So I went to the body shop today here in Northern VA because I needed a quote on getting my rear tail painted. My kid cousin found some Home Depot aerosol spray paint lying around and decided to "match paint" my tail...Haha (little bastard)

Anyhow, there are no nicks, dents, cracks...There are 3 minor and I do mean MINOR scratches on the left side, but either than that it's in excellent condition so no bodywork is needed. The bike is Pearl Yellow and the owner quoted me $250 at first!!! I told him I can buy the damn thing brand new, painted and WITH the decals for $220!!! I talked him into bringing it down to $150.

Personally, I still don't think it's worth it. I remember growing up in LA (where body shops are around every other corner), my buddy painted his rear tail for $100!! That's without negotiating!

So, should I take this quote and keep shopping or paint it and get it over with? If anyone knows any body shops in the area, give me a shout! Thanks!!

E

 

to paint the tail? at most it should be 100!
personally I would go to alsacorp.com and get the pearl yellow from the "killer canz" product line.
I used them before and I got some awesome results
for aerosol cans they are expensive as you can get, but they are just as good as airbrush.

 

Have you priced the paint for your bike? I know the color my bike has the paint is expensive as hell. Plus if you take into account the time the shop puts in sanding your tail, painting it, clearing it if it calls for it, and then polishing n buffin it out. Just food for thought, I know we all want to get the most for our money, but remeber that body shop has bills too pay too. But check around n get more quotes. And remember you get what ya pay for.

Peace.

 

Get some polish and polish it out, it should come quite easily that stuff in spray can i usually low in quality

i think it's mostly enamels

 

Is there anything particular you recommend or something down the Meguirs line?

 

Yeah, the thing that sucks about bodyshops is being the customer, I'll never know what theyre gonna do to it! I'll pay $250 and they give it their 110% or pay $150 and do a half-assed job. The thing about paint is it will look nice coming out of the shop! It's also important to look the same 2-4 years down the road... important

 

Yes, Meguires is fine. Your looking for the polishing, or cutting compound. It has a very fine abrasive property, to help remove the "overspray" haha. Think of it this way too, best case it works and looks great, worst case you need to have it painted... Be carefull though you can "cut" through the clear if your not carefull, just take it a bit at a time and you'll be fine.

Also as far a the paint shop goes think of the price not so much as the size of the project but the set up, preperation, and clean up costs. I do think that 250$ is a little high, but not by much. I bet they charge almost the same amount for a fender, plus I think the plastic has a bit more prep work that just sheet metal

 

since you live in northern va, if you dont mind a little ride to king george check out vscustoms.com one of my buddies from work owns it, i know he does alot of paint and just about any work you could need