Not too far off I'll have to repaint the '85 300D, and today I was nearby an EconoPaint shop so got an estimate ...older guy; seemed experienced....

2x Dupont polyeurathane....there was a sealed vented booth...quoted $375.

My car was repainted a few years ago by a PO; but it is peeling a bit on the sunroof, and I will be doing rust repair below the rear windshield; when it gets a little cooler here in FL.....

Is this decent paint? Any advice on a repaint?

He suggested using fiberglass to cover rust after I get rid of it...Any input on this? I've seen the JB Weld repair here and that looks pretty solid....

Thanks!

I took mine to the Econo Auto Paint shop here in Raleigh for an estimate, they must have identical pricing because that's the same price they gave me. He also said he'd do a coat of clear for an extra $50. I am kind of worried about the quality of their paint job though. I looked at some of the cars on their lot, and none of them would be what I call professional. One of them looked so bad it was laughable. The cars I looked at at Maaco's looked better, and they gave me a similar price, so I have to decide between the two. The thing about Maaco is they told me they's sand down to the metal and prime the whole thing, but the guy at Econo said they were either lying to me or the sales lady didn't know what she was talking about. I'd like to hear of anybody's experience with either one of these companies.

Not too far off I'll have to repaint the '85 300D, and today I was nearby an EconoPaint shop so got an estimate ...older guy; seemed experienced....

2x Dupont polyeurathane....there was a sealed vented booth...quoted $375.

My car was repainted a few years ago by a PO; but it is peeling a bit on the sunroof, and I will be doing rust repair below the rear windshield; when it gets a little cooler here in FL.....

Is this decent paint? Any advice on a repaint?

He suggested using fiberglass to cover rust after I get rid of it...Any input on this? I've seen the JB Weld repair here and that looks pretty solid....

Thanks!

Well IMO, if you just want to spray a coat on to get the car through a few more years of life, I guess it's fine. Personally I would stay away from the cheapo paint shops, they usually give you the old experienced guy to do the quotes and call out junior to practice his painting on your car. Either way, if your car has already been shot before, adding another 2 part coat will probably have unpleasant results, simply put, the quality of the substructure is poor already, unless it is removed, whatever you put over it will suffer.

As to fiberglass repairs, they, as well as bondo and other fillers, JB weld is good but not for this type of repair, are fine, just make sure to remove the rust.

As to fiberglass repairs, they, as well as bondo and other fillers, JB weld is good but not for this type of repair, are fine, just make sure to remove the rust.


I can vouch that JBweld can fix anything, as evidenced by this enourmous thread where we used it to fully repair our rusted out rear window area, it is still leak and rust free!

Thread:

http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=129289&page=1&pp=15&highlight=rear+window+rust

Enjoy :D

2x Dupont polyeurathane....there was a sealed vented booth...quoted $375.
Are you sure they didn't leave a zero off the estimate :rolleyes:.

Seriously, you can't expect any kind of professional results for that kind of money. If you are just trying to make it look decent for a year or two, OK. But $375 wouldn't cover the labor to remove the trim for a pro paint job. IMHO, paint is one area where you usually do get what you pay for.

it seems foolish to me to spend 5000 on a really good paint job on a 3000 dollar car. cause it wont make it sellable for 8000. really new paint doesnt make a car worth that much more so you should prob do it for yourself unless it is a truly valuable collector car, not a daily driver.

i have had many cars painted. some at maaco and some at other places. mostly i have been satisfied considering the price paid. mostly though i have had non metallic cars. the metallic colors are a lot harder to make look decent on a repaint. that is a big reason i dont buy metallics if i can avoid it.

tom w

Paint is as only good as it's prep work... if you're just taping stuff off, you have to worry about other things such as overspray, drips, cracks, etc. Spend the time to strip it down properly

There's probably some reasonable middle ground between $375 and $5000. I suspect you could get a halfway decent looking paint job for around $1000 if you were willing to do some prep work yourself. Just depends what you want, if you're going to keep the car long term or not, and how much it will bug you if you have to look at a mediocre paint job every day.

If we based auto decisions on economics only, we'd all be driving 5 year old Hondas like everyone else.

enough!

tom w

You can do a rattle can paint job yourself for even less money :D

You can do a rattle can paint job yourself for even less money :D
You should have seen the VW bug I had in college.

You should have seen the VW bug I had in college.

Wal-Mart has their $.94 cent paint that is almost the exact color of my super Beetle. The previous owner had already started touching it up with it. When I get all the dents out, I am going to splurge, and reapint the whole thing for about $10 :D

you tried the rattle can? on a car you would prob use 375 worth of paint and still not get it covered. i once did just a fender on a chebby pickup and i think it took like 8 cans.

i once had a 78 volvo that i got from my dad. when i went to sell it i decided to put a cheap paint job on it. a friend had a 88 thunderbird that he had a farmer who did paint on the side paint and it looked really good. the price was unbelievalby cheap. so i took that volvo up. he gave me a cheap price dont remember how much, maybe 400 or so 10 years ago. so when i went to pick it up it was jus thorrible. he must not have even washed it before spraying it. there was loads of dirt and on the back near the window was an actual whole moth.

made maaco look like bob smith restorations. ( a major ferrari restorer).

tom w

good luck to you and i hope it works out, but you might look into spending just a bit more to get something reasonably good, like $1000 or so. i recently spent $9500 on a w113 paint job, but i had some specific expectations, it was engine out, body only and stripped to bare metal. the w123 wagon here is showing some delamination on the rear gate and also the sides, i really hate it. i am considering a cheapo paint job on that, but wouldn't consider anything less than $1000 from talking to the guys around here. i don't think you can get decent paint sprayed over masked chrome for less than $1500-2000, but i have never been to maaco. i think i will give maaco a call tomorrow though.

good luck.

You can do a rattle can paint job yourself for even less money :D

You are not very helpful...So why not go to a Honda forum..........

You are not very helpful...So why not go to a Honda forum..........



I think he's trying to poke fun to the fact that "decent quality" and "paint" appeared in the same sentance with "$375"... :toff:

If you have $1,000 to spend (unlike me) then Maaco could probably even do a basecoat/clearcoat for that kind of money. I looked at several of their cars, and most looked crappy, but there were a few that the paint was really smooth. The $200 paint jobs they do are really bad, almost looks like they were done outside. The $400 jobs weren't too bad, but the thing is that any little imperfection that was there before looks 10 times worse after repainting. A little ding ends up looking like a massive dent! I filled in a lot of the dings myself, so I will find out how good of job I did after I get it reapainted.

that most of my maaco jobs were 500 or more. at that price you dont want to get them todo andy rust repairs, or at any price really. if you need rust repaired better todo it yourself then have them just paint. also remove trim yourslef for best results. just paint they do fairly well. several mbs i had painted because the paint was chaulky and as an alternative to waxing every other week it seems reasonable.

tom w

If its looking dull or oxidized have you thought about a good detail? You would be amazed at what a rotary in the proper hands can do... I lurk around on www.autopia.org and have seen some amazing work, including people who "thought" they needed a paint job and the car ended up looking great.

Zack

when they are oxidized the wax jobs wont last very long.

tom w

i always thought you could make an old lacquer paint job look nice by buffing and all that, but i don't think that works so well on two-stage enamels with clear coating that's delaminating, does it?

Just as a data point that may be of some use:

A guy I work with had his seafoam green 74 450SL repainted at the dealer. He told me that as long as you stick with the same color the dealer will do it for $2k.

This car is a creampuff throughand through and looks gorgeous. When the time comes for me to repaint I'm going to look into that option. I'm not sure what dealer he went to, or how much sanding or rust repair was required, but if you are going to stay with the same color you might inquire at a dealer, just to see. His results were great. Even though these cars are cheap (relatively) and putting 2k into it won't raise the value by anywhere near that much, if you're planning to keep the car a while 2k seems like a reasonable investment in it to make it look really great.

Now if the interior is shot... not point making that kind o investment in the outside - the collar has to match the cuffs, so to speak.

Good Luck.

i have noticed. you can take a car that looks pretty good and put new paint on it and suddenly the chrome looks seedy!

kind of a takeoff on the cuffs and collars comment.

tom w

that most of my maaco jobs were 500 or more. at that price you dont want to get them todo andy rust repairs, or at any price really. if you need rust repaired better todo it yourself then have them just paint. also remove trim yourslef for best results. just paint they do fairly well. several mbs i had painted because the paint was chaulky and as an alternative to waxing every other week it seems reasonable.

tom w

OK all good advice to hear.
Here's what I figure now;
The paint overall on my car is still good. The reasons I was considering repainting are;
I have to repair rust around back windshield lower seams; and on the trim pieces that go on the sides from the windshield to the rear windows...those ornamental looking things.....(Anyone know the right way to remove those!!!)
Also a little rust on the trim holes rear passenger trim area..small stuff. I have matching spray paint and clearcoat...not a big issue here...
2) The peeling is on the sunroof....maybe I can just repaint that area....

Never had her detailed but I've mguired her and paint looks nice everywhere else.....

The thing i've heard with Macco paint jobs, is if you strip the cars down, and take all the molding and trim off, and the mirrors off, and maybe even the bumpers off, and get the car somewhat prepped ahead of time, you can get a very good job from them...

The thing i've heard with Macco paint jobs, is if you strip the cars down, and take all the molding and trim off, and the mirrors off, and maybe even the bumpers off, and get the car somewhat prepped ahead of time, you can get a very good job from them...


I have heard this many time too and I highly recommend taking off all the pieces you can as It will definitly help...

Polishing will remove oxidation you need the right equipment though correct pads, rotary, and polish. The oxidation is on the clear coat and you essentially level it and remove the oxidized layer... Using auto zone products and a sears polisher are totally different and will not yield the results I am talking about... But this still doesnt help for rust or peeling clearcoat.


Zack

The cost of a good paint job is all in the labor....its VERY labor intesive...but proper prep work is everything...every flaw in the base will reflect through the paint.

Good white paint will set you back about $175 a gallon jobber cost...plus thinner/reducer or additives (I like a eurathane additive to help make it chip resistant) and primer...(always use a catalysed primer) most regular primers are NOT impervious to moisture contrary to popular opinion.

The thing i've heard with Macco paint jobs, is if you strip the cars down, and take all the molding and trim off, and the mirrors off, and maybe even the bumpers off, and get the car somewhat prepped ahead of time, you can get a very good job from them...

True.
Plus, power wash well (several times) to get stuff out of the nooks and crannies that might become airborn when its sprayed.

Most of the inexpensive jobs I've seen suffer from peeling around tight spots where they didn't prep well. Removal of trim will help. They can sand only up to the trim otherwise. How does that window trim come off anyway?

Good materials will cost $375 (sandpaper, primer, paint, reducer...)

Although, I had a guy who paints Porsches for a living spray an old farm truck for me using $20/gal safety yellow tractor paint and $10 worth of hardener added. Turned out looking fantastic. :sun_smile

Don't know where you folks are getting your prices on materials, but this is what we do for a living, and paint and materials for an all over on a 126 will run me right around $2000. Take into consideration tearing the car apart, stripping to bare metal where needed, taking all dings out and any rust that may be in need of repair, 8K is not an unreasonable price to pay. Believe me, we do things right and I don't make a lot of money on an 8K paint job. I'll take putting a fender and a bumper on a 97 Cavalier any day.

i agree with PJG - you can spend a lot of money on paint... just spending $9500 on a w113 to be painted DB178. this isn't justified on a car that is so devalued by the public, like the w123. alas, prepping yourself and maaco probably is a good way to go once you repair rust, if you can. it's tough to justify $8-10k on a paint job for the w123 or w115 chassis when people just devalue them much less than they are worth. i think many members of this forum devalue them the same, but it is justified because there are many of them around... just not rust-free! it's a tough decision, but for the car you have with the rust you need to repair i think maaco would be something to try when it comes time. i would, just my opinion...

BTW, even though i have paid a large amount to my paint guy to paint my car, i definitely understand that this kind of work needs fit in around the usual work he has. i am expecting it next spring and will be pleasantly surprised if i see the car before that.