DIY full respray cost of paint?

[ashmccormick]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone on here had done a full respray in 1k acrylic paint? I just want to know how much the paint materials cost all up for the job and the quantities they used for the whole job, i.e thinners, paint, clear coat etc...

My old rig is in need of a fresh lick of paint when I move to Brissy at the end of the year. I definitely cant afford to pay 10K+ to get it done professionally (although I would if I could!).
I would rather have a crack myself whilst learning some new skills and to be honest a tub of house paint an a roller would produce a better look than its got at the moment!

Cheers

[threedogs]

Some hear have had great results just using a spray can ,
name escapes me at the moment but a very nice black over silver GQ
Most sprayed with a can,
You could get a quick job for $2K, but quick doesnt mean good eh.
maybe search can spray painting or similar, spray painting or more to
the point good spray painting is an art, all in the prep thats all I know.
Its all in the prep

[Cuppa]

I had our bus (7 metre) fully resprayed about 4 years ago & was surprised at the cost of the paint, thinners, filler, abrasives, tape etc. It was a lot less than I had expected. The main cost is in the labour as it is very time consuming to get a good job. I did much of the masking up & the ‘elbow work’ myself & the total cost to me was only $2k. Of that I think about $1200 was materials. This was using an acrylic enamel paint that he was familiar with. It wasn’t a ‘show’ job, but was a vast improvement & will keep the rust at bay for years to come.

Before



During



After



The ‘after’ pic was taken about two years after it was painted.

[ashmccormick]

Some hear have had great results just using a spray can ,
name escapes me at the moment but a very nice black over silver GQ
Most sprayed with a can,
You could get a quick job for $2K, but quick doesnt mean good eh.
maybe search can spray painting or similar, spray painting or more to
the point good spray painting is an art, all in the prep thats all I know.
Its all in the prep

Cheers TD, yeh its all about being thorough with stripping back the old paint as far as I can tell, and getting the prep work absolutely smooth as possible. Im just tossing up whether to buy the gear and have a crack, this won't be my last project car so would end up using it again at some point... Good to know that good results can even come from just cans!

[ashmccormick]

I had our bus (7 metre) fully resprayed about 4 years ago & was surprised at the cost of the paint, thinners, filler, abrasives, tape etc. It was a lot less than I had expected. The main cost is in the labour as it is very time consuming to get a good job. I did much of the masking up & the ‘elbow work’ myself & the total cost to me was only $2k. Of that I think about $1200 was materials. This was using an acrylic enamel paint that he was familiar with. It wasn’t a ‘show’ job, but was a vast improvement & will keep the rust at bay for years to come.

Before



During



After



The ‘after’ pic was taken about two years after it was painted.

Awesome feedback cheers Cuppa. If I could get a finish like that I would be over the moon! And $2K all up including paying someone to spray for you is decent. Sounds like Materials to get a patrol done could come in under $1000. How long did it take to get the sanding/masking all done? Was the painter guy happy with your work? Ive heard that panel shops/painters would turn down DIY prep work because they didnt want the paint to flake or rust due to poor prep. Not sure how true that is though.

[Cuppa]

Wasn’t a paint shop, just an old farmer mate down the road who has done a fair bit of spray painting in his time before taking up farming (very obvious because of his wheezing chest) who still had his spray gear & offered. I had intended to use two pack but decided I didn’t want to subject him to that! (A lot more toxic). Finished job had a few small runs which don’t show up on the photo, but the finish was certainly good enough at the price. When I sold the bus last year I got my asking price from the first person to look at it. Without the paint I’d reckon I’d have been lucky to have got $10k less! However I’m glad we travelled around Oz with it looking ‘daggy’ - we felt more secure when leaving it - it’s daggy exterior gave no indication of it’s interior & would have been of far less interest to any thieving scumbags than many of the fancy motorhomes & caravans out there on the road. We enjoyed the double-entendre of calling it our ’sleeper’. Mind you when we painted it our intention was to keep it.

I’d guess that I did most of the sanding & most of the masking. He did the filling, spraying & a small amount of the masking & sanding (just to show me what to do & what was an acceptable standard). From time to time he’d check in & tell me either what I’d done was ok, or that it needed more work. Not sure how many hours - we had the bus at his place for several weeks & did what I could when I could but probably averaged 3 to 4 hours a day, 5 days a week - that’s a wild guess though, but it was a lot of work. Very easy to fall into the trap of convincing yourself that it’s ‘good enough’ & I needed to remind myself often that ‘good enough’ was not good enough!

I reckon a professional paint shop would be wise not to accept DIY prep work, any little blemish will show up once painted, any bit of rust not properly sorted will burst through & of course that result affects the painter’s reputation. In my scenario we both understood that it was a joint effort & that it couldn’t be any better than my prep. The result would be what it was & I trusted that he would do his best with what I gave him. If I owned a paint shop any decision I made on accepting DIY prep would be based upon examination of the prep once done - something not generally practical to achieve though.

Other prep I did was of course the removal of all the stuff which needed removing - badges, mirrors, awning, bulbar, bumper etc etc. Because we lived out in the bush I was able to drive the 8kms of dirt road between my place & his with all removed without a problem. Couldn’t have done that in more populated areas, so the dismantling at the painter’s premises would also become part of the prep work there.

During the spraying, he did give me a go & I sprayed a few of the parts which had been removed. It was fairly easy to do, but bigger panels are a different ballgame I’d have wanted to practice before trying on the real thing. His knowledge of which materials to use, quantities to buy, mix rates of thinners & paint, & pressure settings for the spray equipment were all things I was very happy to leave to him.

[ashmccormick]

Cheers Cuppa!

Good to get info from someone who has taken on the challenge! It sounds like getting the full prep work done is as hard as I had imagined. Especially in your case with the job being so large. And youre right about a pro paint shop, at the end of the day the final finish is a direct result of the prep work done so I wouldnt take on a bad DIY job either really!

I dont suppose you remember how many litres of paint, thinners etc you went through?

I can imagine that 'sleeper' effect worked a treat! There are always flash caravans and other rigs up here in the dry season! I would call my car a sleeper too... but its daggy all round at the minute! The pindan and corrugations have thrashed my old GQ up a bit too much for my liking!

[threedogs]

watching a programme the other day on some muscle cars one had put 500hrs into the prep for the paint and thats moderate for the hotrod scene
Check my BILs Willeys
I have to say it, spray painting is an art.
Some say if you can pi$$ you can spray paint
I dont buy it, sure you can pull the trigger and get paint on a panel
but as Cuppa points out a lot nore to it .

@ Cuppa bus came out a treat must of been happy with that?

[Cuppa]

You’re a bastard Ash! You said the magic word - pindan. It’s been 6 years & I just wanna be up there sitting in that red dirt cooking Bluebone on the fire again! Hopefully next year if plans work out.

Sorry mate I can’t remember how many litres - it goes a long way though. Is there an auto re-sprayer in Broome? I reckon if there is they’d give you a reasonable guess as to how much to buy.

[threedogs]

3 litres should be heaps, I re call it was
only one litre for my 68 xt ford ute years ago