I'm not a big fan of my car looking good but a bolt just broke through my hood so I need to get a new one. I'm thinking about snagging a Certi-fit hood and front bumper (mine is scratched to hell) and repainting the whole car while Im at it. I want to keep it the same color (Phantom Grey Pearl), so Im planning to do all the prep work myself and then send it over to Maaco and have them paint it. I figure that as long as I am doing the prep work myself, how bad can they really **** it up? I'm hoping not too much but even if they do, it can't possibly look as beat up as it does now. If its possible, im gonna try to stay within a $500 budget for the whole thing but I might be able to get it down to around $300 depending on which package I go with and how much they will take off since they won't have to do any prep work.

Anyone else go this route? I'm looking for any advice you all can give me. I'm a fan of DIY projects but I don't think I'd want to paint it myself, so im afraid that option is out. Let me know what you all think. TIA, .

Anyone else go this route?

 

Wash the car, get it as clean as you can. NO WAX! Just rinse and wash down with a sponge!

Tape off the mouldings, windows, BEHIND THE FRONT BUMPER, and inside jams.

Tip the painter like $50 or something so he'll be in a "good" mood when he paints your car.

 

Im plannin on prepping it more then that.. im gonna degrease/dewax it, sand a few coats off, and then depending on the price, I might prime it as well. Tipping the guy isnt a bad idea though..

 

Get a Maaco job? Might as well paint it yourself with spray paint!

 

With the cheap jobs, I believe that you are limited to their selection of paints. They won't do a 3 step for $300.

 

I'm gonna call them up and see what they can do.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 98CTRCoupe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wash the car, get it as clean as you can. NO WAX! Just rinse and wash down with a sponge!

Tape off the mouldings, windows, BEHIND THE FRONT BUMPER, and inside jams.

Tip the painter like $50 or something so he'll be in a "good" mood when he paints your car.

</TD></TR></TABLE> I like the tip thing too.

 

I had a bug i did that way. I completly stripped it even the glass. I did the body work with my dad. I took it tho earl shieb and told the to lay it on thick so I could color sand after. It came out bad ***. It cost me a weekend to strip it 250 for the paint and about a week to put it back together. I was very happy with it. looked like a 3k job when it was done.

 

Thats encouraging, how much did it cost ya for all the odds and ends?

 

I had to replace the hood too. Does anyone know where I can get another Emissions sticker that's under the hood? The new one doesn't have one.

 

bondo, a couple of bumbers, sand paper, and a fender ran about $300 so under $600 total.

 

do not send to macco i painted my rex silver blue came out grey. then i thought like u prep my hatchshave moldings .. no warr. on your own prep electron blue came out barny. prep the whole thing myself but they end up sanding it again anyway so therewere some scratch on my moldings. cause they use a rotery sander eventhoug i said not to. offered to buy my ownpaint they said no ..cause they use acrylic paint not polyurethane. so it will chip...no....but then again your not a big fan of having a clean car so up to u...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b2023 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do not send to macco i painted my rex silver blue came out grey. then i thought like u prep my hatchshave moldings .. no warr. on your own prep electron blue came out barny. prep the whole thing myself but they end up sanding it again anyway so therewere some scratch on my moldings. cause they use a rotery sander eventhoug i said not to. offered to buy my ownpaint they said no ..cause they use acrylic paint not polyurethane. so it will chip...no....but then again your not a big fan of having a clean car so up to u...</TD></TR></TABLE>

not to be an ***, but WTF did you just say??? lol english?

 

i got my car painted at maaco and it was $768 for 4 hours of body work and a complete color change over and some uv protectent stuff and some other goods.. but it came out real nice.. you have to remember you get what you pay for.. plus mine was on sale and the regular price was like $1400.. they had a huge selection of colors also and i love mine.. but there is orange peal and some spots were there is bad fish eye.. but other then that i am very happy with my car and i love it when its freshly washed!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by d!zZy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i got my car painted at maaco and it was $768 for 4 hours of body work and a complete color change over and some uv protectent stuff and some other goods.. but it came out real nice.. you have to remember you get what you pay for.. plus mine was on sale and the regular price was like $1400.. they had a huge selection of colors also and i love mine.. but there is orange peal and some spots were there is bad fish eye.. but other then that i am very happy with my car and i love it when its freshly washed! </TD></TR></TABLE>

orange peel and fisheye can be removed via a good buff job.....my dad is in the field of automotive refinishing, and from what i've seen, WOW, what a difference a buff/polish does....makes the whole body smooth as glass

 

I help a friend paint cars all the time, hes not a professional or anything but most of them come out damn good! First thing we do is tape the windows and anyhting you dont want painted off. Then get the round air powered sander and get all the shinyness out. After that patch up anything with putty, resend spots with finer sander paper. After that, go over the entire car with the red scotch bright pad, they sell them at paint shops. The bumpers, molding and plastics you want to scuff up a bit so that the paint can hold onto it. After that just make sure everyhting is taped and goto town! The cars usally come out very nice, a lot has to do with the paint gun. Good luck with it!

 

yes u are an ***.. i did not know people actually go on tis site; to grade others response... so u know some of my keys are stuck....and i did not feel like proof reading it.

 

^ I understood what your first post said with no re-reads or nothin...

As far as maaco goes I think it's employee/site specific... I have seen some HORRIBLE jobs come out of the same maaco that did a AWESOME job on a body of mines car...

A week ago my friend's buddy got his dump body f350 painted there... he (my buddy) said it came out GREAT... He was REALLY impressed... and that dude didn't do ANYTHING the paint job was under 1k.

Also like b20 said... DO NOT DO YOUR OWN PREP... It WILL come out better if you know what your doing but you lose the warranty... that's just not worth it on a cheap paint job... the whole beauty of a maaco job is you can rub it down with brake fluid 2 years down the line and get a free re-paint (just kidding). But seriously you DO NOT want to hand them your car that you've just spent HOURS getting all nicey nice... only to have it come back crappy brand new...

You could probobly get away with sanding it down and tapping it off... but as far as puttying and priming there is NO way they will warranty paint thats sitting on primer they didn't lay.

also painting it yourself can come out better than a maaco job but that is HIGHLY dependent on atmsopheric conditions and cleanleness of where your painting it...

My buddy did his car last year with a guy who's been doing body work and paint for like 30+ years.... and they did it in a garage... it came out OK but not great...
the advantage of a clean room to paint in and the proper ventelation and filtrations systems as well as quality of painting equipment play a HUGE part in the outcome of the paint job...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b2023 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do not send to macco i painted my rex silver blue came out grey. then i thought like u prep my hatchshave moldings .. no warr. on your own prep electron blue came out barny. prep the whole thing myself but they end up sanding it again anyway so therewere some scratch on my moldings. cause they use a rotery sander eventhoug i said not to. offered to buy my ownpaint they said no ..cause they use acrylic paint not polyurethane. so it will chip...no....but then again your not a big fan of having a clean car so up to u...</TD></TR></TABLE>
lol... i beleive its