Absolutley terrible paint! My Uncle had his beater cavalier repainted and while they did spray it on nice,it flaked off in no time.

I went to maaco once(before I seen my Uncles car) and asked them how much to get their best paint special for the Vette.They turned me away,said they will NOT paint Vettes.Said the owners are too picky and they cant do a satsifactory job.I do agree us vette owners can be very ****,but I made it clear i would remove everything and prep,they just do the best job they can.They said no to that too.

However,the owners son of that maaco came outside and offered to paint my car on the side for a certain amount of money.Said it wouldnt be through the maaco paperwork but a side job.He did have skills but wanted too much when he was going to use their shatty paint, and not a better line of paint like ICI or PPG or etc..

That being said,it can really depend on what shop does it.Maaco isnt really at fault when their chain store guys cant spray water on a car right to wash it,let alone paint it.

Final thought,Try advertising in the paper or online in your area saying you want a paint job done on the side.Some skilled bodymen,painters out there are always looking for side jobs since they work on commission alot and dont get paid as much.Id di that once and got a few phone calls to some excellent body guys.I seen their work and was very pleased.Cost alot less than having the shop do it.

 

I have maaco jobs on both my cars, done by previous owners.


The quality on the ford ltd was terrible, paint was dry/cracked badly on the whole back fender, and the paint started flaking off after 6 years.


On my vette, the paint also started coming off the rubber parts they painted, is brittle and breaks off of the bumpers when they heat and cool in the sun, and there was overspray on all the light lenses, windows, weatherstrip, emblems, the chrome exhaust tips were sprayed half black too. It looked nice and shiney when I bought it, but after what I guess is 4-5 years after the repaint, it looks like total shyt.

The legit paint shops told me a repaint would cost extra to remove the maaco paint, and that additional cost is more than the maaco job costed to begin with.



Only use maaco if you've got a ****ty looking car and want to sell it quick.

 

I've painted several cars, bikes, and working on drilling rigs have been painting them for 27 years. I still don't call myself a painter.
Personally I would rent a storage building, clean it out, wet it down, then spray the car myself. Before I paid for a cheesy paint job.

As stated earlier.... prep, prep, & prep, and good paint, and a steady smooth hand are the keys to a good paint job.

 

All Maacos are franchises, so the quality all depends on where you live. The Maaco here actually does decent work. I had them spray our beater F150 a couple of years ago, and it still looks the same as the day we picked it up. The was one major flaw in the paint, we took it back, and they reshot it. Problem solved.

We spent about $650 for the paint job, and it came out pretty good. Would I have them spray my Vette? Not a chance in Hell.....but I really like that car.

 

Amend on that one.... seems where and when you go, not that i would want my 87 painted by Macco, but maybe luck will come out on top.

 

I had our 91 Maxima SE done by Earl Shieb before I gave it to my son 2 yrs ago. The $800.00 "special" included 8 hours of body work prior to prep and 2 coats of clearcoat over their "best quality" metalflake. The owner was the one who recomended the particular grade of paint that we choose our colors from.

Frankly I was surprised at the results It came with a 5 yr warranty and after 2 yrs there was one bad spot and they fixed it no questions asked......the results were all because of the gentleman who owns that particular franchise.

Later tonight, I'll post some pics so you can judge for yourself.

I agree that I wouldn't paint my vette there and at the same time I can't afford $6K+ it would take if I had to repaint the vette to a factory oem quality.

 

I thought the Maaco where I used to live did good work. They turned a real beater of a Camaro a friend of mine owned into a piece of art. I thought I would take my Trans Am there when my Dad ripped the side view mirror off pulling the car out of the driveway. They matched the color good but the prep work was terrible. They had to pull the interior door panel to access the mirror and they must of broke the upper door panel trim, its similar to the one in the Vettes on the 87 F Body cars. Anyway, when I picked up the car, they had riveted it back onto the panel. They didnt even buff the new mirror out, it looked like crap. I took the car home, called AMEX and told them to withhold payment. The next day I got a call from the manager of the place and asked what happened, he thought the card was just denied. I told him that I was not satisfied with the job and that they needed to replace what they broke. At first he agreed, they when they found out how much the piece cost, he changed his mind.

I wound up getting some money off the price of the job and picked up a used panel at a local junk yard. I never went back to them again.

For those that remember Earl Shieb (Paint any car for $99.95), I did use them once and they did an awesome job. I prepped the car myself, removed all the trim, etc. They masked the vinyl roof and the windows. When I went to pick up the car, everyone there was offering me money to sell it b/c it looked so good.

 

Macco, Earl Shieb, thats funnie. Theres a Harley Big Twin being painted in our shop, just the tank, fairing, side covers, etc and the job is costing its owner $3,500. Thats for a motorcycle.........

 

I was quoted between $9-10K by a reputable shop to repaint (changing color) on a Zr1 that I'm considering buying. I think you generally get exactly what you pay for.

 

I'll be having my work van painted at one of these places this year as it will probably be sold by next winter. Ill prep it myself, then take it in for a slop and glop job.. It helps to have the air tools and a huge compressor mounted inside, pretty convenient.

 

I thought I would wait before I posted so the crowd could bash.

Look at my pics I have an Earl Scheib paint job.Is it perfect?NO.Is it 10X better than it was?Oh Yeah.

My car would never win any shows but I get plenty of comments on it.Admittantly I bird dogged them everyother day and watched them through the whole process.I have a few fisheyes a couple of dirt/paint bumps.If I have the car if/when the paint goes south in 5 yrs or so I may do it again.At $1200 for the job including extra prep work/wetsand/buff it was a good value.My only mistake was not masking the weatherstripping myself but I got all the overspray off with thinner and brake cleaner.

If you have what you consider a collectable/show car I would not recommend them but if it is a DD why not.Oh and they used PPG paint and put the proper flex agent in the paint too.

 

I actually started out in the refinishing business at maaco, and theydidnt do bad work at all when iwas there. we had done about 6 c3's while i worked there, all of which we stripped, then spray oly'd then blocked/ then primed, then wetsanded, then shot. they turned out real nice.

 

This is the kind of story I like to read. I'm glad everything turned out great.

 

Dude, it worked for you cuz you aint picky. The biggest part of a expensive paint job is the customer picking it apart.

A $5-10k paint is expected to be perfect. Perfect is a place to start, not a reality.
If people were more realistic in thier expectations paint jobs would be cheaper. As a painter you have to factor in the customers expectations. You would be sirprized.

Still I'd be embarazzed to have a Macco, or Shieb job on anything I owned.

 

And that is your choice.I play close attention to detail by the way and my paint is an 2footer in a couple of spots and closer on the rest.Many people can't believe the car is as old and with as many miles as it has one of the reasons I like it.It is rare in itself.If you put the effort in and make sure they know what your expectations are and don't expect absolute perfection and go to the shop everyday and review their work you can get a good paint job there.If I really want to push it I have a 3 yr repaint warranty so I am waiting for another year and a half and will re evaluate it.

I know this may not be a popular choice but why would I spend 3/4 of the value of the car for a paint job?I think it was a wise one in my circumstances.

 

The key is to have you prep the car and tape it off.

 

The key words are "in my circumstances". Im a painter have been for 30 years. I know what it takes to get a quality paint job.

Im not putting you down. But if you were a painter with 30 years expierence would you drive a car with a cheap paint job?

 

That is a Rip - hope its absolutely show room quality.

$6,000 should be more then sufficient.