Good place to get front end painted?

[Samir]

Originally Posted by Munchie

Though, along the same principle. Expensive is not always quality! IMO decisions should be based on results rather than price. I have seen Jirehs work they post on here and it seems to be great work. At the same time I have seen Yagers work on HSV and in person and its great work as well. Ultimatly its a decision making process. You have to weigh all the options.

Very true! Usually the best value is somewhere under the bell curve of standard deviation.

The thing about painting is that someone's work is only as good as their worst job--similar to us in photography. If only 1 out of a 1000 shots is great, and as a client we want that shot, our chances aren't very good.

Same with paint and body work. If you're okay with the worst someone can put out, you'll be good. And professionals dial in a consistency so they're able to be profitable and still provide a certain level of work every time. That's what the consumer expects, and professionals can deliver this time after time.

Originally Posted by Munchie

I have friends who have cars in which their dad painted their cars in his garage when we were in High School. Those still to this day look top notch and could compare to most brand new paint jobs. Just Sayin...lol

I don't doubt it. There's a lot of great work done around here at people's homes. But have them paint another car and it may not be so. That's the difference between a true pro and someone that's just 'good'.

[duh09]

Cheap doesn't always mean bad either. I had my 95 Mustang painted by a shop in Ardmore and paid $800 for the whole deal. They kept it for 3 months and did it in between their usual collision work for dirt cheap because they were excited to finally get some custom work. They had to fix a few dents and dings and it looked great for a couple of years with a custom mixed white with silver pearl and silver metalflake. That being said, after a year or so of not keeping it layered and layered and layered in waxes, it's obvious that the paint isn't going to last much longer. The roof was done in a really light layer and it has begun flaking off the quarter panel (common white Ford issue and I don't believe they removed the C-pillars to fully extend it back to fix it) BUT for the money I paid, I'm happy. It still stands out from most of the cars out there and I didn't pay more than the car was worth to do it. Next time it gets painted, I'm doing it and I plan to learn with it.

Moral of the story, if you hunt around, you can find a good paint job for cheap.

[GrantH]

Originally Posted by duh09

Cheap doesn't always mean bad either. I had my 95 Mustang painted by a shop in Ardmore and paid $800 for the whole deal. They kept it for 3 months and did it in between their usual collision work for dirt cheap because they were excited to finally get some custom work. They had to fix a few dents and dings and it looked great for a couple of years with a custom mixed white with silver pearl and silver metalflake. That being said, after a year or so of not keeping it layered and layered and layered in waxes, it's obvious that the paint isn't going to last much longer. The roof was done in a really light layer and it has begun flaking off the quarter panel (common white Ford issue and I don't believe they removed the C-pillars to fully extend it back to fix it) BUT for the money I paid, I'm happy. It still stands out from most of the cars out there and I didn't pay more than the car was worth to do it. Next time it gets painted, I'm doing it and I plan to learn with it.

Moral of the story, if you hunt around, you can find a good paint job for cheap.

Not to be too rude...but it sounds like you got an 800 dollar paint job. You shouldn't have to keep it waxed so much there are layers and layers of it on the car. I guess as long as you are happy that is all that matters. Do you have an pics?

[duh09]

Originally Posted by GrantH

Not to be too rude...but it sounds like you got an 800 dollar paint job. You shouldn't have to keep it waxed so much there are layers and layers of it on the car. I guess as long as you are happy that is all that matters. Do you have an pics?

I didn't mean that it took layers and layers of wax to keep it good looking, just that for the first couple of years, the car very rarely had so much as a layer of dust on it and was washed/waxed regularly and now, due to school and other responsibilities, the car has not been taken care of and it's beginning to show.

Here's a couple pics from literally the day/night before I dropped it off and then after it was painted. I was hit in the parking lot tearing up my front bumper and denting my front fender so I was replacing those and decided to take some pics to show off how bad the paint was.



To this for $800 and a couple months of waiting: