paint

[lystgl]

Can anyone tell me what body shops assess as time required (hours) to paint a 560SL?
Hardtop as well as body?

[derryb]

don't know the hours, but I got a quote from a very reputable indie that specializes in mercedes mechanical and paint. My 87 560 sl body has no rust but was painted sometime in the past by PO. Indie quoted me $4,000 for the complete job, same original color. I have seen his shop's paint work and it looks factory. I would trust no-one else in this town but him to do it.

[ericdee]

It all depends on the type of job your looking for, on the low end it could be around 2k and on the high it could be 10k if not more.

[lystgl]

Thanks gentlemen. Couple of shops I talked to quoted 40 hours, taking all the old paint off, starting out again with bare metal. Thought this might have been excessive.

[Pete Geither]

Originally Posted by lystgl

Thanks gentlemen. Couple of shops I talked to quoted 40 hours, taking all the old paint off, starting out again with bare metal. Thought this might have been excessive.

Lets see,,, 40 hours at even $50 per hour is around $2000. Add in paint and material at around $800, works out to around $2800. God love em if they want to do the job and do it right for that. I know they won't be in business for long painting Benzes for that price. I would probably start around 8 big ones for that job, and that is if it needs nothing else.

[deanyel]

Taking the old paint off is unwise unless there is something wrong with it. Taking a car down to bare metal can create a lot of problems. You can never recreate the surface preparation that took place at the factory and you shouldn't try - again unless the paint is for some reason unsound. There's no such thing as a standard number of hours for a repaint - could range from a couple of hours to hundreds or hours. It's just a matter of what you are willing to pay.

[davestlouis]

I work in a dealer bodyshop...MB, BMW, Porsche Audi, Rover(unfortunately), Lexus, Infiniti and Cadillac...big dealership. Anyway, labor rates vary considerably around the country, and the big thing to look for is far are they going to disassemble the car? Are they going to R&I all of the trim, or are they going to mask it? What about color sanding to get rid of any stray dirt nibs in the new finish? Is the windshield coming out? How carefully are door jambs and other areas where you don't want overspray landing, getting masked? Unless there is corrosion underneath, or the finish has an adhesion problem, there is no need to get down to bare metal. The galvanizing would get ground off as well, and can lead to rust later. My take on it is, don't be unnecessarily invasive, do what you have to to get a nice result.