Is it worth it?

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

I got an estimate to have my 86n/a painted the same color it is and the guy wanted 3500 just paint and labor and rubber pieces are my problem...Just wondering if this is worth it the car has 97,xxx and is in pretty good shape other than the massive screwup from an idiot wielding a buffer and no it cant be rebuffed we've looked it over good and my dad used to have a body shop...anyways any input would be encouraging as you can see in the pic the paint is dull and the trim above the door has been buffed through and it now has a scratch from some idiot tryin to hood slide it

Marcone · 07-09-2007, 09:06 PM

hahaha.. a hood slide.... holy miami vice...

we call mine the miami vice porshce anyways... im gonna have to try to hood slide mine before i paint it... LOL

3500 for a paint job is not that bad... well.. around here.. it isnt easily go for even 4g's canadian for a good job... you can get cheap ones.. but thats what theyll be....

as far as rubber to replace.. the windshield should stay in..as it probably will break if removed even by a pro... so you only need the rubber around it... and possibly the window rubbers unless you get them removed professionally or do it your self properly... rear hatch.. easy.. a few bolts... sun roof.. if its old and leaks.. replace it..

but at the end of the day... only a few hundred more on top of the paint job..

I would paint it.. as long as she is a good car to you...

Marcone · 07-09-2007, 09:07 PM

P.s. the sun roof part i was referring to was the seal..not the whole roof.. LOL

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

i dont recomend the hood slide...it makes a scratch and a slight bend...it happend as i was backing out of a space and some idiot thought it would be cool...i tried to kill him...i need a new windshield too btw...and most of the rubbers are good

Gordon Rankin · 07-09-2007, 10:14 PM

How much could you sell your car, the way it is? And how much would it cost you to buy a nice replacement with a nice paint job? Subtract the proceeds from the sale from the cost of the replacement. If that amount is more than 3500.00, get your car painted.

legoland951 · 07-09-2007, 10:26 PM

I think if your dad had a body shop, he would have a better idea than most of us. Around here, I can get a good 2 stage paint job for $1000 to $1500.

Eldorado · 07-10-2007, 12:32 AM

yea, i'm in the same boat lego... 1000-2000 range for a decent-to-good paint job.

then again, you can do what I may attempt.. paint the whole car using rattle cans

when I'm done with the fender and see how it turns out, that will be my deciding factor...

jcommin · jcommin's Garage

The price for the paint job seems fair, especially if you need little or no body work. The bigger question: is it fair, a philosophical one, only you can answer. In my case, I would. I love my car and I could not replace it with anything else. If I was to look for another 944, who knows what I would need to spend to get it to where I would want it to be.

My best advice: Do not look for a cheaper price. You get what you pay for. A bad paint job will be worse than what you have now. Then you you need to spend more money to get it right. I have been down this path. "Go big or go home"

Go to body shops and look at their work, their equipment. Get recommendations. Make sure you are comfortable with your choice.

Good luck

BeerBurner · 07-10-2007, 04:01 AM

Around here, people were quoting me $5-8k for a good (not "great", but "good") paint job as soon as they saw it was a Porsche. They could never convince me why it cost so much and I always walked away feeling like they were giving me a healthy Porsche markup.

BB.

Beau · Beau's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by BeerBurner
Around here, people were quoting me $5-8k for a good (not "great", but "good") paint job as soon as they saw it was a Porsche. They could never convince me why it cost so much and I always walked away feeling like they were giving me a healthy Porsche markup.

BB.

Yeah, I had the same problem. I was shopping around for a paint job, and once they saw it was a P-car, the price jumped astronomically. For example, I went in for an estimate at a local paint shop, and there was a guy ahead of me getting a quote, so I sat down and listened. His vehicle was some late-model box with badly oxidized/peeling paint, and some rust. He was quoted $2700 to repair the rust, strip the paint, and get a 2-stage job.

Then came my turn. We walked out to the parking lot, where my 944 with a flawless body (and no peeling paint) sat. The guy walked around my car twice and said "Six thousand for a 2-stage paint job." I lost it. I told him that:

1.) I had listened to what he quoted the fellow before me, whose car was in much worse shape.

2.) Just because I have a Porsche doesn't mean I'm made out of money, and was he aware that he was charging more for paint than I could sell the car for (not that I'd sell!).

3.) He could go sit on his belt sander and rotate.

My salvation came the other day when I was in an auto-parts store. An older gentleman asked me (I was the only other customer) if that was my P-car outside. I told him it was, and he asked if I was interested in a paint job. Somewhat leery, I said that I was, and we went outside so he could take a good look at it. Turns out he's a retired body shop guy who likes to keep busy, and has his own paint booth with all the trimmings at his home. Well, my old beater truck needed a paint job too, so I asked him if he would do that one first (that way, if he sucked, it wouldn't be a big deal). I got the truck back 2 weeks later, and he has sanded all the rust away by hand (the bed was pretty bad), and with the paint job it looked like a brand new truck. He said if anything goes bad with the paint in the next 5 years he'll respray for free. So, once my 944 gets out of the shop he'll do that next.

The cost? $1000 for the truck, $1100 for the 944 (the 944 has a new (minor) dent in the passenger door where some anonymous asshat backed into my car in a parking lot...he's gonna fix that too). Since he's done the truck, I've talked to others that have used him, and heard nothing but good things. Apparently he just hates to see nice cars look rough, and I'm not the first person he approached with such an offer.

Not sure what the moral of this story is...I doubt it's 'live in a small town and wait for a retired body shop guy to approach you with a great deal'.

That worked for me, but what I recommend is being patient and not in a rush to get your car painted. Major paint & body shops will scalp you every time if they see a P-car, so shop around and look for an independent who does good work and only charges what the service is actually worth.

BeerBurner · 07-10-2007, 10:10 AM

I just ended up stripping the car down myself and taking it to Maaco. It's not perfect, but still looks suprisingly good after five years.

BB.

Eldorado · 07-10-2007, 11:13 AM

I've heard some *very* good things about maaco, and I've heard some horror stories.
it all depends on who they've got working there.
look at their work. talk to the actual guy that sprays the paint, and not the sales guy... ask if it's possible for them to put past customers in contact with you to see how their paint holds up... and if you're happy, then I see no problem why you shouldn't go ahead.

5-6k of paint is astronomical to me.. 3ish is high, but seems about the high end of 'right' for an excellent job... 1-2 seems like that's what it would cost to mask everything and spray...

Marcone · 07-10-2007, 11:19 AM

ive got rollers at home.. hahaha...
i saw a car the other day that looked like it was done with rollers... holy ***** some places...

anyways get it done right and it lasts !!

BeerBurner · 07-10-2007, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Eldorado
I've heard some *very* good things about maaco, and I've heard some horror stories.
it all depends on who they've got working there.
look at their work. talk to the actual guy that sprays the paint, and not the sales guy... ask if it's possible for them to put past customers in contact with you to see how their paint holds up... and if you're happy, then I see no problem why you shouldn't go ahead.

5-6k of paint is astronomical to me.. 3ish is high, but seems about the high end of 'right' for an excellent job... 1-2 seems like that's what it would cost to mask everything and spray...

Same here. But I think a lot of the horror stories stem from the $200 paintjobs that most people get from Maaco, and people associate those jobs with everything they do. Of course, it also helped that this shop was right across the street from my Porsche mechanics' place and I let them know that this would be a good marketing opportunity for them.

Now, I'll admit that my paintjob isn't perfect. It has some runs and orange peel which could have easily been solved had I decided to wetsand it. But even with that, I do feel that I easily got my money's worth out of the paint.

BB.

Eldorado · 07-10-2007, 11:56 AM

Looks beautiful

Marcone, it reminds me of the time my mom when she was younger (or maybe one of her sisters) decided to "wash daddy's car" with SOS pads....

and one of my parent's uncles actually painted his car with a wicker broom.

Marcone · 07-10-2007, 01:12 PM

Wicked red car..

holy sh&t sos pads? Oh My ... how killed would i have been if i did that to my dads 5series

Ugh

Gordon Rankin · 07-10-2007, 06:51 PM

$6,000 ? I had a body shop as a client a few years ago. (I'm an accountant) I once asked him why the high estimates on Porsche, Mercedes, etc..He said that with an exotic car, many times, if there is a problem with the paint job, whether major or minor, the body shop will be sued. Most people would rather sue than just getting their problem corrected. When that happens, the insurance goes up, etc.
So, rather than explain that, they just make an outrageous estimate that nobody would accept..

onZedge · 07-10-2007, 07:52 PM

My buddies' dad had a VW bus. He spent a week prepping it. He then painted it with a 4" brush.

Eldorado · 07-10-2007, 08:37 PM

i touched up my bumper with a brush, wetsanded afterwards... came out fantastic.

Baza · Baza's Garage

Why don't you do the prep work yourself it will save about half the cost.
When I was painting for livng about 15yrs ago we would charge anywhere from 5 to 15k for a job and people were queing to have their car done by the shop I worked at. Never got sued and car never left the shop unless it was perfect, we also had alot of our cars win there class at shows. Mind you the Boss was a perfectionist and very talented artist.
Kyle you worry me. LOL