stock paint is chipping a little

[mccurdy]

Hey Guys,

I've noticed my front bumper is chipping more and more, and i have some peel on my side skirts. Now My cars a 97 so i can't expect the paint to stay great forever.

I've heard a lot of bad things regarding Maaco's paint jobs on here, so i was curious whats the best way to get a factory looking glossy paint job while still keeping it cheap. After all, our cars aren't $20,000 anymore, so i'm not going to be dropping a $3,000 paint job on it for shits and giggles.

Any recommendations I would appreciate as to what my options might be. I'm thinking of painting it black (its white now).

 

[PickleRick]

Well, I have the same problem. And eventually everybody does I've been taking into consideration the 50 dollar paint job but i'm not to sure. As far as Maaco goes, I know they don't prep well.
Sooo, if you can do the prep yourself. It should be good for a few years. I don't know, My friend painted his Benz and prepped it himself and it looks fine.

LMK if you find a good result :]

 

[JScharF]

If you're going to do the 50 dollar paint job I would reccomend using a junk car in your yard (if you have one) or practice on something else before you take the leap to do it to your own car.

 

[bastarddsm]

I wouldn't do the $50 paintjob. if you going to go throught the effort just prep it yourself and have maaco spray it, get the highest package tho.

the $50 paint job will work, but it is no where near durable enough for a daily driver. it will be badly faded in a year, rustolem is really soft and it will chip easy. It will be really hard to get a nice finish. there will be bubbles and such everywhere.

take your car to a body shop and consult them, you may be able to wetsand whats there and reclear it to get a few more years of life out of the existing paint.

 

[PickleRick]

I wouldn't do the $50 paintjob. if you going to go throught the effort just prep it yourself and have maaco spray it, get the highest package tho.

the $50 paint job will work, but it is no where near durable enough for a daily driver. it will be badly faded in a year, rustolem is really soft and it will chip easy. It will be really hard to get a nice finish. there will be bubbles and such everywhere.

take your car to a body shop and consult them, you may be able to wetsand whats there and reclear it to get a few more years of life out of the existing paint.

That was exactly my concern. I live in Washington, so the durability is always number one. The prep idea is what I might do. I have a 95 gst, and from what i've heard (I don't know if this is true). The sideskirts came factory slightly a different color. You can't tell from about 100 feet, but from about 10-20 feet, it's an eye sore. I agree though, if you were to do the $50 paint job, try a junker first.

 

[mccurdy]

the guy that did the 50 dollar paint job, his car turned out great. Why are u guys saying it would turn out so bad??

Retouching a existing paint job is one thing, but im considering changing my color to black. I hear nothing but bad things about maaco.

 

[99RedGs]

the guy that did the 50 dollar paint job, his car turned out great. Why are u guys saying it would turn out so bad??

Retouching a existing paint job is one thing, but im considering changing my color to black. I hear nothing but bad things about maaco.

That is because people usually get the 300-500 dollar cheap ass package, which is essientially just a respray with little to no prep work. Im sure if you get a decent package that costs what it should to have a car properly painted they do just fine. The paint costs the same, you are paying for the labor. $300 worth of labor is much different than $1500 worth of labor.

Do the $50 paint job. Make a note of how long it takes you to do it and then think about the average hourly rate of labor. Let's just say the rate is $50/hr and it takes you 24 hours on the very conservative side to get this done. That would be $1,200 of labor you have into it. You get what you pay for . .

$300 paint job @ 50/hr labor: 6hrs of labor

$1500 paint job @ 50/hr labor: 30hrs of labor

 

[hostile kid]

I also am planning to get my car painted very soon. I plan on just getting Maaco but doing all of the prep work myself. The bad thing with maaco is that they pretty much do no prep work for their cheaper jobs, and just slap paint on it. Id say put the effort into prepping yourself and save yourself some money. One of my friends got maaco on his camaro without doing any prep work and his paint started to chip in spots after a few months. But my other friend did all the prepping himself and spent about $350 at maaco. His paint looks great and is holding up very well coming up on a year now.

 

[Eidolon]

Back when I had my 1gb I went to Maaco to get it painted. I got the $300 package, and did no prep work. I had it changed from blue to black and it came out awful! They didn't paint the roof because it was already black, which looked horrible because the black had faded. The paint started chipping within a few weeks. I can't say I'd ever wanna go back to them, it seems rather risky to spend more money there just to hope it comes out better.

 

[tunethis]

I did the maaco paint thing back in 01 with my Honda Civic. It looked great at first but started chipping on the bumper in no time. It was a thin job and would stratch off kinda easy. It started to lose some of it's shine kinda quick too. There was quite a bit of overspray as well. I don't want to pay much for a paint job but I'm not going there again. I'd spray my own car before I go to a cheap paint shop again. In most cases, you'd be better off sticking with the stock chipping paint before you go there (without any prep work).

 

[PickleRick]

the guy that did the 50 dollar paint job, his car turned out great. Why are u guys saying it would turn out so bad??

Retouching a existing paint job is one thing, but im considering changing my color to black. I hear nothing but bad things about maaco.

Yeah you're right, it did look great. But think about it. You'd probably need to set apart a good week to prep with a few hours each day. Or you could go out on about 2 days and just do it all. Then, paint. Cheap paint hard work? Maybe a decent outcome. The durability is my concern, 3-4 years down the line you might regret it. It all depends.

It appears to me, every comment is relevent. If you do the prep and you do a nice job. Maaco will be fine with a decent package.

Good luck i'd love to know how it looks later.

 

[1996dsm]

A friend of mine got his caddy painted at maaco and it looks pretty good, it was painted bout 3 yrs ago and still looks really good.