TheSamba.com :: View topic - Quote-$1200-$1500 for glass/water blast bug chassis?

Mon Aug 04, 2014 12:11 pm

I had someone come by today to check out what I have. (Body is off the chassis)
He will put it on a rotisserie so he can flip it and do the interior and everything.
This price includes doing the 4 fenders, doors, sunroof, hood, deck lid, and the whole body inside and out. He would also spray it with a rust inhibitor that would last like 72 hrs until I could get it home and prime it.
Is this a reasonable amount? I'm a good judge of character and he seemed like a decent guy and was pretty excited to work on my bug!
He said turnaround time is 1 week.
I would appreciate hearing what you guys think. I was expecting around $500-$600 myself but didn't know what to expect.

Mon Aug 04, 2014 1:05 pm

Sounds about right. I had my complete body, fenders and deck lid media blasted and primed for about $1200. I cleaned up the chassis myself, so that wasn't media blasted.

The media blasting found a number of areas that had ALOT of Bondo which was blasted out by the media. We uncovered bondo on the roof, rear passenger side quarter panel and on the front clip. I then spent a lot of time and money getting those areas straightened out properly.

So your estimate of $1200-$1500 sounds about right.

Here's mine after media blasting and primer:

Mon Aug 04, 2014 1:34 pm

There’s a guy close to my area that does mobile dustless blasting and charges $500 for the outside of a medium size car. Sounds exactly like what your guy would be doing. I checked into this a while back and a chemical is added to their tank that seals the metal for 72 hours. It’s not a separate process so no extra labor or time involved in getting that. Unless of course your guys does it differently.

Here’s his ad:
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/pts/4594711786.html

CA prices compared to MD??? I have no clue.
Does your quote include the pans/chassis? You mention chassis in the title, but talk about the body getting blasted. If not, seems a bit high, especially the, “ - $1500” part.

Mon Aug 04, 2014 7:05 pm

I just had my car glass bead and walnut blasted in Las Vegas. I paid $300 for the pan and some parts about a year ago. And just paid $1100 for the body and all the other associated large parts. I did most of the smalls in my Harbor Freight blast cabinet on my own.

The time saved on sanding, potential damage (with careful blasting) and thoroughness beat anything out there. Dipping, sanding, wire wheeling, stripping, etc etc.

That being said, I did look into dustless water blasting. Chris Vallone of classicvwbugs.com fame has a video on it.

I also did some research here.

The product they add to the blast water is Hold Tight 102. It is expensive. I used it as a post blast degreaser and prep stage after I got my car back from blast. I paid $45 for one gallon. It is very weird water washing bare metal, but it works.

They use it in the blasting process but then also do a wash down at the end to clear away any residual glass bead.

If I had the opportunity for a good price (which I think yours is very close) I would do the dustless water blast.

I'm happy regardless with how this part of the project turned out.

Good luck!

Mon Aug 04, 2014 10:09 pm

Thanks guys for your help/advice! He's doing a water/glass bead mixture on a rotisserie. No, he is only doing the body, fenders, doors, etc... NOT the chassis which I have already finished myself.
Just so I know the proper steps involved:
He will finish the car and "seal" it so it doesn't rust for like 72hrs.
I take it somewhere else to have the whole car epoxy coated?
Once epoxy coated, I can begin to work on the areas that need bondo?
Once all areas have been smoothed/messaged, the paint shop will prime it then paint it, then wet sand it?

Is this the correct order of events that should take place? Or does the epoxy coat go on AFTER the bondo? Not sure there.
Also, is there a certain type of bondo I will use if using Galsurit paint, or napa paint, or Sherwin Williams paint, or PPG paint?
Thanks. I think I'm gonna get it done. Seemed high to me. I was thinking around $600-$700!!!

Tue Aug 05, 2014 7:04 am

'67 Sunroof wrote: Thanks guys for your help/advice! He's doing a water/glass bead mixture on a rotisserie. No, he is only doing the body, fenders, doors, etc... NOT the chassis which I have already finished myself.
Just so I know the proper steps involved:
He will finish the car and "seal" it so it doesn't rust for like 72hrs.
I take it somewhere else to have the whole car epoxy coated?
Once epoxy coated, I can begin to work on the areas that need bondo?
Once all areas have been smoothed/messaged, the paint shop will prime it then paint it, then wet sand it?

Is this the correct order of events that should take place? Or does the epoxy coat go on AFTER the bondo? Not sure there.
Also, is there a certain type of bondo I will use if using Galsurit paint, or napa paint, or Sherwin Williams paint, or PPG paint?
Thanks. I think I'm gonna get it done. Seemed high to me. I was thinking around $600-$700!!!

If you are doing a full restoration, you won't regret having the media blasting done. It pulls out all the Bondo and allows you to see exactly what's under the paint. Often there's some bad repairs lurking underneath that you might not know about. With mine, there was some really bad areas that I didn't know about (beaten up roof, front clip, passenger side quarter panel all had to be repaired)

Mine was in this order:
1. Media Blast
2. Primer
3. Metal work fixes
4. Primer
5. Final blocking and sanding
6. Final paint
7. Clear coat

Tue Aug 05, 2014 8:12 am

I agree with the others that you should have it done, but I wouldn't over pay doing it either.

I would expect to pay around $1000 +/- ( a little bit) for the whole process, but no way would I go into it with the possibility of having to shell out more money especially if the guy already looked at it and I could be on the hook for another $300. He knows what he’s getting into having looked at the car. I would expect a quote like that for engine repairs, brake job, etc… where there could unforeseen costs in parts/labor, but no for blasting.

There’s days worth of reading on fillers over bare metal vs. over primer and it seems there’s a pretty even split between the two camps. Some swear by one method while others swear by the other.

Tue Aug 05, 2014 9:23 am

I bought the bug from Chris Vallone (classic vw bugs)....I saw that video but I'm not taking it back to NY to get it done! Haha
I was going to have the complete shell done and then bring it home and spray a light coat of etching primer over everything until I put it in The paint shop.
Or should I just haul it straight to the paint shop and see how much it would be to spray and expound over the whole car?
I'm getting a little short on cash and after this is done I will be REAL short until next year! I just wanna have it done and protected until next year I guess....
Or I'll just wait and get it all done next year...dunno...I'm confused.

Tue Aug 05, 2014 10:34 am

'67 Sunroof wrote:
I'm getting a little short on cash and after this is done I will be REAL short until next year! I just wanna have it done and protected until next year I guess....
Or I'll just wait and get it all done next year...dunno...I'm confused.

Do you have the time, the motivation and a place to do it yourself? If so, you could easily invest the $1200-$1500 into getting the equipment needed to blast and prime it. Then turn around and resale the equipment if you don’t plan on using it again. Save your cash, use sweat equity and knock it.

Tue Aug 05, 2014 10:50 am

If you are short of cash you don't have to sandblast/wire wheel the whole car. Only the dents & rust bubbles. $1200-1500 will buy the paint & compressor. You haven't shown us any pictures of your car fir reference! :twisted:

Wed Aug 06, 2014 7:51 am

You asked for it:

I'm thinking I'll go ahead and do it. Then have someone shoot it with epoxy primer and next spring (or when I get the money) have someone do the bondo and painting.

Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:47 am

Build a temporary 2X4 & plastic spray booth in your garage. You could have it all painted by next summer! 8)