15 replies to this topic

[Scottyb]

Hi

I'm restoring a 1982 mini mayfair and looking to respray it as the first task. ive been getting quotes around the 1k mark, which is just too much for me. I am looking at half that!

Does anyone know of anyone who can do it for a good price?
i live in watford and can get it towed to around the area of say 20 miles.

Please let me know

Thanks
Scott

[zeemax mini1]

diy

[Down&Out]

All i'll say is 500 quid wont get you a superb paint job. They might spray it on for you but you'd have to sort out the orange peel or whatever yourself.

It might not last very long too, my minis been sprayed in metallic paint and its mainly good, but its cracked in places where it wasnt prepared properly.

I say do it yourself, at least that way, if it goes wrong, you can only blame yourself.

[miniyellowmini]

If you can do any of the prep work on it yourself it will save you a bundle, as for the actual respay cost I'm not sure. I would expect £750-£1k is about right for a good finish.

[drewsargent1980]

I had a full shell re spray, i had pretty much stripped the car myself, they did the prep work ( wasn't that much work to do, to be honest ) including blasting it cost me around £2000, and im very happy with it

[Midas Mk1]

All depends on what quality , and the type of paint used. This time last year, mine cost just over £1k, but included 4 weeks of prep work, and final finishing, in water base +2k clearcoat. This was with mates rates as the guy is a friend of the family, would have cost double to anyone else!
It is top quality though - you get what you pay for...

[digler]

at the start of the year i did a mini for somone in my local club, i welded 9 panels and 46 patches! and then painted the whole car in 2pac BRG, all flatted and buffed back up. spend 112 hours on it.
charged them £750.
they got the panels and paint.
you can get a good job done cheap, just knowing where to go.

[AndyMiniMad.]

Harrogate....Apparrently!!!

[danny_duke01]

Around the £1,000 price is not bad at all,a mates garage charge £1,800 for a respray.

[Mini_Magic]

if you're still thinking about going for a pearlescent colour like Tahiti Blue then £1K is about right.

If you just want a basic gloss colour then you could do it yourself with rattle cans and the right technique.

[Scottyb]

i think respraying it myself might be the best option. ive been looking at http://auto-paint.co.uk which looks like a good site for paint and equipment. id prep it myself with primer then full respray. it doesn't scare me too much, just the inside of doors ect which might cause problems.

does anyone have any idea how many litres of paint id need? to do a good job id do around 3 light coats, as in misting it, then lacquer.
also is the standard cellulose based paint, because some say water based is the best.

Thanks

[Mini_Magic]

Might be easier to just remove the doors and boot and paint those separately, especially as you've stripped the interior anyway.

The paint that Halfords use is acrylic and that gives a pretty good finish, once the lacquer has been applied.

[midridge2]

if doing it yourself then cellulose. as waterbase needs expensive equipment for drying it.

[asahartz]

i think respraying it myself might be the best option. ive been looking at http://auto-paint.co.uk which looks like a good site for paint and equipment. id prep it myself with primer then full respray. it doesn't scare me too much, just the inside of doors ect which might cause problems.

does anyone have any idea how many litres of paint id need? to do a good job id do around 3 light coats, as in misting it, then lacquer.
also is the standard cellulose based paint, because some say water based is the best.

Thanks

This is much more difficult than most people think. Research the topic thoroughly before you make your decision! If you've never done it before, you'll need quite a bit of equipment which adds to the bill. Fine if you're expecting to do more than one car, but expensive for the one-off.
Cellulose is fine, it's supposed to be getting harder to get hold of but most paint factors are still supplying it. It can be tricky to spray as it's inclined to run, so it take a bit of practice to get good results. You also can't get some of the metallic or pearlescent colours in celly. It's also the most likely to disagree with any older layers of paint, so bare metal is recommended.
2-pack is also getting more difficult to get hold of; it give good results but is highly toxic so do not spray it without an air-fed mask! And the excess sticks to everything in your spray area...
Water-based is just not practical for home use, it needs a bake oven to dry it.
Lastly there is synthetic enamel (aka Truckcoat). It's about the cheapest, and the least toxic, though I still wouldn't like to spray it without my air-fed! Like celly, it is prone to runs, but it's supposed to be tough and chip-resistant.
Jawel Paints are helpful and efficient for supplies.
Spray guns need different setups for best results with different paint - cup and needle sets can be costly.

Mini I sprayed in celly - after compounding!


Austin I sprayed in celly - as it came out of the gun (never needed compounding)


Mini I sprayed in synthetic - again never compounded - still driving it.




However this took a lot of practice! As regards amounts, a pro sprayer would be able to do a well-prepped Mini with about a litre of paint. However we amateurs use rather more - the first car I completed, my Elf, used up about three litres of celly. That's because some coats don't go right and you end up flatting and recoating rather more. Unlike the americans we get our shine in the solid colours without lacquer (by using more coats). Pearl and metallic obviously need lacquer on top of the basecoat.

[midridge2]

for the home painter synthetic is fantastic, cheap to buy and no buffing needed and next to none reactions.
it does not need a expensive gun, can be painted without a air fed mask, and further painting can be brushed in,
only downside is it will fade abit over the years but can be polished up, needs a clean warm place to dry as it takes a couple of days to harden.
i have painted about 10 cars and a few vans with the stuff and the finish looks like 2k paint, slight orange peel.