Maaco Paint Jobs

fleetwoodsimca · January 2002

And you pay a lot.

prophet2 · January 2002

This has nothing to do with Maaco or Scheib, but that web-page brought back memories of an earlier Pontiac. I was in a "garage band" in the mid-60s and my friend's father was a sort of "patron saint of the arts," as well as a commercial painting contractor. He bought a new Pontiac Catalina wagon (389 V-8) for our use. Big enough to hold a drum set, three piggy-back amps, guitars, and the band members (four, sometimes five).

These days, I enjoy my music as a hobby and use my '01 Odyssey to haul my equipment. A recent accident required replacement of the sliding door outer skin, moulding, and paint match (no bodywork). For this, the tariff was $1500+, paid under the other driver's policy, and required five days by the shop (my choice) who had previously re-painted my BMW 320i in 1984. Back then, it cost $1500 (no bodywork).

Mr_Shiftright · January 2002

Actually I thought $1,600 was a good deal. Try taking a foot long gouge out of a compound curve hood and multiple dimples from the tops of double-walled fenders and then making the entire repair look as smooth as glass and perfectly color matched. That's not a day's work.

Some bondo, 600 grit sandpaper and some leftover paint and you get a corduroy hood and a two-tone car for only $600. Bargain?

prophet2 · February 2002

Especially if it's a car you're going to keep for sometime.

Sometimes, we have to learn from experience. Years ago, a guy I knew from the rust-proofing business expanded into auto painting. He called his the "Miracle" paint job for something like $159-189, depending on the paint (solid color vs. metallic). Body work, extra.

The only "miracle" was how long it would last before the top coat began peeling. And how long he'd last in the business. Not very long, as it turned out, and a lot less than the warranty. Too bad, he was a nice guy, but he should have stuck to rust-proofing and detailing services.

csandste · February 2002

for over a year. So far the paint looks good (considering the car, I'm recommending this for beaters only) and there's not a bit of peeling.

Mr_Shiftright · February 2002

Okay, we have results in from the field! Thanks for posting that.

leadfoot4 · February 2002

I had a 1976 Chevelle for a "winter beater" a number of years ago. Bought it from a friend of mine, who was the original owner.
It was repainted by Maaco (original color)when it was about 5 years old, and I had the car until it was 12 years old. Paint job looked good, polyurethane clear over the color coat, and the paint held up much better that the steel that it was applied to. Ha,ha......

Mr_Shiftright · February 2002

Ah,the old joke "your teeth are fine but your gums will have to come out".

fleetwoodsimca · February 2002

Years ago, a person had no reason to live in fear about the paint on his car. If bad news developed, most anyone who cared about the appearance of a car could afford to get it repainted the same color (or often, another color) for a very reasonable price. It would seem that the cost of new paint has risen much faster than the cost of living. Why are we being duped in this way? Who should we be stomping?
>:o[

Mr_Shiftright · February 2002

I think what you are seeing is a rise in labor rates and a rise in the cost of doing business, i.e., safety and environmental regulations.

swschrad · February 2002

here are your Universal Villains in a slightly different order, organize your wars and thrill your neighbors accordingly ::=

1) antipollution requirements. all that 10-to-1 solvent-carried enamel or lacquer means for every quart of paint, 10 quarts of volatile petrochemical solvents, usually hazardous material in addition to being smog engines, are put into the atmosphere. be thankful that they can't make a latex paint level out on cars, it was tried, or you would have to repaint every two years and wash off the mildew.

2) non-black. old Duco black enamel was all the model T ever needed, right down to where the rust finally showed up as it wore off. oh, wait, nobody likes that on a $50,000 car, do they?

3) crystal-clear, deep-as-river, miracle wonder paint formulations in all colors of the rainbow, with metallics and pearl. one scratch and the customer blows up.

4) super-duper improved formulations of above. now it's harder to scratch, but the early versions crazed (crack in all sorts of random patterns like cheap glasses put in boiling water) and peeled and cracked... and the new chemistry was expensive, like several hundred dollars of resin alone to make the paint for each car. we also started getting second-generation editions of "*$#**& paint won't stick!" problems due to incompatibility between primers, paints, clearcoats, and even the galvanizing of the body panels themselves.

now in the third or fourth edition, we're into the two-thousand dollar repaint when using these materials in some cases.

-0-

mix and match your favorite villains, and start a flaming war against progress... that's what usually makes things last longer, cost more, and when they screw up, really makes a mess in every way possible.

fleetwoodsimca · February 2002

As a teenager I painted more vehicles than I can remember, all with Dupont Dulux Automotive Enamel. It was truly a bargain at $20-$30 per gallon, and the resulting job was hard for most people to distinguish from factory. It was durable, and manageable. It was NOT deep looking, and there was no "clearcoat." Is there any product on the market that is similar? Hey, I'm serious here! (:oÞ

swschrad · February 2002

at least 13 years ago, last time I had employment connected to a refinish supplier, DuPont still had black Duco enamel for about $30 a gallon, I think it was part number 29.

since ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries LTD) bought the Dulux brand from DuPont and Glidden brand and businesses from SCM Industries, don't know if/where you would get that old-time alkyd enamel. the obvious call is to Automotive | Paint and Supplies | DuPont in the yellow pages.

be advised this is seriously out of favor nowadays as a paint type. the old rule is "anything over lacquer, only enamel over enamel," and the base line of non-fancy paint anybody stocks should be lacquer. the bottom end of enamels back then was usually acrylic enamel, and it should still be out there in most of the major brands... DuPont, PPG (including formerly Rinsheld-Mason), Sherwin-Williams (and parallel label Acme), BASF, and I would assume in the private-label auto store paints such as NAPA. Don't think Sikkens distributes low-end paints in the US.

You will probably find that without a sales tax number and maybe an A-car training certificate, these guys won't sell to you. There are business reasons as well as environmental reasons for this, and which are more important depend on which day of the week it is

no, I wasn't a professional body person, but I have slapped and shaped some fill and fiberglass... and have done OK with cans of diluted premix, sometimes availiable from an automotive paint supplier, most usually DupliColor, which ain't a half-bad lacquer. don't know about their "truck" colors, which are a basic enamel. I did my surface prep with 99% isopropyl alcohol and 1000-grit Tri-M-Ite abrasive paper.

you now know all that I do. you are now very dangerous :-D

fleetwoodsimca · February 2002

I appreciate that info!
In recent years I have spray painted with what used to be called INDUSTRIAL enamel. As recently as a year ago, I spruced up a trailer to ready it for sale using Coast-to-Coast machinery/industrial enamel, and the results were quite good. Such paint works well on lawn furniture and other metallic objects, but I couldn't bring myself to shoot it on a motor vehicle, I do not believe! (:oÞ
And DupliColor? I "saved" a GM paint job with it once... a long story involving a GM district manager.

swschrad · February 2002

multi-purpose enamel doesn't level out like an auto finish. partly it's because it was made to be workable with a stiff brush. auto stuff is very heavily diluted when sprayed on, and the plan is that the lacquers will settle under the solvent, which "flashes" off leaving a smooth coat, while the enamels have their setting time tuned to let the solvent flash off before they start to set. if you have too much solvent in the spray tank, solvent has to escape the filming enamel, which is your famous "orange peel" failure.

if you really LIKE broken cheap brush hairs sticking partly up all over, brush marks that wear unevenly as well to really give that leprous effect over a fine patina of rust, and the inability to ever repaint that machine again without stripping down to bare metal everywhere, by all means get your Hank's Best Exterior Enamel tinted and have at it.

but leave some duct tape and masking tape flapping all year round to finish off the fine overall effect of the job

you'll have a car the Beverly Hillbillies would ogle all day.

fleetwoodsimca · February 2002

Great extrapolation of results, swschrad! I agree that by today's standards for "House of Color" paint jobs that devour $750 in materials alone for one automobile painted, the old orange peel stands out as a failure as you say. But think back a few years and recall the rich, coated effect that a well perfected OP'd (orange peeled) enamel paint job from most factories delivered. C'mon! It looked danged good! And if we can repeat that result today for about $100 on an old car, what the heck? Is anyone's esthetic all THAT offended? Maybe orange enamel in a good DULUX acrylic... eh?

swschrad · February 2002

well, something to be said for depth and interest if you have a pebbled finish, is drowning it in a smooth clearcoat. you can advertise it as Textured Leather instead of Monday Early-shift Brown

fleetwoodsimca · February 2002

The Friday Afternoon Club produces a special patina, as well. (:oÞ

Mr_Shiftright · February 2002

Well art critics could admire brush strokes all day long in a Matisse, so I don't see why such techniques can't be elevated into hand painting an old car!

fleetwoodsimca · February 2002

May I then assert that the textural beauty of a Scotch Grain finish is not to be scoffed at, nor referred to as mere "orange peel?"

swschrad · February 2002

created by six bad coats of paint over the original peeling paint? I particularly call your attention to the way that the edge sticks straight up here, over the handle on the driver's-side door, almost an eight of an inch, as testimony to the skill of our painter. we call him "rotgut breath," and he can take off two layers of paint just by lying on the hood

fleetwoodsimca · February 2002

Any artist worth his salt needs room to breathe!

Mr_Shiftright · February 2002

Well, I interpret that checking on the hood as symbolic of the confusion of our daily lives, and those delicate "curtains" on the lower vertical surfaces seem to emulate the grace of nature, as one might see in a waterfall. (You need to stand back a little).

fleetwoodsimca · February 2002

And to think that powder coating could be the destruction of stark, blunt edges, due to the "melting" effect in application. Is it true that Harley Davidson was the pioneer of this technology? Does Maaco powder coat? (:oÞ

swschrad · February 2002

what a wonderfully poetic group we have here! I have half a mind (no, don't go on, that has been done already

to get two cans of paint and a handful of M80s, and do an impressionist repaint in the spirit of 9-11 and the stain left on our lives.... looking for the proper canvas, perhaps a Ferrari....

fleetwoodsimca · March 2002

I was leaving a downtown restaurant just after noon a few days back. At the curb was a flame job so impressive I do not recall the brand/model of the rather newish car. Leopard skin graphics filled the outlines of classic 1950's style flames. Could this have come from Maaco?

swschrad · March 2002

maaco doesn't use rollers when painting, but they work fast and inexpensively. your detail job was either vinyl applique or airbrushed.

rs0460a · March 2002

Had my '89 Olds Ciera repainted by Maaco in October, 2001; had some body panel rust fixed at the same time. Left it out all winter (I live in PA). It's now the end of April, 2002. I can't say it's the best paint job I ever had done, but for a total of $450 (paint/rust repair), I certainly can't complain. You can spend more than that on a simple maintenance item for a car. Does it have that "new car" shine? Of course not, but then it's not from the factory (FYI, I'm the original owner - so I should know!) The car looks decent, and if/when I finally get around to putting some cleaner/wax on it, it'll probably match anything you see "out front" at a used car lot....

swschrad · April 2002

good enough is good enough, and perfect is always a pain in the [non-permissible content removed] anyway, I believe the quote goes. in the end, if the customer got what they expected and likes the result, all is well.

if you expect fifteen layers of precision-applied premium product, you will not get it at a competitive price.

Maaco Paint Jobs

Comments

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles