How bad is a MAACO Job?

[fawcett]

My paint is gone. I want a real paint job but its gotta wait about 2yrs.
So how bad is a MAACO job? My car is black and thats the way its staying-Will they make it look good or will it not really be worth it?
There are some dents so body work is needed but a call to the Dent Wizard may take care of them all.

If I let MAACO do the body work what should I expect? Will they bang the metal out or just bondo it or if Im lucky both?

Sorry I was torn between posting this in the Tech/Talk sections but when it comes down to it this is more Tech than Talk.
-Fawcett

 

[MysteryMachine]

My bro in law had one of his old cars done by them. this was years ago mind you but the paint rubbed off on the snow. It may be better now

 

[bigcat]

DONT DO IT!!!!!!!

save your $$

 

[reddy351]

MAACO isn't too bad. You get what you pay for. You'll want to "prep" the car before taking it to them. The less they have to mask, the happier you'll be. Take the lights and other small, removable stuff off the car. Mask it yourself, if you can. Only buy 3M tape. (The green kind works GREAT on rubber trim and stuff. I use it everywhere I use masking tape.) They will charge by the hour for any dent/rust repair. Get that all done, before you take it to them.

With all of that, if you are going to get a "high-end" job done in a couple of years, you'll prolly need to take it down to bare metal. Or at least removing everything that MAACO put on. (Hard to tell what paint they use.) If they will put extra clearcoats on for a small fee, have it done. You need something to wet sand and rub out to get a nice finish. (ALL spray paint jobs have a little "orange peel".)

Good luck!!!!

 

[Blackened302]

i've heard some bad things about maaco--like how they don't really do their best, and sometimes they won't really "prep" the car. but hey, what can you expect for a $250 paint job?

honestly, man, don't be afraid to do your own body work. my car was in a hail storm and had AT LEAST 250 dents--all small dings no bigger than the size of a golf-ball. some spread apart, some clumped together. this was my first time doing that kind of thing and i think my cousin and i did a hell of a job. there really isn't much to it if you do a bit of research and spend some time tinkering around w/ the stuff 'til you get comfortable with it.

now as for the painting--try and find yourself a local guy that does painting on the side. i lucked out--my bro-in-law's brother does paint/body work so i knew who to go to. good luck.

 

[diablostang]

Local guy here owns a Mustang, he sent his car into be painted a couple weeks back... $350 job. At the same time, I took my fiberglass hood into a quality shop be painted.. $250.

He got his car back, and 3 days later, the paint started peeling... My hood has a lifetime warranty, and I know they did the prep right (not to mention, they fitted the hood, fixed a crack etc )

 

[91LX_5L]

The paint LOOKS ALRIGHT...but the Prep is garbage, how can a shop get your car back the same day, think about it.

The paint will chip, peel, crack easily. Good paint jobs if they get a rock chip will stay a chip but Macco will peel off like a kinder suprise.

 

[blksn955.o]

If you get the top of the line job option (IIRC its like 1k) and do all the prep yourself it shouldnt be too bad.

I have seen 200$ jobs and 800-900$ jobs over the years. The 200$ was a joke. The 800-900$ was damn near factory in every way.

They have been upgrading there image and upper end lines and I think that the are using Dupont paints now in the higher end jobs they do.

Again I would check out the shop as everyone seems to be alittle diff. and do all the prep yourself you can do. When you think you have it prepped...go over it again 2 more times. A good paint job and a bad is in the prep. Also ask if you can bring up some of the parts off the car for them to paint. Like the ground effex, side pannels/pannels over the door, bumpers. Its worth a shot.

 

[fawcett]

I expected to pay atleast $800 for the job anyways, I just have no idea how far that will take me.
The way things are now, my paint is a heavily sundamaged faded black with some clear coat making its way off on the front bumpter, roof line, and rear trunk lid.
A friend works for a local Ford dealership, he said that a $800 job would look great but its hard for me to believe it.
Ive got no experience in this area, it would be cool to get it to look nicer but if its a waste of money I'll just keep waiting until I can afford the $2500+ job.

 

[mo_dingo]

If the job costs 250, the paint they use will be junk. good paint is expensive. Like dupont clear is 150/gallon for example. You should have at least 250 in just primer/base/clear. That is where you should spend the money. Have a paint show mix the paint for you & ask maaco how much of each base/hardner/reducer they want. You can have maaco add the reducer/hardner once they are ready to spray. The paint will keep as long as it's sealed.

Our body shop uses dupont and it always comes out great. PPG is another good quality paint.

I think that is the biggest hurdle. You can prep all you want, but if the paint is crap, you will have problems.

I would fix the dents yourself. It's really easy. Any big areas (over a half dollar) you should have pulled. You will have to bondo the area anyway to make it perfect. But the less bondo the better. Don't waste your time trying to pull the tiny dings. Just sand the area down to metal and and bondo then DA till it's close, then block sand until it's perfect. Run your hand across the area and try to feel for imperfections/high/low spots.

I would also sand all the paint down to the factory primer with a DA and some 400. Mask all paint lines yourself. Don't worry about covering the entire car, as that's the easy part. The time consuming part is masking the paint lines. Mask any gaps in the body panels (i.e. door) very well, b/c it's very easy to get overspray.

Once all dings are fixed and the car is masked, hand them the car and paint you bought and let them spray it. With all truth, I would just call a couple other places, and tell them the car is prepped/masked and ready for paint, you have the paint, and how much would they charge to spray it.

And if there is any orange peel, you can buff it out with compound in the clear.
Scott

 

[reddy351]

All good points. I would lean toward finding a local painter. You WILL have and easy $400-$500 for quality materials. We use Dupont Chromabase. My dad LOVES to spray it. I would expect a "real" sand and spray (no body work, or anything) to start at $2000 to $2500. Labor is based on the shop rate for your area. Prolly at least $60/hr. But, you will get good work, at that rate. (I hope. Shop around.)
My bet is that NO painter is going to want to shoot over half-assed body work, so spend a lot of time on that. Can't stress that enough. Good luck!

 

[zZsKyZz]

If you're gunna do it, do it right. You always get what you pay for.

I payed $1700 for my paint and think it came out beautiful. I did all the prep work, took the bumpers off and everything, sanded, bondo.. .etc... my dad usta pain for porsche and own a body shop, but it's easy to do.. practice on an old car part or go to the junk yard and find a fender, make a dent in it then practice.

 

[mike0227]

MAACO

My brother had MAACO do his 1967 Mustang GTA last year and it came out beutiful for the $3,800.00 he paid. Recently he took it back to repair his fender well (too big of front tires with Shelby drop) and they were horrible. The original painters and staff had since moved on. Check out there previous customers and verify the same people painters/prepers are still there.

 

[95opal]

Im with mo and others, good paint coasts $$. I just bought the paint for my car, $757 for paint, primer, clear, reducer, ect.. all cromabase,cause its the best in my book. If your staying with the black paint then you should really spend the $$ cause black will show every imperfection. Not nice to have a new paint job and still see pings and bad body work ect.. Final though you get what ya pay for, thats the bottom line. All total with body parts paint and labor I spent about $5000 to do my car. Good luck in your desion.

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[yellowstang1994]

The reason why Maaco's paint always rubs off is because they use single stage. Think of it like a gloss (clear is added in with the paint) rather than apply a few coats of clear to protect the paint. So if you buff it or maybe wax it, you'll notice the color coming off on the pad. And also, like stated they probably pack a bunch of body filler over your dents, it'll be wavy as ****. They'll probably hit your car with a scuff pad really quick and your paint will peel and chip in the corners probably. On top of that, down the road if they do fill in your dents the mud will probably crack overtime. On top of that, expect to have overspray all over a lot of crap on your car. IMO, i've been a painter for 3 years and have seen the work they do, and re-prepped it. It almost seems to me that your paying them to turn your car into a peice of crap. I'd say either leave your car the way it is, or get the work done at a good bodyshop. Why not just get some of the bodywork done like a quarter or fender or whatever. And maybee the rest can be buffed up or touched up? Buffing does wonders dude. I have original paint on my car and it's still holding up alright.

 

[fawcett]

Thanks Guys, Guess I'll be waiting to do it right. I cant let you all give me this solid advice and take the other road. I'm going to have to find some new ways to make $$ to afford it.
-fawcett

 

[Therian]

You really shouldn't have to pay $2000+ for a quality paint job

do you want to be afraid to drive your car?

this is assuming you do the prep yourself...if not, then yes, it will be over $2000 for the full job.

DO THE PREP YOURSELF! it may seem daunting at first, but like myself, many others on here jumped into it for the first time on their own cars.

the feeling is very rewarding when it's all said and done

some tips:

1. Get a D/A sander (assuming you have an air compressor)...my campbell hausfeld D/A worked quite well for this job...don't feel the need to spend more than $100 on the sander unless you plan to be doing jobs after...if you have the flow go nuts...but there is a reason you're doing the prep yourself. If you don't have an air compressor, you're stuck with blocking the car...that's ok...buy a 24 and get a friend to help

2. Tape off dings before starting initial sanding. go around the car until you've thought you've found all of them. then go around 10 more times. last thing you want to see is a dent once the car is fully painted

3. Take off anything on the car that will come off. mirrors, spoiler, front bumper, rear bumper, side skirts, a pillar mouldings (I couldn't get the buggers off) etc.

3. Take dented areas down to bare metal with 80 grit sandpaper. it will take a while to get through and you'll notice all the different layers of paint as you go. bondo the dent and sand with 180 to get level...then go into it with 320-400 to get it smooth. prime the area and let it dry sufficiently. go over once more with 320.

4. start with 320-400 grit with the sanding. There isn't any need to go any deeper than the primer unless the car has been repainted (poorly) before. most likely you won't be going as deep as the primer. Just sand until the sheen and gloss is removed from the paint. You will have to look from several angles to ensure you have sanded uniformly.

5. After you have all dents worked, and the car is sanded down, you will next want to wetsand with 600. Do this with blocks only. you will need to keep the paper wet at all times and you will find that you change paper often.

6. Tape off all areas you don't want paint on. Use 3M tape.

7. Take the car to a respected body shop and have the owner go over the car to ensure that there isn't any trouble spots you have missed. if you've done a good job he'll paint it for you...you're not going to do a bad job on your own car are you?

8. Should be able to get the car painted for between $800-1200 with quality materials.

here's some incentive

 

[Adam95GT]

actually maaco it really depends what one you go to... ive seen decent pain jobs roll out just make sure you tape off **** you dont want over spray on... and some maacos in NJ are prision release program..

 

[Blackened302]

i'm 100% w/ Therian

 

[Black Stampede]

I dunno. Not really sure how I feel about paint. If you can afford a nice paint job by all means go for it, but for the majority of us who are on limited budgets I say screw it. My car's paint isnt horrendous, but it does have dings, and the clearcoat is starting to come off the front bumper, but my priorities with modding lie elsewhere like as of now, in my turbo setup.

I guess if I was completely done modding my car I could see spending a couple grand on a paint job, but if you drive your car regularly and have a laundry list of mods you want to do to it, I just can't see spending that much on paint. To each his own.