I'm entertaining the idea of getting a new paint job, there is just no way it will sell as it sits and I'm never happy with the looks. There are plenty of dents, scratches, a key'ing, etc.

If anyone has painted or knows someone who has had a paint job, can you give me any inside info I probably do not already know? I'm looking for prices, questions I should ask a body shop to verify their experience/machine quality, and anything I should make sure they do while painting the truck. This is not for sure, like I said just entertaining the idea. I'd have everything shaved for the most part, I'd also have the bumpers painted, the bedrails, and a few things replaced (bedrails, fender flares, etc). I might go for a custom black (black with silver flakes), pearl white, or silver. I'm leaning towards black again.

 

To do everything you just mentioned, it will cost you several thousands of dollars.

After that, you won't want to sell it cuz it will look so good.

We're going through the same thing with our '68 mustang. To sell it we're going to have to paint it. If we're going to paint it, I don't want any $400 Maaco job. I want a good paint job. It all snowballs from there...

 

i asked a local guy how much to paint my 07 screw xlt pumpkin orange. 4 grand, 2 coats of color, 3 clear, color sanded, buffed, cut and polish. now i got another quote, sand it spray it clear it, nothing else 1800 bucks. so i guess it depends on the quality what the final cost is.

 

If you want a color change, you're talking pretty large money. Done right will be over $5k. If you just want to sell the truck, do the $400 Maaco thing.

 

Prep work is the key. A good, quality paint job, you won't get for no less than $2-3K, maybe more than that.

 

I am going to be putting a "new" body on my work truck some time in the next couple of years, I hope. So I asked a buddy of mine that owns a body shop how much I was going to have to budget for the paint job. For just a basic, back to stock paint job it would be about $3200 but about $2000 at my cost. For a show quality job with the entire interior gutted out, with just one color about 5000-5500 or about 3500 for me. I asked him what he ment by show quality and he said it was 3 color coats, 4-5 clear coats, wet sanding everthing twice, buff, polish, wax, and undercoating the entire body. These prices where based on a reg cab, long box with topper.

Now I just have to decided if I want to keep it a work truck after I put the new body on or make it a collectors/show truck. Atleast I have awhile to figure that out.

 

My Dakota is costing me $2,400 after finding a good shop doing it. It will be going in on the 8th of October. I'm sticking with the original body color.

So because you've got more body to take care of, I'd say for a regular shop to do it, probably $3,500 to $4,000 just for the repaint of the original body color.

I had one guy try to hoodwink me for $4,600 and I just turned around and laughed at him, and walked out.

 

all depends on the quality you want. I laugh when I see people say "3 coats this... 2 coats that" The coats of paint are pretty meaningless. Your gun could be set to flow 16 oz a minute and you would have way to much paint with 3 coats. OR the gun could be set at 10 oz a minute and 3 coats will be to little paint. Paint is measured by how many mils thick it is. 1 mil is aprox.
.001 of an inch. You put enough paint on to hide the base material that your painting over. Then build the clear coat to a thickness that is smooth and workable (wet sanding, years of waxing/polishing) Every paint color has a differnt hiding thickness. Black and white hide about the least thickness.. at least with Dupont IMRON. Some red pearls take a lot more paint to hide. black is about 1.2 mils for hidding... white is about .08 mils. Certain reds were 3.4 mils to hide. Need patiance for that one. Josiah... if you were closer I would paint your truck and give you a good deal.. but to the seattle area may be to far lol.

 

There is no way to guestimate the price of a repaint because the dents, scratches, etc. is in addition to the paint job. If you are going to sell the truck, a new paint job frequently devalues the truck more than leaving it alone. A new paint job scares people because they are afraid of the condition of the vehicle before it was painted. Also, painting any vehicle a different color depreciates it many thousands of dollars.

If you are going to sell it, I would lower the price, clean it up really good and sell it as it is. I used to be in the car business and go to wholesale car auctions. I've seen cars sell that needed a paint job. I would see the same car some weeks later with a new paint job and it would bring less than it did before the paint job.