Possible to re-paint brand new car / how much would I need?

cwilliamsws6

cwilliamsws6

Joined
Feb 27, 2018
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Location
Idaho
I'm getting a new car when I graduate and I'm planning ahead on things to do to make it "mine". I have my heart set on getting a (likely used 2018 model) Regal TourX wagon. I would want to get it painted my favorite GM color, sunset orange metallic, and you can buy it in the proper paint code by the gallon on Amazon too (https://www.amazon.com/CHEVROLET-CAVALIER-Sunset-Metallic-Paint/dp/B071DQ6W4C?th=1) My questions are 1) So long as it's 100% paid off and mine, not a lease, I should have no issues changing the car's color, right? 2) How many gallons of the paint would I need to do a complete paint job on the car? 3) Would I be able to go to a body shop and supply my own paint and have them do the job? Thanks!
 
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Are you going to repaint all the door jambs, under hood, engine compartment and trunk??? Doing this will take a huge amount of time, which equals $$$$$$$$. If not it will very rookie'ish. If I was the paint shop I would NOT warranty "your" paint, only mine. Not trying to rain on your parade, but repainting a whole car a different color takes a lot to look good. Good Luck!!!!
 
Originally Posted by oldhp
Are you going to repaint all the door jambs, under hood, engine compartment and trunk??? Doing this will take a huge amount of time, which equals $$$$$$$$. If not it will very rookie'ish. If I was the paint shop I would NOT warranty "your" paint, only mine. Not trying to rain on your parade, but repainting a whole car a different color takes a lot to look good. Good Luck!!!!
Honestly I would not worry about the door jambs, under hood, engine compartment, or trunk, but just the visible exterior. If I gave the paint shop the code for the paint I wanted could they source it themselves then?
 
If you are going to change the exterior color, but not do the door jambs, trunk lid etc., then you are just ruining the value of the car. You would be far far better off determining which color you like best from the factory, then finding or ordering a car to match. This is just too much money to be throwing away on a dubious dream as a 17 year old- money that would be better spent on college, trade school or something to prepare you to be independent.
 
Nobody has really commented on your question "how much would I need ?". Do you mean gallons of paint, or buckets of money ?? Decent paint work is very expensive- I would say about $5000 would be the starting point, but I am sure somebody here is better informed than I am.
 
Yeah you're right, not a good idea to begin with and with my luck something would go wrong along the process.
 
I wouldn't even consider what you want to do. $2-3000 would get you a high-quality wrap in the color you want. Figure 3x that for a decent paint job.
 
Originally Posted by cwilliamsws6
Yeahhh I didn't think it would be THAT much. Nope. One can dream at least lol.
Basically no one does what you're thinking of because of the cost and it's very easy for them to screw up the job. Most of the time if you get the cheap Maaco jobs, they only do a couple layers of paint. Factory paint jobs usually have several coats of paint plus clear coats. A strange color can actually lower the value of a car and one custom painted by the previous owner would lower it some more. You're too young, but basically cars are depreciating assets, you don't need to make it "yours", it's already yours once you buy it. You may be graduating, but you might not have learned anything about finances.
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
I wouldn't even consider what you want to do. $2-3000 would get you a high-quality wrap in the color you want. Figure 3x that for a decent paint job.
I'd say you're in the ballpark for a good paint job. I'd also say its hardly worth it to the OP. As others mentioned the vehicle will most likely lose even more value.
 
Originally Posted by cwilliamsws6
Yeahhh I didn't think it would be THAT much. Nope. One can dream at least lol.
Call around, you'd be surprised just how expensive a halfway decent paint job costs. Yep, not a good idea. Besides many shops won't use customer supplied parts and that includes paint. And the paint represents just a fraction of the cost.. it's the time and labour involved from start to finish, to do a proper paint job that jacks up the price. Having rattle canned a few qtr panels and bumpers in my time, I can appreciate the skill and professional equipment involved to do it proper.
 
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The paint material is the least of the cost. You won't get much in the way of a quality job for less than $5000- or so. It's all about time spent . By the way, that isn't going to get you an award winning job- those cost WAY more.
 
Originally Posted by 928
The paint material is the least of the cost. You won't get much in the way of a quality job for less than $5000- or so. It's all about time spent . By the way, that isn't going to get you an award winning job- those cost WAY more.
To be fair, not many new cars come with a decent paint job.
 
Wrap makes a lot more sense for what you are looking to do. You can change the color to whatever you want and at the same time protect the original pain which will in turn possibly help keep value in the car.
 
Is this favorite of yours GM color(Sunset Orange Metallic) available on any new GM vehicle? Or something close? I've seen some form of a burnt orange color on some Chevy's(Cruze & Equinox) but, I don't know what it's called. Does BUICK have something similar? 1) If you have a new vehicle painted, as other have stated, you will lose even more value in the new vehicle than the vehicle is already losing after you drive off the lot. 2) I've seen some close to perfect for $5000-$7000 but, you may in fact be spending more than that if you don't want flaws. 3) You may in fact be able to special order your Regal TourX with a similar(to the eye) paint that is on the paint chart for a BUICK.
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
Originally Posted by 928
The paint material is the least of the cost. You won't get much in the way of a quality job for less than $5000- or so. It's all about time spent . By the way, that isn't going to get you an award winning job- those cost WAY more.
To be fair, not many new cars come with a decent paint job.
However robots in essentially laboratory conditions do a superior paint job 99% of time vs a body shop and human.
 
1) If you finance you can paint the car as soon as you like. 2) No idea 3) Supplying your own part(paint) means you own take all the risk in use of that part and corrective labor involved. Eg wrong shade and they paint you pay for them to perform rework etc. Also if paint has issues you again own the problem since you supplied the part. Interesting you want to do this. Definitely a market for this in cars like Porsche even VW offers it for $3000 from factory on their top tier Golf R model optionally.
 
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