Hey all,

I have a question for those of you who have done some (had some done) painting on your Road*.

Last week I scored, big time, I got a pair of factory hard bags from Ebay for $250!
They are brand new and came in primer grey.


The first auto body place I went to, couldn't even do a time and materials lookup for a factory finish on them. He compared the job to painting a quarter panel on a car...
He also said they would mix their own paint (based on my color code) then prep and spray both bags and lids for "about" $550.00... but, and I need to remove all hardware.


So, beside the obvious... (and the fact I'm not too confident in this place right now...) is this a descent price or should I keep looking?
BTW: I'm in New England...

Believe it or not! I have seen some good paint jobs come out of Maaco paint places. I'm sure it would be a lot lower price. Just a thought?

to give you an idea, i just had a rear fender painted. $100 for the paint. paid $150 for him to spray it. so $250 for one rear fender. it was a tri color so more work.

Thanks for the Maaco heads up... I didn't even think of them.
They said to bring them in and gave me an estimate based on a pair of Harley bags they did last week, (insurance.)
They did the Harley bags for $250 and they had to take them off the bike patch and repair, sand prime and paint... (Mine are in the box and primed.)
I do pictures after they're finished...

Take a side cover in and they can scan it to the computer thats what i did
I tried color rite but it was WAY OFF!!!

$550 is a little ridiculous, or he is using some expensive clear coat. I would say $250 - $300 would be around the ball park.

The problem is, when parts come primered or "ready to paint"... they are never done. The body work is usually garbage and the quality is usually low. As a guy who's painted a couple things before, and also having friends and family that paint, I understand not wanting to just spray over something that is "ready for paint" as you never know what you're going to get and essentially that end result lands on you. A good shop will take that into consideration and probably add it to the quote to do it right. Still $550 is pretty pricey. I'd say $250-$300 would be good including light working of the bags.

The guys that shoot the paint at places like Maaco can shoot paint. It's the prep work that is sometimes hit and miss from what i've seen. When it comes to something like bags I would feel better doing my own prep work ie scratch fill, sand, remove my chrome emblems, trim etc and have them just shoot the paint.

+1 on what Chrominator said then after they give you the paint code take their chip book outside in the sun and compare your colors if there is flake in it they should have a flake color card also it will have a hole in the middle of the chip so that you can see your paint and make sure the flake matches as there are a few sizes of flake. Example my 09 was a 85 chevrolet silver and the the flake was a medium at was a 7 out of 10 for a butt match meaning that panel to panel match without a fade-in. just some info and i not trying to be a know it all but my Uncle helped me get my color and he was in the business about 40 yrs just my opinion.


Chromeinator wrote:
Take a side cover in and they can scan it to the computer thats what i did
I tried color rite but it was WAY OFF!!!

Well, here's an update...
I went to Macco and now I wanna say... Uh Oh... I went to Macco!
Right now I'm kicking myself for not being more insistent when I dropped the bags off...
They called last Thursday and gleefully announced "Your saddlebags are ready to pick up..." So, I told them I would be in the next day... But, like in any good movie, lets back up twelve days, to the day I dropped them off...

I took the box with the bags neatly wrapped and packed inside, into the office and pulled out a bag and I gave the guy the paint code from the bike and the first thing he said was, "I don't need that, we don't match paint codes..." (my first red flag).
I said, "What, not even for a base color?"
His reply took me totally off balance, but he explained that they mix their own colors based on the formula from the swatch book he has,
So, I took the book outside but I couldn't find anything near the pearl white of the bike, not even close.
I went back inside and explained that the bike was forty eight miles away and asked what he thought I should do...
He suggested that I go with another color or wait to bring in a sample, like a side cover or something... (Ahem!)
Well, me... wanting instant gratification, said... "You know? I think I'll just do a contrast and go with a nice metallic black..." So I go back outside with the swatch book and pick out a really nice black with the finest copper flake in it! I thought the copper flake would go really nicely with the second pinstripe on the tank and black is a nice contrast to white so I gave him the sample number and he gave me a quote of $325 for the job.
Before I left I told him that I wanted all the hardware taken off, not masked and showed him how to pull the latches and hinges off... I did insist on that. I also showed him that the chrome accent stripes are not attached yet and that I would put those on after the pain is finished.
He said okay and off I go, happily waiting for the call to pick them up

Fast forward to last Friday...
I called to say I'm on my way and when I get to the office there's what looks like a Yamaha hard saddlebag sitting on the counter with the hinge and latch fully installed, in a Chrysler "Light Pewter"... (I recognize the color because I had a car that color before) It's that kind of faded copper/ bronze color with a blueish haze when you look at it on an angle...
So, I said "Wow, you guys had a couple of people bring in hard bags this week... When she said they we mine, I nearly flipped out...!
Not only were they the wrong color... there was runs and pimples... dirt in the clear coat, scratches and all the hardware was masked instead of removed.
I tried to remain calm and told the girl behind the counter that this was completely wrong and I was not at all happy and that they had completely ruined a brand new set of bags... and the worst part is they never opened the bags to paint under the lip of the lid! It was still primer grey!

She brought in a guy from the back and the first thing he said was... "Well, you know it's hard to pick out the right color from a two inch swatch in a book... I lost it!
I told them to get a sample from my color code and not to give me any BS about not matching it! Then I said I will come back with the side panel and have them scan it to match. I also told them I want to approve the wet sanding finish before they shoot it, and again before they clear coat it too.
The girl behind the counter apologized but the guy from the back didn't seem to care...
This is what he said was a real close match...