This is too complicated a question for a short answer. Some guys will scuff up your old paint a little with a Scotch pad, do a half-assed masking job, and hit it with a quick skimpy recoat for $500 or even less. If you're lucky it might even stick. At the other end of the scale you'd strip down to bare metal, do two coats of primer, wet sand smooth, a coat of sealer, a few coats of finish paint, a couple of clear coats, wet sand smooth again, and polish. This can easily run $5000-7000 or more. A van is big and it takes lots of hours to sand and quite of bit of paint to cover. At a minimum, you'll want your painter to sand your van thoroughly so the new paint will not be trying to stick to a shiny surface. Talk to your painter and find out exactly what he plans to do. Even a schlock job can look good for a year or so, but poor surface preparation will invariably lead to checking, cracking, and peeling after a short while. About $2000 should get you something that should hold up for a while, depending on how long you plan to keep the van. At all costs, avoid the chain places that advertise a low-priced "special". You'll get the schlock job described above, done by bored kids making minimum wage. Bill |
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