The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

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What did you pay for your last cycle paint job? (Assuming you didn't do it yourself)

Less than $100
3
10%
$101 to $300
4
13%
$301 to $400
7
23%
$401 to $600
7
23%
$601 to $800
1
3%
$801 to $1000
4
13%
Over a grand (god bless you)
5
16%
 
Total votes: 31

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tomk1960
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#16

Post by tomk1960 »

desertrefugee wrote::IDTS: :IDTS:

I dunno. I'm gonna have to throw a BS flag on the play here. We're not talking about show bikes. Whole nuther kettle of fish. Ain't no way on God's green earth there'd be a need to splash that kind of cash on a daily rider bike job. No doubt you'd get a nice job (you'd better). But, I suspect the folks responding to this poll paying $600'ish are getting pretty nice work.

The jury is still out on my job (and its price), but I expect to pay in the neighborhood of $200. A friend, but he says he'll make a little coin. Like I said, the end result will soon be known...

(Like I'd admit here if it's a dud!)

:stirthepot:
There's a big difference between what we can do ourselves and what pros can do. Unless you're a former painter or have learned how to do it as well as the pros, the job won't be the same. Besides all the prep work, wet sanding between coats, repairs, (if necessary) decal application, (skills involved here) clearcoat, etc., there's the paint and hardener, which is a lot better than a spray can. If you want your bodywork to be fuelproof, it has to have hardener in it. Have you looked into the hourly labor rate for body shops these days? It isn't pretty.

All that being said, $600 is probably a pipe dream if you want a bodyshop to do it for you. If a friend is willing to do it for cost of materials plus a little more for his time, that's great. And while I'm not expecting show quality work, I'm looking for a nice paint job when it's done - one that will hold up over time.
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#17

Post by wingless1 »

I paid over 300$ for materials: high build epoxy primer, blocking primer, sealer, base x2, clear, striping, bodywork, cleaners/thinners/reducers... Not a show bike, just wanted really good stuff on it-I used to paint for a living, now it's hobby.
Last edited by wingless1 on Wed Oct 22, 2014 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#18

Post by Gowing »

True tomk1960 my self prepped and painted tank lid looks barely ok from twenty feet.
Sanded it for hours, primed it, painted it, cleared it. All according to fancy auto paint
store instructions, and got what I payed for. Wasted money and time, I will probably
not go that route again. Frankly I'm embarrassed to say I did it. The gloss is not any
where near the factory side panels and it scratches if you touch it with anything.
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#19

Post by desertrefugee »

Dave, if you laid on the clear thick enough, could it maybe be wet sanded and compounded out a little?

Nice color coat.
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#20

Post by rcmatt007 »

I do my own, but all in all you can count on $3-400 in materials
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#21

Post by Whiskerfish »

I have done a couple rattle can jobs. And I have gotten quotes from 3 different Pro's and they were all starting at a grand. I do not know any local guys that do it on the side. Seems like that is often the best way to go on stuff like this.
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#22

Post by rcmatt007 »

I agree, for most auto body shops this is too small a job, and so it is a side job
-Rodger-
all it takes for evil to prosper is the want of a few good men to do nothing-Edmund Burke
The question is not how much time do you have, it is what you do with the time that you have Gandalf
"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation." Fred Rodgers
"it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert" ancient saying
78 constantly modified/customized since 1978, BOTM June 2015 de-evolving this very moment viewtopic.php?f=30&t=65511
76 Ltd "cookies bike" ALMOST DONE
79 project, finished, FOR SALE
'86 1200 (Beth's)(FOR SALE) with motorvation sidecar (sidecar sold) , July 2017 BOTM
'17 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's) (FOR SALE). I guess you can say we have MBS
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#23

Post by delling3 »

FWIW, I have restored (3) different bikes. When I got to paint, I want to the local Dupont Auto-Paint supply store, and asked for a referral. They gave me a couple of names. Ended up going with a small auto-body shop that would do the work as a "cash-job". They basically fit it in around their volume work. I simply delivered the body panels, and waited patiently (this is key to getting a good price).

First job was a Yamaha XS-750. Tank, side covers, rear cowl. Red (non-metallic) with a cream center stripe and logos. Logos were sprayed using a vinyl spray mask that I supplied. After color sanding, everything was cleared. Cost: $525.

Two years later, I did a Honda CB900F. Tank, side covers, front fender, rear cowl. Silver metallic, with reproduction factory decals. Clear coat over all. Cost $650.

Two years later came my Goldwing. I told that story in an earlier post in this thread. Looking back, I should'a stuck with the body shop guy.
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delling3

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Previous:
1978 GL1000 - JUNE 2017 BOTM: Sold
2006 Kawasaki Concours: Sold
1995 Kawasaki Concours: Crashed/totalled.
1976 GL1000: LAST RESTORATION, sold
1981 Honda CB900F Supersport: 3rd restoration, sold.
1979 Yamaha XS-750F: 2nd restoration, sold.
1982 Honda FT-500 Ascot: First (only) new bike. Family forces sale.
1973 CB500 Four: First restoration, long gone.
1972 Suzuki TS-100: First bike, sold.

Only dead fish go with the flow . . .
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#24

Post by NunzioGL »

I wouldn't charge anything less that $800. Materials alone are $300 plus. That's provided the bodywork is minimal.

I did this myself and if I had to charge for it, it would easily be in the $1800 plus range.
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Lucien Harpress
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#25

Post by Lucien Harpress »

Currently in the middle of attempting to do my own paint job. Results are... too early to tell. I got decent coverage on my base coat, but surface quality is all over the place. I'm hoping to fix this by laying down about 15 coats of clear and spending a few weeks wet-sanding out the imperfections. My primer coat is slightly suspect (being from a rattle can), but worst case scenario I have to touch it up more than usual.

Still, that being said, I'm probably $400 in the hole for a (so far) crap paint job, and that's not counting the fact I didn't have to buy a compressor for it. If I could've gotten it done for $500-$600, I may have just let a professional do it.
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#26

Post by Casper »

For my current bike project I am leaning towards doing a vinyl wrap. I will be getting some quotes from shops in town who do that work on cars/trucks. I also want to play with some DIY samples and see how hard it is to do. There are even vinyls that can be printed on, so graphic designs, lettering etc, then they can get clear coated. Seen some very cool work done on cars. I will post my results in this thread.
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#27

Post by Sidecar Bob »

I didn't vote because I've never had anyone else paint a bike for me. But I am pretty good friends with one of the local body shop guys so I have a bit of an idea what paint costs. I wanted to paint Mr.H 2 tone with black to match the sidecar (that I had painted a couple of years before) and a specific Honda metallic blue to match a helmet I had just bought. I almost fell over when he told me how much the blue would cost if he sold it to me for what he paid. He talked me out of painting it mostly blue, then told me a pint of the blue would be more than everything else combined, including his labour if he was to paint it for me (but he refused to paint it, saying "the sidecar looks good - you can do just as good a job on the bike"). Then he told me if he was doing it he would to go to Canadian Tire and get a couple of spray cans of touch up in the colour I wanted. He said if the prep was right and I did it carefully it would stick just as well and look just as good as the best paint.

Anyway, 3 years later, that helmet has been replaced and I am glad I took his advice. If you are interested, you can see pics here http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic. ... rd#p364231

BTW: Your friend is giving you a really good deal. Between primer, reducer, paint &c I spent about $100 not counting the spray cans. And I got a really good deal on the black Acrylic Enamel - they stopped selling the good paint for vehicles between when I painted the sidecar and when I painted the bike. My friend told me at the time that they still allowed for restoration of vintage stuff where original finish was historically important and the new low VOC stuff wasn't nearly as good to work with. But he was at his paint supplier one day and discovered gallon cans of plain (non-metallic) standard colours of the good acrylic enamel sold for painting machinery for about half the price of a pint of the metallic made for cars low VOC stuff. He bought a can of the black and filled a 1L can for me for $10 - less than I had to pay for the primer!!!
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#28

Post by Sidecar Bob »

Re wrapping a bike: Murrayf on cx500forum.com (& also of Murray's Carbs) had a 'Wing wrapped a while ago and it came out pretty nice
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Mr. Honda ('83 GL1100/Dnepr) summer How a motorcycle evolves thread
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#29

Post by Mike-C »

Good Day Folks;
I tried several times myself and was not at all pleased with efforts. I took the side covers, the rear fender, the shelter and two front fenders to my local body shop. He said what colour? I said what's in your gun as we 'speak' ? He said RED. Mazda Mars Red, and pointed to a deer collision car that was prepped and ready for paint. That's good enough for me. $400 later the job was done.
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Re: The Cost of a Decent Paint Job

#30

Post by SnoBrdr »

Mike-C wrote:Good Day Folks;
I tried several times myself and was not at all pleased with efforts. I took the side covers, the rear fender, the shelter and two front fenders to my local body shop. He said what colour? I said what's in your gun as we 'speak' ? He said RED. Mazda Mars Red, and pointed to a deer collision car that was prepped and ready for paint. That's good enough for me. $400 later the job was done.
Mike Coleman
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'84 un-Terstate
'84 Standard (as yet un-named)
That's quite a deal.
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