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Paint Shops

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AndyH

AndyH

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Does anyone know any good paint shops in the San Francisco Bay Area? I'm looking for someone who's comfortable with me doing all the work outside spraying, both prep and after paint, i.e., filling, sanding, masking, color sanding and polishing. I just need someone to spray the paint. I am looking for reasonable cost. It's for a '70 MGB.

Andy
 
Good luck - most body guys won't go for that kind of deal because there's no clear break point of responsibility in case of problems.
 
Yeah, I'm guessing this is usually the case. I was quite inspired by a Car Craft magazine article called "30 Ways to Make Budget Paint Look Great", https://www.carcraft.com/howto/cheap_auto_painting

So I would pull off as much trim as I can, sand the car down to 180-grit, then take it to a production shop like Earl Scheib, and get their top job with clearcoat. Then I would color sand and polish myself afterwards. Has anyone else done this? Any horror stories? Any good stories?
 
Disassemble it & take it to the bodyshop...you'll not save enough by sanding it yourself to make it worth your time! Disassembly/reassembly, though, will save $$'s.
 
See if someone at the body shop wants to moonlight a bit.
 
Good point Tony. I've got to do a small amount of Bondo, do I'll at least have to sand those parts. I've also got a random orbital sander, so I'm hoping it won't suck up too much time (could even be fun!), I'm just worried they won't do a thorough job.

Jack, I was thinking this, maybe I'll have a sniff around Craiglist, I'm sure a lot of these guys moonlight.

Andy
 
Ask at the auto body paint stores for guys who moonlight or have paint booths. If you have some experience with painting you can rent a booth and do it yourself (especially if you have other space to do all the prep work). Something else you can check out .. do you have any junior colleges that offer auto body/paint courses? These may not be avail. anymore but it was a good way to learn how to do the work properly and paint the car and the same time.

Cheers,
John
 
John,

I've heard about the junior colleges, I live right near one in SF and there really economical to attend. Good idea.

I used to know someone with your name who lives in Southern California. You didn't used to work for Foster Wheeler did you? If so, you used to be my boss!
 
Hi Andy,

No .. never worked for that company but I know there are a few other JL's in Southern California. Home Depot got our orders mixed up one time and I get an occasional phone call looking for one of the others. Good luck with the paint options. Let us know what you find.

Cheers,
John
 
Whatever you sand, a good bodyshop will resand - & figure it into the price! I'd worry about a shop that'll just blow paint without checking the body!

I used a local technical high school once - got a great job inexpensively!
 
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