Maaco paint job??
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 391
Likes: 0
I definately think you should avoid Maaco. Some locations get talented guys without a whole lot of experience trying to make a name for themselves. At the same time a lot of them are jokers and from what I've seen they do a very poor job of prepping, spray right over door handles/locks/etc.
At the same time I agree that a lot of these cats asking $5000 are, in fact, "clowns". Especially if you have no body damage and aren't concerned about door jambs, engine bay, etc and are just keeping the same color. You're talking maybe $300 in materials to paint an F-body correctly. Pay a GRAND over that labor, and that should be absolutely plenty to fairly compensate a quality body guy. That's a damned good workweek if you ask me, and that's just one job. It's kinda like tattoos, or paintings, or any other sort of artwork. It gets to a point where you're paying for a name when there are a lot of reasonable people who are happy to have the work for a fair days pay. Just my two cents...
At the same time I agree that a lot of these cats asking $5000 are, in fact, "clowns". Especially if you have no body damage and aren't concerned about door jambs, engine bay, etc and are just keeping the same color. You're talking maybe $300 in materials to paint an F-body correctly. Pay a GRAND over that labor, and that should be absolutely plenty to fairly compensate a quality body guy. That's a damned good workweek if you ask me, and that's just one job. It's kinda like tattoos, or paintings, or any other sort of artwork. It gets to a point where you're paying for a name when there are a lot of reasonable people who are happy to have the work for a fair days pay. Just my two cents...
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 740
Likes: 0
From: Pearland, Texas
Originally Posted by GoldenBird
I definately think you should avoid Maaco. Some locations get talented guys without a whole lot of experience trying to make a name for themselves. At the same time a lot of them are jokers and from what I've seen they do a very poor job of prepping, spray right over door handles/locks/etc.
At the same time I agree that a lot of these cats asking $5000 are, in fact, "clowns". Especially if you have no body damage and aren't concerned about door jambs, engine bay, etc and are just keeping the same color. You're talking maybe $300 in materials to paint an F-body correctly. Pay a GRAND over that labor, and that should be absolutely plenty to fairly compensate a quality body guy. That's a damned good workweek if you ask me, and that's just one job. It's kinda like tattoos, or paintings, or any other sort of artwork. It gets to a point where you're paying for a name when there are a lot of reasonable people who are happy to have the work for a fair days pay. Just my two cents...
At the same time I agree that a lot of these cats asking $5000 are, in fact, "clowns". Especially if you have no body damage and aren't concerned about door jambs, engine bay, etc and are just keeping the same color. You're talking maybe $300 in materials to paint an F-body correctly. Pay a GRAND over that labor, and that should be absolutely plenty to fairly compensate a quality body guy. That's a damned good workweek if you ask me, and that's just one job. It's kinda like tattoos, or paintings, or any other sort of artwork. It gets to a point where you're paying for a name when there are a lot of reasonable people who are happy to have the work for a fair days pay. Just my two cents...
Don't forget they also need to pay employees, taxes, utilities...etc.
We would not do a half *** job at our shop. If you wanted a paint job, part of that is doing the jams and other areas. (our shop does not do complete paint jobs becaus e we just don't have the time and people don't want to pay what it it worth) It all comes down to getting what you pay for. If you don't want a quality job then go to Maaco.
there are some good shops out there that do excellent work for a decent price, we took my 91 in last week to have it painted and it only cost us $1800, u may think thats high but they painted the door jams,hood jams,trunk jams, did all the body work(not much was needed), primed the whole car, then painted it Black Sapphire Metallic,they used a good quality paint also(dupont chromabase) they also wet-sanded and buffed the whole car and had it finished in a week, this is also the same shop that painted my TA, they fitted the hood (ebay WS6) fixed a few spider webbing places and painted the whole car with stripes for $1200, both of these are paint jobs that i wouldnt hesitate to show or take to a cruise in.
on the other hand, i had a boddy have his car painted at macco and they painted the tips and windows free of charge
on the other hand, i had a boddy have his car painted at macco and they painted the tips and windows free of charge
I remember when one of my best friends got a black maaco paint job in high school. It started pealing that same year. They didn't do the insides of the doors either, so when you opened the doors, you saw the wretched purple that he never wanted to see again 
Teching In
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
From: Blacksburg, South Carolina
DO NOT DO IT!!!! The way Macco and other places are able to paint cars so cheap, is that they use factory colors that are off a shade. So in other words, if you take your car to them and want it back to the original color, they'll get close, but not quite. This is speaking from a experience of having to fix some cars that at one time or another had a Macco job, and you can't get them to match or blend in with the paint. You have to be a real good painter to mix and match good quailty paint and tint it to come up with some of these Macco "factory" colors. It's a paint man's worst nightmare. I've also seen the not tape anything up, just paint really fine around window seals and stuff and then say that it's extra for the detailed masking work.
Where you from, I do paint jobs at my family's body shop and I just like to do them for the fun of it! It gets real cheap if I don't have to do any bodywork!!!
PM me for details
Where you from, I do paint jobs at my family's body shop and I just like to do them for the fun of it! It gets real cheap if I don't have to do any bodywork!!!
PM me for details
