How Good Would You Expect A £1k Paint Job To Be?

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Iv just got back from taking a look at my car after its had a full respray, all the dents pulled out/filled, rubed down, primer, base the 3 top coats. Now if im honnest im not very impressed, Dont get me wrong, i wasnt expecting showroom quality concourse but the roof especialy is full of very fine bits of dust you can see, but cant feel. There are a few (about 50 over the whole car) larger bits of dust or other crap that you can feel under the laquer. also the two front wings seem a fair bit duller than the rest of the car, as if they have had less laquer??

 

As of yet the paint hasnt hardend properly as it was only finnished being painted at about 10ish and is going to be left over night with heaters on it, as as so has not been machine polished yet but im not expecting it to make much diference to all the imperfections

 

Now, for the "comlicated" bit, it cost £1000 'mates rates' as the guy doing the work is one of my friends, brothers son (so my mates nephew) and he works in a spray shop full time, but has taken the equipment home and done the job in his garage...

 

So whats everyones oppinions? should it be 'mint? should it be half decent, (no noticible lumpy dust) or simply should i shut up and accept the job thats been done?

 

Paul.

EDIT

Crap pics off phone:-

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k296/con...xs/DSC00028.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k296/con...xs/DSC00029.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k296/con...xs/DSC00030.jpg

Edited June 29, 2009 by M_R_205

[omega 82]

cant see anything in the pics[they crap] but if you not happy get him to sort it ,for a grand id want it mint but if hes doing it in his own garage it wont be mint

[Baz 421]

Ok so it's never going to be concourse standard as you say, but there's a line between a decent job and cheap respray, £1k isn't cheap, and if you don't think you you're getting what you asked for, and aren't happy then don't pay. Sounds more like a sub £500 cheapy than a grand's worth to me.

 

A friend had a similar problem with a local lad recently when he rebuilt his EsCos after a nut&bolt ground up resto, refused to pay as it wasn't the job he was promised. If it's been done there, where it is in the middle of that place and not in a sealed, clean environment it's never going to be great, which then also strikes me that they probably won't have used decent proper equipment to do it with either!

[yeti-dj 7]

needs to be done in a proper spray booth or you will always get little bits of crap sticking to the paint, at a grand i wouldnt be too impressed, as said before sounds like a £500 job.

 

Mate just got a whole 206 rally car done inside and out done in a proper booth for £800, ok he had to rub down the car but the rest was the sprayers work, nice job as well, way too good for a rally car!

[martyn180 9]

For a full decent respay ie as good as oe quality would be 2500, in a booth, baked etc. At home in a garage bits of dust ete were going to get in there as its never going to get a clean enviroment.

[jimistdt 1]

Can't really make out anything on the pics. I wouldn't be happy if I was you from the sound of what you have described. Mate or not, either he's doing you a favour or he isn't, sounds like you could have had a job like that anywhere.

 

But £1K is a bit steep for a back pocket job, I'd want it pretty much spot on.

[CaptainP 2]

For a full respray £1000 would be very reasonable if it were at a proper spraying booth. For somebody earning a few quid on the side in their garage I wouldn't expect to pay over £500. Awkward situation when a mate(mates family) does some work and it's not upto scratch. Ultimately though it's your hard-earned money and you're entitled to be happy with it. I would speak to the guy and explain it's not upto the standard you expect for that type of money & only pay what you feel it's worth.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

£1k does sound a bit OTT for a "foreigner", if matey had blagged it into the spray booth where he works at a weekend perhaps, then that would be a bit more acceptable.

 

However I would wait until it has been flatted and machine polished before you start making a lot of fuss, as you can do quite a lot in the cutting and polishing stage.

[Richie 32]

Completely agree with the above. Like Baz said, 1k isn't a cheap spray job and it should be of a good standard. I'd ask if it was sprayed in that open plan room or if it was in a controlled environment like it should be.

 

I'm getting my 1.9 sprayed with a budget of around £1000, and im expecting a really nice job. Not concourse, but still bloody good. £1k is a lot of money.

[dale205mills 39 7 Cars]

I agree with tom on this, I have painted a few cars and vans in dusty workshops and after flating down with wet a dry and a polish with a machine polisher they have looked great, did you mate damp the floor down as I do it to stop the dust flicking up when I am painting along the bottom of the car, all a spray booth is for relly is to speed up painting and drying, stop dust and for less polishing of the car, If the garage is right then you can do a wicked paint job with out a spray booth it just takes time to dry and more flating and polishing. Take a look on passionford and you will see alot of the concourse cars are painted in peoples garages in there back garden.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

I agree with tom on this, I have painted a few cars and vans in dusty workshops and after flating down with wet a dry and a polish with a machine polisher they have looked great

 

Ditto, the green Mini that made the front cover of the mini magazine, was prepped, painted and polished by Carl and I in my garage.

[gti-si 0]

+2, you can't really comment until it's been flatted and polished. Then you can go check it out and make your decision on whether your happy or not. I'd agree you'd be very suprised what a good cut back and polish can do

[willmounsey 1]

1k is a bit steep mate, would of made a big difference if it where sprayed in a booth aslo (hence all the dust and sh1t in the paint)

 

Was it waterbased paint he used?

 

Will

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Would you expect the cut and polish to be done before or after the handles lock etc were refitted? as he has just text me over some pics and he has refitted most of the trim,

 

It was also painted in the open like the pic shows, it is in a garage at the back of his garded but its bloody huge!! so a lot of area for dust to move about,

 

Now im going to take the advice and wait till i go to collect it on saturday before making any fuss but i suppose my biggest problem is that i payed the guy 2 weeks ago so he could buy the paint, filler and sanding disks....

 

Iv got a feeling this one is going to go down to experience to be honnest

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Cut and polish is easier without any trim etc on. Having said that its not a bad idea to leave it a few days before doing it.

 

As for paying up front, maybe a few hundred quid to cover the materials, but not all of it.

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Iv just got back from having another look at the car, hes started to cut and polish it and in fairness what he has done does look MUCH better, not quite 100% but better, il still wait for the final result before kicking up hell. lol

 

I tryed to take more pics but as its poor light the flash off the camera just makes pictures crap!

[Paintguy 0]

A bit late, but I'd also agree that you can't make any judgements until you've seen the finished job. Something painted out in the open like that is bound to be full of dust etc (most spray booths aren't perfect, truth be told!) but if he knows what he's doing then he'll have factored that in and that's part of what you're paying for. That job would take less than an hour to paint in a booth, but might take 8-10 hours to flat and buff properly, even more for a car requiring a 'show' finish.

 

Just take a look on some of the detailing sites. The pros can take up to a week to flat and polish the orange peel out of a car, and charge up to a grand. That's not even applying any paint, just tarting up the original stuff!

 

P.S. I'd certainly have done all or at least most of the polishing work before I refitted any trim.

Edited June 30, 2009 by Paintguy

[gti-si 0]

How much experience does he have? I know he works at a spray shop, but how many cars has he actually sprayed himself? You seen any of his work prior?