A quality paint job is part talent, part art and a buttload of prep work. Shooting the paint is the easy/quick part, but none of that matters if the prep work is shoddy. The paint itself is expensive and there are many different grades/levels of paint from all of the different paint manufacturers. Add good talented labor on top of that, a quality paint job is not cheap.

 

"$1500 and it will be as smooth as glasss..."...give consideration to the independent painter who is also Asian....these guys keep it real. One shop shot my 68 FBird with Dupont Imron and that paint job, where the welding or scratching for centerlines didn't ruin it when it got back-halved, is still smooth, sticking to the metal and shining....$900 back in the day 1983....

And I got to page 16 of that rollr paint thread before I called it quits....I'm going to try it for Furious since it is my daily driver...I'll make sure to keep the Rustoleum thin...

 

A gallon of cheep two stage and gallon of primer is about $450, Add the fact that I spent 2 hours last night just sanding on the hood and paint cost adds up fast.

 

I'm definitely going to try rolling my 83 GS.

 

yep, I've learned this over the years about painting... starting waay back in 1989 when we put in our own custom targa-top and sprayed a gallon of white rustoleum paint on a delta 88..lasts a good year and I'll never do that again.
mar3, stripes may be a given but so is the lifetime warantee...it's worth the $1800-2200 and worth researching for a shop w/a good rep and then paying the extra $500-$1000 if you've put as much time/effort into your 7 as I have and if you really love your car(and a little obsessive/compulsive)like I do.
A cheap paintjob, or even an ok paintjob to me it would be like taking a whole day to bake the PERFECT triple layer chocolate cake, getting it all together and then smearing **** all over it,lol

 

Uh, wait a minute, I'm not saying I bake...cause I DON'T

 

Hmm, after reading about 6 pages on that $50 paint thread, I may have to do that in july to my car. Right now it's silver and faded and you can see it's age, but if I can make it look half as good as the orange charger, well then I'll be happy as a clam(Which I assume are fairly content being bi-valves until they get caught.)

 

when i used to work at a welding shop and paint metal all the time it was mainly my job trochoid is right its all about prep, my welding teacher put it best paint does not hide flaws or defects but only magnifies them so make sure all dents scratches smooth as babys bottom and than some.

 

You know what...after thinking about it...it's up to what satisfies you personally. I was content w/my Z-28's $600 corvette-yellow paint job. But for the 7 since it was my very first car that my grandmother help me get years ago(and since she has pasted now)and now I have it back it's sentimental to me so I will spare no expense... I can only speak for myself. So all I have to say is "you get what you pay for", unless the shop is crook'ed.

 

Another advantage to the roller method will be for those of us who want a paint job but do not plan on it being the same two or three years down the road...why pay $2400 or so every two or three years because you want a different paint scheme? That's like tossing out $800 or more every year for no reason...