My red paint on my 92 is really bad, the front is only a few months old due to a collision, the sides are pretty fadded, the tailgate is darker 'cause it was replaced 4 years ago and the roof is darn near pink! I want to get it painted either red again or a yellow but the only place that fits in my budget is Macco and thier $300 or so special. I know it won't be great but the tires just throw crap at the doors all day anyway and I'm not one to worry 'bout scratches and other body stuff (I even use red duct tape to cover one rock bite). Anybody have experiance with them. Just how bad is it for how much?

 

You get what you pay for at Maaco. And that's not a good thing.
For $300, I don't believe a clear coat is included and they only mask off glass, tires, and bumpers which means there will be overspray in someplaces.

If you have a compressor and a garage, you can paint it. The supplies (paint, spray gun, sand paper, etc) will total about $220 and that includes a clear coat. It's a learning experience and deffinately takes time. If you did decide to go that route, you might remove your tailgate and practice on that.

You might also check out Earl Scheib.

 

I looked at some cars they had painted and they looked good for being cheap I am planning on taking my truck to them, its going to be $670, for their higher quality paint, no door jambs.

If you're going for a basic color you can check out scheib, I'm switching to metallic blue, and scheib doesn't do metallics.

 

If you want to keep the runner, dont go to macco. I paid a shop 1500 to paint my runner with ppg base clear in 01. It still looks shiney, glossy with great color depth. A co worker went to Macco a year after I had mine done to paint her caddy. It came back looking dull with not much gloss. Now, it looks as bad as it started out.

Many years ago, the GF (now the wife) had an old accord painted at Macco. In 6 months time, the hood got a crack in it that was not covered under warrantee(they had a loophole) 2 years later, it was as dull as If it had never been painted.

Back in 91, I had my GP repainted all over due to an accident. I paid extra for an all over paint along with the ins. repairs. The shop used Sikkins base clear. Only after 10 years did I have some peeling of clear mostly due to an impropper rotary polish on the trunk and top. Now even after 2 more years, the hood, and both sides still show a mirror gloss and deep color depth.

Save more money and get it done right, or dont do it at all and sell it and let the next owner deal with it.

 

i have one on the toyota, but it is peeling. its been on for about 6 years i think, but doesnt look to bad, even with my abuse to the truck. if you prep the truck yourself, it comes out decent.

 

I had a '85 Honda Accord painted at One-Day for about $600 and it was metalic with their higher quality paint. After about 3 years it was still in great shape when I traded it in for my 4Runner. One-Day is a chain but I don't know if they have them in OH.

 

Man that sucks, almost feel that they shouldn't be painting if it's not going to last.
I was kinda shocked when one of my clients quoted me a 4 figure sum for painting my truck, they build and prep racecars and have painted most of their own as well as other teams vehicles. The more I find out about this, the more I think there's really no substitue for having it done properly. First gotta get some rust under control, then will wait until I have the money for the full on paint job.

 

Forgot they have a gallery on the website, I should know since I made it, duh. They rebuilt my buddy's 85 Bronco into a sweep and clear vehicle designed to pull racecars out of ditches in the woods all day...

Click the pic to check them out if yawanna... click on "services" and then "racecars".

 

I had a paint-job on my truck from a place similar to Maaco. It is peeling in a few places, and has lots of scratches.

The thing with the cheap outfits like Maaco and Earl Schieb is that they use synthetic enamel paints, which are one-step paint jobs. Synthetic enamel is not as hard, is not as glossy, is not as durable as urethane. Urethanes are suerior paint compared to synthetic enamels. They use base and clearcoats, which means they are more durable and glossier.

A factory paint-job on a new car is worth a lot of money. I would guess $2000 upwards to do the same thing in an auto-body shop.

One thing that makes a lot of difference in all paint jobs is the quality of the prep work. The more time spent prepping, the better the end result will be.

 

Bronco looks pretty built.....too bad its a Ford.

 

I found a rather stunning red/orange metallic paint color on a Volvo, Since I may just do exterior and not pay for door jambs etc. I would like the paint to be reasonably close to my regular ole red.

Does anybody have a list of servcies and prices at maaco (or other such chain) ? I'd like to get an idea for how simple or major the job can get, can't seem to find any online...

"too bad its a Ford"

Yeah, that poor deluded bastard.

The rear fender wells were totally rusted out and they actually made and shaped new inserts to be welded in. Look perfect. It was totally gutted and painted inside and out, it's now getting a custom interior. It really is awesome when you're standing next to it, but the thing gets sick gas milage, I'll take my 4 banger anyday over it.

 

It's the painter and the guys prepping the car that will determine how it comes out. The name on the sign really doesn't mean diddly. As a general rule Maaco is not a high end shop, but one near me does very good work.

 

A buddy of mine used to work for Maaco, after working at a few other body shops, needless to say he only lasted a few weeks because he couldn't believe the crappy job they did. Not only were the products junk that they used, but they have a time limit for each booth. A max of 1 hr to prep, 1 hr to sand, etc. If it isn't done who cares paint it. I have never seen a good maaco job and never plan on seeing one.

Jeff

 

"a time limit for each booth"

That's just wrong. Good to know Maaco

 

Yeah, he was in charge of sanding the cars. He had 1 hour to complete each car no matter what the damage was.

 

Nooooo! Tell me they are lies! I was all gung ho ready to paint my truck with their urethane paint. I am sick of having baked in check stripes on the side of the car, I hate having my hood grey, my door black, my bedside black with red and white sun damage.

Guess I will just sand myself and spray on some rattle can for the until I have a more than min. wage job paying for it... That's another 4 years...

 

A few people at here at my work have gone to Maaco. However, each was painting an offroad vehicle (where they wanted a decent look only). Their tips were to get a 600$ paint job (not the 200$) and do ALL prep work yourself (removing trim, lights, wipers and sanding/priming).

One 67 bronco that was painted yellow still looks good from a distance and okay up close. he claims it was last shot 5 years ago and is parked outside when he's not at work (parking garage here).

Also, "here" is Colorado not Arizona.

 

IMO if you are going to do all of the prep work, they you should just paint it yourself. When I repainted my 1978 F250 in autobody class, I spent almost $1,000 in supplies!! Painting is actually the easy part, its the prep work thats messy and takes a long time to do.

 

Now that I think about it, the guy who did my clutch has a 1st gen toyota sprayed by maaco. He said he gets it sprayed every 3-4 years for the $300 job. He can't combat the rusty bed syndrome, so does the body work and gets it painted. The paint looked good, nice even spray job.

In talking to the maaco guy, he said they only sand for adhesion, so I'd be worried about switching colors, wouldn't want my black showing through

 

I'm might going to Maaco tomorrow to get an estimate for painting the valence the same colour as the fenderflares. I'll let you guys what the estimate is. I don't really care if they screw up or not, because I have 2nd valence lying around.