Paint & Body Work - Maaco Paintjob for DD

I havea 97 z/28 and it needs some minor body work + a paint job. This car has 120k miles on it and is my DD so I dont think a high end paintjob is worth it. Ive heard maaco is cheap and ive heard a few good stories. A friend of mine had his whole car done with their midgrade job and it came out really good surprisingly. It has some bad touchups from the past and some other stuff.

I am interested in a basecoat/clearcoat black job on my car. I dont need my underhood or door jambs done. I cant afford a high end job on this car nor do i want one.

My Trans Am is my toy and summer car and that needs to look perfect, the Z on the other hand, not soo much.

Will a job from maaco look halway decent and will it last at least 4 years?

pull the headlights/tail lights/rubbers outta the car, sand it , fill any deep scratches with evercoat glaze,sand the whole car with 400 and then send the car over. it'll be half decent. but the 799 special isnt gonna get you bitchin materials,.

i say save your money and do it right. and like sercastik said do alot of the work yourself you might get a cheap job. if it were me i'd save and get someone to do it right. Cheap materials in a year the clear will probably die back and look like crap. Before i got into doin it i got a pretty decent job done for about 1600.

Maaco usually does a good job applying paint and they use good products. Where they fall short is in the prep work. Take the car appart yourself and fix any small dents yourself if you have the skills. I would pull any parts I could and remove the emblems too. I would also super clean the car and remove any road tar and dirt. Maaco would probably paint over it if you don't.

Re'

A lady at work just had her caviler done at maco it cost $500 with some minor body work. It actually looks surprisingly good for $500 paint job. Its no show winner but its not to shaby. One thing I also recomend is check out some of there work if you can. Just because the maaco here does a decent job does't mean the one in your town does. Just take a quick walk around one of there jobs and see if its satifactory for you.

I took my old 94 z28 to maaco, i did most the prep work my self as for sanding the car down. and it turned out nice.. i was happy with it. not sure how long it would of lasted. but made me happy because all my paint was faded.