I was wondering if anyone has experience getting their entire Impreza exterior painted and basically who does a good job and what did it cost total?? Kinda looking for recommendations from someone who had it done themselves and the pricing for a spot in Minnesotas Twin Cities Metro/ Southern MN or Sioux Falls area.
$3,500 is at the bottom of the cheap end these days. I would honestly say to guess $5k as a start if you want quality work done.
Wow, good to know. A lot more expensive than I thought.. 800-3500 would have been the range I thought initially but if 3000 is closer to the bottom then scratch the idea lol
You can get a cheap paint job, but I wouldn't be expecting any kind of quality work. I had my 240 painted about 5 years ago, it was $3k. I took all of the body panels off, lights, ect off to save in labor, had a CF hood, and the roof was already painted. Body shop didn't remove any of the glass either. Was a very nice paint job. The paint i used was probably about $1k on its own. I know some people who have got maaco type paint jobs and had ok results, and others have paint falling off 2 years later. Best thing you can find is older retired body guys that do paint jobs to keep busy. Will have a slower turn around, but likely get great work at a reasonable price.
It'll probably cost more than $5k if he wants the entire car painted. But if he is just looking for exterior, $3k ball park range. But then again, it comes down to color, and if you want to get crazy. I wouldn't mind having a candy apple red paint job with a pearl clear.
^ what he said. It is "supposed" to be quite simple and will/should fill in any SMALL imperfections or dings you have on the car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rNY9Dx617N8
I have seen 5 cars that have been plastidipped completely. All looked like complete garbage. I see plastidip as being acceptable for small parts, a whole car is excessive. I have friend who works at a dealership, they had a customer that bought a 2012 Escalade and then had someone plastidip it flat black. 2 months later he desided he didn't like it and tried to remove said plastidip, it ended up taking clear coat off with it.
Sounds like they sprayed it wrong or used a bad mix. There are thousands of cars that have had zero issues with it. As well a person who doesn't understand application will do a crap job. I have seen cars done right and it looks good, even up close. I have seen cars done poorly and they look good till your 5 feet away. Either way... if it takes clear coat off the issue was with the person applying the dip or the person mixing it incorrectly.
Ya, I can imagine that there is chances of issues like that. The dipped white GTR IMO looks horrible.
Yeah I'm with you. I've never seen anything better than a 20 footer in person. Also, aving seen about half a dozen in person and having been contacted by 2 people who stripped it off and wanted me to detail it after (lol good luck) I'm of the opinion that there's way too much room for user error. There was a lot of variability even in the small sample size I've seen.
Damn, so whats a po' boi to do? I was considering the dip but I want to improve things not spend the time to make it still look like crap! Do people just abandon their bugeye's once the clear starts flacking and the rear quarters get cancer? How does One justify spending the value of the car on prep and paint? I don't think vinly looks that great either plus it can absorb colors. I guess One just needs to learn how to do everything on their own.
The body work is easy to justify when you have an unhealthy love for your car. Oh and I do agree with your statement that body work is the only true way to fix it. Dip would just be a cover, like vinyl.
Yes, "unhealthy love"... Those were the words I was thinking of. I feel an intervention coming my way. If someone says they want to "meet for a talk", I'm running!
