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Maaco Paint Jobs
Hopefully this is the correct section, anyway I'm looking to hear others experiences (bad or good) with them.
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So you know right off you are getting cheap paint and primers, a rather perfunctory prep job and a casual spray paint and masking.
Your car will look like it was painted cheaply. Now, if it's four colors already, maybe a Maaco paint job will help. But if it is a car of any real value, such a paint job will destroy the value forever.
I'd reserve a Maaco paintjob for a car $2,000 or under in value.
Top their credit, I wouldn't do all that work for $500.
It's no classic or anything but it has 29,000 original miles and it's really nice and fairly rare. Still, it's worth 3000.00 maybe.
My quote...? 3500.00!!!!
For the heck of it, I went to Maaco for an estimate...525.00.
So...I've done nothing for now and will probably just sell the Rampage...I never use it anyway.
I've seen Maaco jobs and they look...well...cheap!
After a couple of years the job will probably look worse than before.
And I'm sure the quality between Maaco stores will vary also.
I would do a Maaco job if I had an older car that I just wanted to keep for basic transportationa and just wanted to protect it against rusting out.
Only once have I had an entire vehicle repainted and that was only because one whole side and hood needed painting due to an accident. It was odne at a professional body shop.For a few hundred more, I got the entire car painted and even had the color changed. It came out great.
Cruel.
From personal knowledge and experience, MAACO and Earl S. paint jobs are good for a year or two before they begin to fade. Their work does look a lot better than what I can do with a spray can or a 4" brush and a can of enamel.
Just depends on what you need.
John
I think the quality of work at these shops varies according to the talent and management. Maaco are franchises, so the results can vary a lot.
I couldn't tell the difference, but for 49.95 they spoiled many a car!
Getting a color change was the worst thing to do!
Had the 86 Olds Calais I gave my parents repainted there.Original colorlooked like new and it took months before I discovered one slight overspray. It sat outside in Oregon Coast weather for two years before it finally got the garage and it STILL looks new.
I can only speak of this particular One Day, but I am also having my 63 Valiant painted there. They've already done body work rust repair sheetmetal panel replacement [I owe it, I've had it for 20 years!]and stripped down in preparation for the new paint.
I've seen a 56 Mark II Lincoln in there stripped down as well as a 37 Chevrolet being prepared, so for my modest Valiant, it'll work just fine.
The car has factory under Earl of Scheib under some sort of house hold enamel, so a standard prep can't really be done.I'll report the results if anyone is interested. Dave
The 69 VW bug was another story. The repaint (red)looked so-so..not too bad but it turned flat dull and started peeling after a couple of years.
I have no idea which level of paint job they paid for.
Had read they'd improved in the business section of the Daily News out here in the Valley so I "invested"...........LOL
She does keep her MB sedan clean.
John
If the quote is a joke, good enough! >:^]
If not, may I recommend that you grab a treetop and a bucket of paint, or a 'cup gun' and give it a try? It's a skilled job you learn the hard way. And may I suggest that anyone that wants a real good paint job at minimum cost should learn the moves and do it for themselves. Paint some lawn furniture, machinery, whatever, to get the feel for it.
If you get a cheap paint job, they are going to scrimp on one or the other or both.
With the paint, they can cut corners by using inferior materials and also limiting color choices and types of paint. On labor, they can pay unskilled people cheaper wages and also rush them in their work.
Really good work takes time and requires the best materials. Kind of like gourmet cooking vs. McPaintjob.
bburland certainly has the best advice for those who are not going to consider doing the whole job, but might consider some prep work.
I'm actually coming to a crossroads with my '89 Gran Fury. Its metallic silver paint is faded and is starting to look pretty bad on the hood, roof, and trunk. It's also starting to rust, just a bit, on the roof. I can either touch it up myself, where it'll look horrible but will stop rusting, or splurge for a paint job. Maybe I'd better get the thing to the point that it runs reliably for more than a day first ;-)
http://www.geocities.com/Driveaparisienne
-Andrew L
with the exception of acrylic lacquer, auto paint is getting pretty exotic in chemistry and can require such niceties as acid primer over unknown existing work. there's a reason that full-body air-supplied coveralls and respirators are prominent in the aftermarket paint product catalogs, and not just because you mix the paint with solvent on a 10 or 20 percent to one basis. some of the color coats are nasty in aerosol.
-Andrew L
I prepped my parent's 66 Mercury Montclair before taking it to the new Maaco plant that had opened in Davenport Iowa in 1976.Came out nice but my teenage wavy gravy bondo work on the lower rear fenders probably had the guys in stitches, but the thing came out beautifully sans a too thin coat of paint on the top of door beltline. Color match was beautiful: dark turquoise metallic.I guess 25 years doesn't change the skill requirements much, eh?
These prices presume no major bodywork, same color, no rust, and in the case of the $3,500 job, this probably won't be a "bare-metal" respray, but would include removing all the glass and trim.
If you don't mind a "tape-job" and the old paint is in really good shape underneath, you can make a car look pretty decent for a good deal less than $3,500. What you'll get will be shiny, thick paint with tape lines, but you know, at ten feet you can hardly notice. I got a very decent paint job on a "lesser" Porsche, a 912, for around $1,600, but the body and old paint were in excellent shape. Still, it started checking and cracking in three years, which is about what I expected.
What you are paying for in a quality paint job is not only the "looks" but the durability. For quality paint, primers, sealers, etc, you can spend over $1,000 just for materials. You cannot expect a $1,500 paint job to last, but it's a great way to sell a car if that's your goal.
My rule of thumb is that the paint job should cost at least 1/2 the value of the car or you are making a mistake. Just a rule of thumb, of course.