Respray costs.

[rocket]

My plus 2 is lovely and not in need of work at the mo but was at a friends last week looking at a Scimitar he has just had resprayed.It looks excellent,paint finish is top notch.Was suprised to find it cost only ?1400 all in.Asked obvious question of longevity issues and he took me a short drive to see his mates car painted 4 years previously,looks good still.So why do our cars cost so much more?

Ian.

[nebogipfel]

My plus 2 is lovely and not in need of work at the mo but was at a friends last week looking at a Scimitar he has just had resprayed.It looks excellent,paint finish is top notch.Was suprised to find it cost only ?1400 all in.Asked obvious question of longevity issues and he took me a short drive to see his mates car painted 4 years previously,looks good still.So why do our cars cost so much more?

Ian.

The sums are fairly simple, take an average working week of 40 hours @?40/hr and you have ?1600 already. Very few specialists work for ?40/hr these days.

To strip a bare Elan shell back to glass, repair all the problems properly including panel fit and then apply a proper paint system takes many more than 40 hrs

and then you have the costs of materials ........

That said, I do think some of the prices quoted are on the high side.

[Baggy2]

I just got quoted about ?6K including materials and VAT - My current paint job is now about 22 years old and there is some slight crazing so I made the enquiry out of curiosity. It's too much for me so I'll live with the crazing. I think you have to remember that 90% + of body shop business is paid for by insurance companies who just seem to pay whatever they are asked for and up the premiums to cover it.
IMHO of course.
Baggy
PS if you want to tell us where your mate got his ?1400 pound job I would be interested - my next respray doesnt need to last 22years because it's unlikely that I will!

[Craig Elliott]

As outlined above the cost is in the body prep and will depend on how bad the car is and/or how much you're prepared to do yourself (and how well you do it). Was the ?1500 the cost of doing a re-spray on a car that was basically sound or had been well prepared in the first place?

C

[alexblack13]

I just got quoted about ?6K including materials and VAT - My current paint job is now about 22 years old and there is some slight crazing so I made the enquiry out of curiosity. It's too much for me so I'll live with the crazing. I think you have to remember that 90% + of body shop business is paid for by insurance companies who just seem to pay whatever they are asked for and up the premiums to cover it.
IMHO of course.
Baggy
PS if you want to tell us where your mate got his ?1400 pound job I would be interested - my next respray doesnt need to last 22years because it's unlikely that I will!

Careful my friend. If you are going to get it done do your best to do it right 1st time. You will get what you pay for. Will a quick job do you? Wheeler dealer style? That's what you would get. Have a close look at the process the high end body shops do before you choose. How long do you think the 'special filler' will last on the WD 'restored' Elan? Probably already crazed again.
I would prefer to keep the (original?) paint the car is wearing. If it's only slightly crazed I would not touch it. Leave it alone.

And stop doing the maths.... You've got me at it too and it's very depressing... Enjoy your car & have fun..

Alex....

[Chancer]

Just to satisfy my curiosity.

Has anyone ever experimented with the flexible paints that they use these days for body coloured plastic car bumpers on a gel coat cracked GRP vehicle?

I think that they use some kind of plasticiser but the finished result seems equally shiny and tough as the rest of the vehicle whilst being able to support the bumper or panel being bent and twisted to extremes.

Would it work?????

[pauljones]

Hi all,

In response to the extreme costs, I among others have been quoted some silly prices. Im not afraid to be honest so here goes

Miles, in his words, "nothing short of ?10k,wont do it for less"

Option 1, "?10k is a waste,For that money id get a new body and spray that,will work out less"

Sms, "Cant fit it in,if you wanted it done id have to charge ?8k and put some one else back"

There are others but Im sure you get the idea, I have found some one local to me who was looking at half the above and said the materials will be less than ?1k,the rest is labour.

Whichever way its a big bill,

Paul

[Chancer]

No-one with any views on flexible paints??

Surprising considering how much labour and money is spent dealing with gel coat cracks that every car has.

[nebogipfel]

No-one with any views on flexible paints??

I have said this before, I will say it again ......and will doubtless be attacked as usual

Paint is paint. There are no magic paints. Paint is the final finish, the icing on the cake if you like.

Yes, paint is formulated to give certain characteristics, the main issue with plastics is adhesion (therefore adhesion promoters are used). Most paints have a degree of flexibility but if the substrate beneath the paint is unsound this will eventually show in the paint.

I have seen all sorts of products making all sorts of wild claims over the years but I can guarantee that none of them will "hold out" over a cracked fibreglass body.

Now someone will come along and say "well I bought some Bondyboo Magicote and you can spray over anything and it flows out like a mirror and lasts forever" which is why I usually steer clear of paint threads .....but you did ask .....twice

[Chancer]

Yes and thanks for answering, most of the questions I ask seem to be ignored.

I am not looking to attack, flame or argue with anyone just to understand the mechanics of the plastic type paints, in the past they did not adhere very well and if they did they would crack at the slightest flexing of the panel, the modern ones just dont seem to at all so I wondered what would happen if they were applied over an unstable substrate, gel coat cracks.

I see several new painted GRP vehicles, we have voitures sans permis here in France, the new ones are styled to be quite attractive, beauty being in the eye of the beholder , the paint finish is superb and even on quite old vehicles of this type I have not seen gel coat cracks appearing in the paintwork so I was wondering what paint system they used or is there a difference in modern GRP construction?.

[c42]

Hi Chancer
It may well be that the cars you have seen were made using glass reinforced epoxy resin rather than polyester resins that are less resiliant, Matra cars being one of the French companies that used epoxy resins during the 70's and 80's; the paint finish was still subject to micro blisters later on in life though!
Regards
John

[nebogipfel]

Yes and thanks for answering, most of the questions I ask seem to be ignored.

I am not looking to attack, flame or argue with anyone just to understand the mechanics of the plastic type paints, in the past they did not adhere very well and if they did they would crack at the slightest flexing of the panel, the modern ones just dont seem to at all so I wondered what would happen if they were applied over an unstable substrate, gel coat cracks.

I see several new painted GRP vehicles, we have voitures sans permis here in France, the new ones are styled to be quite attractive, beauty being in the eye of the beholder , the paint finish is superb and even on quite old vehicles of this type I have not seen gel coat cracks appearing in the paintwork so I was wondering what paint system they used or is there a difference in modern GRP construction?.

Hello, You're welcome.

Sorry I was on the defensive

I can't really comment of modern 'glass manufacture but I do know its a far cry from the good old hand lay-up process employed by Lotus back in the day (and indeed folk making shells or sections these days) Perhaps the modern laminates do not crack in the same way?

One of the "design features" of Lotus shells was to make them as light as possible .....Chapman's philosophy of "adding lightness" Being an old cynic I suspect it was as much about making the bodyshells as cheap as possible Being honest Elan shells are pretty crappy and this is coming from someone who loves Elans. It's quite possible to hand lay-up an immensely strong laminate which would resist stress and star cracking far better than Lotus shells do, but it would need to be much stiffer and thicker.

I'm nervous of posting in paint threads because there are quite a few aerosol experts on the forums and I have encountered abuse before. I paint cars for a living and do not claim any great expertise in anything, but I've inhaled enough paint fumes to know as I said previously "there are no magic paints" It's all in the preparation as any painter will tell you.

[mgourwcg]

John

Agree with you on this one. Just having had my Sprint painted. The art is in the preparation about 90% of the cost is preparation. Body shell movements and cracks will happen in time I am resigned to that. Flexible paints I no nothing however modern plastic bumpers are painted with the same paint as the steel shells.
I know that the cost of paint alone is about ?1000 probably + on that.

Michael

Sprint (MOTd successfully a couple of weeks ago after a 3 year renov)

[elansprint71]

Having seen how Option 1 work, I think their ball-park ?6k is reasonable. Incidentally they do not use ANY filler at all, so the problems with different materials does not arise. They sent me regular photos of what was happening and a CD at the end.

[alexblack13]

Having seen how Option 1 work, I think their ball-park ?6k is reasonable. Incidentally they do not use ANY filler at all, so the problems with different materials does not arise. They sent me regular photos of what was happening and a CD at the end.

Same here.. I suggest that anyone having a body restored (because that is what it is here) carefully looks into the process. Its NOT just a respray. I assume all the top end body shops working and specialising on GRP cars will be using similar methods.

As I keep saying, you are getting value for money. Just check it out before you make a decision. You could be throwing money away.

Do it once and do it right.. But to each their own.. Your decision.

AB....