"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
04/23/2018 at 19:59 • Filed to: None
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"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
04/23/2018 at 19:59 • Filed to: None | 1
| 17 |
While I have been thoroughly enjoying thrashing my Miata around on the canyons of Malibu for the past few months and just ignoring the state of my paint, it has come time to finally start thinking about painting it. I would love to learn how to DIY paint the car but I really do not think that is practical without knowing anybody who tinkers around with that sort of thing and could teach me. Now that I have settled into my new home state and have my financials in order after the move, I think its about that time to find a paint shop. So, I am curious what the best way to search for a paint shop in the Los Angeles area is? Obviously I do not want to spend much but I also do not want to get a terrible paint job that falls off in 6 months to a year. I just haven’t the slightest idea where to start other than googling paint shops and reading some reviews.
I am hoping to spend somewhere in the $1-2k range since all of my body work is already nice and straight and should be ready for paint after a nice cleaning and some sanding. I am wondering if there is prep work I can do to save more costs since I imagine there is a lot of taping involved and other junk which equals many hours of easy labor I could accomplish.
The car will continue to be my track rat so I do not need a high-end $8000 paint job but it would be nice to have a reason to wash and wax the car again. I do plan on keeping the Miata pretty much forever so it would be a worthwhile investment.
I need the paint to get back to nice and shiny like back in the day, but now without the godawful rocker rust that was easily hidden in photos. Or the giant dent in the rear quarter that is now nice and smooth. Plus all of my little upgrades that I absolutely love.
Shiny paint but stupid monster truck height and hidden rust
Scary__goongala!
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/23/2018 at 20:30 |
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I’m just going to have my whole NA vinyl wrapped by someone who knows what the are doing at some point.
To answer your question......I’m sure you can ask on miata.net or another forum where to go. Info about good shops for different kind of work is usual floating around on there.
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Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> Scary__goongala!
04/23/2018 at 20:33 |
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I feel like vinyl wrapping is actually more expensive than paint. And I could do a plastidip job for sure, but that usually at least needs crappy paint rather than primer to be added onto.
AestheticsInMotion
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/23/2018 at 20:49 |
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Likely more expensive since you got the bodywork done already. Miata.net (or better yet, miataroadster) is probably your best bet like Scary said. Or look for the places that take care of classic cars (lowriders and the like), with the insane show finishes and hand pinstriping. They’ll do less involved, cheaper work too generally, and you’ll know that you’re getting a quality job. If you really want to learn the DIY route, I’d post on Turbomiata.net to see if anyone wants to help Mike know a lot of the guys there have experience (and their own booths, high-end gear) and would be willing to help. Otherwise yeah, not really worth trying to learn on your own probably
Or just clearcoat the current look ;)
way2blu does a rev update
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/23/2018 at 21:12 |
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Do it.
Seriously. Paint has been, by far, the best bang-for-the-buck mod I’ve EVER done to any car. Observe:
Just over a year ago, I bought this fading, chipping mess of an MR2. It looked pretty bad. Cracks in the paint, hood was rattle-canned to match, bumper was a different shade of blue.
So, 6 months into ownership, I got a “basic” entry-level paint job at a local shop. Behold:
My car gained the “Look Back” effect that we enthusiasts crave. Absolutely transformed the car. As long as you take good care of the paint, even the cheapest “professional” paint job can hold up just fine. It’s been 8 months and it’s just as bright as ever. The above pic was taken yesterday.
I paid $650 for it. Scheib Auto Body and Paint of San Diego. It’s a little far from LA, but if you can find a similar shop, it’s an incredible deal.
mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/23/2018 at 22:13 |
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Plan on the rocker rust to cost you around 1,500 by its self (that would be including paint matching tho). But yeah I’d look on Miata.net... that’s where I found a trusted body shop to do my rocker panels.
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Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
04/23/2018 at 22:28 |
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No, I already have the rocker panels and quarters done. Along with all of the other imperfections that built up in the car’s past 17 years of life. It just needs paint at this point. But yeah I’ll give a look on there for paint shops.
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Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> way2blu does a rev update
04/23/2018 at 22:31 |
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Oh wow that’s a damn good deal. If I can get paint that cheap, Idk what I’ve been waiting for lol. I’ve just dreaded the cost when I would rather spend it on a new exhaust for the STi or some higher end coilovers for the Miata. But yeah at that price point, it’s well within my budget.
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way2blu does a rev update
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/23/2018 at 22:44 |
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My paintjob was their most basic available. For $999 they have a fancier one with a 5-year warranty. Go for it. And paint it something bright and awesome. It’ll bring smiles to enthusiasts everywhere (you included).
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Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> way2blu does a rev update
04/23/2018 at 23:24 |
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I’m pretty sure I want to keep the same color but I wonder if it’s pretty much the same cost to choose something wild. I do like fun colors.
ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2018 at 00:22 |
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I can tell you that you shouldn’t DIY paint it. If you look back on my posts from a year ago when I did this on the race car (and I ended up with a way better paint job than I planned on), it was a tremendous amount of work that I would not do again. It’s not that you can’t do it and get a good result; it’s that it isn’t worth the time. Actually spraying the car (all sealed up in a tyvek suit, booties, gloves, googles and respirator with the air compressor wailing away in the background) was actually one of those strangely cathartic tasks where you are intensely focused on only one thing to the exclusion of the world and you get constant, and instant, feedback on how well you’re doing the job. The problem is that actually spraying the car is only like 5% of the job. The bulk of the job is more time sanding then you imagine is possible. I probably had around 50-60 hours of time into the car between, masking and painting the trim, prep/scuffing the existing paint, masking (oh so much masking, and it still turned out to not be enough), spraying the primer, sanding the primer, spraying the paint, wet sanding (oh so much sanding) and them buffing.
Within your desired budget of a couple of grand, I’ve seen folks get a really, really good paint job if you do the prep yourself. From what I can see of the car, that would involve stripping it of things like bumpers, lights, glass and trim, doing whatever body work that might be remaining, sanding the existing finish to have it ready for primer and paint and then doing the bulk of the masking. Once that is done, you have a wrecker take the car to the paint shop where they spray it and bake it. Once baked, the wrecker brings the car back to you for putting it back together and the color sanding and buffing.
There are probably opportunities to save also in priming it yourself, but you would want to work with the paint shop to know what you need to prime it with. Assuming the existing bodywork was done with rattle can primer, it will probably need to be covered with a coat or two of a sealer primer to be compatible with the 2k urethane paint and primers that modern finishes usually are.
For finding a paint shop, I would probably try talking to a good indy mechanic in your area. Explain what your are looking for and what you want to spend, and they can probably point to an indy paint shop that does that kind of thing. The big collision centers that do insurance work all day probably aren’t going to be interested in the job your’re looking for (and they would be stupid expensive if they were), and the restoration type shops are going to want to do more than you want for more than you want to spend, but there are small paint shops out there that do the kind of work you want. I could point you to some in Albuquerque, but I can’t help you in LA.
To give you an idea on costs, I used a very good quality, single stage, 2k urethane paint that is of the quality used in a factory finish or a high-end collision shop. Mixed to the OEM Honda paint color, it was $400/gallon for that quality of paint, around $100/gallon for primer (plus some amount that I forget for a bottle of catalyst for both the paint and the primer). Factor in sandpaper and all the other stuff used in prep and masking (I already owned a good-sized compressor and an old-school suction spray gun), I probably spent $800-$1000 to do it myself. I could’ve had a Maaco or Earl Schibe type place spray it for similar amounts, but they would’ve been using a much lower quality paint at that price point.
https://oppositelock.kinja.com/old-red-racecar-is-still-old-but-now-with-more-red-1819086814
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Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
04/24/2018 at 01:14 |
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This is really useful advice, thank you. Why does paint have to be so hard lol? And why do they make it look so easy on car restomod shows. I mean I know most things on tv shows like that look way easier than they are. But like doing an engine swap when you know what you are doing could take a day whereas the show takes 5 minutes. That’s a comparable amount of time. But paint is like 10 seconds versus weeks of labor! I know, don’t take advice from TV but it’s just funny to me. Anyways, I’ll definitely look into doing things that way.
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ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2018 at 02:27 |
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To quote another oppo, body work only seems expensive until you do it yourself. I learned exactly what you’re paying someone to do, and I have a lot of respect for people that do it well (and I ain’t one of them).
ateamfan42
> ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
04/24/2018 at 08:43 |
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The problem is that actually spraying the car is only like 5% of the job.
So much this. Actually spraying the paint isn’t terribly hard, but all the prep, prep, prep is what takes the time and effort.
davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2018 at 09:29 |
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Go crazy, sir. Go crazy.
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mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2018 at 16:28 |
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Oh ok cool. Then yeah it should be straightforward and quick to do the paint, especially with you doing prep work. I had seen do it yourself paint shops... maybe look in to that!
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Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
04/24/2018 at 17:27 |
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I wonder what sort of terrible jobs come out of those lol. That sounds like DIY surgery centers or something like that.
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mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2018 at 17:38 |
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I mean that fits with the notion that, “if someone else can do it...”