NJTman

Today I stopped by a local auto body repair shop to see what it would cost to have my brick repaired where the paint is having an issue.

The truck was painted about 6 years back, and since then, the roof gutter needed a little attention. Back in November, I ground out the old putty in the gutter, used a rust converter, primed and painted the channel to protect it for the winter. It worked, but not long enough.

So..

I need to have my truck repainted "Partially" from the pin-striping northwards. The paint is in decent shape, except for the gutter itself, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal, right ?

Here's what is proposed:

What I have to do: Remove all glass, rubber seals, mirrors, antennae, front grille, wiper arms, and cowl cover. Drive the truck to them.

They're sanding the truck's paint, grinding out the mess I made in the roof gutter, sealing the paint with some special primer, sanding the primer, and shooting the paint from the pinstriping up. They said that the price that they're giving me is an estimate, and if anything comes about such as "paint peeling" or they accidentally burn into the paint below the pin striping line, that extra costs will occur.

Dent on the hood they're fixing, and a few minor dings here and there, but nothing huge repair wise.

Two weeks to do the work.

I get to reassemble the truck.

$3100.00

Is this a good price ? The shop is well known for doing extremely good work.




This is my effort last year to stop the rust, prior to it actually starting.

jstone44720

They would need an exceptional reputation to be worth that here in Ohio. The last resto I was a part of cost 2800 for the whole car and it was delivered in similar condition. See what they want to paint the other half too.

peckens

I would think painting the whole thing would be cheaper.

user name

If this helps at all I figured somewhere about 9-15k(huge range I know but I try to to think about the real amount of time and materials) worth of work went into mine for a full redo. At cost I had over 1000 in paint and materials and that wasn't top shelf stuff. Quality work and materials aren't cheap.

I can get Bondo Billy to slap a quicky on it for what everyone wants to pay for body work and a lot of people would be happy with that; I don't think you would.

Now that bit about if the pass the line you have to pay that's some busch league B.S. if they are that good enough to justify the price they are good enough to stay above the line.

NJTman

Bondo Billy

I thought the same thing about the "passing the pin stripe line, but they warned me that if they "messed up" that I'd have to pay... Personally, I agree with you that they can either do it or not. I'm going to another body shop this week, again highly recommended.

Onemoparnut

Just remember you get what you pay for. Make sure they are using quality paint find out what brand and which line of that brand they are going to use. Is there any body work being done near the stripe? That is the only reason I would worry about not being able to stay above the stripe.

NJTman

Bill,

I'll contact them today and ask them what paint / line they would use on my truck. The only location there is any body work is on the hood, as there is a baseball size dent that needs to be pounded out near the cowl. Other than a few dings in the upper flat section of the hood, no body work is to be performed.

They specifically wrote in the estimate:

"there is a possibility that when we remove the stripe, the lower half color might get damaged."

They separated the costs in this manner

bannerd

That's a lot of money, I was quoted to paint my entire truck at $2500 with my choice of SEM of majic tractor paint (both are an epoxy for durable long life).

I think by the time my truck is put back together I'm going to do it myself. There is a paint gun (HLVP) that I picked up talking to my buddy. He said it's the most easiest gun he ever used.

http://www.earlex.com/

You wear it like a backpack. Mix the paint so that it flows through the funnel. If it doesn't flow you need to thin it. Then you spray. There is adjustments that you need to make. You can throw the paint on so fine that you won't even see the minor orange peel that sometimes comes out of the factory. Or you can turn it up think which adds texture to the paint. Good for undercoating. Everything is brass inside the gun and I paid very little. Actually stained my deck with it

NJTman

Here's what they're using

DuPont cromax water base with DuPont 72500 high solid clearcoat

I have no idea what this stuff is..... but it sounds pretty...

Their warranty is .... well, sort of a warranty due to the truck itself.

"A limited lifetime warranty is placed on the repair which means I cannot warranty it will not rust. I cannot warranty the paint underneath that has not been removed will not fail. I can only warranty my paint will adhere to what we sand. There is major design flaws in vehicles and with the New Jersey roads and salt air there is no way I can warranty rust. "

So...no real warranty that it won't re-rust up, due to our wonderful design of our roof line (multiple layers of metal meeting at a bucket / gutter ), basically, there is no warranty against it returning back to a rusty pile of dust surrounding a Cummins motor...

Stupid designed truck.....

bryson711

That is DuPonts best line, that is super good paint. I think the quote is realistic for what they are doing. Paint work is a ton of work to do it right and have it last, like stated before you get what you pay for. I would not do a single stage paint of any sort on a truck. Do a base coat, clear coat and get it done right like you was quoted.

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93-12Smoke

I got a quote on mine last summer. They wanted 6500 to remove the few dents and dings, weld up the holes from the body trim, new windshield and window gaskets, paint/powdercoat the chrome and paint the entire truck.

crazy clem

for that price I think they should start on bare metal. If I ran a shop and one of these dodge leper paint jobs showed up I would insist on starting from metal since it was the dodge primer that caused the problem. The idiot PO of my truck paid 2500 to have the top painted and now the paint is starting to come off again. IMO a good paint job starts from the metal up

NJTman

This truck was painted some 6-7 years ago, albeit it wasn't a great job, as they got overspray on a bunch of parts that I'd prefer not having painted.

So, I went to 4 other body shops today, and I got everything from...

"we don't do any restorations. we only do insurance work.... get it in and get it out"

"your truck is too high for our paint room, as when we switched to water based paints, we had to put in these fans that made the ceiling low.... yada, yada, yada "

"Not interested because of the roof line issue"

" I'll get a price back to you tomorrow"

to the guy who came highly recommended by a friend of a friend. They told me that this truck was so easy as he didn't have any parts to supply, but tape, paper and paint supplies. He claimed to have a guy who worked there who has been doing this for over 30 years, and knows how to make these "Problem trucks" never have the rust come back. I'd be happy with "almost" never.. but never is pretty cool if they can really do this. He told me that if I removed the "goop" that I put in there on the Sunday before I brought it to him on Monday, and there was no rot in there to speak of, that I'd be looking at somewhere between $1000 to $1250 total. It just so happened that his "glass guy" was there delivering glass to his shop, when I asked him about the windshield and rear window needing / wanting to be replaced. So I got his ear and dragged him outside to look at the truck.

The guy is researching the parts and would get back to me sometime later. So far, no one has the rear window or gasket so I guess I'm using the original setup.

Both shops I took the truck to that actually spent some time with me talking about the truck said that if the truck's paint has been on there for the last 6 years, and it hasn't blistered off, then most likely, it never would, even after they repaint it again.


Any of you guys know where you can buy a new rear window / seal for these trucks ? CRLaurence is the only available unit out there, but it seems to only come in tinted, and not clear.

Since I would like to keep mine clear, I guess I'm re-using it.

IS there a way to make the rubber more subtle ? I've read things such as brake fluid and stuff to restore the rubber, but I'd like to hear any real world experiences.

Thanks !

simplysmn

Yes Mine will be done by a friend but we won't have More then 600 in Paint and another 150 in Clear there will be a Min of 4 coat's of clear and 3 coat's of Base coat I don't see having over 1500.00 in material's and paint .and to spray it is going to Cost a 20 pack of Beer . it Pay's to have Friend's that know how to paint .

NJTman

Not to mention that you apparently live in a state that "may" look the other way if someone did that in their garage.

Here ? If you get caught spraying a car, outside a paint booth ? Violation of EPA Regulation 40CFR63 ??? In NJ ???

No, not for me. I'll pay someone at a shop to do it, as it's just too much of a risk getting caught, and I cannot imagine the fines associated with it.