Paint job ideas

Longhorn84

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 20, 2018
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344
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Houston
I am starting a 5.3 swap and considering taking the body off to make the process easier. My rig needs a paint job and I’m wondering if people think it’s easier/cheaper to take it to a shop all together or individual pieces. If I go down the route of body off cleanup, I may as well have painted while I’m working on the frame side.

Thoughts?


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Just my thought, I have a decent size compresser, Often thought of buying a cheap portable garage off of craigslist or something like that. Then buying a spray gun and attempting it myself.
 
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Two directions to go here.

Wait until the body is back on the frame because when rolling (or driving) any vehicle with a newly painted body there is a lot less chance of it getting banged up or scratched on the return trip.

Take the body in to get painted while you do the other work to save the time it takes to do two things at the same time.

I don't think I'd bother with saving the 3 or 4 days. but that just me.
 
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If someone gave me a choice of painting it together or apart I would prefer apart. Provided the tub was on something I could move it around on. There is a lot less masking involved when it is apart. I painted mine recently together and it honestly took me longer to properly mask it to prevent overspray and more importantly kicking dirt up into the paint than it did to actually paint the Jeep. I had about 4-5 hours into masking it and about an hour to actually paint it.
 
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How much have people paid a TJ paint job? Not looking for a show Jeep, trying to budget what taking it to a shop would cost vs buying some new tools and experimenting myself.


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Prep work is usually a lot longer then the actual paint job. I would paint it all at once and when it is on the frame. Less chance of nicking it up or scratching the new paint.
 
The cost of material alone for my Lj was close to $1000.00. You probably wouldn’t find a shop that would touch it for less than 3-4K unless you did a MACCO type shop. They really are not that bad honestly but they would still probably be in the 2k range
 
The cost of material alone for my Lj was close to $1000.00. You probably wouldn’t find a shop that would touch it for less than 3-4K unless you did a MACCO type shop. They really are not that bad honestly but they would still probably be in the 2k range

So if you are spending 1k for material or paying someone 2k, how would you do it if you had to do it again? I don’t want to spend 1k and have it take forever and look bad so I’d lean towards a lower end shop but maybe someone thinks they could do it for $500 and the shop will really be 3k, then it might be worth experimenting.


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I did all the work myself if I were to bill out someone for the job I did on my Lj it would have been somewhere near 10k but it is way nicer than a Jeep needs to be or ever was new. An average shop would probably be around 3k for a nice scuff and shoot. If it needs more than your average dings repaired it will go up from there.

I also used all top end materials, you could by decent stuff for 500 and my Jeep was yellow so the timers for the color added some cost to it.
 
Got it. Mine is black and I’ll paint it black, has some rock chips, one door is peeling, but no major dents or rust, most of the paint is in decent shape, so it’s probably doable myself. I’ll take it by some shops and get some estimates, I have next week off, I’ll post what I find out for people’s future reference.

One door is really bad, with peeling paint, I guess I could experiment with the one door and if it turns out good do the whole Jeep?

If I do it myself, basics are sand, primer x3, paint x3, wet sand, polish? Or what did you do?


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I did all the work myself if I were to bill out someone for the job I did on my Lj it would have been somewhere near 10k but it is way nicer than a Jeep needs to be or ever was new. An average shop would probably be around 3k for a nice scuff and shoot. If it needs more than your average dings repaired it will go up from there.

I also used all top end materials, you could by decent stuff for 500 and my Jeep was yellow so the timers for the color added some cost to it.

Circling back on this. Can you share high level process or any resources that helped you? Trying to thinking through the actual steps of getting this done. I do have a lot of rock chips I’d need to address. Sand, primer x3, paint x3, wet sand, buff?
 
I spoke to the owner of a local shop a few weeks ago about spraying the tub while the frame was being replaced and he quoted me 3K for a pro paint job. I decided that considering my paint is probably a 5 out of 10 and a few things need attention including a replacement tailgate, it was going to wait until next fall. I'm going to make a few metal repairs and break her down into the individual pieces for paint and possibly do a Diesel swap.
 
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I just took my 03 to a body shop to fix a dent and repaint. I just bought this "totaled" ( got bumped into the passenger side at 30mph) Anyway with that dent and total repaint of full doors and half doors (I had every thing stripped, door disassembled hood off and I had sand a lot of it. They charged me 2500 including 3 coats of clear. If you love your heap as much as I do mine, I wouldn't even think of doing it for that. This was in a heated paint booth and baked at 150 degrees.
 
Old thread but if I were faced with the same question, I would super clean the firewall and under the tub and have those done by hauling the tub down to the body shop. Save the outside for when the rig is back together except for the hood, grill, and front fenders. Have those painted separate unless it is metallic.
 
First off, prep is the costly part. That's where most of the hours are. The more you do yourself the cheaper the job will be. Most bodyshops are expected to produce a very high level of quality. And that is a waste on a real Jeep. 8 layers of clearcoat are worthless the first time you hit the trails. A good enamel paint job is much cheaper and much more durable. See if you can find a shop that does tractor paint jobs. Unless you desire a super perfect flat panels with multiple applications of body filler for every little wave in the body then 1 or 2 good layers of primer and the same with a heavy or industrial enamel will be a better job than the factory job when new. And the paint is more resistant to offroad pinstriping. Choose a stock color from JD, Int., Ford, MF, or the many other tractor and implement companies and touch-ups come in a rattle can. Or choose a standard color from Rustolium or other that is sold in spray cans.
So depending on how good you want and how much of the sand blasting you can do? I've gotten a tractor repainted for around $500. That was with me doing the prep. He did the primer and paint (2 coats eash). That included cost of the paint too. It came out with a good strong job. No drips, no orange peel. And from 10 feet it looks as good as a factory new paint.
 
I'm considering painting mine. For having been in AZ all its life, the black paint is in pretty good condition with no faded clear coat from the sun. However, both the passenger and driver doors have some crows feet cracking. It wasn't too noticeable up until I decided to compound, polish, and wax the entire Jeep. Now those products have dried white within the cracks and it really stands out on the black paint. It's a bit odd how it's just on the doors and slightly extending back to the front of the rear fender on the passenger side. Most crows feet cracks I've seen tend to occur on the hood.

Painting just the doors would get rid of most of it, but I probably won't like the difference between the fresh doors and the rest of the Jeep. Taking it to a shop, they could shoot the doors and blend it in with the rest of the panels or I could just have them do the entire LJ. Black was on the bottom of the list when I started the hunt for my first Wrangler, but now that I have it, it has grown on me a lot.
 
I just took my 03 to a body shop to fix a dent and repaint. I just bought this "totaled" ( got bumped into the passenger side at 30mph) Anyway with that dent and total repaint of full doors and half doors (I had every thing stripped, door disassembled hood off and I had sand a lot of it. They charged me 2500 including 3 coats of clear. If you love your heap as much as I do mine, I wouldn't even think of doing it for that. This was in a heated paint booth and baked at 150 degrees.

Bet you didn't get high solids clear
&
Well if thats all you paid-— its just real hard for me to believe that you got a quality paint job.

Has anyone been into a store and seen how much a good pair of shoes costs for an adult?

Then look and see how much they cost for a baby / toddler--just about the same price for 1/10th of the material
— thats what your looking at with paint and body people