My 79 C3 was painted by the previous owner. He was a big car show guy since the 60's (hundreds of trophies in the garage!) and was pretty meticulous with the partial restoration, but not so much with his paint job! It's OK, but it has some imperfections, and massive orange peel. Worse than my Chevy Colorado that wasn't so hot itself. He say he stripped it down to fiberglass, but he apparently didn't take the time to block it ( I see slight ripples in the doors.) HeI also didn't appear to color sand it going by the orange peel. To top things off, although the color is OK, I wish I would have bought a black model, my favorite C3 color. I know, I know, but it's too late now.

So now what ?

I'm not sure it would be smart money to buy a $12,000.00 paint job for a partially restored 79? I will be "trying" to DIY most of the l further upgrades repairs myself, and willing to try paint, but have 0 paint experience. What if my finished work is no better than the current paint? or maybe even worse!.

So what about Maaco? I did have a restored Fiero painted there about 15 years ago and the cheap paint sucked, and didn't last, but the work was excellent. I mean really good, perhaps as good as factory.. Perhaps I could learn and do the body work myself. strip all the trim off myself, and provide the paint? Would they do this? If I could get a paint job as good as that Fiero, but with better paint, I would be thrilled. Watching "Hoovies" latest video has got me really interested. Check out this video.would you be happy with that for the price?

 

Yes they will. At least they did for me years ago. All they had to do was spray it. And they did a great job. Would do it again if there was one nearby

 

Way back when I was in the military (back in the early 1980's) I bought a 1967 Mustang GT Fastback, It had a rather dull white paint on it, and I had to replace the trunk lid, rear valence, and headlight buckets due to the previous owner's penchant for running into
perfectly still objects. Still, it was an Oklahoma car with no rust at all, and the engine had a new rebuilt to boost. As I made $8200 a year max (even with hazardous duty pay included) I couldn't afford a private shop to paint it. I took off both bumpers and headlight buckets,
along with the front grill and all the trim (including mirrors) and all the weather stripping. I asked who was going to paint the car, and when I found out who it was, I gave him $50 and told him there would be another $50 going to him if he took his time. Long story short, he did a great job, and that included a color change to Candy Apple red. I did go for their Gold level (or premium) paint job and did have to pay for a color change (door jambs, etc), but Maaco in OKC did a fabulous job. I had a lot of great comments about the paint.

 

Pics?
do you know what paint he used?
color sand it and leave it?
base clear? Color sand and add more clear?
what color is it now?

 

I'll try to get some pics, but I have found that bad paint looks better in pics / video.

The paint is Nason RZ Red Candy 2 ( Kind of a candy apple / dark red.) Base /clear, Don't know what clear he used? Worst that I did not mention is a few flex cracks? (paint only) on both urethane bumpers.

 

Looks like I'll need to take some pics in daylight after washing the car. Here's a quick pic, but the flash makes it look like a much lighter red, and the car is filthy. Can't reallt see much!

 

You are right pics always look better...
but that looks pretty good..you need to see how much clear is on it..
gently color sand peel and buff out a small area like lower fender..tape off sharp edges or be very careful with buffer...
start with 2000 grit and see if results acceptable to you...
the good part is if you cut through it wont rust 😳

matching that color will not be easy..a true candy has two clears first ne tinted and or flake..
the bumpers if they really bother you can be removed and replaced or fixed but matchingtough..again try sanding you may be satified enough

 

Talk to the manager, before you buy your materials they can recommend a good system that they are confident in spraying.
Maaco gets **** on a lot. it varies from place to place. its like any franchise, there are good Mcdonalds and bad ones.
The painters are usually REALLY good at what they do. They paint in large volume so they know their equipement and have pretty good technique. (maybe nudge him a bit and tell him you have the materials ready to spray, e might do side jobs in his garage hehe)
Ask to see some cars out of the booth. gives you an idea of painters performance(as far as orange peel, sags in paint) before polishing stages.
THe area they lack quality is prep and materials. Ask the shop manager, workers what you can do to better prep for paint. If its just a scuff and shoot job, Prep by removing as much trim as possible. Scuff and sand every panel edge and tight areas, because i guarantee they will not sand those areas. get some cheap roller wheels if you dont want overspray on them. drop the car off on a trailer if you have to.
You can ask the manager for an upgrade so they can spend more time making sure the tape lines lay good and extra masking for overspray, But, many workers are just used to the regular way, so be prepared for surprises.

You can do this with almost any place, it doesnt hurt to ask.

 

If there is no damage on the existing paint, no cracking, no checking and few noticeable nicks/dings, you might take it to a good paint shop and ask what your options are. It is very possible that the imperfections in the surface CAN be sanded smooth and the paint given a good 'cut-n-buff' to bring out the best look of the present paint. That won't cost a lot of money, and it might be worth a try before you jump off the deep end with a full re-paint (however you get it done).

 

Go drive your car and enjoy it. If you want a black 79, I can tell you they are a pain to keep clean. There are many threads on the Forum where folks have painted the car themselves, so it is certainly doable. I've done a few steel body panels and flexible bumpers, with an expert helping, and prep is 90 to 95% of the effort, if not more. Perhaps redo the hood, or a spare hood, first, to see if you or Maaco can do an acceptable job?

You don't notice the paint when you are driving. The view over the hood is pretty much the same either way!

 

Get a good buffer, a kit from Chemical guys for cutting & polishing and my guess the paint may look good enough after doing that work. You will save a boat load of money and will be able to enjoy your car....

Richard

 

Ill start off with im just a wannabe a c3 guy, but since this isnt necessarily a generational thing ill put my 2 cents in.
Id cut and buff the paint you have, if for no other reason then to practice your skills and enjoy your car. If your still wanting it in black then I understand. Dont let anybody talk you out of it. I cant stress this enough, do not "cheap out" on any of the materials you use to make that paint job happen.
Use quality body filler, quality primer, quality sealer, quality gun and quality paint. Id recommend glasurit, ppg or house of kolor for your paint. Be patient with the prep and use a guide coat to block with so you know its straight. Lastly dont be afraid to try, remember its just paint. A good job can happen in your garage with the right materials and patience. Im attaching before and after photos of my c6, because like you I wanted black as well.

before

after
Good luck with your project.

 

I worked at Maaco, many moons ago....between jobs. I had a fair amount of “homegrown” paint experience and what I learned at Maaco was not all bad, except I didn’t see myself there long term. Don’t ever forget, part of what makes the franchise work? It is assembly line auto painting, production means speed.
IF you are willing to do the prep, ALL of it (except masking) ?, Maaco will lay down a pretty paint job. Greasing the sprayers palm never hurts. Being willing to pay a little extra goes a long way.
I worked for a body man part time for a number of years, just love the smell of a body shop, weird, I know, we spent a lot of time working on Vettes. This guy was absolutely amazing with a spray gun, I watched him perform feats of magic... some of the regular repair paint jobs, we would prep and mask, drive about 500 feet to Maaco, they would squirt, next day we finish up and call the customer.
A thought... if you want color and clear? , have them shoot the color coat, you block sand, do the prep again, take it back for a second round. Seems timely, little more expense, only seems right....
good luck

 

Thanks for all the replys!

I'm in no rush. I think I may do some other upgrades first and live with it for now as it's a OK at 4' paint job. When I am ready to do something, I'm going to check out doing that cut and buff correction, or a clear coat sanding. How much orange peel will that correct? What if the peel is mainly in the color coat?

Much later, if I'm happy with the car, when everything else is complete I'll look into a repaint. with me doing prep and perhaps Maaco doing the spray. There is a small paint shop close by. Maybe I could work a spray only deal with him.
The color isn't bad at all,So I can wait on black. But that would be the preference if doing a repaint..

I will say he did a great job on the old school metallic gold hood striping!

 

At your stage of the game I'd try to assess what kind of paint is on the car, single-stage or two-stage (base/clear). Two-stage paints, the clearcoat can be wetsanded and buffed pretty easily and it'll look smooth as glass when you're done. You DO lose a small amt of shine, maybe 5-6%.

Single-stage paints, wetsanding and buffing is another matter. Obviously you 'can' do it, but be aware that you'll be removing the top outermost skin off the paint, the part that helps protect the overall paint from oxidizing. After that you might get into a cycle where the car paint oxidizes fairly quickly, esp reds. Reds are the worst. Reds can begin to oxidize in like a month, that quick. Less quick if you keep it in a dark garage, or put wax on it. Still, you get into a cycle where you re-buff it, and it's good for a couple months; two or four, then it starts to chalk up and you have to buff it again. Dark colors seem to be less prone to that. Some paint companies' single-stage paint seems to be less prone to oxidizing than others (e.g. Sikkens).

If the orange-peel is as bad as you say (don't over-exaggerate it) and you just can't take it, then you might try wetsanding/buffing just the top surface of the front clip ...or the whole car. See how it goes. You might not have as much issue.

Another thing too; C3's are a tough vehicle to buff out. Lot of crisp sharp edges and nooks & crannies. To ask a guy who's never ran a buffer before to buff out a C3, that's a pretty big ask.

That's the main reason I never spray single stage paint on nice cars. If your car has base/clear then wetsand/buff away, it'll look great afterwards. There's probably a good chance the paint on your car is 2-stage ...just because with most shops, painting single-stage is hard to recover from mistakes. Maybe the PO was planning on wetsanding it down in a couple years but never got around to it. Too bad you can't contact the PO and ask what they used for paint.

 

He gave me the left over paint!

Nason RZ red candy 2 base. Not sure about the brand of clear?

 

Maaco can do excellent paint jobs. After all they spray all the time. It's the prep work and the polish work you should have done somewhere else. That's where time makes a big difference. ( And that wetsand and polish work may not ever have been done to your car and may be all it currently needs)

Case in point. My friend's 69 was sprayed at the local Maaco, under direction from the local Corvette shop. After buffing, and detailing by an expert, it won first place at Corvette Carlisle in the modified category: The mods are subtle and stunning and so is the paint.

 

My local body shop buddy would say be real careful sanding clear coat because you don't know how many coats of clear are on the car. If you sand thru the clear coat you get to repaint. One way to check base coat/clear coat or single stage is some where you can't see it take with piece of sand paper and lightly sand the paint. If it sands with a white residue it's base coat/clear coat. If it's the same color of the car it's single stage.
If you aren't in a hurry I would take it to a body shop you trust and have them do a polish and buff and see how it turns out. If you are doing other mods I would paint last so you don't nick the paint as you doing the mods. Also depending on the body shop polish and buff is cash a money deal.
Also consider 90% of the people that look at your car never see problems with the paint they just see a cool car. You see all the bad stuff because you wash and wax the car.

 

I have had 4 cars done at Maaco. THey do a fine job IF you prep the car and sand it as much as your ability will allow. I am capable of painting if I really want to but there is a lot to REMEMBER for me from the last job. SO I went in, talked to the manager ( as said above) and did the grunt work, like sanding, removing trim etc. I think the paint jobs cost in the $2 grand range which I thought was fair. Not a Best in class award * except for the one listed above) but perfectly fine for a driver car. One of the cars, a yellow 300 ZX that I had painted yellow, I got backed into about a month later because the lady "didn't see me". It didn't hurt as much as it would have if I paid $5 grand for the work. I was very happy.

 

Laying color is the easiest part of a paint job. I had 240+ hours of prep work in another fiberglass car I own. Final spraying took only about 2 hours.

Orange peel management is about proper thinning and how hot the hardener is so the paint can flow before curing.

After getting ridiculous $ quotes from body shops I ended up doing it all in my garage myself. Watched some youtube vids and practiced on some junk I had laying around. Used urethane 2 stage. Color coat went on without issue. Clear did have some minor orange peel and "trash' in it but that is why you lay down 3 coats of clear so you can cut one off to make perfect.

R