Repainting
 

We all know how fabulous nissan paint is. I was wondering how much it would cost to repaint the entire car. I don't want anything crazy, just pearl white that is a little more durable. I just think its crazy that my wife's '08 jetta doesn't have a single swirl on it, and I was the sh!t out of her car (with one bucket and a rag), and the Z has these rock chip and swirls(from the dealer).

I don't want to baby the car, but I don't want it to look like a hot mess.

I'll be back from my deployment early next year and my wife is about to get a bonus, so money will not be a problem. Thanks for the help. I tried to search but didn't have any luck.

From a few threads similar to this one the general consensus seems to be anywhere from 3000-4000 for a proper paintjob. That's removing and blasting all the panels down to primer before putting on a new coat of paint and clear.

Factory paint is much better than getting it repainted.. But if you do decide to get it repainted by a quality shop - you are looking at 5K +

Yeah, I meant to ask if its even worth it. I could just take it to get fixed and then get a clear bra put on. I was quoted 1100 for clear bra a couple months back.

A high quality paint job for the entire car is closer to $10,000+. That will get you close to a factory type finish. People make too big a deal about the 370z's paint. Yeah, its softer than most, but it's not worth a full paint re-spray unless you want to change color. The clearcoat is the only real concern, so you might be able to get away with just having to re-spray a more durable high quality clearcoat on the car. That's what gives paint the shine anyways. There are products like Opti-Coat or other high quality sealants than greatly reduces the effects of entching from bird droppings and swirls. I would give Opti-Coat applied by a pro a shot, before even thinking about doing a re-spray. You can also prevent swirls by changing the way you wash your car.

Thanks for the info. I don't want to spend the money if I don't really have to. I'll look in to what you said when I get back. I don't know a lot about paint so I figured a paint job was the only way to go. Thanks again.

You dont need removing and blasting all the panels and primer it again, if the shade is same. I got mine repainted in custom red on stock red and the painter just sanded a little bit then straight new paint and clear coat it. It came out amazing.

That's far from always true. A good paint shop using the latest technology in materials will get you a better than factory paint job well unless you own a Ferrari where they put 7 coats of paint and 3 coats of clear but that is the exception.

Maaco! When people see that word , they think ahhh $hit cheeeaaaap! They can paint the body the same color. It will look better than the original paint! Look up a shop in your area, go in and look at the quality of their work. The paint quality they do, will be superior to that Nissan crap! Price should be under 2k,"body only"!

I've seen Macco paint jobs. They are crap. May look ok freshly painted, but give it a few years and you'll end up spending more fixing it.

Did Nissan give you a 4 year guarantee with their paint?

The Macco paint job I got on my Prelude was absolute garbage. The front end chipped all to hell in 3 months, I mean bad! You could see sanding scrapes through the paint all over the car. Orange peel to death. There were mask lines on turn signal housings and on rubber moldings.

Do not consider Macco!!

The only w ay I would ever consider maaco is for a project car where I stripped everything off and did all the body work and other prep myself. Theypaint cars all day long, so their painters do have some skillz.

i got my car done at maaco, it was 1000, but he also does all our families limos so he gave a major discount. was supposed to be 1700. got it done in black, looks great and they did a great job. they messed up the trunk lid suspension but there fixing it. the Maaco by me is different then most by the sound of it though, plus they really love our business. haa. it comes with the 4 yr guarantee so I'm not to worried regardless of what people post.

That's very disappointing, sorry to hear that! How much did he pay?

I paid around $400 I think but I guess there are different levels of quality?? It was a full respray in flat black with clear. I think the main problem was the poor prep job. Maybe they spend more time on the car if you pay for the premium job?

not sure how there time works, but they claim to use different grades of paint. 3 levels i think, 1500 is the most expensive (doesnt include inner doors or inner trunk)

The $400.00 paint(body) job is, "make it look better", "I'm going to sell the car paint job"!
$800.00 paint job, very good, looks great, take care of it(wax), it will last!

For a new, or relatively new car, I'd recommend the $1,200.00, or higher paint job!

Make sure they mask the front, you don't want over spray on oil coolers or CAI's! exhaust tips also

There is no need to strip the old paint off. Just sand the car down with 800 grit to scuff up the clear, fix all the chips and dings, spray color over the repaired areas and then clear coat the whole car. You are still looking at $5,000+ due to all the labor to R&I everything and high cost of materials. If I have time on monday at work, I will write an estimate and post it up on this thread to give everyone an actual price of what it will cost to pull everything apart and respray the car.

Are you saying $5,000.00 at Macco?

I'm saying $5,000+ at a shop that does quality work. Maaco is a hack shop that uses cheap materials. I have been in this business for a long time and any shop that uses quality materials and R&I's everything will charge at least $5,000. Just the material bill alone when we do complete paint jobs using PPG Envirobase is around $1,600.

What ever.

For $1,200 at Maaco nothing is getting taken apart which will cause peeling around the edges of handles, bumper covers, lights, belt moldings, etc. They don't pull the windshield and back glass, door jambs aren't masked properly, and they will use a cheap paint like Nason which will look horrible after 3-5 years. I'm just trying to let people know that you get what you pay for and taking a nice new car to Maaco is a huge mistake.

Cost me 4.5k to paint my 350, paint/body shop did a great job! Do some research and you'll find a decent shop!

Your paying for a lot of "labor"!
Average owner keeps a new car less than 7 years! You could drive down the street and have your car demolished. If some one has 5K, go for it! Not me, I like having money to pay my bills, not yours;)!

:iagree:That is why we don't do a lot of complete paint jobs. Most people don't own the car long enough to need a paint job. Most new cars will look great for well over 10 years with proper care.

Here is an estimate I wrote up at work for a complete paint job on a 370z. This doesn't include fixing any damage or painting door jambs. Fixing chips, dings, scratches, etc will cost extra.

Go turn on the TV and watch an episode of Ultimate Factories, go see how factory paint are applied. I don't care who is doing it, no shops are going to magnetize the body and the paint to get the best possible bond.

If you are going to waste $5K, go trade it in for a newer model.

I have to agree with cossie!

:iagree:
:rofl2:

I think that the oft-repeated mantra that "Nissan paint is crap" is crap.