Car Painter recommendations!

[oliproctor]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a professional car painter to do a great job to my 1965 Spitfire in the North Yorkshire area. Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks Oli

[Clive]

As you intend spending a substantial amount, it is worth travelling for a good painter. You have Yorkshire Triumphs on your doorstep, but Triumph Autoclassique (wiltshire area) have a superb reputation. But it doesn't have to be a Triumph specialist, a good painter is a good painter.

[dougbgt6]

I agree with Clive, my GT6 was re-sprayed by an MG specialist garage down South.  So rule nothing out.

[ShaunW]

I'd be interested to hear what sort of price a respray would be. I realise it's a piece of string type question depending on the prep. 

[Clive]

I would never offer to do all the prep for a respray, the topcoats are the easy bit, but the prep is what you pay for and is where all the real work is. If you prep a car and the respray looks naff, the sprayer will blame you! 

For a half decent respray I would guess they start at 2K and go rapidly upwards depending on the work involved and quality of finish. That does not include panel work at all, and may well be rather on the low side.I think 5k is very easy to spend. ANd having done a couple  of cars myself, I know the hours of work that go into the prep, blocking off primer and so on. It takes many many hours.

[AidanT]

Hi Clive

Is that southern prices? Blimey!

Totally agree with you about the prep work The local guy to me will not touch someone else's prep and refuses to paint a car not prepped by himself 

The only thing he will let you do is strip the car ancilleries 

Aidan

[Clive]

yep, i am properly SE. Brighton....

But materials alone are hardly cheap. Easy to do a few hundred on paint/primers etc.

[Gully]

Couple of places I've vaguely looked into over recent months have suggested a budget of £5-6k including stripping the ancilliaries, prep, paint and rebuild. Westgate Classics (former home of Car SOS) in the FAQ section of their website quote 200 hours at £35/hr plus VAT as a guide.

One chap I know locally spent around £4K on a rear end only respray on a TR7 with a Triumph specialist near here. Hell, getting the Minilites refurbished is £300 - a set of used steels from Wins looks attractive at £15 apiece!

I do wish TSSC had a trusted trader scheme in the way one of the MG clubs has. Would be nice to have some recommendations to assist the decision making process. I've been mulling over getting my GT6 painted for a couple of years, but it feels like a big money pot luck choice and those haven't worked out particularly well recently (did someone say gearbox?! ?). 

Gully

[oliproctor]

Thanks everyone!

[ShaunW]

I understand what people are saying about the final prep and I wouldn't expect a pro to just do a blow over on whatever I took them. But I like doing prep so I'd try and leave them as little as possible to do. 

I have been thinking about doing it myself but I can't get it all in the garage at once. It's doable if you have the patience. 

200 hrs for a car so small is crazy unless it's rusty and bent.  28 days! At most they're about 7sqm? I don't believe it takes 4 full days/m2 to do. I know what's involved and when you're all tooled up you can do a heck of lot of flattening and polishing in an hour. 

[Clive]

I think the 200 hours takes into account time to strip all glass, probably parts if not all of the interior, all external trim and possibly removal of doors/bonnet/bootlid etc, and refit after.

There is a weeks work there. 

The time just disappears, most of it tedious but essential blocking off, and applying stoppers/filler etc to get as near a perfect finish as possible. And as for prepping an engine bay.....that can be a nightmare, made easier by removal of engine and all the other bits and bobs which again swallows a couple of days.

I understand what you mean about doing much of the prep. Best time you can spend is stripping everything off the car and refitting once sprayed. Or do the whole job yourself, which is very rewarding but can get extremely frustrating once you realise there are no shortcuts!  To give you an example, I gave my Toledo a quick spray, never intended to be a mint finish. I had fitted some wings, 2 new doors, sills, and a bonnet. I reckon each panel takes best part of an hour for the initial flatting and applying stopper, then reflat. No real filler/shape work. That is about 12 hours on that car. Coat of primer, flat and bit more stopper and flatting. Another day or so. Then I wacked on topcoats. I was using 2k paint, so that helps immensely, but the finish is nothing special at all. Then a day with the polishing mop to give it some shine. (worth bearing in mind the car is worth about 50p but I have owned it 9 years exactly, 5x1500 engines! and now a TR7 lump in it, and about 50,00 miles, loads of 12 car rallies/autotests/PCTs/trackdays etc and topped off by 1xRBRR, another next year) and the paint is now looking tired with a few bits of rust starting to peek though. The car lives outside,and gets used several times a week, all year. Washed rarely.

That budget spray job was probably 40 hours, just masking trim and panels already on the car, no engine bay paint, outside panels only. And paint etc came to £150 using cheap 2K paint, Post Office Red was £50 for 5 litres, plus hardener/thinners, primers/filler/stopper etc etc.

So that may give you a bit more insight into why resprays look expensive!

[AndyCrews]

I asked Westgate Classics for a quote to respray my Spitfire a couple of years ago and they came back with £3.5k. Not sure if that included VAT or not. Other quotes I've had start at £1.3k - probably too cheap.

 

Andy

[ShaunW]

Thanks Clive I enjoyed reading that. Lots of options to think about. The budget isn't limitless so I might have to compromise for a while.

Looks are a bonus,  but for now I'm not too fussed so long as she's in tip top shape mechanically. (maybe I'll use that on my next lonley hearts ad) 

My son and his mate wrapped his Audi A3 for about £200 worth of film and it looks amazing actually.... I was really surprised. Might be an option to protect my prep until I can afford a proper job.....mmm

As I said.... Lots to think about. 

[Clive]

If funds are tight you can by an apollo spray setup for not much at all, a bit slow but will do the job, and if yu do it a bit at a time it won't matter. 

It will work out much cheaper than rattle cans! Plus you will learn a lot very quickly. And hopefully be delighted with how it works out. Plenty of advice out there, have a look at teh mig welding forum.....

[Dick Twitchen]

In response to Gully's comment on a 'trusted trader' scheme unless my memory is playing tricks (age) we did used to have something similar but I seem to recall that there was much debate on potential litigation issues so it was dropped.  Now it is more 'personal' rather than looking like 'official' TSSC sanctioning.  

Dick

[ShaunW]

On 11/15/2017 at 6:25 PM, clive said:

If funds are tight you can by an apollo spray setup for not much at all, a bit slow but will do the job, and if yu do it a bit at a time it won't matter. 

It will work out much cheaper than rattle cans! Plus you will learn a lot very quickly. And hopefully be delighted with how it works out. Plenty of advice out there, have a look at teh mig welding forum.....

I was thinking about something like that. I'd always choose to spend saved money on the right tools. If I never saw a rattle can again it would be too soon. 

[Badwolf]

I picked up an apollo on fleabay for £40. Not tried it with paint yet but intend to repaint in the spring after prepping dec/jan. I looked at various pro paintshop prices from 3k to 7k and decided to try it myself. You can make a lot of mistakes and still get change out of 7k. My thoughts were, spend 7k and get a great finish.. get a scratch ....loads of tears and and even smaller bank balance due to the repairs. Do it yourself, gain loads of experience and hopefully satisfaction. It won't be concourse but if it gets scratched, repaint the panel over the weekend, off you go. Misguided, probably but mine will never be concourse so not worth the expense. Spend the savings on fuel and drive the b**ger !!

[ShaunW]

Good for you Badwolf. That's the spirit.

I tackle everything like that. Unless it's brain surgery then with enough reading and practice and patience... It's doable. And you get a skill to keep use again in the future. I've found that the main difference between a professional and an amateur is the time it takes to do. But it doesn't bother me if I take a fortnight to do what they can do in a day. That said, 'know your limits' is key.

[Badwolf]

Shaun, have a look at the 'lvlp paint spraying' thread. Also do a global search here for 'apollo', they get a good write up which is why I went for one. My plan is to practice on my hardtop (currently in the shed), then progress onto the steel bonnet (also in the shed). Then move on to the boot lid, doors, then the body tub. I will then replace the grp bonnet, refit everything and enjoy the summer with a car that is at least all the same colour.

[Paul H]

12 hours ago, ShaunW said:

Good for you Badwolf. That's the spirit.

I tackle everything like that. Unless it's brain surgery then with enough reading and practice and patience... It's doable. And you get a skill to keep use again in the future. I've found that the main difference between a professional and an amateur is the time it takes to do. But it doesn't bother me if I take a fortnight to do what they can do in a day. That said, 'know your limits' is key.

I plan the same approach. My Vitesse bodywork has a few rust issues, nothing serious  though there are bodywork dings & ripples which need fixing + the door gaps are not good. Just purchased some bare doors from Ebay for very little money - New lower door skins have been purchased so I can repair the doors , spray & fix , same applies to spare boot and new sills . I know it will be a steep learning curve with both welding and spraying . I purchased a 100 litre 14cfm compressor in the summer and currently in good use as spraying new internal doors for the house - for a change im earning some brownie points. Currently using a cheap HLVP spray gun and dont know whether its worthwhile upgrading to a better one for the Vitesse - I dont currently have a welder though looking at 150amp Mig welder - This will mean the Vitesse  is off the road for minimum periods until its time to paint the body shell & bonnet which by that time I will be better prepared 

Any recommendations appreciated 

[Colin Lindsay]

20 hours ago, Badwolf said:

 Do it yourself, gain loads of experience and hopefully satisfaction. It won't be concourse but if it gets scratched, repaint the panel over the weekend, off you go. 

That's my idea too.... I want the Herald to be a car I can enjoy, not constantly terrified of getting a scratch that has to be repaired at huge expense as the entire panel has to be redone to get an exact match. 

[ShaunW]

Tourist : "Can you tell me how to get to the Albert Hall?"
Cabbie : "Practice, practice, practice"

Only slightly on topic and without the build-up it's a gag wasted really, but the subject reminded me of it.

.

 

[ludwig113]

seem like alot of us have the same ideas re "having a go"

i couldn't weld but i bought my own mig, now i'm welding everything on the car.

i have sprayed in the past and will be doing mine in my garage, and i'll build a tempory booth inside with extraction.

also plan to buy a decent top coat/final finish spray gun, it makes alot of difference.

 

paul

[ShaunW]

If I didn't want to 'have a go' I wouldn't have bought a car that needed a good going over.

Pity I can't fit it in the garage. I've been eyeing up the back garden and musing about a poly tunnel spray booth. Dual use... It's a genius idea.  All I need is someone to give me a hand carrying the car on its side down the narrow path at the side of the house  and back again when it's done in time to plant the tomatoes. 

[dougbgt6]

Shaun, when I was an apprentice a mate bought an Austin 7. He stripped it on the front drive and under parental pressure took the parts to the back garden shed where he repaired and reassembled the car.  Once finished and re-sprayed he couldn't get it out the garden, so he hired a crane to lift it over the house! Attracted a lot of attention on the day, particularly from the press, who coughed up some money towards the hire.