asocallocal

My clear coat is pealing and oxidation is making my car look funky.

If I bring in my car as is to MAACO, will the paint job be good? Or, will i have to sand down the car myself first b4 i bring it in for the $300 paint job? Im just curious....

Do i have to pay extra for them to sand it down?

enigma_ls

for $300 they aren't going to do much. If you are going to get it painted by a shop, I suggest you find a shop that will let you do ALL the prep work, and that charges around 500-600.

And the Maaco job for $300 is not going to look very good.

qb1291

Maaco is each individually owned and operated, so the quality comes down to the pride and integrity of the owner. Some Maaco's are better than others. I would go and check the quality of the work that your particular Maaco does.

Also, for the $300 paint job I would advise you to do your own prep work, that makes in better on you. The quality of a paint job mostly comes from the prep work. If the person wo sprays your car knows how to mix and lay down paint the job should be fine as long as the neccessary prep work was done correctly.

EJ6-2nr

my buddy went the maaco route, did all his own prep, got the cheap spray and paid for an extra coat of clear (not sure how much) its held up pretty good for the past 3 yrs or so

Duc_du

agree with everyone. u get wat u paid for. trust me if u gonna pay that low they will do horrible job at prepping. my friend who use to work at maaco told me the ppl who do the prepping always get complaint because they dont do a good job. gl

93h2beg

heres the real deal about maaco paint jobs...

i have been painting cars professionally for a few years now so i am speaking from actual experiance.

ppg paint, just the color alone b4 clear- will cost about 800 for enough to spray a full car, then you add in clear coat a few hundred more... so now you are looking at 1300ish for quality paint. That is without the cost a of labor.

Maaco, despite the pride and integrity of the owner they are still making money. how do they do it? they pay someone to "prep" the car and then paint it for 300? the paint they use is junk. ive seen friends take their cars to maaco, earl schieb and other cheapie places with doing the prep work all themselves. The paint will last at most 3 years before it actually starts falling off. I can list numerous cars that this happened to . if you want a good looking job you will have to pay.

sorry.

JasonKheller

the 300 doesn't come with the clear coat, worth it to pay extra for the clear coat.

SVOHK

Theres so many threads about maacco brahh. Search.

Do the prep yourself.

nikolmarie28

yes, they sand down the car for you. they dont take off any of the body and do it piece by piece they just do it right over it. i got my car done at maaco. heres a few pics. i get compliments left and right bout my paint. and like someone said before, they r all individually owned, it all depends on the people. i went to the one in linden nj

Spawne32

iTrader: (3)

maaco paint jobs, depending on the individual shop, are fantastic paint jobs for daily drivers, they arent gona be show quality base/clear but they are a good quality single stage that will last at least 5 years when done properly. Only thing i would advise against is metallic or pearls when doing single stage, reason being, if there is any orange peel after the job, you will not be able to cut compound and polish a single stage job with any sort of flake or pearl in the mix.

k0raxxx

Nice color though

nikolmarie28

mine?

Str8EJ

^ is that a boot on your rear wheel?
nice paint.

TylerH84

Okay let me start off by saying this. I worked at maaco for about 3 years started as a preper and worked my way in to becoming the painter. I have I car certifications and a Auto Body Collision Certification from Herndon CC in Raytown, MO. If you want something done fast and cheap go with the 300 paint job but thats just for paint it will run you another 125 for prep. Me personally I would do the most of the prep work myself because you dont know if they are slow and will take their time or if they are overloaded with work and will only spend the apporpriate time to get it out the door. Now as far as the paint itself Dupont in my eyes is better than PPG when it comes to single stage paint. Now for something they may not have told you. You can spend another 100 or 150 not sure for sure on the price but you can add a clear coat to it. So that way it will last. When a customer ask for that they will spray it with a basecoat and then clear it. Some people think that if they take it to a carstar or somewhere a step above a Maaco that they will do a way better job. I think that it all has to do with the type of shop you send it to get reviews from customer and look around at the cars painted.

4081ej2

yeah they def. don't paint cars like that at the maacos around here.

(. )( .)

$300 for maaaaco? Pshh, do a $50 paint job and spend the $250 on chicken wings and hot sauce!

easy_vtec

Lol!!!! Rattle can it. It will look and last just as good as maaco and you have the satisfaction of telling everyone you painted it yourself!

At nikolmarie what color is that?! I would love to spray my bay that color!

joeshmo

Lot's of misinformation in this thread.

1) One needn't spend 1400 dollars for quality paint, especially for a daily driver. The top of the line PPG stuff is great and looks great...but so do the midline and shopline. Hell, one can spend 600 dollars on materials and the average person (and most aficionados) won't be able to tell the difference between the line you used and a ppg "glamour" line.
2) Most quality urethane paints will last at least 7 years. This varies from climate to climate, but with proper care urethane will last.
3) Even the cheapest maaco job is better than a 50 dollar paintjob. It can be prepped and sprayed over (whereas most 50 dollar jobs will craze, lift or disintegrate when hit with urethane), it will hold gloss longer and it will be more even. This goes for rattle can paint as well.
4) Of COURSE they prep the car. To what degree varies from shop to shop, but at very LEAST to get paint to stick AT ALL, one must wash the car with the appropriate soap to remove the layers of wax and dirt, key the surface with 600 grit and W&G remover the surface. If there was NO prep involved, the paintjobs would fall off in months (if not days.)

Jerms

I wouldn't bring any of my cars to maaco... Had a buddy who use to work at one of there shops they use limited supplies on each car mostly using a red scotch pad and not taking a thing off to paint it really, and if anyone knows anything about painting its all about the prep job. All and all you get what you pay for and thats why there prices are so much lower then normal places...

joeshmo

I've seen them use 400 grit dry on a DA for prepping. While it isn't ideal, it is much better than a rattlecan.

ryangdsm

I work at Mecco as a detailer and I sand/mask off cars in the spare time.

You always get what you pay for but it really does help to have a good owner and an experienced crew.

We use du pont and nason products so that keeps the price down.
We don't jump up our hours on labor by taking 13 hours to disassembling and reassembling your car before and after we even start your body work or sanding
Everything is masked off with paper,tape, fine line tape and fome tape.
Then liquid masked. We try to finish every step in an hour. Sand, mask, paint, detail. Your vehicle is triple inspected for oversprey, runs, orange pill(dirt specs) ext.

There is nothing we can't do at our shop for the same price or cheaper then any other shop.

Every Mecco is independently owned. One person might own more then one.
Some are alot better then others.

If you have 3000 to spend on your daily driven civic in the mid west winter. Be my guest.

Just my input. I can awnser questions if you have them.

Garciac56

Hello, I was looking to spending about $600 on that, will that cover sand, paint. I will pay for gloss separately. So will that probably come up to $750?

JDMswagSerf

That member has one post and was in 2011, I doubt he/she will reply.

Macco paint jobs are always sanded and just sprayed. Unless its a low of a low shop and they don't sand.

Check out a macco shop near you and call for estimate for accurate prices.
Try to find customers from that shop you call or ask them to see work they have done.
Macco paint jobs are a hit or miss. Rarely in between.