eh? SW says flash time between coats is 15 minutes when paint between 60-72f. How cold are you suggesting?

-- Joe

 

I can't believe that this thread continues to get hits! I still say that painting a Corvette at a chain shop is like dressing a supermodel in a gunny sack! I mean, really guys, if you don't care what it looks like why paint it in the first place?! Seriously! This thread reminds me of the time that I painted my '72 Ford F-150 with a quart of Tremclad, a 1" sash brush and a 4" disposable paint roller. It ended-up looking pretty good from 5' away too! I'm just afraid someone's going to pop-up soon to say that they did the same thing on their Vette! Where's the pride in a crappy paint job? Actually, now that I think of it, maybe these chains exist mainly for Ford trucks - y'know to hold all the rust together!

 

If you bothered to read the thread, you wouldn't post such a silly statement/question. But instead you read the title, noticed the post count, and decided to add your 2 cents. I think we 'care' what it looks like. It's been very well discussed what it costs to paint a car properly, and like I said, most "chain" shops I've been in have better tools, can buy paint cheaper (bulk), and have better body guys then "jimbobs auto body". You'll find hacks everywhere in life, but like I said 99.9% of the complaints from maaco are losers (and I stress LOSERS) who paid $400 and expected $5000 results. This is the average consumer, this is the mentality, and this is why I got out of the auto business.

-- Joe



-- Joe

 

My maaco paint job turned out great!

 

How much was it? Any body work or was the car straight?

My car was a nightmare. The more I sanded it, the more crap I found. It would have cost a shop about $6500 to do it. If I didn't do the body work, panel replacement, prep myself I wouldn't have done it. An '87 corvette isn't worth that much. As it is it cost me about $1600 in paint + booth time to shoot it. Thats 4 times what most people expect to pay for a Maaco job. heh Thats not even close to including all the prep materials and stuff. Probably $3k total.

-- Joe

 

Some big paint chips and a spider cracked front bumper an a big flake missing the size of a hockey puck on rear by gas tank door, al together including taxes was $1500.

 

Thats not too bad. I imagine they feathered everything out, did a solvant prep, 2k primer/sealer, and basecoat/clearcoat?

My paint was flaking everywhere, so I didn't want to feather it. Once I broke down to the primer I found cracks that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. (which would have resulted in the new finish cracking, and everyone saying "look at that cheap paint job!"). I worked on the body a couple nights a week for like 2 months. Lot of work. My car was abnormally bad.. If I had known how bad the body was, I probably would not have bought it. It had been reshot like 4 times, with various patches.


-- Joe

 

Crappy paint job my *** My car looks great. I got what i paid for-no, it was not a 400.00 paint job, but it wasn't outrageous either , not everyone has a 4-5,000.00 TO PAINT A DAILY DRIVER. I paid a fair price at an indepedant shop that was qualified and educated in painting Vettes. Not all Maacos can do so. your statement is just so much crap. i've got a first place trophy from the Chevy and Corvette Expo in Houston.and my car has been in a couple magazines-how bout yours. I went to about 15 different shops and I used the Maaco shop because of their customer service and the work I was shown. It ranged from $500.00 hoopty jobs, to award winning custom paint. Some Maacos suck, some don't, that's pretty much the same as some paint shops suck and some don't. It's not the name on the sign, it's the people who do the work.

 

[QUOTE=xrcrx;1565176588]

"your statement is just so much crap."

Hmmmm... It seems to me that a few people here are a mite touchy about this subject. So before I P.O. everyone here, let me provide a short explanation regarding tongue-in-cheek humour...

fa·ce·tious
Pronunciation: \fə-ˈsē-shəs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle French facetieux, from facetie jest, from Latin facetia
Date: 1599
1 : joking or jesting often inappropriately : waggish <just being facetious>
2 : meant to be humorous or funny : not serious <a facetious remark

Oh, and XRCRX if you'll recall, I paid you a compliment some time ago on the look of your car. I believe that I said that it was quite striking and I wasn't surprised that you had won some shows (or something to that effect).

Mine? It's original - right down to the paint. It's not perfect, but it's a very clean driver. (Not trying to one-up you, but you did ask.)

Anyways, I guess it's true... humour is a personal thing... so I'll just shut up now because apparently some people didn't understand that I was kidding. (But seriously... with a line about Supermodels and gunny sacks, you'd think it would be obvious.)

For what it's worth, I wasn't trying to sling mud at anyone's car - I was just makin' the point that you generally get what you pay for. As I've said on this thread before, these kinds of shops generally don't have the ability to spend the amount of time that is required to do a first-class job. No, not everyone can afford (or may wish) to spend $5000 on a paint job (I'd certainly wince too) - but personally, I don't think that you can expect much from a production-oriented shop (which is what most of these are). I don't blame the shops; I think that they're giving the customer exactly what they're paying for. In short, my opinion is just this: "buyer beware".

If anyone was offended by my remarks then I sincerely apologize. That having been said, I'm ready to duck and cover because I'm still expecting to get hit by a barrage of indignation from rusty F-150 owners!

 

My apologies to you carguy-I took a look at your car-VERY nice and photographs quite well As far as getting what you pay for I certainly agree. my point was that you can get a nice paint job, done well at a shop with a Maaco sign, the name isn't important. If you want a 500 dollar "Maaco" paint job it certainly won't look like mine does. For a few hundred dollars no one could do a decent job, I paid for a better job. Sealer, basecoat clearcoat cut and buffed. The stripe is painted and was actually laid first, the blue over the orange, then clearcoat.

Quote:
fa·ce·tious
Pronunciation: \fə-ˈsē-shəs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle French facetieux, from facetie jest, from Latin facetia
Date: 1599
1 : joking or jesting often inappropriately : waggish <just being facetious>
2 : meant to be humorous or funny : not serious <a facetious remark

Point taken. It just didn't come across that way when I read it. I guess I just found it unfair to the guys that work at the Maaco that did my car-the owner, who is also a C4 enthusiast(had an 85, wants another) was very helpful in telling me what to expect for my $ and then delivered. His core business is cheap jobs, but he likes doing something nice too. they had a couple old musclecars undergoing major work while mine was there.

Anyway, no harm and hopefully no foul! Enjoy that ride of yours

 

Blue and Orange. I like it. It is different. Would not have thought it would look so good on the car. On the other hand I am an Auburn Grad. Orange and Blue works well for us. Especially in the fall!!

Perhaps I can rent your car and lead the football team onto the field next fall!!! On second thought, that may not work because I would also be tempted to do some doughnuts on the 50 yard line and chase the majorettes around!

Seriously sweet color combo, regardless of school affiliation!

 

Thanks jakers. It wasn't school affiliation, but my Repsol Edition CBR thou that got me to do a blue /orange combo. That and a little influence from the GS as far as layout. I didn't want to do a fakesport but liked the asymetric stripe, so i ended up doing a different style stripe and the blue/orange combo. I went to UT Austin btw.

 

No harm, no foul, XRCRX - you're allright in my books. You'll get a wave, a thumbs-up and a big smile from me if we ever pass!

 

Are we done with the love in?:o

Can we get back to maaco?

 

Now that carguy604 agrees I'm right we can get back to it


Seriously, all is well-cool to be able to argue a point and stay civil! Actually we both pretty much agree-no point in a 500$ paint job. That is what Maaco specializes in-the one I used was different in that they happen to do more extensive work and are able to do Vettes-ya gotta make sure the shop you use understands the extra work it takes-this one did.

 

I'm not sure if I'd say they 'specialize' in cheap paint jobs, but they surely have an economy paint job offering that is very attractive.

Maaco DOES specialize in collision work, and they fix more crashed vehicles than any other body shop in the country. They are also "certified" by pretty much EVERY insurance carrier in the country, meaning if your car was repaired under insurance and you find a defect in the workmanship the carrier + maaco will guarantee the work and it will be repaired.

Maaco DOES NOT specialize in custom paint jobs. (i.e, flames, specialized wet sanding, etc, etc). Maaco does "oem type" painting, meaning it will look as good as it did when it left GM, Ford, Toyota, etc.

So, you might want to have your split-window vette thats worth 50k restored at your local "corvette only" body guy for $8-12k, but considering the 'average' C4 is only worth about 5k-10k to begin with,
you really should think twice about what you want to spend on paint.

BTW xrcrx: I've always thought your paint looked sharp!

-- Joe

 

Where do I get a solid roof panel for my '88, Thanks Karl

 

Much better way to explain it The shop that did mine has any extensive repair area and is always full. So they definately do a lot of repair. They have a guy who does the cutting and buffing for the "special" jobs. Thanks for the compliment too-I've really enjoyed the car a lot!

 

I couldnt agree more. I couldnt see spending 5k to paint mine. I figure it's about a $7000 car. Then maybe after 5k in paint it would be a $7500 car

 

Hey a good painter is a good painter no matter where they work, if Maaco will let you,you might want to supply a higher quality product than their house paint.