EDIT: Poll has been added. If you have never had service done by any of these shops above then don't vote!

So far with all the paint shop research I have done I have come down to the final five I guess you could say...

JMI Motoring (Jeff)
Phantasy Kolors (Brian)
Bellevue Auto Rebuild (Sal)
Chambers Creek (Mike)
Lakeside Collision (Chris)

I just don't know which place I should bring my nismo v3 kit too. It seems that JMI and Phantasy are 10/10 and 9/10 and the others are 8/10. All of them answered my following questions...
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Phantasy Kolor said...
Put kit on car to make sure it fits and make sure all hardware is there. Take back off and sand and prep. Add primer w/ flex additive. Spray paint, wet sand. Seal, paint again 1-3 coats of paint, sand down each paint, clear coat (2-4), wet sand (1000,2000,3000). 3-stage buff. Machine glaze/wash. Hand Glaze. Said price would be around $2000-$3500

Are you certified in PPG, Glasurit, House of Kolor? Yes
What MFR paint you use? PPG/House of Kolor
Have you ever sprayed true kandy paint? Yes
How many clear coats? 2-4
Is your paint booth temperature controlled? Yes
Do you have a down/side/cross/reverse draft room? Down/Side
Is everything in writing? Yes
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Lakeside Collision said...
Pre-fit, Prime, Scuff/Paint, Before pickup wet sand. Price would be $3000-$3500 starting. Said $800 per bumper.

Are you certified in PPG, Glasurit, House of Kolor? Yes
What MFR paint you use? PPG
Have you ever sprayed true kandy paint? Yes
How many clear coats? 2
Is your paint booth temperature controlled? Yes
Do you have a down/side/cross/reverse draft room? Side
Is everything in writing? Yes
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Bellevue Auto Rebuild said...
Pre-fit, Sanding/Scuff. Shoot in Stages. Glide coat. Primer (2-coats). Flexing agent. Paint/polish. Wet sand. Said they were the only authorized GTR painter. Price $2000-$3500

Are you certified in PPG, Glasurit, House of Kolor? Yes
What MFR paint you use? PPG, Clearstar (cheaper quality version I think?)
Have you ever sprayed true kandy paint? Yes
How many clear coats? 1 (depends)
Is your paint booth temperature controlled? Yes
Do you have a down/side/cross/reverse draft room? 4x paint booths
Is everything in writing? Yes
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JMI Motoring & Chambers Creek basically had the same answers above.

I was going to schedule some time with each shop and see their work in person. Has anybody had any bad issues with any of these shops or has it all been positive?

 

Put up a poll with these shops, maybe people who don't post will respond to that?

That being said, are you getting your whole car sprayed? or just trying to match the kit?

If you are just going to have the kit painted, don't stress yourself out so much trying to find the best/perfect shop, there isn't one, besides the OEM paint on your car now I'm sure isn't the best. You are going to end up with awesome paint on your kit that won't match the sh!tty manufacturers paint job.

My .02

I would go to someone who is experienced in doing kits though, that rules out half of your list right there. If you have deep pockets just go to JMI or Bel Red in Everett if you want to save a buck but not compromise.

If you want epic paint and body work go to R & G.

 

Only getting the bodykit parts painted. Not the whole car.

Makes sense. Guess I shouldn't stress it but would rather go to someone that's a pro and who will get it done right the first time. I don't want to be that person that has to keep coming back for repair if their work sucks.

Which shops in my list would be ruled out?

 

The Collision centers, they generally do insurance repair work etc.. Go to a specialty shop like JMI, Phantasy, CarNutz etc

 

I got my bumper(2 tone, ppw/blk) and hood blended to fenders last summer at Everett Bell-Red. I have a PPW which is pretty hard to match especially to my 03 paint job and they did really good job... It was a good price but I got a good friend discount. i asked about lip kit put on and paint blended to the car and rough quote of $2000+. Good luck.

 

I had couple of my car painted at lakeside and they paint is pretty much spot on! Ive had to drop my car off there this morning matter of a fact and they just got done with a ferrari and I can say its F'en GORGEOUS!

 

I'm in the same boat as you OP.
I want a paint job done well.

Many friends of mine say that the quality of a paint job also reflects on the prep work. If you're experienced and have the time, do all the sanding and fitment yourself.

I'll probably end up doing most of the prep work myself along with the help of my friends.

 

Well, I'd rather pay a shop to do all the fitment and prep work. I just want to hand them everything and say "call me when it's done and perfect". My list of shops is below. I am going to visit each one and see their work and then I will decide.

JMI Motoring (Jeff)
Phantasy Kolors (Brian)

Bellevue Auto Rebuild (Sal)
Chambers Creek (Mike)
Lakeside Collision (Chris)
Bel Red Auto Rebuild in Everett
R&G Auto Body in Woodinville

I'm leaning towards going to Phantasy Kolors as my place of choice...but Bel Red Auto Rebuild in Everett said they just finished a full Nismo v3 kit. So I might go there. So I dunno.

 

So gents...I started my quest and went to two shops today and did my due diligence...

Bellevue Auto Rebuild Bellevue:
Very huge shop. Good customer service when I walked in. Talked with Sal and got a tour of the shop and the paint work. All the paint work looked very good. I could not even tell it was that good. All the masking was really good. They have 4 paint booths. The hard labor workers were older guys. I swear one of the guys looked like a crack head lol. There were so many damn cars in there. They get tons of business that's for sure.

Bel Red Auto Rebuild Bellevue:
Smaller sized compared Bellevue Auto Rebuild. Customer service was alright. I was able to get a tour of the shop. If I remember there was only 1 paint booth, maybe a second one. Paint quality seemed fine as far as I could tell. There was one customers ride that had the whole quarter panel painted the guy told me but on the inner side I could see some white marks. Looks like they didn't mask it very well. The hard labor workers seemed younger and a bunch of kids.

After going to these two shops I probably would choose Bellevue Auto Rebuild over Bel Red Auto Rebuild if I was going to choose between those two.

I am going to have to agree with wasuber by taking my car to a specialty shop like JMI or Phantasy. I just have this gut feeling that something is going to happen to my car with all those other cars in there or something else gets damaged on my car. Or even a worker joy riding my stuff. Yes, I am **** and paranoid. I'm sure some other ppl on here are the same.

JMI is not available for me to even drive up and see his work till mid-may which sucks. So I am leaning towards taking my car to Phantasy.

The one thing that really makes me want to go to this place is Bel Red Auto Rebuild in Everett. Brandy or whatever her name is told me they just finished a Nismo V3 kit and have done about 3 of them. So it makes me want to do there as well. Fawk!

 

^I'd like to add , when my car was at Bel Red (in Bellevue) I caught them just in time before they ran my car through detail and used wheel cleaner on my anodized rims!!!! That would have been an expensive mistake by them not listening to me when I asked them specifically to not wash my car or use any type of cleaning products on it after they were done painting just the lip on my car.. I got lucky .. that time

 

What! A full body kit paint job cost around $2500. I have to redo the back my car. Put new OEM back bumper paint it and install my body kit for $300

 

got to pay to play.

 

Poll added.

 

I've only had some small stuff done by R&G, but they're great. Awesome people to work with, everything done on time and perfect.

 

when my car got wrecked i took it to a place in puyallup called "A & B Autobody". the owner, gary, does a lot of hot rod and muscle car work and his paint jobs are damn near flawless. he reworked both my fenders, instead of just buying cheap aftermarket replacement ones, fit my aftermarket urethane bumper as perfect as possible, and matched the paint so you can't tell what's new/old, even in sunlight. their phone number is 253-848-6125.