Sunday, March 7, 2010

How much would it cost to paint a new bumper I bought off ebay? A body shop mechanic said it would cost 250$.?

250$ is really expensive to just paint a bumper. He said a quart of paint is about 100$. Is that true? If so, I'm gonna check out a library book on how to paint a car.How much would it cost to paint a new bumper I bought off ebay? A body shop mechanic said it would cost 250$.?
good idea on the library book it will explain in detail what im telling you. The price of painting can vary so much depending on paint.


$250 is about right for a 2 step paint. a two step paint is your color, then clear coat. One of my cars has a 4 step paint. So its 3 different colors and a clear coat. Repainting my bumper would cost around $600-800.


The cost of paint also varys immensley. $100 a quart paint, is about right when it comes to bumpers. a bumper flexes, so you need a paint that can 'bend'. Have you ever seen a car, with decent paint on the body, but the paint on the bumpers has chipped off to expose the yellow underneath? this is the result of low quality paint.


also, the cost to do it yourself would probably be more then having someone else do it. the reason being, the autobody shops have all the necessary tools to do the work.


if you do it yourself, you would need:


gravity feed paint gun with high area nozzles=$100-150


high volume compressor=$200+


venilation systems=?


heated curing location=?


Now, the reason you need those things:


The gravity feed spray gun requires less pressure to run, less pressure means that you dont need to go out and buy that 500gallon compressor, but you still need a compressor that can do the job without loosing that pressure, hence, the high volume compressor. a 30gal compressor should be plenty for a bumper.


venilation system. have you ever seen a car, whos paint looks like an orange peel? This is one result of poor venilation. Different chemicals in the air interact with the poor quality paint, and gives you orange peel. The only way to fix it, is to repaint it. Also, obviously, dust can ruin a paintjob.


Heat curing location-this is self explanatory. You need heat to cure paint, the faster it cures, the less chance you have of getting orange peel.


And finally ( i think this should have been up in the top somewhere), the color used in painting has alot to do with prep work. Black is a horrible color to paint. Every single blemish is brought out by black paint, the cheapest prepwork, is on lighter color cars, and the cheapest, is in metallic colors, including a metallic black. Metallic colors are so well engineered, they can hide severe flaws.


These are the reasons why you see people who spend thousands of hours working on their cars themselves, have garages with every tool and lift available, yet, take it in to have it painted.


This is bascially want the library book is going to tell you, but in a little more wordage.How much would it cost to paint a new bumper I bought off ebay? A body shop mechanic said it would cost 250$.?
well my local charged $240 and that was off the books and I thought that was a bargain. You need a professional to do it, else moisture will just get under and into the paint causing it to peel. They use humidity controlled rooms to do a professional job. You also need to sand the surface which takes a lot of time and skill to get an even surface.
What you're not figuring in is the expertise. Yeah, you could paint the bumper, but what would it look like?

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