Timothy Beloney wrote:
>
> Does anyone have any paint shop recommendation in the Bay Area?
Tim,
I do not have any recommendations for painters in the Bay area, but have
some general recommendations:
1. Call the local paint supplier(s)/jobbers and ask them for
recommendations. They sell paint to all of the local businesses and may
be able to give you some insight. Might want to start witht the Dupont
and PPG distributors, since these are high quality products (actually
they both have a modest to high quality line of paints).
2. Talk with several potential paint shops. Same as getting several
bids for a job. This accomplishes at least two purposes: 1) it helps to
ensure that you get a fair price; and even more important: 2) it helps
to educate you about the job. In getting several quotes you will
inevitably learn quite a bit about car painting. Do you want the car
taken down to bare metal ? How straight do you want the body panels ?
(If you are having the car painted a very dark color ripples show up
more), how much will you want the car disassembled ? Single stage paint
? Basecoat/clear ? Lacquer (I doubt they will paint with lacquer),
enamel, enamel with hardner, urethane (sp?). Color sanded and buffed ?
Fixed price job or cost plus ? ..... the paint shop will need to know
your expectations to be able to cost this job. You will learn a lot.
3. When you talk to the paint shops, I would suggest that you write down
the relevant information , and produce a few photocopies with the "to: "
part blank. Then hand write in the name of the paint shop you are
requesting a bid from before you submit it. This lets the paint shop
know that this is a competetive bid without having to bring it up, which
can be awkward.
4. Paint shops make most of their profit on insurance company repairs
and quick repaints. Primarily the former. Projects like yours end up
being priced closer to their bottom line. Consequently your car may or
may not be finished in time.
5. Select the paint shop prior to having the car media blasted. For a
couple of reasons : they may be able to have this job done at a lower
cost than you can negotiate, and you want to make sure that the post
media priming is done with a product which is compatible with the paint
product line that the shop will eventually use.
6. No paint job is 100% perfect. Have good talk with the shop to
understand the quality vs price.
Good luck,
-Roger
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