealer prevents the new paint from sinking into the old paint), and then spray your new paint.

TX, have flex additives improved? The few thirdgen's I've seen with new paint jobs, with flex additive for the front and rear bumpers, have all gotten cracks in their paint when they tap things. Almost seems like the stuff just isn't worth it.

Stealth, what I did, back in '97, was all my car's bodywork and prepwork. Then I brought Maaco a perfect car, and had them shoot it with paint. It came out pretty darn good- except where they decided to go wild with their sander, and sanded a 2-inch-by-2-inch spot of Bondo flat!! (Dummies.)

Along the way, I fixed some rust by sanding it off. (Oops) Yep, you guessed it, the rust came back with a vengence. This summer I hope to repaint my car again- except this time, I bought a Devilbiss HVLP gun, and I'll be painting it myself. I spent $400 at Maaco for the job; I hear for $400 I can buy some decent quality paint.

StealthElephant

I'm interested in doing some of the bodywork myself, mainly I think I could replace the fender and bumpers. I'm not sure how that works though, I was told that exterior door skins have to be welded on so I'd leave that to a professional.

My neighbor has a 99 Camaro, and his front bumper (plastic just like mine) is faded just like mine, plastic cracks and spiderwebs the paint, end of story, not much you can do. The good thing about those plastic front bumpers is you can sand them, mask the rest of the car off, and do it yourself....

When I said a good sand job that's what I mean't, by "good" I mean consistent in all spots so the paint holds well on the entire car and doesn't end up with overspray or runs.

I'm looking for a "sand'n spray" job, except I'd like to have it painted by a very "good" place that knows how to get it right w/o overspray, runs, fisheyes etc. I'd like to use really good paint also. I mean, the rear bumper really won't be touched (and if someone does hit me they can pay for it) the front bumper is a POS cause it's so low, I'd like to think I would never scrape it (I NEVER use driveways and I take all inclines slowly and on an angle (the air dam still scrapes, but not the ground effects on the front)

I'm sketchy on this....I guess I'm just gonna have to get alot of estimates.

thnx for all the good info

Mathius

Don't get new doorskins, just get new doors from a junkyard. They're supposedly cheap, and I know doorskins are not.

Mathius