tek_civic

i think everyone knows the ones im talking about, yup thats right the cheap ones. They run about $450 for painting and bodywork(priming?). my question is do they look good or are they just crappy jobs like i could do. and do they last or do they fade in 6 months? thats all i have, thanks!

willyboyK20

there good for about 3 months

Evs-One

if you do all the body work, primering, masking, etc, and just have them shoot it with a good base/clear coat, it should be fine. You pay for what you get, and this is a prime example. Tip the painter before he does your car, give him like a 50 or so, and tell him to do an extra good car, cause it's your baby or something. They have the potential, but never need to do their best cause usually it's on Aries K cars and crap.

txhatch

Mine looks pretty good. If you just want it painted then go for it. If your looking for something thats gonna get looks then dont use maaco.

tek_civic

thanks for the advice. and i was expecting that you would get what you pay for. i think that the guys just arn't motivated enough to do a good job as there job is pretty secure.

DarkSubRosa

yea, what everyone else is saying, you get what you pay for, but then again if you got good friends that own body shops and paint, you get good prices. im getting my hatch painted Kandy this winter, which is something i only trust one person to even think of spraying a kandy around where i live. thank goodness he's my friend.
I think you might have better luck just trying to find someone who does paint on the side maybe than going with maaco, find someone who enjoys painting, they usually turn out better jobs than people who do it just for a living.

krazn

my maaco paint job was only 250. came out great. no regrets. i knew nothing decent was gonna last long in philly...so i went cheap.

k_spek

what color did you have them paint your hatch? It looks pretty good. Did you prep it yourself?

krazn

they called it "viper silver" i believe. i did not prep it for anything. just took it in and out. they did a good job. only complaint i have are that the door jams are still green. ah well...250...can't ask for much. a few weeks later...a kid ran into my car w/ his bike...scratched a bit of the paint..so im glad i didnt get a decent paint job. by the way...that house u see is not mine....i was in lancaster when i took that pic. my house is in the ghetto...philly sucks...

ArmyGreenITR

well its always comes down to this an rember it ! you get what you pay for !! macco paint looks good for like a week but i depends how picky you are about your car ive been called to picky before so to each his own.-steve

B18C5-EH2

I'd say that 95% of Maaco jobs look like total ****, but I have seen some of the 5% that look pretty good.

I'd slip the prep guy like $50.00. I'd also slip the painter guy like $100.00 and ask him to take extra care if possible. Then I'd tell them not to tell the other guy about getting paid under the table, because then the prep guy would be mad that he only got $50.00.

Maaco is also the worst about painting **** that's not supposed to be painted too. I don't mean just bumper grilles and side skirts, I mean glass, rubber trims, mufflers, wheels/tires, etc.

Their prep and taping jobs SUCK *** period.

A chimp with a spraygun can paint a car decent, but 80% of paintwork is the body and prepwork.

SoPoCivic93

ALL of MAACO services SUCK...my friend has an ill 90-93 integra all show with a ls and they screwed the whoel car up. got paint ont he exhaust, windows, his and the rubber pieces on the car....never go to them

thelucysong

How long have you had that paint job? I heard that macco goes bad after a few months.

Audi A4

just PM 311. he has had a couple of cars pinted with the.

B18C5-EH2

A few cliches' come to mind when Maaco paintjobs are discussed:

You get what you pay for.

Looks good from afar, but it's far from good.

311

Maaco is the bomb, i have had 3 or 4 cars painted there, and for 199.99$ you cant beat it. The key is, do the prep work yourself. I even went so far as to take my tailights and headlight out before leaving it there. I taped everything, and put on crappy steel wheels, its a little more work, but for the money, you cant beat it.

EDIT: and no dark sub rosa I didnt get that hatch painted at maaco, but every other car i have. btw, how do you like the hatch?


[Modified by 311, 10:22 AM 10/11/2002]

816d16

Once again, you get what you pay for. The dude that got his integra messed up probably got the $199 job. If he paid for something nice they should have fixed it. My boy Tim works there. I'm up there at least once every two weeks. Their main focus of business is pulling older cars in for the fast and cheap paint work.

There is a xr4ti there now. It has one of the cleanest paint jobs I've ever seen. If you pay $199, you're not going to get good prep work, door jams painted, etc. Your going to get a scuff job and a couple of passes with a base clear. If you you pay $700+ you're going to get good work there. I've seen a Durango painted pearl from prep to finish there. It was one bad *** paint job. I've seen a civic with with no clear coat and a **** looking paint job. So, like everyone else is saying......YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

B18C5-EH2

If you're going to spedn close to $700.00 from Maaco, the I'd just spring for an extra $300.00 or so and get a reputable body shop to paint it.

The shop that paitned my car will do an all-over exterior base/clear with wetsanding and buffing for like $1,000.00. The job is better than O.E and has very little orange peel at all. Anyone who has seen my car would attest to the paint quality.

They are in GA and if you're interested them just IM me and I'll give you any info you need.

The thing about Maaco is that the majority of the cars painted there are piles of garbage to begin with. I said majority, not all so don't anyone get in my **** for saying this. The customers are usually selling the cars, or they just simply don't care or don't know the difference in ****-paint and a good job.

311's paintjobs didn't turn out bad because he did a lot of extra work. I'm sure he'd admit that the paint looked good but not phenominal, but then again he didn't pay very much and I'm sure he'd also say it was worth the money.

I guess in the end it depends on how picky you are. I for one could not do Maaco on my important car because I'm THE pickiest mother faulkner EVER.

Nikos

Good tips everybody!!

One more thing, a local friend of mine who owns a really good bodyshop told me....

If you are going to go with a cheap paint job, do not paint the car black.

Black is a hard color to do because of its unique characteristics.

ANyone else has heard that?

ill phil

I agree on both of these statements. Yeah for that much try to find a better shop and drop the extra $300-$400.
Thats the thing with Maaco, they don't care to prep well. If you do take something to them and want a decent paint job, have everything and I mean everything that you don't want paint on prepped and ready to go. It may sound a little extreme, but seriously- for $200 and the number of cars they have go through- would you make sure every trim piece was completely taped? Thats why if you prep well and take a it a Maaco that sprays pretty well you can get a decent paint job.

LOWLIFEHATCH

my friend had his civic painted there 2 years ago and today the paint still looks good. I think it got the 399.99 paint job or something similar and he didnt prep at all. Im gonna get my hatch painted there in april when i get my kit. I think it also depends on who runs them two cause there all indepentely owed. My friend when and checked out all the local maaco before he got it done to see which one was the best.

B18C5-EH2

Here's the problem:

Everyone's opinion will differ. What I consider to be a "good" paintjob is most certainly not what others might consider to be "good."

What I consider to be acceptable on my own car is also probably not what others might consider. Some might want less, while others want the $5,000.00 paintjobs that require like 5 coats and wetsanding in between each coat.

My last opinion on Maaco:

For a car that I didn't really care about looks on I'd get it painted at Maaco. They do a decent job and it's cheap.

For a car that I wanted to say is near flawless and one that I'd take pride in overall, I'd go elsewhere with a better rep. Good jobs can be done by accomplished shops for under $1,500.00 if you really look, and if you're lucky you can get the painter to do a side job for like $1,000.00 and get a killer job for cheap.

tek_civic

hey thanks for all the info! anyone have an idea on how much just a front air dam would cost to be painted and colormatched? thanks

ill phil

Exactly- see you touched on the key word there- decent paint job. If you just want something done for cheap because you car is looking like a complete bucket- Maaco will work, just prep it yourself to get decent results.
Tom- I definitely feel you as far wanting a respectable paint job on your car. For the work I put in to my hatch, stripping and prepping and fixing things, I would be pissed if I wasnt happy with the paint job since I'm the one that put it in the labor and gets to look at it everyday. I personally take pride in the fact that people come up to me and tell me what an amazing paint job it is and how great the color looks Of course, my friend sprayed it for me which was a major benifit, but for custom jobs you can often find guys who will do it on the side for considerably less if youre willing to do the dirty work.

LOWLIFEHATCH

Thats all true. I dont want a show car paint job cause this car is my daily driver and I drive around alot and I know the paint will get messed up cause of all the driving i do. Maaco for me will be ok cause I just want a decent look paint job that I can be happy about , not some one else who spent 2 grand on theres who only drive there cars on weekends. Ive seen the work that the maaco im going to does and ill be happy with the paint job I get