What Should Paint Cost?

Not looking for anything fancy, just a single color, no metalflake. Tank, two sidecovers and tailpiece. Back in the day, a good paintjob would be about 3 hundo. Am I still in the ballpark?

I have spent that much on materials to paint my bodywork myself. Granted, I'm using basecoat/clearcoat, metallic, and it's two colors. I'm still betting that you are quite a bit higher than three bills for a paint job these days. Sorry for no real info, but hey, you get a free bump out of me. :dry:

My brother just painted his tank a simple Yamaha blue color at the body shop he works for. $210 for materials but I'm guessing he wasn't paying for the little things like cleaning the gun or other little nickel and dime stuff that he got from the shop. Turned out great though.

I had the local tech school that has an associates autobody program for an estimate for my tank and tail. It had some small dings that would have needed to be taken care of but other wise just sand it down and repaint. I wanted a 2 color metallic job on it. They said about $265. They do a really good job too if you get a second or third year student. They go nuts for stuff like custom paint for motorcycles.

Sorry but other then that I don't have any real info.

Well, around my digs, a single color (red) for sidecovers, tank, front fender, fairing and tail piece ranged from about US$1000 to US$1800...this is if I did the prep work and supplied the decals...if I could get a paint job for US$300...my bikes would have already been repainted.

I just bought all the supplies less thinner for my bike. 1 quart epoxy primer 1 of base a nd clear and all redusers cost was 140.nason base clear paint.also looked into pre made stripe kit.cost around 100. ended up finding a local vinyl guy and bought all for 30.man mc droid 1k for a bike seems kinda high?I might screw it up but, for what I got into it I can strip it all off and try again.if you have acess to a compressor and gun give it a shot yourself.

camaroguy wrote:

I just bought all the supplies less thinner for my bike. 1 quart epoxy primer 1 of base a nd clear and all redusers cost was 140.nason base clear paint.also looked into pre made stripe kit.cost around 100. ended up finding a local vinyl guy and bought all for 30.man mc droid 1k for a bike seems kinda high?I might screw it up but, for what I got into it I can strip it all off and try again.if you have acess to a compressor and gun give it a shot yourself.

Agreed...1K is high...and that was the low bid! I have never lived in an area that was so 'unfriendly' to motorcycle restorers/rebuilders...the Greater Houston area sucks. It seems as though everyone is out to screw you out of your last dollar...if you get a quote for work and they have your part, then the cost to retrieve magically doubles ...US$400 to clean out a fuel tank, or out-right refusal to do motorcycle tanks...no one will media-blast anything around here...etc. etc. Which is why I have learned to do most things myself. Painting will be the next learned technique.

For a good base cote clear cote paint job, the materials on the average are about $250-$325 depending on the color. The clear cote I use is about $700/gal including hardener. This is for a single color. You can go much cheaper with junk paint like Sherwin-Williams or Napa or a couple others. But for PPG,Sikkens or Dupont you will pay some money. It all depends on what you want and how long you want it to look good.

Mornin Otto
I agree w/ Mcdroid, I checked with SEVERAL paint & body shops round here in East Tennessee, all wanted between $800-$1400!! And on top of that they all said that they would work on it when they weren't busy on their other jobs!!
My cousin who is a "Hobby Painter" has a paint booth and all the eqpt.told me to buy the materials and he would help me,Next my brother had a paint store connection he referred me to, I bought 2 qts. of R-M second line base coat clear coat Metallic Black for tank, side covers and tail piece, 1 qt. of Silver metallic Base clear for fenders ( Yeah, P.O. had painted them and they were too rough to replate) 1 Gallon of clear reducer,2 qts.of Epoxy primer and 1 gallon of epoxy primer reducer.This also included the hardeners.
With the "connection" those materials cost me almost $420.00!!
High? Well, I priced R-M and Dupont first line Base Clears and epoxy primers and they were both over $800.00!! Yep, I may have some left over and if I do, another smaller bike will get same color.
Just my experience, I spent days on the phone shopping around first with paint shops then finally suppliers and feel I got the best deal I could!!
NOw, bad part is materials have been in his shop since August!! So, gotta get motivated and get er done!

RedlineJunkie wrote:

Not looking for anything fancy, just a single color, no metalflake. Tank, two sidecovers and tailpiece. Back in the day, a good paintjob would be about 3 hundo. Am I still in the ballpark?

You may want to check with Mark Wing (a member here). He is an automotive painter. He has painted a few members bikes including mine. He does great work at reasonable prices. It might work for you even shipping to SoCal.I traded some major bike parts with Mark for my paint so I don't have a quote for you. Here is a couple shots of his work...

otakar wrote:

For a good base cote clear cote paint job, the materials on the average are about $250-$325 depending on the color. The clear cote I use is about $700/gal including hardener. This is for a single color. You can go much cheaper with junk paint like Sherwin-Williams or Napa or a couple others. But for PPG,Sikkens or Dupont you will pay some money. It all depends on what you want and how long you want it to look good.

I've used the Sherwin Williams "Dimension" on the Z-1R and on the GS1000 and am pleased with the results. SW did a pretty good job matching up the Z's paint too. It's not the most expensive paint out there but I would'nt exactly call it junk.

If Guggenheim museum quality paint is your thing that's fine. I just find it hard to justify the expense on a 30 year old bike.

Thanks John. Hey guys I did this paint job for $800 base coat clear coat candy color, single color for $650.

I paid $750 (cash) for a Harley I built about 12 years ago. That included painting the frame, front and rear fenders and tanks. There was alot of plastic work needed on both the front fender and tanks. He laid on like 5 coats of clear on the tanks to protect it from my legs. Solid black with a tiny bit of flake just enough to sparkle in the sun.

Shoulda never sold that one.