Paint prices

I see you live in Hollywood, I am in San Diego and I take my trucks to a shop in Tijauna, $1500 - $1800 but you mileage may vary, just like in the US, body damage, rust, etc and the best is that it is mexican paint, they have a good, better best selection of paints, these are not CA CARB or Federal EPA paints. Painted my 99 F150 3 times with crap CA paint and within 3 years, it is peeling off, I do not blame the shop, they quit doing this type of work because of paint problems. I told them then I will get out of state paint and have you paint it, they said no way, CAL EPA comes by unannounced and has them change out their booths filters and they take the filters back and see if you have been painting with product you are not supposed to use, thats why you are getting quotes of $10k. 5 trucks so far and no issues. If you speak spanish it is easier but if you dont that is not insurmountable.

I always get insurance (US based) that includes comprehensive (theft), it is a 6 month minimum policy. Now, I can hear all the peeps who have never done this saying its going to get stolen or used as a drug mule truck, that happens in the US everyday so politly, keep your inexperienced opinons to yourself. He asked a question and here is on an option that most people dont know about.

 

Wraps are still pretty expensive, you can pay $2500-7500 for just a wrap. There are some big quality differences in wrap products too. And keep in mind that often you need to do the exact same prep work for a wrap that you do for a repaint. Brand new car is easy to wrap but an old one with dings, scratches, paint chips, rust...etc will need sanding, filling, primer...etc to get it ready for a wrap.

 

A $2500 complete paint job w/camper in California. LOL.
I don't even want to think about the quality of paint they used and what didn't get taped off or what debris is in the clear coat. Scuff n shoot.

 

You speak from ignorance . You have zero knowledge of what kind of job they did. The paint job looks great. I would not have posted if it didn’t look great. Paint and clear coat has held up like new so far for 5 years. I went and saw the truck when it was prepped, sanded, taped. What they did looked good. No “debris “ in the clear coat. I’ve had lots of people complement me on the truck. Another neighbor who managed a large body shop (currently retired)he was somewhat surprised at how good it was. Keep in mind the paint job was 5 years ago, don’t know what it would cost today.
I know when I mention Maaco here the rabid haters come out of their holes. But almost none of the haters have first hand experience with Maaco. They usually have a friend whose cousins boyfriends, brother had Maaco paint something. I have two friends and a neighbor who had Maaco do their trucks and they are all happy. If Maaco was as bad as the haters say they couldn’t survive in business this long.
If I was having my corvette painted I’d go with the $10,000 shop. But if you’re having an almost 20 year old nothing special truck painted that’s crazy to pay $10,000 for a paint job. Thats a WTF moment.

 

That's interesting. I didn't think one could still get urethane automotive paint.

 

If you don’t need it painted right away, you could call a local vocational technical high school. I had my former truck painted by one and it turned out extremely nice. I couldn’t beat the labor charges of $10/hr. The paint and clear was most of the costs which was $1300 and change.

 

Im glad it worked out for you, you seem to be the exception not the rule, Congrats. FWIW I'm not gonna pay $10,000 either to paint a Tacoma.
But I do know what $2500 gets you in the paint & body world for most of us.

 

I do not know if it is urethane... I didnt ask. This is the right price to keep a truck from rusting away.

 

He's not the exception to the rule, his standards are just different. He pops in to all of these paint threads and says the same thing and posts that same photo of his truck. I don't doubt that he's happy with the results. I'm legitimately glad he is. But I know that I personally wouldn't be and I know objectively that it isn't a quality paint job. I can tell by looking at even wide angle pics of the truck that the quality isn't anywhere near OEM. They painted over the rubber molding between the flares and fenders/bed. That's a HUGE red flag that almost no prep work was done. This is typical for Maaco / Earl Scheib. It's precisely how they keep costs down. They use the cheapest materials they can and do the least amount of prep they can. The guys who lay down the paint are usually pretty decent though.

We had a race car painted once at Maaco and it turned out pretty good. We did as much of the prep as we could, fixed the dents, removed trim, lights...etc and just had them to the remaining prep and paint. Looked great! (For a race car) But it wasn't a good quality paint job.

 

Appreciate all the feedback back. I do have the truck fitted the way I want it. As much as I’d like to possibly sell the truck, at the point…it means a lot to me. I’ve contemplated selling for a bigger truck cause of back seat space but we just purchased a new Land Cruiser so the Tacoma gets to stay.
I am not in a hurry to paint the truck. I might just fix the problematic problems (top of cab, flares) for now. Eventually decided what best suits my needs if $10k is worth the money or just going down the maaco route.

I have heard good things about the Mexico paints shops and know of a few 3rd gen 4runner guys that done it and actually follow a fabrication shop that does paint so maybe that’ll be an option.

 

Paid $4000 to have my truck painted, everything minus the jams. I stripped all the wrap and accessories off the truck first, he took the moldings off, fixed the bodywork, primed painted and cleared.

this was the homie hookup price though.

 

Pull and reinstall glass? If you're respraying the same color, it's a waste of money.

Get a Maaco paint job and make sure they clear it, don't do single stage paint.

It's a 2007 2WD truck Tacoma with mods. If you went to sell the truck nobody will know or care that it has a 10K or 3.5K paint job.

 

Unless you have a white 2014 Tacoma where the OEM paint is flaking off. Took it to Toyota, and they say it's not covered on Tacoma (yet), but it is covered on other models. Toyota knows they did a bad paint job, they just don't want to fix it.

 

Yeah, but that's not really a fair comparison. But if you must... I'd still argue the faulty OEM paint is better. In my experience Maaco type paint jobs don't last as long as the faulty OEM paint and the OEM paint looks 100x better (much less orange peel with a smoother and more uniform finish). Plus, even the faulty OEM paint was applied such that you don't have overspray and didn't just spray right over various mouldings, clips, trim...etc it's still nice and tidy as you'd expect vs the typically sloppy jobs you get from Maaco and similar.