So you can see my car in my avitar (sorry its small). Its not pretty but looks cool anyways. Im getting married in Aug and we want to use it as a get away car. So my Fiance offered to paint it for me but it had to be cheap, she saw the Maaco ads and said she would do that.

I called them just to get a feel for what it would take and they said for their 250 dollar ambassador paintjob that they 1. don't do door jams (thats 100/each door). 2. he said they just scuff it and paint it. 3. he also mentioned that if the gel coat was bad that they may ahve to strip it down and redo that.

I personally think he is full of sheet about the gel coat, but I have to admit that I know NOTHING about painting a car other than the prep work is very very important. However the paint that is on it has absolutely no shine what-so-ever and was painted very uneven (you can see dark and light lines and such) so the paint is not good anyways. I think a scuff and paint would actually be an improvement.

For 250 its a scuff and paint and I could most likely take off the embelems, brake lights and luggage rack before taking it down. Im not rich, the car cost me 4500 dollars (I have fixed alot of stuff) so its not like I need a $4k paint job. I just need something that looks decent for a year or two. What do you all think?

 

Dont bother, Maaco paint jobs come with a 90 DAY warranty and the paint normally fades away about a month after the warranty expires.

just bring the car to a professional detailing shop and have it wetsanded and buffed.

trust me, it'll look great for another 3 years and be a lot easier to deal with

 

A buddy of mine that does body work for a living buffed my 80 and it was a different car when I got it back.

You get what you pay for. A good paint job on these cars runs $5000... a great paint job is $8000++!!!

 

well lets just say I won't ever have a good or a great paint job....EVER!

If it was a 67 428 coupe, then yeah....but...

I honestly don't know if there is enough paint to buff it. Its got pretty chitty paint on it. I will check into that though.

 

Been a few posts on Macco and it seems if you have a decent Macco shop near you and you are willing to do the prep work you can get a decent paint job for $1k.

 

I've heard that the Maaco paintjobs are ok for the $$$, however:

1) you have to do the prep work yourself
or
2) pay them extra for good prep work and spend around $1200 alltogether

3) their "performance" varys from shop to shop, they're all individually owned and it really depends on the people that work there...


The $299 paintjob:

"do you want us to tape the windows or do you want us to roll them down ? The tape is $20 extra"

 

The major problem with the $299 paintjob is that no matter how good the spray guy is the paint is of such low quality that it will fade and, even worse, peel off within a year. It will then end up costing you more to get a decent paintjob because all the maaco stuff has to come off.

Instead ask around at car shows etc and you should be able to find a small independent shop that will work with you. I've had 2 cars painted and that's what I did for both. You'll want to do as much as possible yourself such as remove all emblems, moldings, lights etc.

I bet if you look around you will find a decent paintjob for about $1k and it won't peel off. It won't be show quality but it will be something you can show your friends without making excuses.

Here are the cars I had painted:



The Camaro was painted in 1990 for $1500 in acrylic enamel. My dad is driving it now and the paint shows very little fade and no peeling.



The Vette was painted in 1997 for $2500 and although not show quality it is a very nice paint job. After 8 years it has no fade whatsoever. It's a base/clear job.

 

Maaco has a rather high turnover rate. When you see a sign there offering dicounts it is often to get a new painter broken in. Some painters and prep guys are better than others, it just works that way. Look at what your local Maaco is doing TODAY for work and make sure that the same folks are there when your car is painted.
One of the guys that I work with is winning awards at all of the local shows with a car painted by Maaco.
I agree that the paint that Maaco does should end up costing you 1000 to 1200 dollars for a respectable paint job.
I sprung for a high dollar paint job and now my wife throws a fit if I even mention drag racing or autocross. It sure sapped the fun right out of a fun car.

 

The guy I talked to did mention that they have a 69 in the shop right now that they are painting and I could come down and check it out. He did suggest that if I spent a bit more they could turn it out alot better.

Its worth a look anyway.

I will check with some local shops too. This is the first time I have looked for anything and I am just really strapped for cash right now (wedding)

 

Yes Maaco paint is junk,have a firebird that got painted at Maaco 3 yrs later faded and sunburned and its black...
Try this, see if they will use your paint instead of their paint,if so go and buy some PPG or Dupont single stage enamel

 

We used rubbing compound, a clay bar, and cleaner wax on the original paint on our '77 (this was a $5000 car with 140k miles). It made a huge difference. It doesn't look new, but from 10 feet away, it looks pretty darn good. I'd be afraid of what the Maaco paint job would do down the road. It may be that the paint you have now will last longer than the $250 Maaco job.

 

Remember, you get what you pay for and $250 doesn't pay for much.

 

You're getting married so save your money. If you can't afford at least $6k to do it right, take the advice of another forum member and spend $100 to get the car detailed. Just MHO

 

I wouldn't use Maaco to paint any of my Vette's but I have had them do some paint work for me on other cars and trucks I prepped. I had them paint my daughters Blazer about 4 years ago and the paint still looks real good being the truck is outside all the time but again I prepped the car, mixed paint and did the door jambs myself since a change of color was being done. I don't care for Maaco's prepp work but it depends also on the Maaco shop. Some shops are better then others. Another thing if you are going to have them paint your car I wouldn't go with the the cheapo $250-299 paint job the paint is crap. If you want decent single stage paint you need to have them do it with the poly urethane paint they carry. I had this applied to my daughters Blazer. The paint came right form Shermann Williams and I was shown this by the Maaco shop.

I kind of see where you are coming from with your Vette not having alot of money to put into your car. If the body is good and there is no peeling paint or major body work to be done you will probably be happy at what Maaco can offer you for the money. You should be able to get urethane paint done for around $500 depending on your cars body whether it needs work or not. Remember one thing. Any cracks, peeling, chips or dings not taken care of before hand will stand out like a sore thumb once this car is painted. Just a word of advise here. Good luck!

 

In general, quality paint and primer alone will cost more than $250 at wholesale cost. They are using very cheap materials that won't hold up over time. If you spend the $250 on the cheap Maaco job now, it will likely cost you an additional $250 in the future when you have to remove the Maaco paint to get a good stable surface for a decent paint job.

I agree with the other poster, see if they will allow you to provide some quality single stage urethane paint if you absolutely want to have the car painted now.

 

Look at it this way... even a C3 with a crappy paint job is still cool!

Better to save up and get it done right than make a mistake now. Best of luck with the Vette and the wedding!

 

With Maaco, You get the special TAILLIGHT GUARANTEE. Save you Bucks and do it right, you will be happy you did.

I would suggest you take it to a car detailer and have them buff it.

The other problem, would be if you have it painted, Most likely the paint would not be cured enough to have shaving cream put on it with out causing major damage. One reason the paint would not be cured is it can not be baked in a booth.

Save your and her money, have the car buffed and detailed then paint the car down the road when you can afford to spend 3 to 4 k.
I have $1400.00 In Just Paint alone, not including the primer and my time stripping and painting.

Larry

 

I can understand your point here and others telling him to have the car detailed but he may have bad paint to began with and no buffing pad will do anything for the car. He already said he only paid $4500 for the car and doesn't have alot of money. Maybe he will never feel like the car is worth an expensive paint job so what other choice does he really have if his paint is bad?

I forgot to mention in my last post here that I saw a 87' Vette that was just painted by Maaco about 2 weeks ago with single stage paint. Again this person picked the car up pretty cheap and didn't want to put to much money into the car because it was just going to be a driver. Well I saw the car painted, looked it over and to tell you the truth it wasn't bad for the money. Sure there was some overspray that this fellow will have to get off of the rubber and what have you but this is no big deal. I worked for a body shop years ago. I know what it takes to prepp a car and do it right. The 87' Corvettes paint was pretty much faded before he had it done but no major body work was involved. All it really needed was to be wet sanded with some 400 to give the new paint some bite which I would of done myself but he had Maaco do everything and they probably just scuffed it with some Scotch Brite. The car was yellow to begin with and is still yellow now but what a difference. I say to Corvette Forum member (Flood) to just go for it, try to get Maaco to apply urethane paint on it and if the body is good based on what you have told us in your post I think you will be happy with what you get for the little bit of money spent at Maaco.

One other thing the paints made today do not need to be baked on the car Larry.

 

call the local maaco place, ask for references, then go and actually look at some of the paintjobs that are a little older to see how they've held up. If you don't like the results, take it to another shop and inquire about color sanding/buffing.

 

I've used Maaco before and was pleased with the job they did on my son's Z24. If you can do any prep work (sanding) at all - do it. Wait until they have the Premier (I think that's what it is called) on sale for about 1/2 price. They give you another coat, some clear, and some more sanding and prep. I think it is normally about $450.00. On sale they advertise around $250.00 - 300.00

GO down to your local shop and check out their work first..there are always cars that have just been painted.