Well I just got done waxxing my car and I've decided a repaint is a must. At first, I just loved the Hugger Orange color. However, today I noticed spider webbing on my entire front nose cap, several small scratches all over the body and at least 3 deep scratches on both door and the hood. Sad thing is, none of these were my fault. ******** at Wal-Mart and my buddies apartment will do hit and runs. My deductible is $1500 so I never reported any of them.

Anyways, I'm leaning towards a Maaco Hugger Orange repaint. I know how many of you feel about their paint. However, it WILL look better than it does now and it will only cost $1500 as opposed to $5000 (quotes from several privately owned collision centers). They do decent work here locally and offer a 5 year warranty so it can't be that bad.

My buddy's younger brother works at one of those privately owned collision centers as a painters apprentice. He's gone to tech school for it and probably has at least 3 years experience. I was thinking of doing the prep work myself to save a dime but I don't know where to begin. I was going to offer him some cash to do it in his free time. What would be a fair price for me to offer him to have it completely prepped? I'm friends with his brother but don't know him to well so it's not like he's going to be doing me any favors. I don't mind paying a fair price, just curious as to what that would be. Thanks

EDIT: DO NOT POST IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO POST UP ADVICE ON AN OFFER. I DO NOT NEED ANY OPINIONS ON MAACO. THANK YOU

 

I would make sure they base clear it, most of the maaco paint jobs I have seen have been enamel, I will not comment since you asked me not to. LOL best of luck

 

It's not fair to say that all Maacos suck, they are all independently own so two shops 10 miles apart can be the difference between night and day.

Prep is what makes the paint look good. I would not skimp on that at all...I'd offer him at least $800 or so to make it perfect.

 

Having recently jumped neck deep in my own automotive painting projects, I've learned how expensive this stuff really is. I won't say how much I've spent on just sandpaper, but the good stuff ain't cheap. But boy-howdy, does it make a difference from the cheap stuff in ease of use! Never again will I use off-brand sandpaper. Never. I've stocked up on Mirka gold. Good stuff.

First step is to "define prep". How deep do you want to go with the definition?

I'm doing a color change on my practice car (the Fiero). I plan to:

-wash thoroughly with Dawn/water and then go over again with solvent based W&G remover, then a water based W&G remover - you don't want to push junk in to the base level of paint when sanding
-sand through the cracked / rough layers of paint completely with 80 grit or 180 grit or 320 grit or red scotchbrite pads (depends on what/where) - good panels only need scuffing with 320, cracked paint needs to be taken all the way to the panel
-remove the front panels (hood, nose, fenders), decklid, and sideskirts to paint on stands or hangars - I'm debating removing doors, but probably won't on this car. Rear skirt and panel is easy on a Camaro to remove.
-of course remove all trim, etc

And that's what I'd consider the "prep" phase. Every square inch will need to be sanded or at least roughed up. Even the seams between panels.

What's that worth? Well, the supplies alone will probably be about $100 worth to do it right.

How much labor? Talk it over with him, get his guess. It could be anywhere from a few hours over a weekend to a couple weeks, depending on how crazy you want to go with it.

I'm sure it could be done cheap. But will it last? Paint jobs go from the bottom up, not top-down. Prep it right, fix the body, prime it right, block it, get it straight, base it and clear it... Sounds easy. Miss a spot sanding, and that's where the paint will start peeling from first. Every square inch... every square inch...

<- suffers from OCD tendencies...

 

if yur close to Mass Ill do it for $200, you can look at my car which was painted at maaco and came out great.

Lemme kno
-Scott