I need a Car Paint Job with only a $300 budget?

Question

I have a 1996 Dodge Intrepid and its a teal color. The hood, the top of the car, and the trunk all have sun damage. The color of the car is also horrible. I'm working part time and only have $300 to spend on a paint job. I want to paint it from Teal to Black.

I've heard so many bad things about Maaco so I don't want to go through with them. Where should I go? Any advice of any kind of prep work to do before taking it to a cheap painting place? Also, should I find seperate places to prime it, then paint it, then clear coat it? Also is Black expensiver?

Oh and I'm not planning on having this car for more then 2 years, so its a look good now kind of thing. But I don't want to repaint it in 6 months either.

Answer 1

Basically its up to you, when it comes to paintjobs the phrase "you get what you pay for" comes to mind if u want a decent paint job itlle cost you around 1000 buck if u want a great paint job your looking at 2000 to 10000 depending on what u want u want a cheap 300 buck paint job thats what your going to get its not going to look good it will possiblly have runs the best thing i would suggest is purchase your own paint an air compressor and some spray guns with your 300 bucks find a video online that will explaine to you how to paint practice on a few parts of your car till you get it down and then sand down the car and do it your self

Answer 2

Most of the cost in a paint job is because of the extensive prep work.  This includes masking off the areas that you do not want painted(windows, wheels, headlights, etc), removing the paint, the engine, and all necessary parts to properly paint the inside of the trunk and door jambs (if you want to change the color of the car).  And that's the easy part.  They will also remove the paint, and repair all the dings and dents. Then they will spray what is known as a guide coat on the surface of the body panels and block and sand it to locate the high and low spots.  Then they will use filler to correct the high spots and the low spots and then block and sand it again.  This usually takes several cycles to be done correctly.  Then they apply primer to the car.  THEN they can spray on a base coat and paint the car.  If they aren't skilled in painting chances are you will get imperfections such as what is known as orange peel

(http://www.ronjoseph.com/expert_witness/...

or drip/run marks.  If you can do all or most of the prep work yourself you will save yourself a lot of money.  I'm not sure if $300 will cover supplies and the re installation of the engine and the other car parts that have to be removed for painting though.

Answer 3

If you want a half way descent paint job for 300 bucks, I say good luck unless you are doing it yourself, or having somebody you know, who knows what they are doing.  You could do it yourself for probably around 250-300 bucks.