Thanks. If you decide to relocate to Austin, I'm right on the way....stop by and we'll take it for spin.

 

V8 Fieros rock I saw on run at an autox in Mich, he put in some great times.

Regarding Maaco, I had my '74 Monte Carlo repainted by them, they did a nice job. Complete with color change, from red to black.

It all depends on who you get and the prep work. The paint both itself was top notch.

 

I talked to a maaco shop in Spokane WA. They had a book of hot rods and vettes and muscle cars they painted and they looked good. He also recommended a good strip club(gentlemens club) up the road. I think I will get it painted there in the spring. Just have to decide if I keep it 2 tone bronze or go red or what ever. I don't think they will hit every join and seam, so might keep it stock color. How would they paint in the rear window hindge?

I have heard not to paint your car when it is cold out, something about it not sticking good or setting right.

 

If I were going to change the color and I had a bronze colored interior I think I would consider Atomic Orange.

 

Brought my '80 to Maaco for an estimate. They took a lot of time to show me their shop, their paint booth, and a few cars in various stages that they were working on. One was a 69 Jag and the other was a 35 Ford. I thought that they were conscientious and wanted to show off their work. Also, they were not pushy at all.
My vette had been media blasted and I did the major body work and sanded it down to 150. I rolled on Transtar epoxy to seal it up and it was sanded down to 220. There were areas that were wavy for various reasons. They are not noticeable with the white epoxy coating. You can feel tham if you rub your hand across the body.

The Maaco guy said that to do it correctly it needed to be primed, and blocked to remove the waviness. Then they would apply bc/cc. I don't remember how many coats they said they would use.
This was estimated out at $4000. (However, on the wall it had advertised the bc/cc for @ 1200.00. The jambs for 100 each and then priming at 250.00. They said that was without the blocking that was needed, and they figured an hourly rate for that. So, those lower prices are just for paint. In comparison, I went to a very highly recommended body shop. He told me the car needed all of the same stuff, but also mentioned that he thought I did a pretty good job of putting down the epoxy and sanded it. His estimate was 5000.00. He didn't show me his work area or take the same amount of time with me. A third and forth body shop indicated that they really didn't want to do "custom" work that their main business was insurance stuff.
To answer your question, this Maaco franchise seemed to be profesional, caring about the customer and the quality of their work.
I would have no problem bringing them my car, except 4000.00 was not in my budget. (I had that a figure of 2000 in my head given the prices posted)
Actually, later today I'm picking up the car. It was done by a body shop I had worked with about 15 years ago, who's still in business. ( He repainted a Volvo, that still looks pretty good) He said that to prime and block the car to perfection would cost a bunch of money. He said that my prep was good and that he would sand and then spray it with a high build primer and then use PPG single stage Urethane. He did say that the Dark Green metallic that was the original color would show the imperfections more than a lighter color. Well, I got kinda use to seeing the car with the white epoxy, so it decided on Classic White. This was
for 1800. Here's the funny part. When I finished making arrangements to drop off the car he said. "Oh, don't go to maaco!"

Ed

 

I was going to have my 84 painted by a Maaco shop here in NJ. The owner of the shop has owned Corvettes his entire life. I've seen his work and it was quite nice. He knew all about the preparation of the car and the paint to be used was Dupont. Price wise, you can't go wrong.

 

I am no expert on this but does the level of materials Maaco use differ from the higher level shops?

 

A glowing recommendation for Maaco this ain't After all those trips back there I'd be tempted to offer to park it on the mgr's desk unless it's done right once and for all.

 

So this whole thread about Maaco got me curious... I happen to have a couple of 90 Vettes I'm going to have painted. One of them I want a perfect paint job on and the other just a very nice paint job. One is a daily driver, the other is not.

For purposes of this post my definition of a perfect paint job is one that replicates the appearance of the foctory paint to the degree that no one would ever be able to tell the car has been repainted without asking. I would NEVER consider taking this car to Maaco.

As for a the daily driver car, it's currently white and I want to repaint it red.

I took it into the local Chevy Dealer and when I walked in I told manager that I was not looking for a show quality paint job, but I wanted a very nice paint job that no matter where you looked (other than the trim tag, etc...) that you would never be able to tell the color had been changed. I let him know that while I wasn't looking for a show quality paint job, that I am very picky. He explained to me that they would remove the bumpers, doors, door panels, door handles, mirrors, all trim and weather stripping... for $5000 with a lifetime warranty against fading or peelling.

So I took the car to the local Maaco today (just curious)... All I said to them was that I wanted to repaint it, that I wanted an estimate based on their BC/CC paint job and that I wanted to do a color change to red. I said nothing about being picky or about ensuring you could never tell by looking that the color had been changed. Nothing was mentioned about taking anything off the car. The estimate came out to $3700 and that's with their 4 or 5 year warranty, I don't recall which it is.

 

I would NOT do it at maaco at all. I had my beloved BRONCO ainted at Maaco in springfield Virginia and less than 2 years later the paint peeled off over the rear wheel well. They didn't do anything about it and just claimed that Br4oncos do that in general.

My advice is find out who the best paint shop is in your area by talking to a cadillac or mercedes dealer then either do the prep work your self or just bite the bullet and pay their price.

You ALWAYS get what you pay for ... Pay cheap and get cheap :-)

 

What are the odds of that
I had this painted at the Maaco in Hampton


BTW, I know the owner and he is big into auto-X and racing. He takes good care of Vettes. Also, I got a little discount and had some body work done to smooth out all the little problems... came up to a grand even

 

I can't resist. I am an auto appraiser and go into hundreds of body shops on a regular basis. Maaco will vary tremendously depending on the location. They are a franchise. The end result will also depend on what else is going on in their shop when your car is there. Many Maaco's have small work areas. There is a prep station where cars are getting scuffed down & taped up (everything gets taped at Maaco unless you pay for R&I (remove & install)). All lamps, mldgs, handles, emblems, wstrips, bumpers need to come off for a proper paint job. If you pay Maaco to do all this youll find they end up no cheaper than any other body shop. If you do it yourself, why not then take the car to a real shop?

About 3 feet from the tape and R&I going on is the scuff/sand prep area where there are cars getting sanded, minor bodywork, etc. putting dust and paint into the air. Next stop is the booth where the car is sprayed, then baked at higher heat than than paint Mfg. recommended temp for less time than paint Mfg. suggests for a supposed quick cure that really overcooks the surface without letting the paint underneath properly cure or breathe, resulting in adhesion issues, bubbling, cracking, uneven paint over time.

Then your car comes out of the booth, with the paint still super soft & sticky due to the short bake time. Meanwhile Jose is still going to town with the da on the car 5 feet away, sending dirt dust body filler and other color paint through the air where it gets to settle onto, or rather into your curing paint where it will remain forever. Oh, I forgot to mention that since the paint booth doors are constantly being opened (Maaco will paint 10 or more cars a day per booth as opposed to a body shop that may put 1-2 through a booth in a day) there is all kinds of dirt & snot inside the booth too that already got into the paint.

While your car sits so that the floaty air junk can stick to it well, then next critical Maaco paint job phase begins. I know this from experience, because it was my job for one day a long time ago. A kid making minimum wage with a full set of permanent markers, one being somewhat close to your cars color, and a whole set of black ones in different tip styles, 'details' the paint job. The colored marker is used to fill in all the areas where they overtaped and therefore got no new paint to the intended surface. The black ones are used to cover the overspray on all your mldgs and weatherstripping.
Then begins the final, and most critical phase of the Maaco paint job. As my manager for a day put it:
"If the rims and tires are shiny, they dont even look at the paint".

SO, the min. wage punk hits your wheels with some simple green on a rag, then armor alls the heck out of the tires so you wont look at the paint, does a big burnout and parks it outside ready to deliver. Ta-Daa....one fine Maaco job.

Notice that Maaco will never refer to themselves as a body shop. They choose words very carefully and refer to body shops, but only when discussing the competition.

All this being said, they are franchised so it could be very true that some folks have gotten good results form their local Maaco. there is one near me that has a pretty good rep. BUT, the key thing to remember is that if you are doing the prep and removing all the mldgs, handles, etc. getting your car painted at a real body shop who will very likely have a much better painter (Maaco pays their guys the least $$ and based on meeting production goals, so the good painter who is meticulous simply wont work there), and who will bake the paint properly then isolate the car from the dust & dirt of the shop better, then color sand & de-nib it instead of using markers on it, will cost no more than Maaco.
Shop it, you'll see. Paint material costs what it does- when a body shop quotes you more than Maaco it is beacuse they pull everything off that needs to be pulled off.

Bumper covers are a perfect example, especially on Vettes. Maaco IS NOT gonna remove your rear bumper and pull everything off it to shoot it. A body shop will. Why? Because when the plastic cover expands & contracts at a different rate than the body panel next to it, the globbed in paint that settled into the gap between the two will eventually crack, and begin to peel. By pulling the cover off, the paint can be properly applied and 'broken' + flex additive mixed into the paint for the plastic cover to allow for the additional expansion/contraction.

If you bring your car to a body shop in pieces it will cost no more than Maaco and you will get a better result anyway. Period.

Besides, your local family run bodyshop has likely been there a lot longer than Maaco, run by the same folks, and will be there run by the same folks for a long time. Go to your Maaco once a year and you'll see a complete set of new faces. Hmmmm.....

 

dont mind all the haters here about an inexpensive paint job. I have a family member who had his C3 painted at Earl Scheib (I think thats who it was) and it looks great. He's even won some car show awards with it. A $5000+ paint job is stupid in my opinion unless its a garage queen. Heck, you can buy a new 84 for $5000 these days. if you're going to drive it regularly, enjoy the cheap paint job, and get it repainted in another 5 years.

 

it is just like everyone has said... Each shop is different. Ask around. The one Maaco near me has a bad rep but the one 25min from me does amazing work. Ask to see some of the cars they have done.

 

brother you need to pm me this guy's name and number....i have some quick work for them.

chris

 

PM sent

 

You get what you pay for! Stay away from Maaco!

 

great post, very informative

maaco is still fine for us white-trash, dirt poor C4 truck -engined enthusiasts

 

Maaco:

 

All Macco paint jobs that I've ever seen look as though they were applied using the shop broom and a quart of Tremclad. Macco is a production shop: get 'em in, get 'em squirted, and get 'em out! There's no time for them to do a proper prep job. Since painting is 9/10's prep and 1/10th squirting it on, don't blame Macco. Just recognize that you're getting exactly what you paid for. If you still want to chance it, at least do all your own prep - that way you're evening the odds a bit.