Not long ago, I was given an estimate of $25 000.00, which included some minor repair work but not rust repairs.

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These days almost NO panel shop uses Acrylic. They all use 2K. The only places that still use it only use it on request.

You should also keep in mind that unless you want to pay top dollar, they will almost certainly just key the old paint (the acrylic paint... if it is acrylic, do we know that for sure?) and lay the 2k over the top.... which as Mick has quiet rightly pointed out, will make for an ok finish, but it "may" fry up, if it doesn't it will chip easy and won't last real well.... this isn't because they want to be dodgy... its just that stripping the paint takes time, time that if you aren't paying for, they won't spend.

There are a lot of resto shops that will send jobs out for soda blasting as a matter of procedure... and I think even Mick's shop do that for some stuff... but its not (or wasn't while I was in the industry) common in your run of the mill smash repairers.

I would:

1- figure out what paint you've got

2- if acrylic, talk to a few places about giving them the car and how much they would charge to strip the paint or if they would prefer you give it to them in bare metal.... If 2k, still do the rounds and find a place you like but I wouldn't be as concerned about stripping the paint.

2k is a far superior paint these days, it last much longer with less care.



TheBlackMini

Hey mate, you'd probably spend "around" $5k for a run of the mill/reasonable respray if no other repairs are required.
<EDIT> thats at a PANEL SHOP not some guys back yard..
and Sorry ByteSize, you did say that it WAS Acrylic, I over looked it
hehehe, see mick, what do you need me for? You got this down

was wondering how long before you popped up phat.
Its amazing how much you can get slugged for with resprays!
For a cheap (feathered out) respray on a semi trailer, $6000!
For a sandblasted bare metal respray on a semi trailer $15000!
A lot less detail work goes into a semi though.

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Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

It adds up yeah

You gotta remember man, what ever we're getting an hour, double that and thats pretty much what your boss is chargin your time out at to the customer, plus the cost of materials (often Retail price, not trade price) plus spray booth time (seperate from your hours)... it all stacks up I reckon $3-5k is pretty reasonable, the business isn't reaaaaaaaly seeing a whole lot out of that...

Its what I would charge any joe blow...

Absolutly phat.
Services dont come for free!
Some charges are a bit crap though.
As an example, an ex employer of mine who did truck and trailer smash repairs became NTI approved (NTI is the trucks version of NRMA), and in doing so raised their rate from $80 p/h to $130 p/h.
Makes you wonder sometimes.

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Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

FARRRR OUT!!!!!

Hmmm, maybe.... maybe I should go back to the gun?

Geeees.....

Its typical though... as soon as you mention insurrance what ever the price was increases by 1/3+. You have to.

mind you though, insurance companies want a perfect finish done in 1/4 of the time. I'd charge extra for that!

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Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

Yeah exactly... NRMA used to say "2hrs to repair front gaurd".... thats regardless of condition....

So straight away, you can't stuff around trying to fix the bloody thing, you just replace it.... if its a bad collision it can take you 1/2 hour to remove the damaged one, then you've got to paint and fit a new one? It'd take you an hour and a half just to be ready for paint, then 15min for app of colour, 10 for cleaning gun - mixing clear - clear app, 1 hour to bake (at least... but it depends on what paint your using)...

So straight away your an hour 20 over....

So you don't prime it, you just paint straight over the black, you only put down 2 coats of colour and 1 of clear, you use BS amounts of catylist...

So you just manage to scrape in at 2 hours 15... and its an "OK" job, that will start flaking off in 7 years.

Total crap.

sound like youve done it before!

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Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

so can i apply acrylic in winter?

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one van, one mini s, one knitted cardigan

if its done in a booth, then any time of year is okay.
at home? Well, there is something called blooming that can occur.
I once had a bike frame sandblasted, then I primed it with grey primer. I sprayed the frame with a metallic charcoal. 5 minutes later it was grey again. So I resprayed it, and again within 5 minutes it was grey again. 3 times this happened, til a tradie painter explained to me that the frame was too cold and what was happening was called blooming.
Not an ideal time of year to paint a car at home, but can be done.

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Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

so now i need to either build an engine or buy a heater as well?

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one van, one mini s, one knitted cardigan

electric blankets and a hair dryer should do the trick.

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Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

& thats just for me (gets really cold here)

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one van, one mini s, one knitted cardigan

care full painting with that hair drier

The ideal temp for acrylic is 25degrees C.