Body kit painting and installation Options

[bloodrain]

Can anyone give me an idea of how much its gonna cost me to have my body kit painted and installed? If anyone has a body kit, can you tell me how much you paid?

[celicaboy04]

It can be very expensive.

Here in Cali I have been quoted a minimum of 2000, and thats from a Maaco.

It all comes down to prep work.

Many shops will give you high quotes because they know even if youre just repainting a car from black to black to renew its look, the prep work must be done and if not wasting money on good paint is just that.

Places that give u cheap quotes I would be wary of what sort of prep work they do.

I am currently in the process of painting my car and fitting the kit. The kits are generally easy to fit. I got my front bumper and sideskits on in about 2-3 hours of carefully taking apart the old front bumper and mounting everything carefully. However, I have a coupe and the invader bumper doesnt fit it right, so I have to completely redo most of the rear bumper in order to fit it correctly, I estimate I will be spending about a grand total of 10+ hours to fix the bumper for my car and mold it in - again its because I have a coupe and the kit is made for a hatchback.

As far as the cost of painting a car, that really is up to you.

Here is what I have payed for thus far:

Invader Complete Kit = $575
Fiberglass mesh, resin and hardner to fix rear bumper = $60
DA Sander = $50
Devilbiss Finishline 3 Spray Gun = $180
Painting Supplies = $350 (inlcudes DA Stikit discs, sheets of sandpaper, masking tape, paper, degreaser, rags, bondo, glaze putty, respirator, goggles, latex gloves to keep oils of the human hands off the car, etc)

and here is where it gets tricky

Paint is expensive!

To do a good job I am going to do an epoxy primer after I sand everything down to factory primer.

Epoxy primer = $130

Then do a primer surfacer to fix sanding scratches that have occured

Primer surfacer = $150

and then a jet black paint color (the cheapest u can find, its around $50 a qt here for black, while most colors are $70 and above) with a good clear

Basecoat and Clear = $500

So as a minimum not including the cost of the kit, I would estimate to paint a car yourself costs around $1400. That is if you have to buy equipment you dont own like i did, and if you pay for all the recommended materials to do a GOOD job. Granted you can skip some steps and and tools and get an all right paint job, but its been my experience that you get what you pay for.

If you go to a shop, I wouldnt trust anyone to do it if the quote less than $3000. If youre being told its less than $3000, the shops is most definately skipping some stage necesarry for a good paint job.

So in conclusion to my very loooong post that may not have made much sense, I would FIT THE KIT YOURSELF. YOU CAN DO IT!

When it comes to the painting, if you need a good project, then go for it! Know that anyone can do anything if you set your mind to it and give it all you got. I just started my car and it sucks because I have no vehicle for a month or two which means stealing the car from the girlfriend or bicycling, but it is affordable and I know what is and isnt being done that should be.



{EDIT}

And just as a follow up, to affirm that if youre being quoted less than $3000 from someone that is not hooking you up that you should be careful, I know for a FACT the general cost of autobody shops and repair shops is around $70-$100 an hour. A complete paint job is an estimated 100 man hour job, and probably more if fitting a body kit is involved. So there is 1000 right there, and the cost of paint can run anywhere from 500-1000 at least. You can guestimate an extra $500 for problems that occur and additional cost of materials.

So I guess a $2500 quote is semireliable

This post has been edited by celicaboy04: Mar 19, 2005 - 3:28 AM