Cost of painting an E350

[Vanzila]

Originally Posted by campIV

I’ve heard about several people getting paint and especially upholstery work on their custom cars done in Mexico and being very pleased with the results.

Unless your going to live with it in Mexico this is a dangerous idea. These vans are highly sought after and in Mexico several of us on the Boards can tell you stories about stolen vans..

You get what you pay for and nothing is ever free.. So keep that in mind when you make your choice.

Rhino liner is heavy and will add to the Overall Weight of the Van and lower your MPG . IF you care. Good Luck!.

[carringb]

Wraps aren’t super cheap but it’s pretty easy to DIY. Cheap vinyl costs us about $200. But it’s hard to avoid wrinkles and bubbles. And can’t be placed in very large sheets so seams are visible up close. 3m automotive vinyl is ~4x that right now, but the adhesive is contained in microscopic beads so it isn’t set until you squeegee it. And it stretches better without wrinkling. The cheap stuff is great if you want to try a color change or only want it temporary. Takes us weekend to do it. Taking off the vinyl cleans the paint really well, like using a clay bar.

[SteelheadJones]

Originally Posted by Vanzila

Now its Honda Passion Berry Purple.

Cool color. I would never have thought to do that to a van but it looks great!

[Houstonredrider]

You can DIY bed liner for $300 to $500. I went that route because of the cost and I liked the look. I rolled Monstaliner because I was not able to spray (I didn't w2ant to overspray the neighbors cars).
I do not know where the myth of the weight comes from. The paint is not made of Lead or Uranium. I used 2.5 gallons and they were not denser than water and as the paint dries, the solvent evaporates.
If you like the look I'll recommend it. Another option could be farm implement paint.

[JWA]

I don't know what a gallon of any bed liner-type material weighs but it most likely doesn't exceed 15 pounds per gallon.

CarringB does bring up a good point about DIY wraps----it is a process that benefits greatly from experience so a first-timer might not be too happy with the results. For $200 materials cost of a full body wrap and done in stages (one door at a time?) the learning curve could be overcome relatively shortly.

Using a quality material like 3M would be best as its high quality and more pressure sensitive adhesive making the job a bit easier, relatively speaking. Plus there has to be a million or more YouTube videos how to go about the wrapping and/or applying bed liner to the whole body.