Does anyone have any good shops they can recommend (or for that matter any shops to avoid) for paint & body work in the Atlanta area?

I have some scratches on my door and have been told I need to get the whole thing repainted, as well as a few small dents removed.

Global quoted me about $550 a while back, but I wanted to see what else was out there and find out any good/bad experiences people have had.


Thanks.

If they are small dents, you might want to try a PDR (Paintless Dent Removal) shop. I don't know about a shop though, I'm looking at doing it for the dent in my hood.

Thanks Ryan.

Unfortunately some of the scratches are pretty deep and I've been told the only way to properly repair it is to paint the entire door. I also tried the paint pen from autovisuals, but the scratches are too deep for it to work effectively.

I would not recommend Chris Collision.

I would, however, recommend Luxury Auto Body on Howell Mill. They do pretty decent work and their prices are fair.

magnum collision does pretty good work, but the service i've had has been attrotios. So dont go there. Plus it's pricey as hell

I just had the entire front of my car (from front of doors forward) repainted at my local shop, Autobahn Imports on S. Atlanta Rd. in Smyrna... They do a great job and stand behind their work...

Not to mention they matched my color perfectly, which is close to impossible to do (Arctic Silver)..... Your welcome to check out my car out if your curious....

Bryan

how are their prices bk?

From what I have heard and compared, they are very reasonable... They honor what they quote....ask me how I know.... ok, I'll tell ya....

An employee of the shop accidentally quoted me $560 for the job I described above (should have been 1100!)...and they honored the quote!

They just hired a great guy (Mike) to do all of the painting and the guy is a perfectionist....

Hope this helps.

Bryan

$560?!? wow thats friggin cheap, I wonder if they can hook me up with something like that. Having the paint match is very important to me as its hard to do with dakar.

I could refer you in... and try to get you a good deal... what do you need painted?

Like I said with mine, it was a mistake on their behalf when someone misquoted me.....so I doubt it will be that cheap for the job I had done....

Lemme know

Bryan

Thanks BK! That shop sounds like its in my area too, so that would be great. How long did they have your car to get all of the work done? Glad to hear they matched up the paint, as my color is not an easy one either (topaz blue). On your paint job, did you get the front doors painted as well, or everything up excluding the doors?

I've heard of a good shop down on Howell Mill too; Luxury might be the one. Thanks for the name Varsitydramat.

I might have to go get some quotes soon and check out the shops.


Thanks again for everyone's input!

sure thing... yeah, I got "up to" the doors painted, not the doors themselves....

Holler if you have more questions or give me call.

Bryan
404 229 6393

Thanks BK. It will probably be mid to late next week before I can get by there.

I do NOT recommend Classic Collision. Those guys painted my hood when I specifically told them NOT to....

...The car was in for a front bumper replacement and only had a scratch on the hood. I figured having the factory paint job would be better for keeping the cars value.. So much for that.

AND not only did they paint the hood, they did NOT take it off the car. I have massive overspray on my front right quarter panel!

Moral of the story: NEVER EVER GOTO CLASSIC COLLISION.

those bastards

Wow! Sorry to hear about your car atlDinan3. I'll stay away from Classic.

Thanks.

I highly recomend Magnum They are a little pricy but the quality of work is worth it
http://members.roadfly.com/bdblythe/bfsig copy.jpg

dropped my car off at autobahn today for Mike to work on it, we'll see how it turns out. I'll take pics of their job and everything. Mike's also installing my bodykit and cf hood so we'll see how good he is at that :D

Mike's a good guy.... very honest IMO.

Good luck with the paint, and let me know how it turns out........

Bryan


ps...if ya don't like it...be sure to say somethin'....they have always stood behind their work with regards to my car!

I've heard good things about "Hot Wheels"....not sure where they're located.

Originally posted by BKarktic328i
Mike's a good guy.... very honest IMO.

Good luck with the paint, and let me know how it turns out........

Bryan


ps...if ya don't like it...be sure to say somethin'....they have always stood behind their work with regards to my car!

well now i'm sorta pissed cause the original quote he gives me keeps going up cause he says he didn't include the buffing, prep time, etc. And he says at the price he quoted me he's not including matching the panels, which he says he does by blending the paint off into another panel. Is this how he matched your paint? By blending?

hmmm...I did not have any of those problems............. I would see if he will stay with his original numbers, and say that you thought it included everything.

On my car, he color matched with the OEM Sikkens paint...and then he did blend into the adjacent panels.......... Even though it is the factory color, its about impossible to just paint a new panel, slap it on, and expect it to match perfectly when the originals have aged for years...........

On mine, he just went 6 inches onto the adjacent panels to ensure even coloration.................

Is this what your referring to?

Originally posted by BKarktic328i
hmmm...I did not have any of those problems............. I would see if he will stay with his original numbers, and say that you thought it included everything.

On my car, he color matched with the OEM Sikkens paint...and then he did blend into the adjacent panels.......... Even though it is the factory color, its about impossible to just paint a new panel, slap it on, and expect it to match perfectly when the originals have aged for years...........

On mine, he just went 6 inches onto the adjacent panels to ensure even coloration.................

Is this what your referring to?

yeah, that is what i'm talking about. I talked to the owner of the shop yesterday (who I found out was the same nationality I am :) ) and he said they match the paint on all the cars they do, however the day before Mike told me he didn't include that in the quote he gave me (I think that the quote he gave me might have been on the low side so he's trying to raise it) So i'm going to see what he does, if he doesn't match the paint i'm going to say that the owner said you do it on all the cars and its included in the price. I'm sorta pissed about the price going up a couple hundred dollars for the buffing...

Yep, I'd be pissed too.... Just be a stickler and tell Mike and the owner that when you received the quote, you had every right to assume that it was for the "complete" job............just my .02...

The body/paint shop in the rear used to be independant of the garage, but now the owner (which you spoke to) owns it all......at least I think so... Last time I spoke with the owner he was VERY concerned with making good on my car and keeping my business (I have dropped an arm and leg there)................ and you should tell him that I referred you and if he wants the referral chain to continue......that he should do the right thing and stick to the original quote......................

Hope this helps........and I hope it works out. Like I said, Mike has always done the right thing with my car, and the owner has done the same.

Keep me posted.

Bryan

Originally posted by WytLytnyn
I've heard good things about "Hot Wheels"....not sure where they're located.

Hot Wheels is located on 41 or cobb parkway by the big chicken. They did a spectacular job on my friends E36.

Alright, i'm going to have to say I had a negative experience with Autobahn INC. I'm going to pick up my car tomorrow after over a week of it being there with them having done nothing to it. Reason I'm picking it up? My quote was raised over 50% of what I was originally quoted, and Mike telling me to take my car elsewhere. I was lied to in my face saying that I brought in more work then I originally told them (which was not true, my friend FAST5 on this forum was there with me when I brought all my parts there cause he helped me use his truck to, and Mike only said he thinks the price of paint would cost more when he saw me at that time, he said nothing about me bringing in more parts and he actually went over all the parts with me) And i'm not paint expert, but I don't think the price of paint should increase the original estimate for over $650... I've had it with Autobahn INC and I recommend everyone else to stay away from there. I will post more details later after I go to pick up my car, but this is deadweek at Georgia tech with all my hard ass finals next week and I didn't need this shit. BKartic might have had a good experience there, but it seems he was misquoted once too. Anyways, its going to my buddy's shop to get the work done, what I should have done in the first place. Me= Not very happy at all.

Wow. Well for once I'm thankful that I've been lazy and haven't gotten around to getting my door painted.

Ali what exactly were you going to have painted? I need my driver's side door done. I too was told about the blending into the other panels and was quoted from one place around $525. That sounds a little high to me, but I wanted to get everyone else's opinion.

And while we're on the subject, I was behind someone on the highway recently and they swerved at the last minute leading me to hit something huge in the middle of the road. I think it was a plastic bedliner for a pickup truck. Surprisingly I only have a slight dent in the passenger side door (of course it couldn't have hit the driver's side since that one already needs to be repaired). I don't think it needs to be painted, so probably just a paintless-dent removal. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good body shop to do that? The dent is about a foot long. Any rough estimates for pricing?

for PDR go to dent wizard, Global uses them and i've had very good experiences with them. As for my door, mine was just a little past being able to be fixed by PDR, and a couple places including autobahn wanted a little over $425 to fix it with paint. What exactly is wrong with your door? If its just one or two dents, that quote seems kinda high.

oh yeah, I'm having fenders, hood, front bumper, front grille assembly, door, and rear bumper done. I only needed the fender and door fixed, but I've been meaning to do a bodykit and CF hood and newer sidemarkers and front grille done, so I thought why not upgrade all at once :D oh yeah, after the paint and all the 5 grand mark will be passed :D

Well the driver's side door was keyed (before I bought the car) and I've been told by everyone I've spoken too that the entire door needs to be repainted for it to look right. The door painting and fender blending quote was for around $525. Dent wizard at Global also quoted me around $500, and I don't think that was to blend the fenders either. The passenger side door has the pdr need, and I'm not sure how much that will run.