Maaco Paint Job [Merged 2-7]

[FourG63 97GST]

yea, I havent heard good things about them either.
my friend got his paint job done there and it was really crappy, and he worked there

 

[nutshot]

Do the bodywork yerself, and wetsand the paint before they clear coat, and you'll have a sweet paint job. Check www.hotrod.com for more info on similar projects.

 

[STV44]

well if i get a clear coat wont it prevent the paint from chipping

 

[Airpoppoff]

Originally posted by STV44
well if i get a clear coat wont it prevent the paint from chipping

i say save your money and actually get a nice paint job, the only thing id put maaco on is a hella old beater

 

[JJay]

As stated before all Maaco's are not the same. I have had a couple of cars painted by them and they came out very nice. I only had the car for less than a year before I sold it so I can't tell you the condition of the paint now years later, but the initial quality I got with Urethane paint was good and affordable.

If you have a beautiful car that you like to look just about perfect go somewhere else and pay $1,000 to $2,000.

If you have low funds and your car is driven ever day and you may let it go in the near future, but you want it to look good for a year to 2 years go for the Maaco, but only if you are going to liquidate the car soon or don't care if it is not PERFECT.

 

[STV44]

ok so if you had to choose between a bigger turbo or a paint job when your car has a fat dent area pulled what would you do?

 

[JJay]

 

[my_gst95]

i got the 1200 dollar maaco job at half (670 after tax) cost during xmas and it turned out sweet. check my gallery pics. paint still holdin so far (knock on my head/wood)

my_gst95

 

[STV44]

how did you get it for half?

 

[wisconsindsm]

A guy I work with just got his pontiac done and it looks great. There was one little chip on top of the door, but he took it back and they took care of it, so how can you go wrong for the price? But i guess it depends on which one you go to.
i would go there and see some of the cars they are putting out before taking yours there.

 

[my_gst95]

It was a xmas/new years special they were running at the time. I agree, it really depends on the Maaco you go to, i've actually seen Maaco jobs done so shitty it scared me from actually takin my car there. But I did some research with the one located in Roseville,CA, talked to some of the guys there, they were honest with how much perfection/imperfections one should expect with certain price ranges, and gave me a tour of the place, got to see what types of materials they use, the process they go through, and some of the sample paint jobs they have. If it were any other Maaco, i dont think i would have done it.

Good Luck
My_gst95

 

[RipperXX]

I have a question about the maco paint jobs.. if you buy a paint you want on the car and then take it to them.. will they put it on for the same price?

 

[my_gst95]

You could, but i think it would be cheaper just to let them get it for you since they have a full cataloge of almost every single color code out there. I think they make most of their profit off of the labor, so if u wanna save some money, id do the prep work if you have the time and let them spray it/bake it.

Also I think the job turned out alot better than most on my car cuz when i took it there i took almost everything off before having them spray it...(ie spoiler, front bumer and headlights, taillights and backup lights). All the edges have nice even rolls and it just makes it that much better to have even paint everywhere instead of them being tempted to do a half ass job on stuff like that.

my_gst95

 

[RipperXX]

well i was asking becouse i was thinking maybe they just use shity paint..

 

[92tsiawd84]

I am taking auto body at school. I asked my teacher about their paint jobs and he said the only thing bad about it is the sanding. They don't do a good enough job sanding the car sometimes so that is why the job is bad sometimes. If you sand the car yourself and have them paint it, it should be a good paint job. I am pretty sure my teacher knows what he is talking about because he worked at Abra for some years. If you do sand yourself, use 800 grit sand paper on a da sander and do the edges by hand so you don't burn through. If you burn through, I would get some primer to cover it up because it won't have good corosion protection. That should do the trick.

BTW: I know a kid with an orange civic that was painted by maaco. It looks good, but they didn't do the door jambs or under the trunk. You might want to find out if they do them before you sand the door jambs.

Hope this helps a little

 

[my_gst95]

Ya, I had everything done: door jams, trunk, and under the hood (excluding the engine bay) but they charge like 50 bucks per jam. I really think its worth it tho, it woulda felt ghetto for a person to open up my black car and see white door jams .

It makes me wonder if it woulda turned out even better if i sanded it myself (not that i'm complaining, excellent job for what they did on mine).

my_gst95

 

[nathanstl]

I'm going to get a cheap paint job from one of the masking paint places on my 91 eclipse and I was just wondering who has done this and if they have any pics?

 

[al5dsm]

dont do it... those places blow..... save the money and get a quality paint job...

 

[Toppel 2g]

Originally posted by al5dsm
dont do it... those places blow..... save the money and get a quality paint job...

I agree with him..... I heard nothing but bad stories from those places... Find a auto body shop around you, one of those garage type places.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

If you do all the prep work and all they need to do is spray it, then it can come out great. Just don't expect to take your painted car in there and have them do any prep work.

Tom

 

[Leitnin]

i jsut painted my car because the roof was peeling and im selling it. for 400 bucks its not to bad. they got some of my muffler and the very bottom of my radiator but its actually okay. i'll take some pics tomorrow if i can

 

[will4u2k]

those places are sood at spraying because they get lots of practice. the problum is the dont prep good and the paint they use is cheep. but if yu do your own prep and get them to use good paint then it turns out good at least all the ones ie seen.

 

[nathanstl]

Thanks guys for all the comments. I'm not deciding if I should use them or not, I've already decided to. I just wanted some postings of some of their work. My car isnt worth a $2k paint job. So anyone with pics would be greatly appreciated.

 

[wret]

I had a car painted a few years ago. It had been patched and touched up and weathered etc., and really looked bad. I took it Maaco for their $195 special with no extras. It looked pretty good after though it wouldn't have won any awards. I didn't keep the car long after so I don't know how it held up but it was 100% better looking than before.

 

[igs]

Those places actually aren't bad. The only problem is they overspray onto the surrounding areas.