How much to respray a bumper?

podge3

Any idea how much it costs to do a full respray on a plastic bumper?

The bumper is new and already painted, but I need to change the colour.

Lex Luthor

guesstimate about €400

EPM

Last time I had one done was about 4 years ago and it was €250 + VAT so I'd imagine €400 is a good ballpark figure for a decent job.

daRobot

400 seems very expensive to me.

Mc Love

Lex Luthor wrote: »

guesstimate about €400

How big is the bumper??

I would say anywhere between 100-200 be reasonable

EPM

Mc Love wrote: »

How big is the bumper??

I would say anywhere between 100-200 be reasonable

For a decent job from a reputable bodyshop? €100? Good luck with that...

Ardennes1944

wait for PaintDoctor, he'l give you an accurate quote

BronsonTB

Front cost me 300, rear 250.....Celica

Supraman

If you were prepared to go to Cork. I'd recommend Peter Lordan 0862840443. Absolutely 100% top notch work. Flawless finish every time. Worked on my girlfriends car before, sprayed bonnet, wings, front bumper, back bumper and mirrors for 800 about 18 months ago. He does the work on any of the new cars coming through Cork port if they've got a little tip. True gent also which can be hard to find in that game in my experience.

Mc Love

EPM wrote: »

For a decent job from a reputable bodyshop? €100? Good luck with that...

Thats why I said between that, not that exact price, having been quoted for bumper respray before

Nonoperational

Got it done for 200 back and 250 front in Kevin Nevilles in Cork a few months ago. Top notch stuff again.

Sids Not

Irish garage...€400


Eastern european guy in a back lane .....€100

podge3

Thanks for all the estimates lads. Its a Rover 75 bumper, BTW.

Deutschlandfürimmer7 wrote: »

wait for PaintDoctor, he'l give you an accurate quote

Does the Paintdoctor actually do full bumpers? I thought he did repairs only.

Supraman

The paintdoctor does full bumpers yes.

EPM

Paintdoctor does full bumpers. Did my dads...Good work too.

Owen

Mc Love wrote: »

I would say anywhere between 100-200 be reasonable

Reasonable seems to be the new word for cheap. There's all sorts of threads on here lately about reasonable timing belt changes, reasonable tire prices, and reasonable respray prices - and when people get reasonable prices, they're shocked - because the expectation is cheap and the result isn't.

In the interests of not shilling, I'm not going to quote. Just to break down the information in this thread though, as you can see, front bumpers generally cost a bit more, due to more openings, grills, headlamp washers, curves around headlights, foglights, etc - so there's more work to do in preparing it and masking it up. Bodyshops have a lot more overheads than a one man operation - so, it's not fair to compare like for like.

Bodyshops will generally do things in a methodical slow process using a guy for each step of the process - a guy who's brilliant at prep work, a guy who does primer application and flatting, the guy who does the base coat and top coat, and finally the guy who flats everything and polishes afterwards. Each wage will be factored into the job as a component of the whole, along with the costs of materials, running the spray booth oven and all the various small powertools and compressor. The pros of the bodyshop generally include a mirror finish, and excellent colour matching.

A one man operation will concentrate on one job at a time. The steps won't be any different to the bodyshop, but usually there's no spray booth oven. The potential downsides of using a one man operation are a poor quality finish (If the guy doesn't know what he's doing, and there's a few around who don't), potentially a slightly wrong shade of paint due to working just off the paint code, but the pros include a lower cost due to overheads, and a faster turnaround as it's the only job on his plate.

Materials for an entire bumper aren't cheap, between primers, sandpaper (Various grades, lots of), filler (For repairs, not applicable in this case), scotchbrite, base coat, lacquer, compound and a compound head (Each job will use a portion of the head's overall polishing ability until it's worn out) - I've never actually sat down and worked it out, but I wouldn't be surprised if materials and electricity came to somewhere around the 100 Euro mark before any labour is factored in.

The bodyshop estimate various people have given is accurate - I spent 7 years working on the sales/management side of things, and nearly every bodyshop we used would be around 330-350 plus VAT per panel. The lower 100-200 would be IMHO a bit unrealistic for a bodyshop, but would be applicable to a one man operation, or a SMART technician.

podge3 wrote: »

Thanks for all the estimates lads. Its a Rover 75 bumper, BTW. Does the Paintdoctor actually do full bumpers? I thought he did repairs only.

PaintDoctor even drives a 75! We're going to have to start a Boards.ie 75 owner's club at this stage there's so many of us.

EPM wrote: »

Paintdoctor does full bumpers. Did my dads...Good work too.

Man, I'm going to have to keep sending you 5 Euro notes. I'll be broke!

maidhc

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Reasonable seems to be the new word for cheap. There's all sorts of threads on here lately about reasonable timing belt changes, reasonable tire prices, and reasonable respray prices - and when people get reasonable prices, they're shocked - because the expectation is cheap and the result isn't.

That is the way with everything now unfortunately.

Just to say you gave me a quote recently and it was very much in the ballpark and far better than some numbers mentioned at the top of the thread, and I can recommend. Ended up going with a local bodyshop for a finish with my own car because I ended up feeling obliged for various reasons, but I still have the other two mondeo ones sitting in primer to be done in due course!

Incidentally I fitted the bumper myself. Took a full sunday afternoon flat out between fitting all the rubbing strips, fog lights and other things, so people should bear that in mind if they are expecting a bodyshop to do the fitment.

podge3

PaintDoctor wrote: »

PaintDoctor even drives a 75! We're going to have to start a Boards.ie 75 owner's club at this stage there's so many of us.

Already met you and we had a good R75 discussion:D

PM on the way for a quote. I didn't realise that you did full panels/bumpers.

Nonoperational

To be fair I went to about 4 different body shops when I was getting mine done and they were all between 250 and 300 for a front bumper. Thats a bumper off job and paying cash.

BostonB

I got a recent quote, for a rear bumper was 50 for the bumper and 300 for painting it. As its a old car, and just a 2nd car runabout, I decided to hunt for one in scrapper instead. So far I've had no luck in getting the same colour.

daRobot

BostonB wrote: »

I got a recent quote, for a rear bumper was 50 for the bumper and 300 for painting it. As its a old car, and just a 2nd car runabout, I decided to hunt for one in scrapper instead. So far I've had no luck in getting the same colour.

Just rattle can it. Honestly.

If you do the prepwork well, and do plenty do wetsanding between coats and cut and polish at the end, it'll look ok.

Not as good as a pro will do, but not terrible either.

Check out this link (just substitute the roller paint for spray) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qPJTTRWttQ&feature=related

BostonB

I need a bumper as the current one is cracked. Not managed to get a quote for plastic welding it yet. One from a scrapper might still be cheaper.

daRobot

That's what I meant. Just get one from a scrapper, strip it and spray it to match.

Should work out cheap enough.

jimmycrackcorm

The OH got her bumper done by polish lads for €250 including plastic repair for cracks etc. First class job.

podge3

Thanks for all the replies.

I have decided to go with Paintdoctor and will hopefully be dropping the bumper to him over the next few weeks.