Price 4 respray...

[Grizzly]

Been and had 2 quotes for a full respray with fitting a front bumper and side skirts inc. blending them in, fixing a couple of dents and holes where the wing was, then lastly of all a couple of bubbles which I take as rust bubbles.

1st quote was circa £4k, taking aboug 6 weeks.
2nd quote was cicra £2-2.5k, taking 2 weeks.

Work that out.

Anyone know of a good body shop in the SE London, Kent area.

Fish

I spoke to a customer last week about this subject, they deal in high end performance cars, the guy that does the Estimates there was telling me that the body shop game is getting very seasonal, its possable to get a qoute at the begining of winter for say a repaint and it could be upto £500 cheaper than if you have it done in summer!! This is becouse the shops get bussy during the Summer months so they charge more becouse there is not as much money in them as say four-six smaller jobs that could be done in the time so they tend to put off the big jobs until winter when the shops dead and they need the work.

So the moral of the story is if you are paying for the job yourself get the qoutes and the work done November-Febuary and you may find you get a better deal.

Also its important to remember!! You often get what you pay for but go off Reputation rather than becouse a shops local!! There is many diffrent ways to paint a car so make sure you know what your getting before they start, its possable to paint a car and it will look realy well for a year then if you use cheap Products or cut corners preping you could be in for another repaint before you know it.

Its always good talking to the guy who is going to do the job.... the Painter!!!! becouse a work shop can become very detached from the office at times and it becomes a Job!!! if you talk to the guy they tend to see it more as some ones pride and joy!! Take it from me when i was there i could paint upto 30-40 jobs a week and it gets very factory like at times, its good to put a face with the job, But remember be nice!! if he thinks your taking the P**s its like shouting at a cheff before he makes your food!!!!

[richard cash]

thats very interesting water info there grizz. You said that it will become very hard to find solvent based stuff after next year. That means that DIY\'ers such as myself are going to find it impossible to continue with their hobby. But not just that, what about the lacquer. You said earlier in this discussion that water lacquers are crap atm and solvent lacquers are a must for a good finish. If your not allowed to use them then whats going to happen there?

[Grizzly]

TBH i\'ve not heard anything about the lacquer, i\'m guessing though they will just leave that until there is an Alternative, I will have to check but the rules sound like there coming in in stages. Like the high build, they have just reduced the content, but saying that we have a Water base High build in our range which works quite well but needs a bit of refining as its temperamental??? so i could imagine in a few years the High build going the same way.

They are starting with the paint with the most Solvent content (The Base coat) which will bring the levels down to lower than the rest of the EU they are Phasing out the Solid colour mainly because it will help this level so it keeps the men in suits happy but also because its old and there is a Water base alternative (use Water base and HS Clear). Most painter don\'t like Solid colour because it tends to Oxidize over time leaving a flat and bleached car, so Base and clear will always be the Painters first choice unless of course the car was painted in Solid colour from the factory.....

As for DIY\'ers, by law you should\'nt be painting with Solvent out side a booth anyway, if you get reported to the Environmental health you can get up to a 4k fine...... So the Government/Manufacturers have not even approached this subject. This is why when i ask "well what\'s going to happen to the one man band in his Garage?" i get told you can use Water base in any Booth with little or no mods so it wont effect them too much.... mmmmm that was not exactly what i meant exactly?? but they are not even thought off as they are not suposed to be there (if you get what i mean)

Also just to throw a spanner in the works, Its going to realy effect the Custom paint world becouse 80% of custom paint is Solvent!! so i don\'t know how thats going to work??

I think all this add\'s up to is Paint work is going to get more expencive real soon!! i am already hearing about Shops putting there rates up to £40 a hour to cover there costs... but at the moment the Insurance is having none of it but Trust me they will!!!

[Grizzly]

What i find scary is the fact Water base is absorbed into the body alot easyer than Solvent, so what you may see in the future is more resprative problems in shop employees as its imposable to have a Dust free Workshop so they will be breathing it. But its good for the environment!!!!!

Its always the same, Eg. Petrol and diesel. Petrol is the worsted of the too for damaging the environment, it gas some nasty exhaust gasses. But!!!! some one started putting Cat\'s on cars which reduced this but it did\'nt stop the government Taxing it more and frowning on Petrol cars over 1400cc??? now you ask what about diesel, well its good for the environment!!! but it just gives people cancer instead who are exposed on a regular bases?

[Trevrx]

Thanks for the great info Grizz, I\'ll print that off for my mate @ Auto body repairs

[Grizzly]

Urm reading it back the spelling int hot, i wrote it quick and did\'nt check..... Sorry.