fixin87formula

Has anybody had their car painted at Maaco? If so what level of paint job and how well did it hold up?

AvelloMan15

I'm not sure what level of paint job but from what I hear from people who have had their car painted there. its crappy, it flakes, and it doesn't last very long

jay92,85,79

iTrader: (1)

Here goes a post from another board. The troubles he had with them.. But all shopes are differnt. I have seen some car they did look ok. And others were really bad. If u just let them paint it might not be bad. But they have to be useing cheap paint.


Ok, before any one attacks me I know how chain paint shops like Maaco or Earl Scheib are bad, but when can I do, i'm a student and im broke, and I needed a paint job . The paint came out OK for the price, I didnt have any body work only one dent, and I had a couple of dings, and my left drivers side fender and my doors, are not smooth, its like the sheetmetal isnt straight or something(very hard to explain). You can say if you look in the mirror you see a perfect reflection but if you look at a wobbled mirror you get a wobbled image, well thats my metal. Any way whats the name of that symptom? Ok to continue I am very picky with the car, I told him that I wanted a excellent paint job, that I will bring the car back after I get a body shop manual and prep the car and remove the lights and mask everything properly and bring it to you. He said no you dont have to do it, I will try to get out all the problems. Well he didnt, and I told him why and he said that he couldnt get it perfect and the metal would be to thin blah blah. So, then the hood wasnt sanded all the way down, which left like uneven surfaces where the paint chips used to be, and all the dings were there, and also the darn wavy problem to !! They did like a light sanding just to adhere the paint I guess. I have the book by James Duffy Auto body Technology 4e, but I need to get the text I have the technicians manual. Also the paint isnt that shiny, its between dull and shiny, I cant see my face in it as compared to a professional body shop or a factory paint job. I know that they put a clear coat. How can I get it reflective like the factory paint? and what to do about the wavy metal and all those dings? any tips? websites that can show me the steps? And also if anyone knows a good automotive body school in NYC(Bronx) that would be great. Thanks everyone, love the site!!

transporter

They painted a car for me once. I was extremely satisfied with the work. One thing I did that made a difference was to remove everything I could before I took the car there. Door locks, handles, tail light, etc. And I also sanded on the car. They don't do much prep work before painting your car, but some time on your part will make a difference. I would go back there again.

camarogirl18

iTrader: (2)

ive heard that too...so i steer clear of them.i call it a fly-by-nite shop.their prices are dirt cheap like $500 for an entire paint job..i dont think so!!!

camarogirl18

iTrader: (2)

also have you tried doing a search for this cuz i think some people posted about Maaco previously...

fixin87formula

I did a search and came up with nada. I was thinking about having the car single staged instead of base/clear as you can tell I'm looking to save a little $. What are the down sides to single stage?

v8nate92RS

Its just like any franchise company that's shops are independently owned...it all depends on the shop. I had my old '92 V6 RS painted factory GM red at a Maaco that did an awesome job. I paid a total of $500 and the paint job came with a 3-year warranty. You just have to look around and see what kind of work they have done to other cars, possibly sitting in their lot. The problem with most Maaco shops is that they don't do very good prep work. They can tend to have a good amount of overspray in the wheel wells and on exhaust systems, so make sure you cover your exhaust tips! Again, its all in what you pay for...Maaco does offer expensive paint jobs that include a lot of prep, but most people don't go there for that.

1989karr

sadly, my bird is living proof of this!

84 Z-28 350

I had my car painted by them in '98 and once the warenty ran out it started cracking chiping and the hood faded to hell, also, they diden't mix the paint properly so when I get it re-painted, the shop needs to completely strip the old paint off the car to do it, it was mixed so inproperly that you can press your fingernail aganst the paint real rard and it will leave an inpression, and than come back an hour or so later and the impression will be gone, I am completely dissatisfied and will never go there again.

Derek The Great

You want to use single stage paint when your just spraying color, (no metallics, pearls, ect.) And it is called single stage because it requires no clearcoat, (drys glossy) Theres nothing wrong with single stage and in my opinion black is best sprayed in single stage, nothing will look deeper. But when you are going to spray a metallic paint job, that requires a two stage paint. (Basecoat/Clearcoat) The basecoat is the layer of material that has the color and metallics in it, this layer will not be shiny if you just spray it on and call it a day. That is where clearcoat comes in. Clearcoat is just as it sounds, clear. It is a layer of clear paint applied over your basecoat, which when dried (or baked) will give a nice deep shine (depth depends on number of coats of clear) All paint jobs when naturally dried will dry kind of bumpy, we call this "Orange Peel" this is perfectly normal, and the paint will be shiny, just not smooth, like glass, and similar to professional paint jobs commonly seen at autoshows and such. To acheive the "glass" look you must sand the surface of the clear/singlestage paint with fine grit sandpaper, start at 1000 to get rid of dirt nibs (imperfections in the paint) and work your way up to 2000. Then you must use quality (meguires) rubbing compound suitable for your type of paint job and the right buffer wheel to rub out your paint job to achieve that glass look. I think i will stop here as this is getting a little too lengthy...

87CIZ

iTrader: (8)

dont do single stage it's a pain in the *** mines been painted now for 2 and a half years with the $800 integrated clearcoat BS they sell and it's just falling off the car all over the car. Save the money and have a real paintjob done i'll snap some pictures of my 2 1/2 year paintjob that's only been out of the garage since the middle of 2004

Lo-tec

MAACO does a good job of painting, however their prepwork sucks. If you sand and prep the car yourself, and take it to them to "just paint it", it is a good bang for the buck paint job. Do everything, remove all the trim, and tape most of it up yourself and you can't get a better "cheap" paintjob.

Derek The Great

intergrating clearcoat with singlestage?? no wonder its peeling all over the place... theres nothing wrong with good quality singlestage, like PPG DCC Its all about the quality of the product, and most importantly, PREPWORK if you dont put the time and effort into your prepwork, it will show when your finished

dr1

im fixing to get a maaco job this summer, whats the avg price to have them do bc/cc? (havent investigated yet)
I figure i will probably go with the single stage, i dont have alot of money to spend on just paint, since theres plenty of other stuff on the car to spend it on, and plenty of other projects :0

what do i do about prep work when i will have to go down to bare metal in places, and I dont have a spray gun? People seem to claim using quality spray over top rattle can primer/paint will cause it to come right off the car.. so im wondering how I can prep the car

Derek The Great

use rattle can paint on your bike, never underany circumstances on yur car. and as far as maaco is concerned, this is how they opperate to me: A car comes into their shop, a basic paint job is the repaire schechuled for it. Well the general manager needs a painter so he grabs somebody walking past the shop and says "hey you wanna make fifty bucks?" "Well all you have to do is hold the trigger down on this gun shaped thing and make sure u get the colorful stuff on the car and the money is all yours" it is no wonder the jobs look like garbage. stay away from maaco

Firebird90

iTrader: (1)

My car has been done by Maaco. No problems here.
I painted back in 1997. Still looks good today.

At the same time its always been garaged.

I think its depends on shop. Just got lucky...

BTY: I had that 3 year warranty. I think that was the middle one job. They told me to take car of the paint it should last 7 years. 8 years and counting...

White93z34

iTrader: (1)

my car has a macco job on it, its horrid. i didn't have it done but its obvious that they didn't care at all when they did it everything was very poorly masked off and the paint is chiping and flakeing almost everywhere.

1989karr

I really think it depends where you go.....depends how commited they are. For example, I went to get an estimate (just to see what it would cost....I already had a poor job from them from a previous owner but just wanted to see the costs.......) and BEFORE he finished talking to me and telling me my quote...the guy just walked off to a person who just arrived and started asking if the guy needed help...and started helping the guy and left me standing there.....I just said (in a half *** way of course) thanks and left......

Derek The Great

lol paint & body shops shouldnt opperate like shoestores where people are there to "help" you. I kno for sure that i would let a toddler paint my car bfore i let maaco paint it I want a shop that has been around for more than 10 years, because time means customers, and customers mean $$$ for shop and if they are still afloat after 10 years they must be doing something right, whereas maaco will just pack up and leave, or fire n rehire.

f355bird

iTrader: (2)

My firebird has a cheapy maico job that is 10 years old. Its a single stage no clear. The paint in the last 6 months has just started to get ready to chip. I plan to strip it down to metal and do all my body work and repaint it myself. Here is what my paint job looks like after 10 years. I see alot of people complain about cheap paint jobs but i also see a lot of people that dont take care of their paint. All they do is wash it once every couple of weeks and thats it. My car always tip top. When i bought my car 3 years a go the paint was dull and didnt look very good i brought it back to life.

smokefan

i have had my truck and roc painted at maaco. the truck was painted about 8 yrs ago. if it wasnt for going off roading i would say that the paint job was well worth it. thats why i had my camaro painted there last year. for the price and the quality of the jop on the truck i though it was worth it. keep in mind that i have removed everything on the car when i had it painted. but i would say this that my trucks paint job came out better than the camaro maybe next year i will spend some money and get it done right....hey anyone looking to paint a car

AvelloMan15

well I don't have that problem because my friends dad has all the paint equipment needed to paint a car in his garage and cost me only about $50 for like decals and stuff cause he already has the paint.. but yesterday I just found out his neighbor was cutting there tree down and they didn't top it off.. well it fell on top of the front of my car I have pictures if anybody would like to see. but you have to tell me how to post them

Gunny Highway

iTrader: (1)

I had my painted last Fall. I went for their top level paint job, mostly due to the fact that it was a color change and the new stuff is metallic (Pepper Grey Metallic to be exact). I couldn't bring myself to spend $5000 for a paint job on my daily driver.

Here's the issues I've had with it:

1.) I had to send it back on them due to the front fascia already having the spider webs in it when I went to pick it up.

2.) They didn't initially sand down the hood blister I had them install (taken care of when I sent it back)

3.) There is overspray on the driver's side rearview mirror, driver's t-top and somehow on the interior of the cargo department.

4.) It's just now starting to flake at points where GFX pieces meet the rest of the car, and at points where paint meets rubber (eg top of door next to window and the a-pillar)

5.) Towards the botton on the GFX (ie rocker panel) you can see some runs in it.

6.) The base coat isn't very thick in some spots.

7.) The semi-gloss black headlight sockets have what appears to be some spots on it that I can't get out.

With all that being said, most people can't see any of this until I point it out. I get nothing but compliments on the car. And the clear coat is very smooth and very deep. Alot of the problems are due to me changing the color and having some bodywork done on it(poor prep work by them). I do plan on sending it back since it's under warrenty to get the flaking parts fixed; I'm just waiting for the pollen season to be over with, because it gets on everything regardless if the shop has an pure air system or not. It's that bad down here. (worst in the country)

All in all, as long as they don't give me any sh*t when I take it back, for the $2000 I paid, it was worth it.

Pics of the car can be seen here: (both before and after)

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...ighlight=Gunny

smokefan

gunny it looks sweet. like the color...

StealthElephant

I know a kid who had his TA repainted by maaco, 2000$ it looked fine.

91 Ragtop

TTT - Anyone have any new experiences since this thread was posted in over a year ago??? I'm mulling the idea of taking the TA I just bought there to have it painted before a new top goes on. The sides of the car look great, just the front bumper definately needs new paint, and the trunk and hood are starting to get a fade to them. I would like it all to look even. I'm not expecting perfect paint job for $600, but if it's even all over, I think it will do for a couple of years till I can afford a real paintjob.

I'm thinking of going to the one in Reynoldsburg Ohio if anyone has any history there.....

zeppelin5000

Well Steve, I don't think MAACO is that good at all. Sorry to say, but it seems to me that it's a cheap place to have paint work done and from things i've seen it shows that it's cheap. If you don't care right now how it looks and will eventually have it profesionally painted once you get the money, more power to you. I'm sure it will look better through MAACO than what it may look like now. But i'd bring it to a body shop to have it painted in the long run which can cost $1,000+ I'm in the Air Force and when I was stationed in the states, we would have our government trucks brought there to be repainted. I recall overspray being at the tops of the side windows on some trucks. They would paint right over the origianl paint....not sand it down or anything. We had the trucks painted from blue to olive green and eventually big pieces of green paint would chip off and you could see blue underneath. Also, on heavy equipment trucks that have chains on them for moving parts (like bicycle chains) they painted over the chains. Those are moving parts that operate something.....who would paint over that?? Now.....this poor work may have been because these are government trucks which mostly are pieces of crap. The Air Force is paying for them, not an individual, so they don't really care all that much. It may be different if a person brings his personal car there. It's up to you though what you'd want to do. Like I said, if it wouldn't bother you right now and will eventually have it painted the right way once you get the money, go for it.

84 Z-28 350

the AF still takes there stuff to macao and they still do a crappy job.....I've seen the paint peel off in sheets, turn from blue to purple and completly fade all in less than a year, and we only have 4 vehicals in our shop, 3 metros, and a 6-pax, 2 of which are brand new and have yet to get a re-spray.

Gallileo60

F355Bird,
What kinda wheels are those...Do ya have any other pics???( Profile) Thanks, I am wheel shopping.Tom

rwdtech

with all the threads ive seen on multiple automotive forums, i'd say you have a 50-50 chance of getting a good paint job there.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (15)

i remember seeing the phrase "their paint is as good as your prep" come up alot in macco threads

crazycrocket

I had a buddy who worked at macco. Macco does do really good work but you have to pay for it. When you ask for the $500 special you are pretty much saying "don't do much prep work I just need the car to look good so I can sell it"

As far as paint I can garuntee you if you were to pay macco to do the job right (and some people do) then you will get as good or better then any other shop.

If you do your own prep work and just have them spray it the paint will be as good as you prep it. These guys spray so many cars that in some cases they are damn good painters but you can't have a nice paintjob if all thats done right is the paint.

worduphomekey

my experience with maaco was terrible. they repainted my 91, and when i recieved it back there were drips, body filler all ouver the lights, they had reinstalled the side bumpers on the door, crooked and unpainted! all the dings and dents had been filled, but not to body shape, it was more of a lessend ding/dent. It was about $2200 bucks worth the work and it was terrible. i had the car painted grey and there are freckles of the original blue all over it still. Needless to say i got a heafty amount of my money back...

crazycrocket

I hope you got all of it back. That sounds like body work you would get in a back yard not at a buisness.