How cheaply can a decent quality white paint job be done for?

[citytravelfotos]

I would like to know how cheaply can a decent quality white paint job be done for, on, say a conversion van with a high top.  I'm asking if say I buy a van with a non-white paint job and I figure it's too hot, or the paint peels and such, how much could it cost to paint it white and look decent?  And how long would it last?  And how about if you do some of the prep work yourself?

 

[user 423]

A hi-top van has probably twice the area as on a car, so a decent paint job would be pretty expensive. A couple of thou at least.<br><br>

 

[wrcsixeight]

When I got my Van, the light grey paint was flaking badly, some light surface rust.<br><br>Went to Maaco, the guy just laughed, said they could spend 2 grand just on the prepwork and another grand for the paint and no guarantee,<br><br>That was more than I spent on the Van.<br><br>I pulled off all the pinstriping, did some light sanding, and rolled on some rustoleum, then again a little later, then probably once more all about 3 years apart.<br><br>Last year was the latest. &nbsp;Used some Premium yacht enamel and just did a section, like one door at a time making an effort to do a proper job, proper surface preparation, waiting for a coat to dry before adding another with a light scuffing in between coats. &nbsp;Took me like 8 months to complete, but I did a half way decent job.<br><br>It is a 20 foot paint job. &nbsp;But I can wax it, and it sheds dirt and road grime.<br><br>Looks better than rust stains and flaking paint, but I don't kid myself. &nbsp;It will impress no one.<br><br>Might do some touch ups here and there soon.

 

[gman97005]

paint booths are obsolete, everybody is wrapping vinyl now, you can change the color in one day by yourself with a heat gun,&nbsp;squeegee, razor knife and a roll of vinyl..

 

[ccbreder]

I panted an old beat VW van using gloss oil base trim paint (for houses) and a quality brush. Out doors in the warm spring weather of SJ. It was three colors, and turned out very nice.

 

[psytechguy]

I've seen some amazing rattle can paint jobs. If you take the time to do some prep work they can come out pretty nice.

 

[travish]

i painted my astro, all you need is an electrical sander, some wrenches to take off the bumper and lights and such. i have experience working with spraypaint although. i reccomend using high quality artist spraypaint like montana. do lots of thin coats with a caligraphy cap(one of the fan tips). ill be posting my conversion pictures soon although i still have lots to do...


cheers,
travish

 

[vokus]

<p>Its easy and fairly&nbsp; cheap to do it your self.. <br><br>www.dipyourcar.com</p><p>Its a kit that comes with everything you need, and if you dont like&nbsp; the color, just peal it off from your car, no damage.... <br><br><br></p><p>&nbsp;Prices...</p><p>https://www.dipyourcar.com/home.php?cat=23</p><p>[video]</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

 

[rvneel]

About 15 years ago I had an old red vw camper bus. It got real hot in the Texas sun&nbsp;- So I did a quick job of cleaning the grease and grime (several trips through the car wash). Then I got a paint roller and some white primer. Using the roller it took me two days working an hour or so at a time. Two coats of primer. I don't&nbsp;have any pictures, but from 6 feet or more, it looked very good. Total cost was about $40.&nbsp; If you had a paint gun, it would be even faster.<br><br>The result was good; much cooler!&nbsp; I had many comments on the paint job, mostly favorable.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>rvneel

 

[deltaecho]

Here is something I came across and&nbsp;saved from a few years ago. It's a very nice quality paint job with a roller. The link is to a forum, it's the 9th post down on the page. <A href="http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&amp;Number=2331682&amp;page=0" rel=nofollow target=_blank>http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&amp;Number=2331682&amp;page=0</A><BR><BR>I think you can get very good results with rattlecans, but you would need alot of&nbsp;them to do a hightop van. As has been said before, the prep work is very important. If you decide to go through with it, definitly post up.&nbsp;I worked in a bodyshop for a few years, and painted a few cars. it's really not that hard to get a "decent" end product.

 

[Simran]

Deltaecho,<br>That's an interesting bit of information!!<br><br>gus

 

[wagoneer]

Or get a free rattlecan paint job here in San Francisco just park it overnight in the mission <br>( that was a joke)

 

[MK7]

I had a Mustang painted at Maaco for about $350.&nbsp; Could have been $300, but I opted for mixing in clearcoat to make it shinier at $50 extra.&nbsp;&nbsp; This was with very minimal prepping by them.&nbsp; But not all Maaco's are equal. The one I went to, had a very good sprayer. I had 3 Mustangs and 3 Miatas painted there at the lowest cost&nbsp; option. This was over 5 years ago.<br>&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;[img=http://img170.imagevenue.com/loc1062/th_24297_DSCN0676_122_1062lo.JPG]<br><br>&nbsp; <br><br><br>http://img170.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=24822_DSCN0716_122_647lo.JPG<br><br>http://img170.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=24297_DSCN0676_122_1062lo.JPG<br><br><br>Big van would be more, but shouldn't be that much if you just wanted the cheapest paintjob that should last 2-3 years....afterwhich, it will start peeling a little and you'll need to touch it up with spray paint. The most important thing is the prep work. If you do all of that yourself beforehand, the paintjob will come out better. For this price, there is minimal prep work included.&nbsp; They use good quality paint. Just don't expect a showroom $3000 paintjob for $300-500.