Average price for a body work/paint in USA?

[Jlyons617]

I think it was 2k to paint the Gf's bug.

[NorCalFocus]

Clearly you've never painted.

Primer- ~$150-200
Paint- $3-500 for color (at least a gallon, if not more)
Clear- ~$300
Reducer/activator- ~$100
Thinner for cleaning- $50
Sandpaper- $50 for dry, $50 for wet
Rubbing Compounds- $50-60
Tape, paper, rags- $100
Time- $$$$$

I sell paint for a living, I know the stuff pretty well. But yes you did point out a few things I forgot. A gallon of paint on a car is a ton of paint.

A shop better not be paying $100 for sandpaper per car they do. Same goes for paper and tape. Unless they're like a hospital and charge a $100 for a box of kleenex.

[V1G0R]

Man I should really learn to do it by myself...anyone of you knows a website for that?

[Dudermagee]

Man I should really learn to do it by myself...anyone of you knows a website for that?

www.paintyourcar.com

[MommysLittleMonster]

I sell paint for a living, I know the stuff pretty well. But yes you did point out a few things I forgot. A gallon of paint on a car is a ton of paint.

A shop better not be paying $100 for sandpaper per car they do. Same goes for paper and tape. Unless they're like a hospital and charge a $100 for a box of kleenex.

A gallon of paint is about right if you're doing the door jambs, engine bay, insides of the doors, and insides of the hood/trunk. Then you have bumpers, side skirts, spoilers, or anything else that may require some adhesion promoter. A gallon is certainly overkill to cover just a scuff-and-shoot car. For a color change however, a gallon isn't far-fetched.

3M Hookit pads in 120/220/320/600- $30/box for all of them individually (easily $100 there, shops typically use a quarter or half of a box per car depending on the shape of the car)
Wetsand paper- ~$20-30 for varying grits.

3M 233+ Fineline tape, 3/4" tape, and 2" tape- usually $10 or $15 each
Paper- ~$25 for a roll of it.

I can keep going if you'd like.

[johndd]

last time i paint in 250$ and paint is very cool

[devon.818]

keep in mind if you're doing it yourself your cost is more for materials than the shops would be, they buy in bulk, you don't. they get a discount, you probably wont.

the only upside to using a shop is theres a cap on how much they CAN charge, it varies state to state, but their hourly rates are supposed to be around 40-50/hr to comply with insurance regulations, where as any decent auto mechanic shop is charging 80-130/hr labor....

best bet, make friends who do body work and pay them in cash, beer, and food....not in that order though lol

[V1G0R]

best bet, make friends who do body work and pay them in cash, beer, and food....not in that order though lol

Haha exactly what I was thinking about!

[Rebounder]

keep in mind if you're doing it yourself your cost is more for materials than the shops would be, they buy in bulk, you don't. they get a discount, you probably wont.

the only upside to using a shop is theres a cap on how much they CAN charge, it varies state to state, but their hourly rates are supposed to be around 40-50/hr to comply with insurance regulations, where as any decent auto mechanic shop is charging 80-130/hr labor....

best bet, make friends who do body work and pay them in cash, beer, and food....not in that order though lol

a tech college uses rates half that

[andybob]

a tech college uses rates half that

That's a lame college.

School I went to all you had to pay for was material. Labor was free.