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Costs of respray


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Hi all

 

I have been endeavouring to find out the cost of a 4a respray - exterior body only (no engine bay or boot) and on a body that is all metal and has fairly minor rust - the main problem is fading.

 

Has anyone got any idea what a respray would/should cost? And any recommended bodyshops would be helpful.

 

Best Wishes

 

Ernest

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Ernest

A note of where you are in the country would help when seeking suggested body shops.

 

What are your expectations.... a back to bare metal preparation , a remedying of the minor rust situation , just blending in with the existing paintwork.

Is the car's paint cellulose and do you want cellulose again or are you wanting to have it in 2 pack. Will it be a " quick blow over " or

" concourse " finish you are looking for ?

Were you planning to do any of the prior dismantling work ( and eventual re-assembly ) to save on labour costs.Are you expecting them to remove the wings , bonnet and doors to paint or is the plan just to give them the keys, to get on with it.

 

The paint and materials will be a large figure but not as large as the labour figure.The more you expect to be prepared and painted separately, the more the labour figure rises !

Brace yourself for £2,000 plus depending on what's to be done and even more for the horrors revealed , once they get started.

Bob

P.S if fading is not too far gone, a good body shop might ( outside chance ) depending on the colour , be able to buff up the " dead " paint.This might be a cheaper alternative but I would only let a reputable body shop have a go at it.

Edited by bob-menhennett
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Ernest

As a guide;

 

I had just what you ask for, done on my 6, late last year.

 

Body rubbed back, but not to bare metal, imperfections rectified and respray cost £2000, bar a few pounds

 

To go back to bare metal would gave cost in the order of £4000

 

If you are East Anglia / East London neck of the woods, I can help with the 'who' part of your query

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Hi Wijgo and Bob

 

Thanks for helpful response.

I was not intending to do any of the prep. work myself (mind you, it's worth thinking about). And I just want a reasonable quality job. The car is kept outside (stored inside Dec-Feb) so wanted a fairly good quality respray but I don't understand the celulose/2-pack reference.

 

I live in south London so will probably have to travel some distance to get the work done.

Below is one reply that I have had from a very well-known TR restorers this afternoon'. Seems to be a lot more expensive than suggested so far. And this is exclusive of VAT, and does not include surrey top, so this is looking at about £12,000 which does seem to be very expensive to me.

 

'As you say it is very difficult to quote blind. So as a general ball park it costs £8000 to strip, paint strip,

repair , prepare, respray and refit a tr4a plus vat . The surrey would be extra.'

 

Best Wishes

 

Ernest

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The estimate of £8000.00 sounds right to be honest for a proper strip and paint.

 

A lot of hours goes into a full paint. 40 hrs to strip, then less than half the hours actually took booked out to prep and paint then 60 hours to put back together.

 

Tom

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Thanks Tom for this useful information on amount of work required.

I did not have much idea on time required but thought that £12,000 all in just seemed rather expensive

for what it a relatively small car.

But of course I do value craftsmanship and agree that it should be properly paid for.

 

Best Wishes

 

Ernest)

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Thanks Tom for this useful information on amount of work required.

I did not have much idea on time required but thought that £12,000 all in just seemed rather expensive

for what it a relatively small car.

But of course I do value craftsmanship and agree that it should be properly paid for.

 

Best Wishes

 

Ernest)

I think one the most things likely to come under the 'you get what you pay for' banner is a respray. Something that you will probably look at & have to live with for a long time! Any flaws or poor workmanship will stand out every time you drive the car. Perfection is usually impossible but you can go some way to get that by using a body shop/paint shop that is familiar with classic cars.

A friend of mine recently had his Sunbeam Tiger re sprayed. What was to start as a bare metal respray ended up, due to previous poor workmanship that was not immediately visible, being a job needing new panels & much rectification. The end result after many hours is superb & concours standard but it took money, skill & understanding. He did much of the stripping( chrome etc) & replacement himself but the bill was £10000 including I think, new carpets, loads of time & numerous coats of primer & topcoats!

If you are considering somewhere in Gloucestershire I can recommend a couple of places for a good job. Will not be cheap though!

Cheers.

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always difficult to price by anyone not seeing the car and after that taking back poor areas to find any hidden issues, always try to take the car to a few places and you can then get a more accurate quote and see the quality of the work they do, can recommend a brilliant paint chap who has restored tr's in between Colchester and Chelmsford, PM me if required, but take your time as you will live with it for a while and worth doing well, will only also help resale if done properly, all the best

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"£12k"...................................uh!

 

I recently had my 84 Porsche 911 repainted to a show standard, and there are a lot more bits on a 911 than a tr4a and it cost £2600. My friend was so impressed he had his Vitesse convertible re painted. Now that was a long job and back to bare metal for about £2800 but he did strip the panels off and re fit them (with my help) in the paint shop. He has now won 3 car of the show awards and a few "notable" trophies so he is very pleased.

 

It would seem to me that some body shops are "having a laugh" when it comes to labour rates or perhaps they do so few full re sprays they are slow workers or realize that small jobs make more money and big jobs do not, so multiply the profit they make from a small job when looking at a full respray

 

But as has been said finding a good paint shop is like trying to find a good restorer which is like trying to find a good builder and so on.

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Hi Ernest

 

I'm just going through this decision process of trying to find a good paint sprayer. I'm restoring a TR5. The fabricator is currently half way through his work and he is unable to paint the body. So I've been searching for a supplier to spray/paint the body.

 

It's very difficult to know who to choose. So many issues arise and despite some really good recommendations, you can never be sure until the job is finished to your satisfaction. And what to pay ?

 

My starting point was I want a perfect job. mmm. what's perfect ? - I won't bore you with all this, but I think it's important to visit the body shop/s - meet them, see some examples of their work and gauge the attitude of the people that will actually do the work. For my part, I think I've made my mind up to use a small company, father and son setup in Bucks who are the only ones,that I have found to advertise guide costs on their website, which is very useful. They seem to have the right skills and attitude. Attention to detail seems to be a strong point. But heh it's a gamble. I've never used them before and have no connections. http://www.thepaintshoppros.co.uk

 

Good luck

Best Bill

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I think one the most things likely to come under the 'you get what you pay for' banner is a respray. Something that you will probably look at & have to live with for a long time! Any flaws or poor workmanship will stand out every time you drive the car. Perfection is usually impossible but you can go some way to get that by using a body shop/paint shop that is familiar with classic cars.

A friend of mine recently had his Sunbeam Tiger re sprayed. What was to start as a bare metal respray ended up, due to previous poor workmanship that was not immediately visible, being a job needing new panels & much rectification. The end result after many hours is superb & concours standard but it took money, skill & understanding. He did much of the stripping( chrome etc) & replacement himself but the bill was £10000 including I think, new carpets, loads of time & numerous coats of primer & topcoats!

If you are considering somewhere in Gloucestershire I can recommend a couple of places for a good job. Will not be cheap though!

Cheers.

 

Now this brings your point about paying £30 for a day access into the International Weekend into sharp focus and why the cost is unreasonable...I think !

 

Mick Richards

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Now this brings your point about paying £30 for a day access into the International Weekend into sharp focus and why the cost is unreasonable...I think !Mick Richards

Sorry, don't see the connection! Anyway, I think you will find that several people thought a 100% increase was a little high!

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Dear Bill

 

Thanks for the sound advice.....the paint-shop you provide a link too looks

pretty good. It will be interesting to have your feedback after your respray. They do seem to be nicely up-front

about possible costs.

Thanks again

 

Best Wishes

 

Ernest

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Bill,

 

Thanks for sharing the link, it's very interesting. I'm guessing the tr will be in merc sl class.... And cond c is £8000 plus if bare metal extra and paint and materials extra. How much did they quote you for paint and materials?

 

Very good website and they look a very good outfit!!

 

Always good to get the shock of costs out the way early on........

 

Get what you pay for in this game ????

 

Tom

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Hi Ernest / Tom

 

Nope - the cost is estimated at 4k. top standard - in 2 pack, (They are VAT free though) and bear in mind they will be given a body shell that will have been already 90% prepared for painting and it has already been etch primed after the dipping process - apart from the new repairs etc,. And this is only for preparing and painting. no fitting of dis-assembly or re-assembly. In our discussions and with other paint shops, I found it very interesting just to simply ask them to run through the process of what they will do, when and what materials they will use. It's quite revealing when you ask the same question of more than 1 supplier. Anyway these guys are keen to liase with the fabricator, who is also not too far away - likewise the fabricator is very willing to liase with these guys. So a bit of team spirit (I hope) The estimated time is 4-5 weeks and currently they are taking bookings for Jan - Feb 2016. I've already booked and I'm hoping to get ours in to them around late Nov/Dec time. The father is an Ex-Rolls Royce body man, the son is very keen and seems to me to be very pro-active without being over the top. They are not too far away which I think is a great help. So I'm hoping it will be a good and sensible choice. But as said before. It really is very difficult to know for sure.

 

Our final yes to using them will be subject to seeing an E-type that should be finished by the end of next week. We saw this car being prepared about 4 weeks ago.

 

Best Bill

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Bill,

 

My apologies, I just generalised regarding coatings for the average tr...

 

Yours is above and beyond that. I look forward to hearing progress ????

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Ernest,

Have you consider keeping it tired and faded, with a few rust blemishes? - the patina of age, the record of past thousands of miles of driving. There are so many shiny TRs around that there is an emerging niche for the faded, the orange peeled, and indeed the 'rat look'. Insider information garnered at the IWE is that linseed oil allows the superficial rust to be preserved without spreading. A thousand-fold saving over a repaint.

I hesitate to recommend two coats of brushed Smoothrite as I have no wish to encourage competition in this particular niche. And as I can only see a few square inches of paint while driving the brush marks are of no concern.

Peter

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I'm i reading it right ,was it £30 each ?

I'm i reading it right ,was it £30 each ?

I'm i reading it right ,was it £30 each ?

Afraid so!

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As I've stated before ~ if you are going to get a professional respray then leave the preparation to the painters.

NEVER EVER start using the 'rattle can' primer/fillers because you'll be very sorry!

Please don't ask me how I know!! :(:(

 

(Please no replies about 'proper' home preparation!). :angry:

 

Tom. ;)

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I think spaying and bodywork costs have suffered from the insurance market. Their rates are therefore ridiculously high for the level of time and skill involved. I am not an expert and, as a self employed person i know how the general public dont understand the price of a good job, but £12,000 seems a lot for a small car. You can get a skilled joiner for £40 per hour. On that basis and assuming £1000 for the paint (reasonable?) then that equates to a solid 8 hours a day for about 7 weeks! Also unfortunately price either way doesnt equate to quality. Most garages I know and love haven't a clue how to set an hourly rate, and to be honest usually quote on the back of a fag packet!

 

No one generally asks to break down the price into rate hours etc. often when you do this they are hard pressed to explain their reasoning.

 

Bob

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I know it's a different market with different expectations but the last time I arranged a total colour change on a 6x2 drive Artic with sleeper cab in 3 colours, including removal of all bolted panels, bonnet, cheek panels, rear engine access and chassis and wheels including wheel removal and internals, the cost was £1780 in two pack. I had the 40' trailer finished in 2 pack to match for a further £1400.
This vehicle was for a high street named firm with a fleet of over 500 trucks and the have VERY picky fleet engineers who won't accept, runs, orange peel, poor coverage, dirt in the paint, silicone fish eyes or any other nefarious and common faults. Oh...and it was a metallic finish.


Just gives you something to think about.

 

Mick Richards

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As ever, I have been learning quite a bit as a result of feedback on my initial posting.

Peter offers an interesting take with the idea of retaining 'patina'. As the owner of a couple

of VW campervans I already have some experience of the 'rat-look'. But with the 4a I tend

to think that a nicely presented, rather than a 'tired' looking, car looks best.

Mind you, a TR is a TR and so looks good in whatever state.

 

Thanks all

 

Ernest

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