Anyone out there ever use maaco for a paint job or body work? I dont really need a paint job right now but sometime in the near future I'd like to do it. I do have a small rust spot right on the hinge for the hatch...I dont want it to get too bad but I just did a swap and am low on the dough...

I was just wondering if anyone had used then B4..? I have heard they use a special kind of paint that will fade and chip in the near future and that if you want to paint the car again you have to strip it completely?

 

Let me be the first to say...DON'T USE MAACO!

They did a Mustang for my buddy and put the heat lamps so close it melted his tail lights and they had to buy new ones. Then this guy I used to work with prepped his old Lincoln all winter and took it to Maaco in the Spring for a new paint. After they got done spraying it one of the painter leaned on it and put this nasty mark down the side of the door and they had to wait a few months before they would repaint it. I for sure would not trust them to fix any rust! You would be lucky if the rust spot did not start rusting through the new paint in a matter of weeks if not days.

 

Well, all the things he mentioned were due to stupid people, and ussually do not happen. I used macco when i first got my crx, and it worked for the time, cheapest paint job available, came out to just over 300, and looked nice. Paint did chip on the hood becasue of rocks, very few spots, and a few of the spots that "I" repaired, and did not treat with rust stopper, came back. I didnt actually do it, a buddy did, so its his fault, but it was free.

It actually depends on where you go, in some places, macco is the best place, depends on who is spraying and prepping it. They do have warrenties up to 1 year on most things, including rust. Just depends on the paint service you select. Next time, i plan on doing most the prep work, fixing and treating the rust, and having one of their better services done.

A fellow rexer on the resource had his done a few months ago, in black, and it looked beautiful, smooth as glass. He had the ambassador package or something, and so far, i think its been lasting pretty well. THis was actually about a year ago.

Its also good if you talk to the manager and get to know, make a few comments about what crap youve heard about macco, and this will put pressure on the guy to make sure and do a better job than most, becasue he probably told you taht they come out excellent, know what i mean?

Hope this helps in your decision, and oh yeah, "You get what you pay for!"

 

thanks for the hedz up! I'll just have to find a mom and pop garage that can patch the rust for me...I would do it myself since it is in a spot you really cant see inside the back hatch on the car but since it is right where the hinge connects, it makes me nervous and I dont want to take any chances with it rotting and falling off.

 

ya maaco is nice as haaaaiiiilll.....about 50 feet away

 

do a search on maaco and you will be surprised on what people have come up with. I have seen some great cars come out of maaco, so do a search and see for yourself. Honestly..Im going to maaco for my paint job I dont need a show car or anything..maaco will do me fine.

 

my friend had a macco paint job with clearcoat, lasted a week befor chipping

 

Just depends on the place. I had my beater 88 dx painted at Maaco and it came out really nice. No overspray at all, they fixed all the oxidation problems, 4 year warranty, clear coat, matched super sonic blue really well. I did find a small blemish of something that got under the paint on the roof and they got right back to work on it the next day and ended up repainting the car at no extra charge I'll try to take some new pics after I wash it.

 

so honestly..you get what you pay for. maaco wont give you show quality paint..but it will satisfy you if your just looking for decent paint.

 

only use maaco if you want to make a car look nice before you sell it or something. They do really bad prep work if any, and the paint won't stick/stay nice for very long.

- Nathan

 

Yeah, I am not looking for show car quality, but right now my car is the light blue color. I would like to go dark blue or black.

I am assuming they dont do door jambs or inside the hatch ??

And I know the basic service there costs around 200 but what are the benefits of upgrading to the better service?? More clearcoat??

 

i would highly reccomend (if you have time) prepping the car yourself so you can make sure its done right...thats the biggest problem is that its not too much on the paint quality eventhough its not that great but all in the prep work.

If a Maaco type paint job is your budget go check out Earl Scheib, about the same price except i could of sworn they had an offer that includes a huge warranty. Also their locations are just about as numerous.

 

seriously man...dont go to maaco its not even worth wasting the money. hell you could rattle can your car and that would last longer. im sure you can find someone who does painting on the side to do your car for about the same price. it wont look as good as the maaco does but it will last hell of a lot longer. on the other hand you can go to maaco and have some nice lookin paint for about a day then it starts chipping off let maaco be your last option

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dingusjt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i would highly reccomend (if you have time) prepping the car yourself so you can make sure its done right...thats the biggest problem is that its not too much on the paint quality eventhough its not that great but all in the prep work.

If a Maaco type paint job is your budget go check out Earl Scheib, about the same price except i could of sworn they had an offer that includes a huge warranty. Also their locations are just about as numerous.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I plan on prepping my Y-49 for maaco this winter when its put away but heard that this is also a bad idea because it voids any warranty work. What kind of prep were you reccomending exactly?

 

Well...

 

I agree, different shops will produce different results, I've seen nice jobs and shiat come out of different ones.

 

Here is my macco job, after 4 years it started chipping in a few areas. Still look good though.

 

Maaco, Earl, One-day... they are all production type shops. They try to sell as many paint jobs as they can. \

Custom shops are hard to find since most places only want to deal with insurance claims. Expect to be quoted $3000~$5000 for a non-production based business to paint your car.

All the prouction places offer different packages. They all have their crappy cheap paint job. That paint is actually paint mixed with clear coat. They prep the car and shoot it with the paint/clear and it's done. That's called a one stage paint job. A two stage paint is where they put clear coat (no paint... just clear) over the paint. They may use the paint/clear mixture for the color coat, but I'm not sure if they do that.

I suggest you go check out your local production paint shops. Take a look at the cars coming out of there. You might get some feel for if the place is going to mess up your car or not. I don't think it's fair to say ALL Maaco's have crap prep or pain work. It all depends on the people working on the car... not the company.

Personally I am going to give the local Maaco a try. I am planning to take care of as much prep as I can before I take it in. I will also see if they will spray the car with paint that I provide them with. It will probably cost more going in there with my own paint, but atleast then I know whats on there. I'll also have the clear coat it with whatever clear they normally use. Should be fine - I hope!

 

I own a custom bodyshop and the car that I just got done spraying was a recent Maaco job. I have never seen such crappy effort and workmanship go into a paint job, you would be better off taking it to the Career Center at your local high school.

This person I'm painting there car for obviosly wasn't happy with there Maaco job and now I'm repainting it. Let me tell you that it is harder to go back and make it look good the 2nd time around then just doing it right the 1st time.

 

Can anybody give me a step-by-step on what prep I should be doing for a maaco job?
And does anybody know if prep work voids a maaco warranty?

 

some people say maaco is bad, some say good. i think it all depends on which shop. i personally had my crx painted and it turned out pretty good for $300. i wasn't looking for show-quality work but rather a decent paint job. i was pretty impressed. ask around. ask to see some of their previous work.

 

a few people have recomended earl schieb as well... unfirtunately I cant find any near me in FL but if someone has one near them...they look pretty thorough (on the site anyway...)

 

You really get what you pay for......it's all in the prep, and Maaco has no idea what that means.....they use a DA to sand it down , leaving swirl marks. I say prep it yourself, and have them just spray it.

 

if you like spots, drips, dont have time to wait for a baked finish, and want a different color to cover the other bad paintjob.. i would say GO MAACO!

 

Maaco is GREAT........IIIFFF you do it like this. A buddy and i did all the prep work on his car. We went to the local painters supply shop and he spent like 400 or 500 on primer, paint, and clearcoat. Took it to Maaco, asked what it would cost for them to spray it, of course they won't warrantee it but he didn't care because it was good paint and such. Slipped the guy an extra $50 to do an extra nice job on it. It came out great. Maaco's great..... if you don't use there stuff. Some of them can actually paint very well, when given nice product to work with.