Price out a gallon of Dupont Chroma base today and it was $200. Is the cost of paint that high? I haven't bought paint in a couple of years. I'm going to look at PPG and Sherwin Williams stuff next. What base/clear coat are you guys using?
cutlass.jpg

 

$200 for a gallon of chromabase? unless it's black, that sounds mighty cheap.

 

A buddy of mine told me a gallon of Deltron single stage is 350 a gallon!
My SEM water-color interior paint was 53 bucks a PINT!

Yes, paint prices are going through the roof, just like tires and batteries did within the last year or two.

 

yeah a pint of my paint un reduced from ppg's production line dbc is 87 dollars . i mixed some paint for my dads dodge durango when i did some rust repair a pint was 97 dollars unreduced . It all depends on how much metallic the mix has and if it's red also how much pearl is in the mix. solid colors are cheaper except red.

 

i was talking to a paint and body man the other day about doing a car next year. he said to expect at least $1000 for all the paint to do a complete car. that was primer, paint, clear, and whatever. at least another $3000 for labor. that was with me taking the car apart and putting it back together. i have had enough paint and body work done over the years to find that this is one area that you get what you pay for.

 

That does sound cheap for a gallon of Dupont Chroma base .. I have a gallon of 2011 camaro red I purchased for $512.00 that I didnt use. I'm about to put it on Ebay because I decided to paint the Cutlass blue

 

I couldnt agree more . I buy my paint at cost from the body shop i work for . i spent roughly 1500 in paint and materials on my resto. I have recently tried off brand clears with great success . I did the front end of my olds in usc 50 high prodution clear and it turned out great . Just because it's off brand does not mean its bad. We have had issues at our shop with high end ppg clears . Good prep work goes a long way.

 

I also spent $1500.00 for paint & materials when I did my Vista. That was whole sale price also. I went with Glasurit(sp?) & I did need more material for the longer wagon though.
"Your cost may vary."

 

They used PPG dbc on mine. The UPCHARGE to go from PPG shopline to dbc was $400. Red is the most expensive

 

As you see my car is red!

 

Is PPG a good brand to use?

 

Yes even their shopline low price line is good . I have always like ppg paint. And I prefer dupont clear .

 

Every manufacturer has their high end and low end lines. Every painter has their own preferences. It's not just the color, it's the whole system; base, top & clear.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

It's my understanding that the earthquake in Japan caused shortages of certain paint components. That may be behind some of the recent price increases. I've heard that red and black were affected, as well as certain metallic components that weren't produced anywhere else.

 

just because you have a picture in your avatar/sigline doesn't mean that's the one getting painted.

no matter what, my original post still applies. unless you're buying black, $200 a gallon for chromabase is cheap. the last time i bought a gallon of 99k black factory pack chromabase it was around $200. the last 6 cars i've done, none of them were under $400....... including a red car. one of them was just under $600.