$$$? painting my hood/trunk or getting a trunk wrapped.

[DaBombDiggidy]

looking to compare the pricing on something i need done. i'm picking up a carbon fiber trunk with a PVO spoiler molded onto it. I really dont know if i want to get it painted to color match or keep it carbon fiber. Problem is if im going to get it painted red i would need to get my carbon fiber hood painted also. Does anyone know roughly what im looking at for a wrap job on this trunk vs paint for this and my hood?

[rocknrace03]

if you wanted to paint the under side of the hood/trunk and outside i would guess around 6-800$ if you were just doing the exterior you could probably see 5-600$ thats depending on the shop, it well could be more due that red is $$$$ plus it may not match your fenders/quarters due to paint fade/way its sprayed ect... dont be surprised if you get a quote for almost 1k lol

[DaBombDiggidy]

Eff that lol wrapping just the trunk can't be that bad

[jpalamar]

Don't buy CF parts if you can't afford the paint?!? I personally think it looks tacky not painted, but a few accents here and there can look really good.

[420sx]

5-600 dollars?! For that much, the paint job better come with a bj or something, damn.

Rattle can that bitch. If you take your time and do a nice job, it can come out almost as nice as a "real" paint job.

[DPancoast]

LIP quoted me $400 to paint my cf hood to match the car. Send them a message

[DC2.2GSR]

Originally Posted by 420sx

5-600 dollars?! For that much, the paint job better come with a bj or something, damn.

Rattle can that bitch. If you take your time and do a nice job, it can come out almost as nice as a "real" paint job.

That should read: "...if you take your time and do a nice job it will still look like you spray painted your car, but it's not as sh*tty as using rattle can primer."

There's no avoiding the fact that the instant you pick up a rattle can and set your mind to painting anything on the exterior of your car, you've just taken a turn down Ghetto Ave. There is no 'almost' with paint. It's either done with automotive paint or it's wrong.

DaBombDiggidy: It's going to cost a lot, there's no two ways about it. First of all, if you want it matched to your car you'll obviously want the body work done to it first unless you want it to look like you just dented the sh*t out of your factory trunk/deck lid. The lid in the pic looks like hell and I would assume that you'd want it to look good. There's not much explaining that "it's carbon fiber actually, I just painted it"... it's just going to look like dented metal. Body work will cost a lot to smooth out the hood and deck lid, especially if the hood and trunk both have as much cracking as the one in the pic you posted. Those cracks don't just disappear when you scuff it off, they must be repaired and it must be primed and blocked before paint.

Also, if you want them color matched to your car, the only way to do it properly is to blend the quarters and fenders, and by that time you pretty much have an overall paint job. Butt matching rarely works, even with brand new cars that haven't weathered yet. The chances of having the exact alternate on hand to mix up and butt match perfectly are slim to none. If you expect it to match, you must blend, which will cost a lot.

All of these estimates are low for doing it the right way. I'd expect anywhere from $1000 to $1500. If you're seriously interested let me know and I can run the job through the system and come up with an exact cost.

[evomike]

Originally Posted by 420sx

5-600 dollars?! For that much, the paint job better come with a bj or something, damn.

Rattle can that bitch. If you take your time and do a nice job, it can come out almost as nice as a "real" paint job.

Go price out materials and rattle can never looks as good.

[evomike]

On a side note either way it's gonna not look that good painted because I'm sure the hood and trunk are mega wavy.

[420sx]

Originally Posted by DC2.2GSR

There's no avoiding the fact that the instant you pick up a rattle can and set your mind to painting anything on the exterior of your car, you've just taken a turn down Ghetto Ave. There is no 'almost' with paint. It's either done with automotive paint or it's wrong.

Couldnt disagree more. Sounds to me like you either know very little about body work, or have very little experience with a rattle can.

Theres nothing wrong with a rattle can paintjob- the part of a paintjob that makes it quality (along with the paint) is the prep work, sanding, wetsanding, buffing, polishing. If you take the time to do all the steps on a rattlecan job that you would on a real paintjob, the results can be nearly identical. True, its never AS good... but when youre comparing a $50 paintjob to a $500 one, what do you expect?

[jpalamar]

Originally Posted by DC2.2GSR

That should read: "...if you take your time and do a nice job it will still look like you spray painted your car, but it's not as sh*tty as using rattle can primer."

There's no avoiding the fact that the instant you pick up a rattle can and set your mind to painting anything on the exterior of your car, you've just taken a turn down Ghetto Ave. There is no 'almost' with paint. It's either done with automotive paint or it's wrong.

DaBombDiggidy: It's going to cost a lot, there's no two ways about it. First of all, if you want it matched to your car you'll obviously want the body work done to it first unless you want it to look like you just dented the sh*t out of your factory trunk/deck lid. The lid in the pic looks like hell and I would assume that you'd want it to look good. There's not much explaining that "it's carbon fiber actually, I just painted it"... it's just going to look like dented metal. Body work will cost a lot to smooth out the hood and deck lid, especially if the hood and trunk both have as much cracking as the one in the pic you posted. Those cracks don't just disappear when you scuff it off, they must be repaired and it must be primed and blocked before paint.

Also, if you want them color matched to your car, the only way to do it properly is to blend the quarters and fenders, and by that time you pretty much have an overall paint job. Butt matching rarely works, even with brand new cars that haven't weathered yet. The chances of having the exact alternate on hand to mix up and butt match perfectly are slim to none. If you expect it to match, you must blend, which will cost a lot.

All of these estimates are low for doing it the right way. I'd expect anywhere from $1000 to $1500. If you're seriously interested let me know and I can run the job through the system and come up with an exact cost.

I completely agree. Every legit quote I ever got for any paint repair was always $1000-1500 because of the amout of work needed to blend.

DC2... where do you work again? I need to take my car in for a quote. Need new fender, new door skin, and blended... but the issue I see if the front end was already in a previous accidnet and the paint matching wastn't good to begin with.

[evomike]

Originally Posted by 420sx

Couldnt disagree more. Sounds to me like you either know very little about body work, or have very little experience with a rattle can.

Theres nothing wrong with a rattle can paintjob- the part of a paintjob that makes it quality (along with the paint) is the prep work, sanding, wetsanding, buffing, polishing. If you take the time to do all the steps on a rattlecan job that you would on a real paintjob, the results can be nearly identical. True, its never AS good... but when youre comparing a $50 paintjob to a $500 one, what do you expect?

It will never look as good

[DaBombDiggidy]

LOL i know painting will cost alot and ive seen people paint trunks without blending it into their cars and it becomes something that always "bothers" them and knowing myself i would be bothered by it too. I really think 1k-1.5k is a little rediculous though i would rather do the body work and get the full car repainted for that.
i dont see the cracks your talking about? the spoiler is not a part of the CF trunk when its purchased for my car (unless you get it overpriced by CBD, but thats a diff story) so they have to have it molded onto the trunk to be one piece insted of getto 3m tape which never stays on a spoiler. the thing here is, i am looking at painting VS wrapping just the trunk i already have a cf hood and if painting both is going to cost me a grand id rather just get the trunk CF wrapped, because there is no way that will cost a grand. Does anyone have any ideas of what the wrap would cost?

ps no way im rattle canning a trunk and neither of them look "wavy" & where the hell does it look dented lol you guys are nuts its a carbon fiber trunk with a PVO spoiler molded to it

[420sx]

PM JamesLS, he does carbon fiber wrapping, or can at least point you in the right direction.

[DaBombDiggidy]

thanks 420 for providing good ideas, not thinking the thing was "custom dented", and pointing me in the right direction LOL

anything over a grand a person may as well have the full car sprayed.

[DC2.2GSR]

420sx - Yeah I'm pretty sure I know a thing or two about paint and body work. Did you miss the part where I said "If you're seriously interested let me know and I can run the job through the system and come up with an exact cost."? Doesn't that sort of imply that I'm in the industry, not just some internet know it all? There are two automotive painters posting in this thread, and you're not one of them, so it's pretty easy to see why the spray paint thing is such a joke. There's no "nearly identical" when talking about automotive paint that's applied correctly and rattle can paint, no matter how long you spend trying to make it look nice. lol. If you use spray paint on your car, it looks like spray paint and nothing more. If it's not mixed in a cup and sprayed with a gun it's wrong. Period.


That deck lid looks wavy because it is wavy. Carbon fiber panels are always wavy - Seibon, VIS, you name it... they're all wavy by any body man's standards and they look like hell when painted without fixing the problem areas first. Like I said, it will look like you have a dented hood/trunk. Don't you see the low spots that have been built up with filler? Yeah, that's what it looks like over the entire panel, it's just that the guy fixed those and not the others. If you skimcoat the entire trunk and block it smooth, it's going to look like freakin abstract splatter art with all of the low spots filled in and the highs cut down to the carbon. If you don't fill them in, they'll look like dents after the entire panel is painted the same color. What's so hard to understand about that?

Now that I see the pic on a larger monitor it's pretty obvious that the cracks I mentioned are just straight scratches from something like 80 grit paper. Either way, you need to have the whole thing gone over and primed, then blocked out before paint. That's not cheap. Also, there's no possible way you can keep a carbon fiber look with that deck lid, there's filler all over it and there will be primer over nearly the entire panel. Unless you get it re-wrapped and gel'ed with real carbon there's no way to keep a carbon look... unless you're talking about 3M carbon wrap over the whole trunk and in that case... lol.


I find it hilarious every time there's a thread on this forum and about paint/body work and I explain how to go about doing it the right way, there's always a few people who mention rattle canning it or something like "screw that! I can get the whole car painted for $1000!" as was mentioned above. lol No... no you cannot get an entire car painted for $1000, unless you take your car to Maaco, and Maaco doesn't count. I'm talking about real, high quality paint work is or is better than OEM quality, not some half assed scuff and shoot at a high traffic econo-shop. You want to take your car to a Maaco and have it done instead of forking out the cash for a quality job? Cool with me. I'll just be "that guy" who's posting this guy --> in your thread that's titled "zOMG! Maaco paint work only lasted 8 months and is now flaking off. HELP!!!"

My advice was given. It's sound advice and anyone who knows anything about paint and body work can back it up. Take it or leave it.


jpalamar - you've got a PM

[420sx]

Originally Posted by DC2.2GSR

420sx - Yeah I'm pretty sure I know a thing or two about paint and body work. Did you miss the part where I said "If you're seriously interested let me know and I can run the job through the system and come up with an exact cost."? Doesn't that sort of imply that I'm in the industry, not just some internet know it all? There are two automotive painters posting in this thread, and you're not one of them, so it's pretty easy to see why the spray paint thing is such a joke. There's no "nearly identical" when talking about automotive paint that's applied correctly and rattle can paint, no matter how long you spend trying to make it look nice. lol. If you use spray paint on your car, it looks like spray paint and nothing more. If it's not mixed in a cup and sprayed with a gun it's wrong. Period.

Like I said- then youve clearly never dabbled in spray paint body work. Ive painted with a gun and compressor, and ive painted with spray paint. Spray paint will never look as good, but for 10% of the cost- it IS an option. Just because youve never had it come out looking good doesnt mean others havent either. Youre completely missing my point, and being a dick in the process. I wasnt suggesting spraypaint was a legitimate alternative when the only basis of comparison is the final outcome. I was suggesting that for a fraction of the cost of a real paintjob, its not a terrible thing to do, even temporarily.

Kind of along the same lines as maaco. If you do the prep work yourself, and ALL you have them do is spray it, it can, will, and HAS come out excellent, AND stood up to the test of time!

You want to take your elitist attitude to the furthest degree possible because youre a "professional." Thats completely fine. Not all of us can afford show cars, and not all of us are willing to accept the notion that theres ONLY ONE WAY to do something. Some of us recognize that theres more than one way to skin a cat, and that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to skin that cat within your budget. If I had the money to get a $2000 paintjob on my 240, Id be down. Unfortunately, I have to make the best with what Im working with. If that means rattle canning my front bumper until I do have that money for a real paintjob, so be it.