I'm just curious what the estimate would be on a full body paint job for the tC...

I am pondering getting a semi bright/thick yellow...

I don't care for flames, just looking for a price...

 

20 views and no one knows??

 

a good paint job for any car will be at least 7-8k. By good paint job I mean they strip the car out and paint everything. Engine Bay, inside the doors etc...

 

That's weird, that's not the experience I had.

I had an '85 Toyota 4Runner and if you know the older Toyotas, they rust horribly in the sidewalls and wheel wells. Well my side panels were okay for the most part, but my wheel wells were so bad you could stick a pen through them. So they did a total body makeover, fixing all the rust problems, going so far as to replace the wheel wells entirely. After that was done, they painted the entire truck white (except the engine bay) and I also got a blue racing stripe running along both sides of the truck.

Total cost: $1,800.

 

This was about $2,500 not including the carbon fiber hood and trunk.
Everything was taken apart, and anything that was BOP was painted gold. Of course, my friend got one hell of a discount when getting it done to his tC. It may cost you upwards of $4,000.

 

I think it varies by shop and experience of the guys doing the work, and if you know them or not. YMMV.

 

The only car that I've ever had painted was my 90 Toyota P/U extra-cab. I painted it 2001 4-Runner Millenium Silver and it only cost me $800. I've been thinking about painting my Xb now lately. I want to do a metallic blue.

 

you painted it the same color right? So that way they only paints the outside of the car. This guys wants to change to a completely different color (yellow) A good paint job cost a lot of money. I wouldn't want a "cheap" paint job b/c u get what u paid for.

 

Im gonna be painting my TC soon..Itsgonna be Red..Just cause there arnt any RED Tcs...I think it;ll look bad ___ w/ my carbon Hood Im looking at paying about 1000 the most..Im not gonna take out my engine just the door sills and trunk sills and the body..i dont care about the engine bay color..thats what is expensive when they have to take out the engine to do that Ugh

 

all i can say about a major color change (where they do the engine bay too) is: don't do it with your daily driver! that's what i did to my miata (my only car prior to feb 7 when i got the tC). the car is in the shop for weeks and there are lots of opportunities for reliability problems.

all of that said, the effect is awesome. my major color change cost about $3k. i did a lot of vehicle prep beforehand (body kit with customization, some minor dent repair, complete sanding and primer) and then the shop "finished off" the prep before doing the paint.

if you don't care about the engine bay, then it's not so bad. if you PLAN to buy a car and then paint it some other color, try to pick a car which will have a complimentary engine bay color. for example, a black sand pearl or silver streak mica car will lend itself well to keeping the OEM color in the engine bay but some other color on the exterior, door sills, etc.

the main thing i learned with paint is that you get what you pay for. the guy who says "i got a great paint job at 1 day auto body & paint for only $500" is either not seeing the reality of the job or he got lucky. production paint shops go through employees faster than mcdonald's. so, someone who is really good at masking or running the spray gun may have been there and did an excellent paint job. a week later, they're gone (to a better, higher paying shop most likely) and you get a yokel who doesn't give a crap.

also, clenliness is super important. if a production shop stays clean, it produces better output. you can take a $500 paint job -- if done at a super clean production shop and then allowed to cure -- and make it look like a $1,500 paint job (well, sort of): tip the guy doing the work to make yours the LAST car painted that day, then have them leave it in the spray booth overnight. that way, the residual heat from when they bake on the paint will be on your car longer than is "normal" and will help the paint cure. also have them put on an extra thick layer of clear coat. then, once you have your car back, do a complete color sanding. if you can, strip as much of the car beforehand as possible, too (making less for them to do, hopefully giving them a reason to do a better masking job with whatever is left).

no matter what, to get a good quality paint job will require a lot of labor and time. either you pay them and THEY do it or you try to save money and YOU do it. a friend in the miata club did a body kit and repainted his car with guard's red from porsche. he paid $500 and it looked awful. bubbles, sags, drips, over masking, under masking, thin sections.... but, @ only $500 for a complete repaint with a new color (not engine bay, though), that is what you get.[/list]

 

i was looking at my indigo ink pearl tonight, it almost had a purple tinge to it. i think it would look awesome with a dark purple or even better with a blue-purple (burple) color, that would look hot, of course, kameleon paint would look so nice too.

i'll tell you one thing, don't go to maaco, that will rape your car and you will get what you pay for, for a $350 paint job

 

being that i do custom paint for a living ill tell you what our shop would charge and what all you would get for that price.this estimate is for a scion TC with NO dents, dings,or any type of damage that would require body work.
-full dissassemble of vehicle ( removal of handles,bumpers,mirrors,moldings..basicly anything that sticks above the surface of the body)
- remove all windows except for windshield
-remove hood
-remove trunk
-remove doors
-spray color/clearcoat ALL jambs
-spray color/ 3 coat clearcoat entire body
-spray color/3 coat clearcoat trunk,hood,bumpers
-colorsand from 1500grit up to 2000grit
- 3 step buff and polish
- hand wax
-full detail and reassemble

$ 5400

but this DOESNT include spraying the firewall/engine compartment.....in order to do a real good job the engine would need to come out. but if you really want it you can add about $3500 to the price

 

That sounds entirely reasonable for that job, especially if your shop does quality work.

 

what about pre-sanding, sanding, and priming the body of the car before painting??

 

Just so you know Scion is making a Series 1 in red. I know this because we are making a red Strut Brace for it. But if it was me. Red is always a good color for a car.

 

How about some more pictures of this...

 

red is a good color to get the cops' attention

 

I have a few more, but unfortunately they were all taken at night when our club meets usually are.
My buddy bought the black sand pearl tC and then a couple of weeks later gave it to Injen as the prototype tC for their cold air intake and exhaust.
Meanwhile, he had MobWerks in SoCal do the custom paint job. As you can see, they painted the carbon fiber hood along the body lines, and left the rest plain.

It was hawt, and a blast to drive. He recently sold it and got a new Subie :?
I wish I could have bought it


As stated above, the Release Series 1.0 tC is gonna be red, so yours won't be so rare anymore. I'd do another color, or just wait and trade yours for an RS1 with the S/C

 

Nope, new color. The original was a different shade of white and the new paint was a much nicer shade of white; you could easily see the difference between the two.

Other than them not doing a good job around the gas door (it started to rust three years after the paint job) it held up, very very well. This is after plenty of visits to the beach and lots of highway driving.

Definitely wasn't a "cheap" job.

 

It depends on condition of the vehicle to begin with. A lot of the price for painting has to do with prep work. If it takes a long time to prep (take pieces off, strip paint off, sand, clean rust, etc) than the price will go up. Expect a good complete paint job to cost between 2500-3000. If you pay more than this you are getting ripped off.