How good is Macco REALLY?

If you just want some paint on the car and don't care what it looks like, it's quick and cheap - just don't leave any trim on the car you don't want painted.

If you want a decent paint job, prep it yourself and have it ready to spray before you let them touch it. Their prep and bodywork S.U.C.K.S.!!! I don't have the time to list the things they did wrong on my 79 Pacecar. I have pictures but they're not in digital form.

If you want a quality job, save your money up and take it to a reputable shop who will do the work properly.

maaco is only marginally better than earl shieb.

I had my car painted by Maaco. I went with their base/clear job, and overall the paint turned out very decent. I did have problems with them, but that was related to bodywork they weren't supposed to do , rather than the actual paint job. I can't post a pic right now, but will when I get back home tonight. I posted the following on another board, but here it is again...

I knew I wanted a decent paint job with a warranty, and I intend to drive my car regularly (almost daily), so I went with Maaco's base/clear. They did 6 hours of bodywork, sanded it down, primered it, and base/cleared it for $1000 even (tax included), including doing the jambs, and the underside of the hood and trunk. For the money, it was impossible to beat...

Overall, its a decent to good quality job, more than adequate for driver quality car. Its got decent shine (though I suppose it would improve with wet sanding and buffing should I ever want to), and the warranty just makes me feel better since I had the car painted in Tampa, but it will be spending most of its time in Seattle.

If you do decided to go this route, I have a couple suggestions (the same stuff I did):

1) strip the car down yourself... remove all the chrome, bumpers, weatherstripping, etc. This will save you money and get you better results.

2) if you can, do as much of the prep/bodywork as you can yourself. This will save you money and get you better results.

3) See if you can get them to paint panels like the valences, fenders, headlight/tail extentions, etc. off the car, so you can assemble it later yourself. This will get you a better paint job overall. I compromised with my Maaco... fenders were on the car, but they painted the valences and extentions off the car. They also painted the underside of the hood and the fender edges in the engine bay (though I had already masked the fender aprons and engine bay).

4) Negotiate... their pricing has plenty of room in it for negotiation. They originally quoted me something like $1500, but a little negotiating saved me $500. They've got room to flex... their business is built on volume, not the cost of each individual paint job, and they'd rather have your money than not.

5) Talk to them about your project and see if you can get them a bit inspired (especially if you can talk to the bodywork guys and the actual painter, not just the manager/desk guys). This can get you better work and a better overall job.

6) Also, ask them if they would make your car the last they paint whatever day they do it, so it can dry overnight in the booth. This means the paint is less likely to pick up dust or bugs while drying.

7) One last thing... realize you're not gonna get a perfect paint job. Maaco's policies (and most other budget paint/body shops') allow for a certain amount of flaw in their paint jobs, whether its drips, dust or bugs in the paint, orange peal, etc. You'll get a good paint job, but if you really want "show quality", be prepared to lay out $5k. $5k is the starting admission price that gets you the right to require absolute perfection. Anything less than that gets you varying degrees of decent to good quality.

Hope this helps.

I would also recommend doing the body work yourself, rust repair, and prep.

We had a place down here called Spray-Glo. Similar to Maaco and Earl Shieb. They advertise a $199 paint job. My body decided to take his raggedy old S10 in there...

THis is no joke...They washed the truck, sanded it, then painted it. Overspray on the windows, overspray on the tires. Painted the truck blue, then painted his chrome tailpipes black. They didnt bother to sand any rust off nor did they strip anything off. he went to go pick it up....$775 was the total bill...for..."excessive amonut of body work" they had to do. This was years ago. he sucked up, paid the bill and left. Me, personally, I would not have accepted it and gone over it with a fine tooth comb.

Remember: You Get What You Pay For

To quote superdave: Cheap aint good and good aint cheap


Shane

Here are a couple pics from last year... theres not much gloss or shine, but the car has been sitting in the garage, collecting dust for close to a year... Believe me, there is more shine than showing in the pic, but you get the idea of how the paint lays down.

Well you can definately do better than Maaco. And you could probably do worse too, like paint from a dusty garage with no booth... The quality of a Maaco paint job will vary by store, as it is a francise and each store has different people with different abilities. Overall they do suck at prepping.

As others have stated be prepared to prep your own car If the original paint is still sticking well and assuming there are no other layers from paint jobs over the years, you can lightly scuff the whole car and the new paint should have no problem sticking for a good number of years. I once used some stuff I think was called Substrata or something that was recommended by the body shop who was going to paint the car for me. I applied it with soft-ish scotch brite pads. And I spent a good deal of time removing all trim and lights and stuff. The shop that painted it was known for their great work on classic and exotic cars, and while their jobs usually *start* around 4-6k I managed to get it done on the side for 1500 with good paint. Plus they did some body work, and I got to hang out around there and learn. This was a suzuki sidekick winter beater of all things... and was definately the best looking one around. Wish I hadnt traded it later on for a downpayment on a trans am.

My other car at the time was a 89 LX 5.0 that had a, um, Maaco paint job from a few years prior. Actually I paid Maaco close to the same amount and they had done all the prep work. They did do a pretty good job (for what they are) and most people couldn't believe it was a Maaco job when they looked at it. No it wasn't perfect. And noone including Maaco themselves could perfectly match the paint later on. I had two other cars (daytona, cavalier) painted by them in previous years and knew it would look good enough to satisfy me at the time.


Right now I just bought a 72 Mustang 351C and guess what is on it. A Maaco paint job from 3-4 years ago. And it needs to come off From a distance it looks good but I know they didn't do a good job prepping because a small area flaked off and the original (goldish brown, ewww) paint is still shiny underneath. Well now I need to find a way to strip the whole car down. Because I can't just paint on top of the Maaco crap or it will just take my paint with it when it peels.

Lucky for me the car had been outside the rust belt before Maaco, so there is not any Maaco body work under that paint. Just a little rust that has started forming in the last few years from being an illinois year round daily driver. No rust on the underbody


Sorry for the long post. If you want to keep the car for more than 3-4 years don't do Maaco. Their cheapest jobs use crap paint so plan on upgrading some. Clear coat is nice but a better uerethane should suffice. Seriously consider doing the prep work and masking yourself. Doing prep work yourself can save you cash at real shops too.

Also, If you are uncertain about imperfections (either in the paint or from [lack of] prep) consider colors in the blue end of the spectrum. The way our eyes work, it can be more difficult to spot imperfections with these colors.

With paint & body work, you can expect to get what you pay for. If you expect a show quality paint job for $199 or $299, you're an idiot (not you, just in general)

Maaco can do top notch work also, but they charge the same or more than other body shops. Its like any other business, that provides different levels of service for higher and higher levels of payment.

If you really care about your car, find a body shop that does alot of Mustangs, and be ready to pony up at least 3 grand for a quality job... of course that depends on the extent of repairs and straightening that is required. If you're just trying to get some paint on the car that will last long enough to get other renovations done, or want to sell it, a cheaper Maaco job will do.

I personally would rather drive the car in primer, than to paint a car, knowing I'd have to sand, prep, and paint it again in a year or two...

The clown I bought the Stang from put a makko paint job on it to cover up all his surprises he left for me. Horrible, I could have paid the kid down the raod and gotten a better paint job. Just for giggles I hit it with a car wask sprayer and big chips of paint came off. Save up and get a good paint jpb done.

gaponyfarm....

we looked all over columbus for someone to paint a classic mustang and no one would touch it. They said they all did collision repair. ONE place said they would paint it....their quote was.....$10,000

I once took a car to Maaco. I did all the prepping though. I got their 3rd stage paint job which was regularly 400 + 60 for the primer. I ended up paying 280 total with taxes and it came out decent. Waited 2 months then wetsanded it and polished out the paint.

Sure there were a few defects nothing major but overall I think it came out good. Especially for what I had paid.

There seem to be a lot of folks that are confusing prep with actual painting... The fact is that prep probably makes the biggest difference to the end paint result. Bad prep will make for a bad paint job becuase the paint will get orange peel, or will eventually bubble.

However, if the prep is done well, it is more likely that even a mediocre paint job will look pretty darn good. Quality and type of paint makes more a difference here.

I say again, if you do your own prep and follow the tips I mentioned above, you should be able to get a very decent paint job from a place like Maaco. And remember, because of the volume of work they get, the guys spraying paint at those places probably have more experience and time painting cars than even professional resto shops. Experience does count for something in the end result.

One last thing... seriously consider how good a paint job you want... Do you really want/need a show quality job? Do you plan on driving the car regularly? Will the first rock chip bother you? What about door dings and scratches? Especially if you've spent $3k-$5k on the paint job? I want to be able to drive my car and enjoy it as a car, not just some trophy/collector item to be admired, buffed, and polished, so that meant a reasonably priced, durable, decent appearing paint job. Don't get me wrong, I admire show cars and great paint jobs, but I know I like the look of my car in a parking lot more than in a garage or on a trailer...

Great info in here. Thanks, DB, for the great tips and info. I don't know yet if I'll actually be going to Macco or somewhere else, but I'm in the same boat. Doing my own body work and prep, paying someone to shoot the paint for me.

The main issue seems to be a philisophical one. Some feel that anything short of perfection is somehow doing it half-assed or "cheap". Truth is, I too will be driving this car, and I would prefer not to jump off of a cliff at the first sign of a rock chip or door ding.

DarkBuddha said:

There seem to be a lot of folks that are confusing prep with actual painting... The fact is that prep probably makes the biggest difference to the end paint result. Bad prep will make for a bad paint job becuase the paint will get orange peel, or will eventually bubble.

However, if the prep is done well, it is more likely that even a mediocre paint job will look pretty darn good. Quality and type of paint makes more a difference here.

I say again, if you do your own prep and follow the tips I mentioned above, you should be able to get a very decent paint job from a place like Maaco. And remember, because of the volume of work they get, the guys spraying paint at those places probably have more experience and time painting cars than even professional resto shops. Experience does count for something in the end result.

One last thing... seriously consider how good a paint job you want... Do you really want/need a show quality job? Do you plan on driving the car regularly? Will the first rock chip bother you? What about door dings and scratches? Especially if you've spent $3k-$5k on the paint job? I want to be able to drive my car and enjoy it as a car, not just some trophy/collector item to be admired, buffed, and polished, so that meant a reasonably priced, durable, decent appearing paint job. Don't get me wrong, I admire show cars and great paint jobs, but I know I like the look of my car in a parking lot more than in a garage or on a trailer...

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Agreed

Sadly is that my new paint job is going to cost me close to 5K according to the shop that saw the car. Includes molding everything I want and some shaving. Well you can bet I won't leave it parked at the mall anymore .

If you know now to do prep work and don't care for a show finish you need to protect all the time just get the maaco job.

Mine came out OK. I just got paint though for a little less than $300. This paint job is 5 years old, and garage kept. I took off all the trim before I dropped it off. I was desperate to get he car all one color. As long as it's just paint you want it may be OK as if you understand you get what you pay for as said above -

Myfirst67 said:

Some people say there great and some say they suck, I want to know from someone who has a macco paint job how good they really are,and if you have a pic of the paint show it

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If you need to do the whole car....find a good shop....if you need to say....get your hood the same color because the PO of your car had cut a hole in it so you bought a repro hood...paint it yourself, or find a freind who has done it before. A little prep, a little color scan color match and My car turned out great. 4 coats of red and 3 coats of clear.

Before:


After:

Yeah, DB just summed up how I feel exactly. I do enjoy driving my car as often as possible in the summer and though the paint job on it is descent still for a 12 year old privately done paint job, I am so sick and tired of filling in paint chips just from driving it. I thought I needed really good paint and have been saving for it this year, but now I don't know. If even good paint isn't more bullet proof than an average job, and you are going to drive the car, why waste the money?

I have definitly decided to go the more affordable route to avoid suicide at the first scratch or chip, but my dilema is now the level of prep needed? I thought if I stick with the same color that it would be easier and cheaper to do, but I know this is my cars third coat and color including the original, so I am guessing that even if prepped very nicely, it's not a good idea to go for the 4th coat, so if the car then has to stripped, changing colors seem to make little difference, right?????????

As a side note, read a little blurb a few months ago about a kid with a mustang, drove it to a show as a car not to show, and happened to talk to a concours show judge. The kid was mentioning how he felt bad having the car shot at Macco but it was all he could afford, and the judge told him that even though many cars have incredible paint jobs, that his had just the right amount of orange peel to look factory original. LOL. So honestly, when you think about it, these cars were not known for the fantastic paint even brand new.

allcarfan said:

gaponyfarm....

we looked all over columbus for someone to paint a classic mustang and no one would touch it. They said they all did collision repair. ONE place said they would paint it....their quote was.....$10,000

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Linwood did mine and I'm pleased with the work. Keep in mind they make their living doing collision work and they do resto work because they like the cars, So you can't be in a rush. I'll be glad to go over there with you and help you get in.

Norman's, on Macon Road, also turns out good work. I think he sniffs the paint but he does do good work.

Who quoted $10k? Ray's Uptown Body Works, or is your car in really bad shape? You really need to be able to bring your car up here, to get a good estimate. Columbus is much better for painting than Atlanta.