Q:My wife has a 2004 Lexus LS 430 sedan. She is happy with the car; however, she would like to change the color. The car is black and especially during the winter months it is hard to keep it looking clean. The color she likes is Briarwood Pearl. Would it be possible to paint the car for about $2,500 or less? -Steve D., Roseville
A:There's painting a car and painting it well. It might be possible to get a discount shop to spray it for that amount, but your wife would not be happy with the results.
Paint itself has gotten quite expensive in recent years. On the plus side, older paints were sprayed with high-pressure guns that wasted a lot of the paint as overspray bouncing off the surface and collecting on the paint booth. Newer technology uses high-volume low-pressure guns that put more on the car and less on the shop floor and walls.
The real cost, though, is in the preparation. This is the main distinction between a quickie paint job at the cheapest place you can find and a thorough job that looks great and lasts a long time. A color change requires more prep than a re-spray in the same color because you have to paint every spot where color is visible - door jambs, engine bay, trunk and any spots in the interior where paint may be visible.
Even though your wife's car may have perfect sheet metal - straight, undented, etc., the new paint cannot be applied directly over the old. The existing paint's hard, smooth surface would not allow proper adhesion and the new coat would begin to crack and flake off, particularly as temperature changes cause the sheet metal to expand and contract between day and night, and summer and winter. This is precisely what you will find with the cheapest paint jobs. A friend of mine in high school got one years ago - cheapest he could buy - and the paint started to come off in sheets within a month of the job. All he had done was a color change and the budget shop had sprayed over a healthy existing finish without scuffing it up.
To get the look your wife wants from this luxury car, the paint shop will need to remove some parts to get access to all of the painted surfaces. The shop will prep these surfaces by sanding them to "open them up" and roughen them up - on a fine level - so that the new paint can adhere strongly. Even carefully maintained cars usually have some rock chips and small dings from other cars doors, shopping carts or minor garage accidents. The shop will sand out any traces of rust in these imperfections and then use filler to make the surface perfectly smooth. Once the metal prep is done, everything that is not to be painted will need to be carefully masked off - sprayed paint has remarkable ability to sneak into tight spaces that have not been properly masked. Sloppy lines and overspray on mirrors, tires, exhaust systems, grilles, etc., is another mark of a quickie job - not enough time has been devoted to careful and thorough masking.
Only when all of the surfaces to receive paint have been exposed and prepared, and all the surfaces not to receive it have been shielded, will the shop begin to apply the new color. Getting this done by experienced professionals with quality materials and a color change for $2,500 is not realistic . The best way to get a market rate for that car and color is to visit a few shops for an estimate. Your dealership can probably recommend a couple of shops whose work they would trust.