Cost of professional paint job?

[Seymore Butts]

What's the approximate cost to repaint a 4th Gen, assuming no body work is necessary other than the usual surface prep? Same paint and color as OEM, and how much extra to change color?

Good quality, solid work for a daily driver, not a show car.

 

[doofenshmirtz]

It's probably best to actually call up some local and regional places for quotes - something local and something in the nearest major city if you aren't in one already.. Labor rates are massively different across the country. No point in getting your hopes up for something you can't actually find in your area.

That being said- To my knowledge there's a lot of different options for how thorough of a job you get, which can make prices be from $500 to over $3000. I have a coworker who repainted his 2005 GTO the same factory red it already was, but made a couple of pieces black, like the roof and some trim pieces. They did a full teardown, painted the parts off the car, and reassembled with mostly new weatherstripping for like $3500. His isn't show quality, but he did thoroughly vet the shop he chose, and paid more for them based on the cars he personally saw.

 

[Ventil8]

I got a quote from Maaco for $2500 to paint the entire vehicle. This is in the Austin area. My 4runner has really bad clear coat damage on the fenders, side mirrors, roof and grill. I thought that was a decent price. I'll also get another quote from an independent shop which i talked to over the phone and he give me a price estimate of $2500-3000.

I will pull the trigger on a new paint job(keeping it the same silver metallic color) maybe this fall or early Jan/Feb 2020. I've already spent $700 on tires/$1500 new suspension/$400 HID retrofit. I've trying to get all dressed up and pretty for our 15th year anniversary coming up in Feb 2020.

 

[riceandpho]

consider a full body wrap, its around 4k to 5k, its the same for paint job, atleast over here in cali.

 

[Terminator03]

consider a full body wrap, its around 4k to 5k, its the same for paint job, atleast over here in cali.

Wraps are cool, but I’d never spend that much when you have the option of a traditional paint job for around the same money. Wraps just don’t have the longevity of a good paint job. Most people I know that have gone with wraps, did so to change the appearance with a different color or graphics, while preserving the original paint for resale. That’s the only reason I’d personally consider wrap.

 

[wsgoat]

I personally love the time-tested, worn paint look that you see on many survivior vehicles. That worn paint is just your 4runner aging gracefully!

 

[weespeed]

I only paid $4500 for my 4runner and really want to repaint it.
But say at $2500, its more than half what I paid for her. So can't justify it.

If wraps were cheaper I'd consider it. But I've seen matte wraps go for $6k. Ouch.

 

[Tigersquid]

I got a quote from Maaco for $2500 to paint the entire vehicle. This is in the Austin area. My 4runner has really bad clear coat damage on the fenders, side mirrors, roof and grill. I thought that was a decent price. I'll also get another quote from an independent shop which i talked to over the phone and he give me a price estimate of $2500-3000.

I will pull the trigger on a new paint job(keeping it the same silver metallic color) maybe this fall or early Jan/Feb 2020. I've already spent $700 on tires/$1500 new suspension/$400 HID retrofit. I've trying to get all dressed up and pretty for our 15th year anniversary coming up in Feb 2020.

I also live in the Austin area. What did you end up doing? I am looking to get my V8 lifted and some body armor replaced.

 

[Ventil8]

[MENTION=353063]Tigersquid[/MENTION] It got a complete new paint job. I got rear ended, so took it to Maaco and they did the repair and paint job. Very happy with the results. This happened in Nov 2019.

 

[aemravan]

It really depends on how picky you are. I spray my own things, in my driveway, with no booth, and can tell you that I would never be able to live with the quality of work Maco does over here in the NC area.

Just as an example.. half way decent material alone (some primer, base coat, clear coat) to paint the 4runner will run in upwards of $1500-2000. Higher quality paints/clears will run even more than that. That goes to show the quality of material you are getting at Maco for the money they charge.

For reference.. a good body shop will charge you no less than $5000 on the low, LOW end to do a full body spray in the same color. Realistically, for "good" work, you're probably looking at $7-9k. Can it be done cheaper and still have decent results for a 20 year old daily driven SUV? Absolutely it can, we just have to be realistic about the quality and expectation.


Also, when people say "no body work" ... any car that has seen a few years of life on the street will have dings and dents and scratches. Just because you aren't replacing body panels doesn't mean there isn't any bodyfiller/sanding/prepping involved, which takes a lot of time to do right. Places like Maco will literally paint over whatever is in place for the most part, and some people are perfectly fine with that. I have certainly done it on my vehicles.

For color change, the only time this will play a major difference in cost is if you want to do it the correct way and also paint the jambs and all other none-readily visible areas like under the hood and trunk. If you're ok with the rig being blue on the outside, but having white door jambs and fender aprons when you open it up it shouldn't cost you any more to do, but ultimately will look super tacky.

 

[JQUICK]

I only paid $4500 for my 4runner and really want to repaint it.
But say at $2500, its more than half what I paid for her. So can't justify it.

If wraps were cheaper I'd consider it. But I've seen matte wraps go for $6k. Ouch.

You would only have about $300 - $400 in a wrap if you did it yourself. Anyone can wrap a car. I wrapped my Lexus IS 250 by myself and it turned out great. Watched a lot of videos, took my time only doing one or two panels each day and I used Avery Supreme gloss black. Avery is so easy to work with. All you got to buy is the vinyl and to make it easier you can get someone to help you with it. The hardest part for me or the part I made some mistakes with was the Trimming. If I did not point out my mistakes to people they would never notice it.

 

[speechless123]

i looked into this over the summer and go quoted 2700 -3500

 

[williamteichroeb]

Just thought I'd throw in my recent experience here. I had a new paint job through insurance (was vandalism while my vehicle was parking in a lot). The approved shop repainted everything on my vehicle except the roof which they left alone. I saw the bill they sent to the insurance company and it was around $11,000 Canadian, which is around $7500-$8000. We do have higher tax and fees so maybe $7000 US.

Not cheap. I asked if I could pay extra to get a custom colour, but the insurance company wouldn't allow it. But not cheap!

 

[Yialathein]

Just thought I'd throw in my recent experience here. I had a new paint job through insurance (was vandalism while my vehicle was parking in a lot). The approved shop repainted everything on my vehicle except the roof which they left alone. I saw the bill they sent to the insurance company and it was around $11,000 Canadian, which is around $7500-$8000. We do have higher tax and fees so maybe $7000 US. gunspin

Not cheap. I asked if I could pay extra to get a custom colour, but the insurance company wouldn't allow it. But not cheap!

Don’t you like this car color? I really like this color because scratches are hard to see.

 

[Hungryhawk]

Painting requires surface prep. The better the prep the better the outcome.
Cleaning off waxes and other residue is critical.
Then lightly abrading the surface assists new coating adhesion. Masking or diisassembly also needed.
An extremely clean paint booth is needed to keep debris, dust, particles away from the new paint till cured.
So the shop needs to be very clean with waste control of the prep process.
With labor costs high and the need to maintain the spray coating equipment & environment there is lots of man hours needed to get a paint job done right.
Investigate the shop and the work they have done to see if their business can provide what you want.

 

[88Center]

The answer is going vary wildly.

Low end Maaco jobs are like $500-$2000 depending on location/quality desired, but they are typically awful quality.

But are you willing to do all the prep? That would include sanding, fixing/repairing any dents, bondo, more sanding, primer, more sanding. And removing any/everything you don't want overspray on, such as grill, headlights, taillights, rubber moulding around the windows, and badging. If so, then Maaco might be a good call for you.

You want a real body shop to do it? You'll be looking at $6k on the low end and $10k on the high, assuming no major dents and repairs needed.

I'm in same boat. Badly need a paint job before things start rusting.

 

[Filmpro2Go]

I've been into cars & motorcycles since before I could legally drive them, had some automotive repair training when i was younger & have pretty much been a DIYer every since.

Paint & body work were about the only tasks I had zero experience with & i still have very little experience with it today but I can tell you it's 90% prep work & if your willing to do your own prep work & just have Maaco guys do the final Prime, Base color, & Clear... You can end up with a decent & durable job for right around $2K all in.
Or if you get thru the prep work & feel comfortable enough there are probably a few shops around your area that will rent you their spray booths for $100 to $200 for half day & you could get thru it all yourself for under $1500 if your just decent with your hands?

 

[williamteichroeb]

Don’t you like this car color? I really like this color because scratches are hard to see.

Painting requires surface prep. The better the prep the better the outcome.
Cleaning off waxes and other residue is critical.
Then lightly abrading the surface assists new coating adhesion. Masking or diisassembly also needed.
An extremely clean paint booth is needed to keep debris, dust, particles away from the new paint till cured.
So the shop needs to be very clean with waste control of the prep process.
With labor costs high and the need to maintain the spray coating equipment & environment there is lots of man hours needed to get a paint job done right.
Investigate the shop and the work they have done to see if their business can provide what you want.

Sorry, I've been completely absent from this forum until now. The paint job ended up being awesome and I'm happy with the end result. I'll try and post some photos on my build page if anyone is interested.

Yes the colour is awesome for not showing scratches, but I really like the muted tones of cement, lunar rock, or like the brown/grey or grey/green colours. But it looks new, and I'm happy about that.