Cost of a good paint job in the Southeast?

I'm looking at an E30 that's extremely nice except for the faded, peeling paint, like so many of them have. It's one of the rare cars that may actually be worth painting. So what's the cost of a decent paint job in the Southeast? By decent I mean as good as original or close to it. I'm in soutwest VA. Anywhere within a half a day's drive would be OK -- VA, NC, SC, WV, etc. Any ideas?

Matt O.

Reply to
Matt O'Toole
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Matt, I don't think it varies that much by area, but I'd count on spending in the neighborhood of $2500-3000 for a decent job. You can pay more and you can pay less. If you did some of the prep work you could save some serious coin and still get a quality job, assuming your painter will work with you this way.

Get some quotes. They're (one of the few things in this world that are) free.

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

I had a 735 repainted black, to strip it and remove all of the trim etc..and then do the full 3 stage (I think) paint it ran $6000. This is pretty decent considering I just drove it in and picked it up. The paint was flawless and if you didnt know better you would think that it was new from the factory. All depends on what you want your finished product to look like, 9 times out of 10 it costs more than the car is worth to get a full, quality repaint. Keep in mind that this is one case where you get what you pay for.

--Corey

Reply to
Corey Shuman

I think it's more than that since all the peeling paint needs to be stripped first. I'd expect $4k and up for a decent job.

Reply to
JimV

Good point. I had not considered that the underlying paint needs attention.

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

You would be better off spending $4000 more on an E30 that didn't need painting. I paid $5000 for one with 80,000 miles and immaculate paint.

Reply to
Rob Munach

Absolutely.

I'd pay $2xxx to have this particular car painted, but I don't know what I could get for that. One can get decent paint jobs for under $4k in southern CA, but costs are so much higher out there. (Rent would be 5-10x, labor double, etc.)

Matt O.

Reply to
Matt O'Toole

Actually it doesn't look like that big a deal. The problem is typical of these cars -- clearcoat peeling on the horizontal surfaces. The underlying paint is fine, just dull. As long as the clearcoat is sanded down sufficiently where it's peeling, I don't see any problem painting over the rest. The whole thing could be sanded without much trouble if that's better. I can do much of this myself.

Matt O.

Reply to
Matt O'Toole

Good preparation of the surface is the expensive part of any paint job.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Well, I should have said, I know it needs some attention, but had not considered how much. The OP did say it was peeling, but later has come back and informed us that it is just the clearcoat that is peeling, which *is* a common thing on old 3 series.

I'd just bring the car around to a couple of reputable body shops and get some ideas. Maybe they can salvage the base coat somehow and just respray the clear?

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

Dunno how you'd remove all the clearcoat just leaving sound base coat?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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