Painting a Small Area of Hood-Instead of the Whole Thing

[JMI]

I have a small, nickel sized shallow ding near front of my hood. It is Alpineweiss II color. Cannot use PDR because of some reinforcing steel on inside of hood under the ding. So said the PDR guy.
Had a recommended guy look at it. He can fill the ding and repaint. He said it is not necessary to paint the entire hood just the local area. Is this an accepted practice? Or should the entire hood be painted? By the way, he wants $350 USD for this job. Does that sound right for this?

TIA

Jim

[Macv]

Damn... 350 for JUST A SPOT? Thats pretty costly. Around here it could be done around 150 . I had my sunroof repainted for 175.

[JMI]

Damn... 350 for JUST A SPOT? Thats pretty costly. Around here it could be done around 150 . I had my sunroof repainted for 175.

I know it is not cheap, but all the posts I read about body work is you get what you pay for. Anyway my real concern is about the technique. Is painting a small section a viable way to go?

Thanks

[The Melmaan]

Maaco can paint your whole car for $350.00 and they do a good job too!!

[JMI]

Maaco can paint your whole car for $350.00 and they do a good job too!!

LOL ;)
How 'bout the question of painting a small section as a viable way to go?

[Gayle]

My indy does classic restorations. I saw a 59 porche convertible that they airbrushed the stone chips and you could not tell the difference. It looked fabulous. I plan to talk to him in the next couple of weeks about whether I can get spots on my car touched up that way.

You had the thread a while back about clear coat--correct? And yours is alpine white 2 and does not have clear coat--correct?

My uninformed self would think that lack of clear coat would make it more feasible for you to paint a small spot. I am sure if this is wrong, someone will say so. My uninformed self also agrees with you that you get what you pay for in paint jobs.

[JMI]

You had the thread a while back about clear coat--correct? And yours is alpine white 2 and does not have clear coat--correct?

My uninformed self would think that lack of clear coat would make it more feasible for you to paint a small spot. I am sure if this is wrong, someone will say so. My uninformed self also agrees with you that you get what you pay for in paint jobs.

That's some memory you have there ;)
I believe the consensus was "no" on the clear coat, but that was not unanimous. When getting the above mentioned price quote, (also from a guy who does classic restorations) I was in a big hurry and really didn't have a chance to talk to him about the job like I should have, so I don't know if it has a clear coat or not. This fellow has the kind of reputation where you just pay him and admire is work.
As far as tackling the job myself I don't have the correct power sanders/etc and I sure would rather not use my baby as my first "practice" car.
Will probably get a few more quotes, just wanted to be able to ask the right questions :p

Thanks

[632 Regal]

$25.00 in materials and 30 minutes work. you definetly can have it spotted vs having the whole hood redone which is better because another layer on the hood isnt a good thing. Your color may have clear coat mattering on year, if not you can fill and spot it with a can of spray touchup and after buff out.

easy job either way

whats he charge for a metallic paint, over $500 for a small spot?

[Gayle]

That's some memory you have there ;)


Not reallly. The search feature is my friend. I was going to mention that thread and decided to search for it and link to it. When I did, I discovered it was you. And I remembered that thread because as the owner of a white, I thought it was so interesting that some whites have clear coat and some don't.

I wasn't suggest you do it yourself. My thoughts about "you get what you pay for in paint jobs" also apply to your own work. However Jeff's post does appear to be an endorsement that it is ok just to do a spot.

[pundit]

Maaco can paint your whole car for $350.00 and they do a good job too!!
Sorry but no one can paint an entire car for $350.00 AND do a good job... AND stay in business!

Decent quality paint + materials will cost more than $350.00 alone.

[pundit]

...whats he charge for a metallic paint, over $500 for a small spot?
I would think at least if you want a decent job.
In fact almost any 'small' metallic repaint can easily run into over $1k.
Metallic resprays require not only the entire panel to be painted but often blending out of any adjacent sections.
Its not uncommon to almost repaint over 25% of the entire car just because some ******* keyed one rear quarter panel.
Otherwise the painted panel will stick out like a sore thumb. Solid colors can usually be spot painted.

A realistic price for a quality full metallic repaint (same color) would be around $3,500 - $5,000 with mimimal body repair work.
For a total color change $10,000 would probably be closer to the mark.
I'm talking a quality job here with quality paint... not a backyard special.
There is a LOT of labor involved in the preparation if you want a top job.

[jbraswell]

that is a little high for a spot in job.. but if you do choose to go this route make sure they fill in all, even the smallest, of the rock chips in your hood. If not they will be very apparent after he spots in the ding and clears over the rest of the hood. You could definately find someone to do what you need for less than $350, I would keep looking

[Evan]

go find another PDR guy... also-- $350 to fill a ding and paint is double the money... stay away from that body guy

[jbraswell]

PDR wont be able to do anything if the dent is a decent size and the underside is covered by the hood bracing. If the ding is pretty small you might be able to find someone that can pull it from the top

[Evan]

it's a "nickel-sized" ding.. im pretty sure a better pdr guy will get it out and make it look great

[BillionPa]

maaco sucks hard by the way.