Maaco will probably charge you $80 - $100. I would spray paint it myself. There are many places that carry the toyota colors that will match and hold us just as well as a Maaco job, and you will have extra paint if you need to fix it. No matter what you will probably have to paint it often depending where you live. Here in Colorado the sand on the roads would chip the paint in no time on a valance.

Jeff

 

Do the prepwork yourself man, then take it somewhere that deals in a high quality urethane paint such as PPG or Akzo Nobel. I had mine painted w/ 2 coats of clear, sealer and primed for 800$. And it wasn't maaco.

 

The 670 was for urethane paint... can't do the prep work until february probably, can't predict snowfall here in colorado.

 

Gives you time to save the money. 670$ isn't bad. But I'll tell you what a guy that I guess you could say rebuilds cars, he said maaco is alright to have them paint, but do all the prep work yourself and take everything off. Anything that you can imagine will get overspray on it, will get oversprayed.

 

Sounds good. If i had them paint it, I'd probably hang around the shop and ask to see it before goiong to the sprayer. And if they refuse, tell 'em I want my $$$ back.

I'll keep on researching. Maybe PPG or Akzo has a place out here. Who'd you take yours to? Was it an independent paint shop, or a chain?

 

I took mine to an independent shop. They used akzo nobel paint there. I'm pretty satisfied with it. He offered a lifetime warantee on it also.... dunno how far that will go but they did a good job and I talked to him alot about the stuff that they did and people they worked with so I'm pretty satisfied.

 

What if all I wanted to do was get a door shot? The rest of the car has the factory black, and even the interior of the driver's door is factory black w/clearcoat; but the visible part of the driver's door is flat, either black primer or just plain ol' flat black paint. I'd love to get it to look like the rest of the car.

Should I just take the damn door off and schlep it down there, and have them shoot it? (Leave the glass retracted, mask the entire interior and the window opening, etc.)

I can't think of an easier way to do it but wondered if others agreed.

 

ever any good? The best job would be if they took off all the exterior body work and painted them, then re-assembled, that's what my auto/paint ship quoted me at. and the price? 2.5k. sweet jesus.

 

I think its all in what you're aiming to do with it.

I think I will do mine at maaco after all. In my case, its an 87 truck, its old, it doesn't need to look perfect, but I'd like to have a little something, especially for dates, and car talking. Also, I hate cleaning a car where there are 6 different shades of black. I am going to have the maaco guy outline exactly what their 4 year warranty covers, because, after 4 years, I will be done with college and I can start looking for a new car... errr... toyota. I will however mask everything I can think of as extra security.


I think bottom line is how bad your current paint job is, how much $$$ you have to work with, your expectations, and future plans for the truck. I have a dinged up car, why get a $2,000 spray job and have all the dings remaining Also, if you plan to wheel, and you get an incredibly nice paint job, you don't want a rock to scratch up the paint and make it really expensive to fix.

Anyone else's thoughts on this?

 

"You get what you pay for"

 

It's been said before, but prep work is the key. It doesn't matter how good or bad the paint is. if the prep work hasn't been done properly, the paint job will look like crap and won't last.

My advice would be to sand and prep it yourself. There are plenty of resources online that give tips on how to sand and fix small dents. The important thing is to take your time and sand it until it is perfectly smooth. Pay special attention to edges (around windows, next to trim, etc.) as they will be the first locations to start peeling if you don't prep well.

Remove all trim, decals, roof rack, antennas, wipers, etc. Anything that will get overspray on it. Do the masking if possible. That may not be feasible if you need to drive it to the paint shop, but maybe you could do the bumpers and grill, and let them do the windows.

Then, I'd take it to a reputable paint shop. I would skip Maaco. You should be able to get a decent deal at a good paint shop if you've done all the hard work yourself. You'll pay more for the better quality paint they will use, but you'll be much happier with the result. And, you did most of the work yourself. That always makes me smile.