MrDomino

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, yeah, I know, you get what you pay for. Still, there is hardly any information on people with past experiences with maaco. I've had one, and it was great. It cost $250, and looked wonderful, go figure.

I have a NBM Camaro, but the paint looks like crap. There are scratches everywhere, highway driving battle scars, dings, gouges. The nose panel almost like someone sprayed a blue and white speckled paint on it, but it's just the clear coat that has been chipped off, as well as parts of the plastic .

Anyway, I was looking at the prices here, and they are absolutely rediculous. 5k? 10k? A little much for me. So, since this is just a daily driver, I started considering Maaco. I'm thinking of changing the color to Hugger Orange, since I'm paying for the paint job anyway. Has anyone had any experience with color change jobs through Maaco? I'll do the engine bay myself, with black or something, but this isn't a show car, so it's not important that it is absolutely perfect.

BlackHawk T/A

iTrader: (3)

I'd like to know also.

6LITEREATER

iTrader: (56)

No offense but you must not have known what you were looking at.

There are some Maaco's that have GREAT painters (maybe in the one percentile) but even with great painters $hitty paint is still $hitty paint. He!! I spent $400 just on the paint converting my car to Electron Blue.

Let's ASSUME that they prep it properly (which they don't have time for), spray it properly (which they don't have time for) and then spray the clearcoat properly (which they don't have time for) and then wetsand out any imperfections (which the car will have but they won't do at all let alone would they have applied enough clearcoat for this to even be an option) the paint still isn't going to last more than a year.

The truth is it will be full of orange peel, more than likely have a run or two SOMEWHERE, the clearcoat will be light in most places and practically absent in the harder to see places and anyone who has a clue at ALL will look at your car and shake their heads.

If you want a color change it will cost you. A GOOD (show quality) color change should be $1700-$2500 and that should include engine bay, door jambs and at least 3 laters of clear with a good wetsand and buff after a week.

To just get it re-sprayed NBM and DONE AS WELL AS FACTORY IF NOT SLIGHTLY BETTER you should be looking to pay $1000-$1500.

$5000-$10,000 is completely ridiculous for ANY paint job unless it's chameleon or the new chrome color.

Charging TA

I agree with Demonbird,

Maaco may have some good painters, but their paint is usually crap.

Years ago when my parents owned a car rental, for the lower end cars such as Neons and Cavaliers, they were repainted at Maaco sometimes (after crashes when they had new body parts/no body work needed to be done). The paint would last about 3-6 months, then begin to flake off. And this happened with dozens of cars. Some of the times they repainted them for no-charge. So figure $250 for a car that was kept for 2 years (and then replaced by a new one), and if it had to be repainted twice in that process so be it.

The reason the paint would flake off would be they would no prep the panels, nor did they use clearcoat.

Most of the time my father and I painted the cars which had accidents which needed body work, by using quality paint and preping the paint lasted very long.

Ill have to disagree on that, I was considering having my TA repainted to be as it was out of the factory (so it does not look re-painted, but looks brand new... and yes there is a big difference), my paint is pretty good but considering there are only a handful of these over here it would have been nice to get it repainted to look like it was fresh from the factory.

I was quoted about $3500 (in Florida), if I really needed the paint job I would do it myself, but for high quality Id rather have a pro.

I had a friend just repaint his 96 TA over here, spent 2000e on it ($2500), which to me sounds pretty good (for high quality work). This was just a repaint, no body work.

Droopy8503

well i went to a painter to get an estimate for nbm and he's charging me 3500!! i need to look elsewhere.

6LITEREATER

iTrader: (56)

For $3500 it sure as he!! better look better than factory. Factory has orange peel, a $3500 paint job better not....

orangeapeel

iTrader: (18)

I know I should have picked a better username from the get go...

Charging TA

My factory paint doesnt have orange peel. I always pay attention to paint jobs on cars, and alot of cars you can see that they've been painted. If I were to get my repainted I would not want it to look repainted, Id want it to look like it just came from the dealership.

TS6

iTrader: (41)

And you said THIS guy doesn't know what he's talking about?!?!?

Dude, if you think a high quality color change can be done for anywhere near that you need to go to a real body shop. I have a custom shop across the street from my shop and they would charge probably $10K to change my cars color. There would be hours and hours of disassembly, reassembly, probably over $1000 in materials, and alot of time in getting the body arrow straight.

Just for reference, they quoted me about $5K to repaint my car the factory color and make it look GOOD. You must have no concept of how long it takes to block sand a car over and over.

I had my GN repainted and it was a $6K job with very minor bodywork needed (scratched).

You get what you pay for, and if you get a color change done for $2500 it will be a shitty job.


As far as Maaco is concerned, you can get a decent job from them or Earl Schiebs (sp), but it will end up costing more. I've seen some of there work turn out decent, like for a daily driver. Some of them use PPG paints and good materials. The real catch is doing the prep yourself, and I'd do most of the masking. Even the least experienced painter can lay a decent paint job down, all the work is in the prep and masking, and of course sanding. I've been told if you prep it yourself, request (and pay for) good materials, and tip the guys who will be doing the work, it can come out good. Nothing I'd consider show quality, but decent nonetheless. But you will end up spending more than $250 or whatever.

jmm98LS1

iTrader: (28)

My dad had his old el camino ss painted at Maaco about ten years ago. They replaced the passenger rear quarter panel and repainted the car factory black. They didn't fix a few of the small rust spots, just slapped some bondo on there. They didn't paint the inside of the bed, any of the jams or engine bay and we opted for them to put all the trim they took off back in the bed for us to reassemble. It cost him just a little over $1000. He sold the car ~3yrs. later and the rust spots that were bondo'd were starting to bubble. The paint was pretty thin, and chipped in 1 or 2 places. It was a daily driven black car and it looked great from 10 feet away. The paint wasn't very smooth in several places and definitely had some orange peel. I think it was worth the money that went into it. Like said above, if you do the body work/prep/masking it would be a viable option for a daily driver if you use good materials.

HAWK#549

i didnt read all these other posts, and not to negate people's other opinions, but i had a great expeirience with Maaco. I paid a bit extra for some body work, the total was $900. I had my old 1988 GTA painted factory white, and it came out perfect. No overspray, very glossy and it lasted 4 years until i sold it and it looked brand new the whole time.....i always got compliments. i hope if you try them it works out for you.

CHEVYXTREME_00

I had a truck painted by MAACO looked great for a 2 years. Then big chunks of paint started peeling up. Just my opinion but if you are going to do it do it right.

ls1mongrel

iTrader: (32)

Spraying isnt the hard part, they prep work is where its at ! At maaco there is a reason its so cheap, a good paint job same color with no major body work will run you 2k easily, for $3500 it better look wet !

slick1851

Why are people paying so much for a OEM paint color? If im going to be paying anything over 2,500 it better be some custom **** worth my money and make the car look even better.

Sorry I cant see spending over 2,500 on a factory repaint, hell if you have no dings and have a straight body it shouldnt be to bad to do........

Charging TA

For something "custom" meaning show quality, Id plan on spending minimum 8k. Thats for good show quality... And thats a very low fraction compared to what guys spend for the Riddler award and such.

Everyone who spoke about changing colors... Thats gonna at least double the paint job cost compared to just repainting the panels.

Sure everything can be done for cheap, but thats exactly what it is... cheap.

todddchi

iTrader: (3)

Many good points made in here already if you decide to go with Maaco.

- Assuming that you do all the prep work yourself.
- Verify what's being used (paint) and pay more if needed.
- Do expect that it's ALOT more likely to vary from tech to tech than a reputable shop would.

The short answer here is, you really need to look into the Maaco you intend to go to. I'm sure there are Maaco's with people who care, putting out better paint jobs than many dealerships or private shops. I'm also sure there are plenty of them that send out the crap that got them the bad reputation in the first place.

I think about $400-500 per panel is reasonable if you really expect the shop to strip and straighten each panel. People quoting the low prices are probably based upon just spraying over what's already there.

SIC LSX

iTrader: (10)

Run Run Run Run!!! Stay Away!

01RedT/A

all you need to know about paint is "you get what you pay for".

Flawless02SS

iTrader: (9)

The Maaco here is great. They did work for me twice, and no problems here and I'm a picky Mo'Fo !!!

MrDomino

iTrader: (3)

Wow, thanks everyone! I really wasn't expecting this many replies.

So, it kind of seems like a love them or hate them situation here. Some people (like myself) have had good experiences with them, and others have had just so-so ones. Please, keep posting!

The fact is, I don't know how long I'm going to have this car...could be 10 years...could be 10 months! It's a daily driver...who knows what could happen. The paint looks kinda crappy now, so I figured I could get a cheap paint job. Then I figured, hey, might as well get a new color, since I'm in the desert, NBM is kind of a nightmare with leather seats .

Can anyone tell me some of the things that go into prepping the car? Techniques, procedures, etc..? I would be really appreciative.