How much to get my Camaro painted and new upholstery?

[camarofan1971]

Hi,

I'm new here and wanted to get some advice. I'm going to be buying my mother in law's Camaro from her and would like to know how much I can expect to pay to get it repainted and possibly have the upholstery gutted and replaced? Are paint jobs at Maaco worth a crap? This Camaro is a forest green color that I really don't like and the seats are really awful because of her smoking and ruining them with soda stains. The interior stinks to high hell and I'm afraid nothing will get rid of that smell except getting new interior. What can I expect to pay for a new paint job and interior? Does it cost less to have it re-painted the same color vs. a brand new color? I have no experience with this so any help would be great!

-Keith

[88camaroproject]

its gonna cost alot to get this done, its more cash to change the color, macco isnt to great but it seems some people have come out on top from them but not too many. it just depends on the store by you. interior will be at least a thousand considering you arent doing any of the work. a paint job will be like another grand or 2. if i were you i would expect to pay 3 grand. is the car worth that much money? what motors in it, how many miles, has she taken care of it? do you like the car? is there any rust? how are the breaks, windows, weatherstripping, suspension, and tires? you dont wat to spend to much considering you could buy a newr one for like 4 or 5 grand

[viperh]

Originally Posted by 88camaroproject

its gonna cost alot to get this done, its more cash to change the color, macco isnt to great but it seems some people have come out on top from them but not too many. it just depends on the store by you. interior will be at least a thousand considering you arent doing any of the work. a paint job will be like another grand or 2. if i were you i would expect to pay 3 grand. is the car worth that much money? what motors in it, how many miles, has she taken care of it? do you like the car? is there any rust? how are the breaks, windows, weatherstripping, suspension, and tires? you dont wat to spend to much considering you could buy a newr one for like 4 or 5 grand

Yeah think hard about this. If it was a 69 Camaro I would say go for it but if it's just a v6 then I personally wouldn't do it. Maaco is crap. First they don't really prepare the car for paint (i.e. sand all of the old paint off. They'll sand through the clear coat (if that) and paint on top of old paint)). If there are chips there will still be chips just painted whatever color you get. Now if your sand it down and prep it yourself I bet a Maaco paintjob would be a lot better but I don't know I have never tried that experiment because its still 400-600 bucks. You could reupholster the interior but if she smokes that smell will be in the cushioning. So you would need to pretty much buy everything new. Your best bet it to take the interior out. If it is cloth take the cloth off the seats and sew yourself some new ones. Or make the g/f, wife, and friend, significant other who can sew do it. It's not all that hard really. After you get the cloth off you could try to clean the foam but I honestly don't think you would get too far. Just fabreeze the living hell out of it and pray for the best. You can purchase a plastic headliner so you don't have to worry about the cloth separating from the top and get rid of the smoke. New carpet that you cut yourself with existing one over it any color you want runs 400.

[1986Z28]

id say around 5g for a nice paint job and the interior

[92zcamaroperson]

umm...you can get used interior pieces from parts cars...i hate to refer to another forum but www.thirdgen.org has a classified section where people are selling entire interiors for much less than a thousand. but it would be something that you would have to install yourself. maaco paint sucks but as long as you dont get their bottom bargain paint service it will probably work for you. Changing colors is always more expensive if the color change is done right. I would say around $800 minimum for an ok paint job. but thats just my experience

[Earlsfat]

Read this very carefully... unless it is the last place in the entire free world, DO NOT USE MAACO. I speak from experience.

If you are going to keep this car, and are going to love it and have it forever, through sickeness and health, then spend the money and have the paint and interior done right. Guessing around $5k to have the interior and paint done. It's cheaper to have it done right the first time... I'm sure you've heard the saying.

If you are keeping it but just going for a little visual change, get the interior from a junk yard, and spend $1000 or so on a semi-decent paint job. If you're not going to keep it then be reasonable about the money you're going to dump into it, because it can be an endless pit.

If it's a 3 gen or 4 gen then you're dealing with a high dollar classic (no offense intended), for the one you have plus $5k you could probably buy a maro that's more the way you want it and you'd have almost no work to do.

Now, if you're talking about a first gen or early 2 gen (70-73), then spend freely, it'll be worth it in the end, especially if it's a numbers car. Just don't do anything stupid to it and you'll be alright.

My 2¢, for whatever that's worth to you.