[JOHNSHENOUDA]

I wanted to have my 84 red corvette painted. there are a few chips and a small hole near the door handle where one of Detroit's finest had a failed attempt at theft. Also the front trim piece on the bumper needs to be replaced. I bought the trim and it appears that the front bumper will need to come off in order to remove the old and replace it. I had a local custom shop who does amazing custom work quote me $6500. Way out of my league. Anyways I was talking to a guy that does restoration work and he told me they have been using this local Maaco and the work is fantastic. I saw an old Dusenburgh a 55 Lincoln, a 40 Ford, and they all looked great. I was astonished that Maaco does that. I called the guy at Maaco and he said it would be in the $1500 range. When he saw the car and factored in the trim and the hole, etc, he quoted me $1800. He said he would be using a urethane not a base coat/clear coat. He said with a solid red it would not be necessary. The car will not be dismantled and it will not be color sanded or rubbed. Does this sound reasonable? He said color sanding and rubbing would be $350 but it should not be necessary. Can I sand and rub myself if necessary? I should add that the owner of the Maaco seemed real nice and professional. He took me for a tour and should me three more restoration projects, so evidently someone trusts him. Now his manager who quoted me on the other hand had real shifty eyes. I am typically a good judge of character and I just did not feel real comfortable with this manager. Can anyone shed some light on this before i just jump right in.

 

[dinger]

Get the quote in writing, as far as what they will do for what price. My stepdaughter had a Honda that hit a deer, I replaced the hood, fender and fron valance. Prepped everything, color sanded the rest of the car, did a little bodywork. My wife got a coupon out of the daily newspaper, $299 for a complete, one coat paint job. Now the Mgr. starts with "That's one coat, you should have 2. I won't guarantee the job if we don't seal the body before painting. We will wipe it down, that's it."

My wife told him that's what we wanted, the car wasn't worhth an expensive paint job, we were footing the bill. It came out fine and the new owner still has a nicely painted car.

Their painters paint everyday. They don't have time to repaint, that means no runs, dry spots, etc. They are probably some of the finer painters in your area, specially if they are dong some restos. Find out first what you are getting for the money, if you can save a few bucks by sanding yourself (Probably not, min. wage workers will knock that out in an hour or two). How many coats, guarantee, they have a few standards for quality of paint, like good, gooder and gooodest. Just make sure you are getting your moneys worth with NO surprises. $1800 is not a bad price. Prep is 90% of any paint job.

 

[TucsonJay]

A word of caution... Red paints are some of the most expensive. That is because the good color pigments have to come from outside the U.S. Just be aware that cheap reds will fade FAST! If it is good paint it will cost $400 per gallon or more.

Now guess whether yours will be "good" paint" at that price???

I had a neighbor who had one of the national chains paint his '64 GTO metallic red. About 4 months later he called me over. The car had pinkish dots on it! He said it was parked under the edge of the house, and the rain ran off onto the car. Now he said it had little mineral or alkali "water spots" and he tried to rub them off with some polish. I took a close look, and had to be the one to tell him that the water drops had focused the light enough to BLEACH THE RED COLOR COMPLETELY OUT!! I told him the whole car would fade soon, and he could keep rubbing... but the only solution was to repaint!

You get what you pay for, but it's your choice to make.

 

[BogiesAnnex1]

I wanted to have my 84 red corvette painted. there are a few chips and a small hole near the door handle where one of Detroit's finest had a failed attempt at theft. Also the front trim piece on the bumper needs to be replaced. I bought the trim and it appears that the front bumper will need to come off in order to remove the old and replace it. I had a local custom shop who does amazing custom work quote me $6500. Way out of my league. Anyways I was talking to a guy that does restoration work and he told me they have been using this local Maaco and the work is fantastic. I saw an old Dusenburgh a 55 Lincoln, a 40 Ford, and they all looked great. I was astonished that Maaco does that. I called the guy at Maaco and he said it would be in the $1500 range. When he saw the car and factored in the trim and the hole, etc, he quoted me $1800. He said he would be using a urethane not a base coat/clear coat. He said with a solid red it would not be necessary. The car will not be dismantled and it will not be color sanded or rubbed. Does this sound reasonable? He said color sanding and rubbing would be $350 but it should not be necessary. Can I sand and rub myself if necessary? I should add that the owner of the Maaco seemed real nice and professional. He took me for a tour and should me three more restoration projects, so evidently someone trusts him. Now his manager who quoted me on the other hand had real shifty eyes. I am typically a good judge of character and I just did not feel real comfortable with this manager. Can anyone shed some light on this before i just jump right in.

You can always move to Seattle where some dip-stick did over a thousand dollars of damge to the driver side door of my old truck to get in and steal a 50 dollar J.C. Whitney radio. Nothing else, not my check book nor garage door opener that were in the glove box; just the cheap sh## radio.

Bogie

 

[vinniekq2]

Look at my avatar and then go to my thread.
I started to deal with a few chips. I have 75 hours of block sanding on the car.I might be 1/2 way even though it looks like 90%. Corvettes are difficult to sand. I was quoted 10k to paint mine.That included doors coming off and trim,painh hood off of the car. The car is not worth 10k,except for the 30k I waste on it already.
2 choices sell the car as is and buy a newer better one now that they are so cheap,or paint it because for some reason you can justify 2k paint job on a 6k car.
when I painted my airplane,I bought all the materials and I did receive a fair discount,I got 2 gallons of pain for the price of 1 because it was a return,the colour was a little off.I got another gallon mixed the same and x mixed them.All said and done including everything,reducer,clear coat etc. I paid $680.00 just for the paint.
there are plenty of C-5s for 15k

 

[69 widetrack]

One thing I will tell you, the painters that paint at Maaco go to the same school as the guys that paint at real high end shops and the worst shops in the country. Every shop is different and it depends on the management, their staff and what their meaning of the word acceptable is. Tuscon Jay...you are so right, Red is the most expensive paint you can buy $400 per gallon is some of the cheapest Red out there...Top of the line Brands can be double and even triple that)...it also seems to fade the fastest...depending on paint quality (some Urethane Red Single Stage seem to hold up fairly well), if it isn't a high quality Red Urethane, it will fade and fade fairly quickly. Find out what the name of the brand of urethane they are planning on using, let us know and we could give you a fair ball park time line for longevity.

Can you cut and polish Single Stage Urethane yourself...yes...but why, if you get it painted and it's flat and shiny, leave it alone...when it seems to die off a bit, cut and polish it then, (or block it out and have it clear coated a few years down the road...it'll give you a chance to save up for a clear coat job...but will probably cost you the same $1,500)...Instead of getting a price on "sanding and rubbing", find out how much extra clear coat costs...it shouldn't be $350...that would pay for 6 or 7 sprayable quarts of high end clear. If you factor in the painters time and flash times, 2 coats of clear should be an extra hour of labor plus the cost of the clear...$150 will buy pretty decent clear for 2 coats (about 3 sprayable quarts at $50 per quart)...so for $200 extra you've got the car clear coated, it won't fade and if you want to cut and buff the car later yourself, you have a host of knowledgeable people here that can walk you through it.

Hope this helps.

Ray

 

[spinn]

Do not do it. I took my acura to maaco and they destroyed it. Clips and plugs missing. tear in headliner. The paint job I could have done myself with a ppg bc/cc.

If you want I have some 20% off coupon cards because I complained so much.

Let me know I can get them to you.

I got a phone , let me show you their terrible work.

 

[69 widetrack]

WOW Spinn...that does look like crap, how much did they expect you to pay for that?...did they do the body work to?...That is horrible and I agree, I wouldn't take anything to that Maaco either...body work aside, there's more Orange peel in that paint than a Florida Grove at picking time after a lunch break. I wouldn't take it there even if the the discount coupon was for 20% less Orange Peel.

Now that we've agreed that the Maaco that did the Acura wouldn't be recommended, I will say that we have several Maaco's locally and they do more than respectable work. As I mentioned earlier in my post. it's about Management, their staff and what they deem to be acceptable. Because it says Maaco on the front of the building and I know that overall they have had a bad rap...(I could give you a few examples as well, good and bad)...doesn't mean that there all doing that kind of work. "JOHNSHENOUDA", if you do take it to the Maaco your talking about, ask questions (what kind of paint, how much for clear coat, what's the warranty and so on) get it in writing. I'm sure they can do good work, very often you do get what you pay for, in Spinn's case, they should have paid him.

Ray

 

[27Tall T]

:welcome:If you intend to use Maaco, find out who the painter will be that will paint your car and slip him $50 to do an extra good job. Doesn't matter to him as no one is looking over his shoulder. Works every time (at least for me).

 

[69 widetrack]

:welcome:If you intend to use Maaco, find out who the painter will be that will paint your car and slip him $50 to do an extra good job. Doesn't matter to him as no one is looking over his shoulder. Works every time (at least for me).

Great idea, like I mentioned in a previous post, these painters go to school and have to meet the minimum requirements to be a painter, just like the high end shops and their painters...who knows, a $50 dollar incentive might even get you an extra coat of clear...that could come in real handy if you want to cut and buff the car later. It also shows that you do care about your car if your willing to entice the painter to go up and above...maybe even mention that you'd appreciate it he took a little more interest in supervising the prep, this shows that you respect his leadership...that's what's going to make the paint job.

Ray

 

[spinn]

Yaeh, right it is because I didn't pay him enough...The guy who painyed the car and okayed it is an instructor at a trade school in northern IL.

That is a 3000 job. 2500+ delamination. Not paint any car for 100.

They did it 3 times because they did poor work. Kept the car 3 months. It wasn't a rotissori resto. A repaint. I did my brothers Saturn over a weekend. Figured this place did business and the finished jobs I their lot looked good from a distance. I got the high end paint and sealer. That car has performed without fault for so lomg I wanted to repaint it . Maaco must be a professional place and be far superior to my ability. ha.

That is the drivers fromt corner , the first thing you see walking up to it. I could take 20 pics of trouble spots and have.

No , Body shops do full cars by me. Pay by panel only. Insurance stuff. You could have it done . For like 15-20K. Unfortuneatly im poor in finance.

They apologized for not being up to my standards. I left it the second time. They did improve some areas. It is a crap job and they knew it.

My inner fenders and inner wheel wells flapping about all the way home. They broke all the clips, and weatherstipping they could not replace they just threw in the trunk, and let it leak! That is some cold asz shiz.

 

[69 widetrack]

You know Spinn...I understand that you had a bad experience at a body shop...the job you got was pathetic at best. I'm not here trying to tout Maaco and say that they do great work. Some do great work, some do average work and in your case, some do extremely poor work. I feel for you for having that kind of work done at a shop. I know of a Maaco in Northern Alberta, Canada...the customer that took it there asked me how much it would cost to get over spray taken off of his van...I looked at it and couldn't believe it. I asked what happened and he told me that after they painted it he complained and was told that masking a car was extra, if he wanted his windows not to have paint on them he should have paid more.

So yes, some do shady and disgusting work...some to good work. I have a MacDonald's close to my house...I ordered a quarter pounder with cheese...when I got it looked like somebody sat on it while going through the drive through...when they replaced it, the next one looked the same...it was crap. I went to the MacDonald's about 5 blocks away...ordered my quarter pounder and it looked just like the picture. You had a rough go...not all Maaco's do work like that, just like not all MacDonald's give you ugly quarter pounders.

The OP was asking what to look for if he went to Maaco, all we are trying to do is to make sure that what happened to you doesn't happen to him...and I'm sure you can appreciate that. Again, I feel your pain and disgust with the work that was done for you...but the people that did your car are not the same people that the OP is considering to do his.

Thanks for your post.

Ray

 

[spinn]

They killed it.

 

[69 widetrack]

Yes they did and I sincerely feel for you...it's disgusting what they did to your car.

Ray

 

[delawarebill]

paint

u may ck to see """" if u supplied the paint"" will they use it..
base/clear..

 

[gearheadslife]

maacco own the paint company that surplys them the paint..