Ho my the price of paint

[moparchris]

Just some simple comments.  I'm not a professional painter but have painted 5 Charger's over the years.  Four were single stage and one was base/clear because of the metallic (FK5).  Yes, paint is very expensive now.  It is not 30 years ago!!  Red is by far the most expensive color because of the pigments required, but also because it is the most widely sprayed color and the companies can get away with some price gouging. 
There are always variables concerning the cost of materials and the biggest one is "what level of material are you willing to pay for and/or live with?  Every paint company has different levels of "quality" if you will.  You can go top of the line PPG or use their Shop-Line level of paint.  Both are "PPG" paint but one is 2-3 times as expensive.  Just like Dodge.  If you want a Dodge product are you going to spend the $ for a Hellcat or buy a Challenger SXT?
With base/clear you are not only paying for the color, but also the clear and the reducers and hardeners, which can often be different items between the color and clear.  Even for single stage jobs you need reducer and hardener for the paint.  Don't forget the primer/sealer if you take the body down to bare metal, and then the build primer that you sand 85% of off the car and then the sealer over the last of the build primer.
In short, there is no way to paint a car "cheaply" anymore.  It just boils down to how much you want or can afford to spend.

[Brock Lee]

I prefer a good SS paint over the super-glossy, almost fake-looking, BC/CC. They automatically look over-restored to me.  Just my opinion.

That is great. You just have to shop for the best quality as you have zero UV protection with a SS finish. It is not a question "if" it will fade, but "when" it will fade.

And my "cheap ass" comment was not a generalization of ALL single stage finishes. Just literally cheap single stage finishes. There are certainly great quality single stage finishes available.

[charge69]

I think moparchris has the right idea about today's paint.  Expensive no matter how you do it. At least if you do it right. And Brock Lee, how long do you think it will be before my paint fades? I keep the Charger covered in a garage 100% of the time I am not driving it and it will never see rain again if I can help it.  The paint is now as shiny as the day we finished waxing it for the first time about 3 years ago.  I didn't use the most expensive paint on the market but it was far from cheap. I don't think I have to worry about it "fading" on me before I don't care anymore.

BC/CC has its place for sure but I prefer the look of a nice SS paint job in almost all cases.  Just me.

[Mike DC]

  
GL Dukesfest car, built & jumped in 2004 . . .  




After being outside on display for just a couple years . . .

[charge69]

Poor GL !  I doubt anyone would look very good after being jumped and then put on display for a couple of years !

[Mike DC]

  
I looked it over the day before the show.  It was already pretty toasted.  Bent unibody, no floors, etc.  It wasn't the worst Charger they ever jumped but it wasn't good.  


It did a heckuva jump to get bent like that.  193 feet of distance IIRC.  An ice hockey rink is 200 feet long.

[Brock Lee]

That orange paint sucks. I always laugh HARD when I read someone stating "I saw a real General Lee and it was repainted 4 times, each coat a different shade of orange"..Um, no, each coat had a different amount of fade before being oversprayed.

After we did Lee1 in its correct shit ACME single stage paint, after the first summer the fade was noticeable.  The jambs looked like a different color paint from the exterior.

I have a better quality paint on my car. The fade has happened over the past 12 years, but not radically. Just enough to make touch up noticeable at about 3 feet.