I want to get my car painted at MAACO getting the either presidential or supreme paint job. I am gonna just paint it black (because the last time camaro was painted was '92) and I'll sither have them paint red stripes down the car or I'll just do them myself. I was wondering if anyone has a rough estimate on how much it would run me with or without the stripes.

why maaco do you want it last or just look good for a week Id rather have a monkey paint my car

they did my dads 94 Silverado for like 6 or 800$ and it looks like crap

I told my dad to take it back and get it done better but he did not listen to me..........

Thats because when you pay for a shitty paint job, thats what you get. Even if you were to paint it yourself (which I would recommend over maaco) the paint would cost more than that. Well unless you got really shitty paint.

Realistically, unless your stock paint is in horrible shape, I would not even consider maaco. They dont even use primer on any of their cheaper paint jobs. They just use a scotch-brite to scuff the clear or whatever you have now, then lay down the enamel. No new clear, no prep work, any rust will be sprayed over. And they dont even mask that great. They will paint over alot of stuff like door handles, ect. And the overspray just goes into the door jambs.

If you want a cheap paint job, put all the money towards a decent set of starter guns and equipment. Get a decent primer, base, and clear. Practice on some scrap metal, or even a friends beater car. But by doing the prep work yourself and spraying it yourself, you will get a better result and a feeling of accomplishment.

Well it depends what the cars going to be used for. Daily driver or just strip and one day a week driver. I always thought if you did the preping and had it all in primer i always thought there paint would turn out pretty good.

Macco did my complete color change, from the stock Marina Blue to a Purple w/white stripes car, shaved the nose emblem, shaved the antenna, and swapped out the door handles for '88-;97 C/K series truck handles. The handle swap involved cutting the sheet metal around the handles, and welding in the new ones. The door panels were pulled, the jambs of the doors & the body were shot. Only under the hood, could you find the original Marina Blue, which is normal for a color change.

Short of the paint runs on the ground fx, my local shop did a good job. With better color sanding, the paint runs could have been fixed before the clear was shot.

But that was 5 years ago, and I'm sorry, but I don't recall how much the whole job was. So, just because it is Maaco, doesnt mean it WILL be a bad job automatically. It depends on THAT Macco, as to whether they just get-them-in, get-them-out, or care about their work. I had the luxury of another car, and told him, "Take a month, 2 months, I don't care, just do it RIGHT."

i also believe that a good paint job is all in the prep work!

so is it ok, if you do all the prep work? and just have them paint it?

depends on which maaco you go to people...if you go to one that gets a lot of buisness your paint job will be shitty...but you go to a small one out in the boondocks somewhere that is proud of thier work...it'll prolly be good

Yeah, I have heard that too. I think someone told me the maaco in my town was better before it changed hands in ownership.

Also, my uncle told me the one in hartford does better work than the one in manchester.

Either way, it would probably be better if you did it yourself.

Maacos are independently owned franchises. Some are better/worse than others. Have the shop give you references. Any good shop keeps records and examples of their past work.

99% of a good paint job is in the prep work. Anyone can spray paint at a car. It takes skill to prep it correctly.

I took my daughters car to MAACO to get a paint job and some body work. Body work was ok. The first time I went to pick it up it had runs all thru it. Second time it looked like someone ran there finger thru it. Third time I went inside and asked for the manager. I told him he could train all the mexicans how to paint on my daughters car, but it would be done right when I took it away from there. Two days later it looked like a dealer paint job. If you get it painted there, dont accept a half *** job.

for 800 i could buy a spray gun and do a color change with ppg deltron.....thats not including labor though......the base will run around 60 a quart depending on what color..(red s most expensive) you would need a gallon of base if it was all mixed and ready to shoot....well say 2 quarts.....$120......sand paper....180,320,400,600,1500....$100....devilbiss makes a starting line kit for $250.....then another $100 on primer....then about $250 for your clear....And thats priced with GOOD paint and a name brand spray gun......just imagine what you could do with some crappo duppicolor and a $75 spray gun.........Any idiot can get paint to look goodas long as you get the prep work right.....did you see the rustoleom paint job? wet sanding and buffing are what make a great paint job

I'm almost positive that no matter how lousy a job my local Maaco can do, it can't be any worse than the paint job my Camaro currently has. I don't know what the previous owner was thinking, but he painted over areas of my car and it makes me cringe when I wash it. After the snow melts this winter I'm taking it in to get painted by Maaco, but probably twice to make sure I have a good coating.

if your not doing a color change it will be ok to go to maaco. i would do the prep work your self. even tools and stuff to do that the correct way will add $100 or more for different sanding blocks, sand paper 80-600 grit, body filler if needed, and even primers. the time is going to be a bigger issue but it will all be worth it in the end.
i had the same idea that you do. do all the prep work my self and have them paint it. then i realized that if i do the work my self i can do a color change paint job for the same price it will cost to have them do an original color paint job. its all about how much work you want to put in to it, the time you have to invest, and the money you are willing to spend.

macco is fine.....itll look real good for about a week.....then the junky single stage paint they use will fade out.....its your car though, fix it how you like

just my

my brothers car had a macco job about 2 weeks ago.. the first week it looked great as someone said..

its been hot during the day and very foggy with alot of moisture at night and the paint after the second week looks pretty good.

i dont know about a year from now but i say go with macco.. a cheap paint job for $500 without any prep work from yourself. thats what im planning on doing once my car is all done

If you buy their most expensive job it will be a good paint line. I would recomend doing your own prep and possibly masking it too. That is if your trailering it there of course. The low end jobs they sell is crappy paint. But they do have high end base/clear. Or do it yourself and rent a booth from someone.

i worked for DHL and all of their delivery vans were painted by maaco. they had about 40 vans and ya the paint scrached easy and was not easy to repair but it looked pretty good from about 15 feet away. its not like the paint peals off after a year or two

paint is somthing you will have to look at every time you go near the car....i wouldnt want mine half assed

Are you saying that Maaco just does half *** work? I have never had a car painted by them but,they have been in business for a long time.Thats got to say something for them.
When they first started their business,I highly doubt they had people coming back a week later with faded/peeling paint.If they did,I don't believe they would still be in business today.

I agree, it's their prep work that is lacking. Had my 92 RS painted there a few years back. Had one of the higher end paint jobs done. There are spots on the car where I can still see sanding marks under the paint (it seems that only I can see them until I point them out), but for a daily driver, I can't really complain...

My Maaco did a good job prepping painting, and custom urethane and sheetmetal work...

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/po...994-post6.html

I found the pic of the door handles being modded, and the car got a complete color change. Red to Purple..

it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a decent paint job done for $500......the only reason they stay in bussiness is because ppl who see shiny new paint think it a great paint job.......i did exaggerate on the 1 week fade out......but if you get the cheapo package they use single stage and itll be faded in a years time

Back in the day when I was a poor high school kid, I had several cars painted by them. The only advice I have (which everyone else has already told you) is prep it yourself and don't accept it if looks like crap. Inevitably, every car I had done by them always had stuff that needed to be fixed, but they would always do it once I argued enough. Also, take as much off of the car as you can that you don't want painted (lights,etc). They were never show quality, but they looked pretty good for the money.

the quality of the paint job at a maco all deppends on wich one it is ive known people who have worked for them and told me the stuff the do to cars to get them done quickly.
i owned a blue lincoln continental that was painted by maco and if i was the owner of the car at the time i would probably have shot the guy who painted it. the painted all of the weather stripping, doorlocks everything. i owned the car a year and half after it was painted and you couldnt even wash the car it would just take color out of the paint. dont know if i still

Ditto, you do bad prep work its gonna look like crap no matter what. If i were you and you're really set on maaco then do the prep work yourself (get a book or whatever) and learn to do prep work and then take it to them to paint. amybe if youre lucky you can go buy nice paint and tell them to paint with it.

Thats just too funny!
I've heard the same exact thing from other people about the painting of weatherstrip,doorhandles&locks and everything else in between.
But those people told me it was Earl Shibe(don't know if thats spelled right),is it Shibe?or Sheib?or am I just way off?IDK.that painted their car,not Maaco.

car craft had an earl scheib paint job on the cover one time. but i am sure they let the people know it was a magazine car. i think all they did was spray it.

fact-o-bake is another one. they suck. my dad had a truck painted at one of them here in jacksonville. they painted over the fuse block, and didn't cut out around the vin number when they changed the dash pad.

I got my car painted at macco and it looks good Im still in college so i knew people would ding my doors where ever i park even since i park just on the college's front lawn! Heres my car after paint. I was impressed for the money and time> ill soend real money on paint after college

for the most part the reason people go to macco is just to get paint back on a car at lest for third gens 60 % of these cars the paint is shot /faded/peeled that macco sounds like a great deal compared to a "good paint job that can be anywhere from 3000- 6000
unless you have a show car no one is gonna pay what the car is worth bluebook to have it painted and im talking no body work just paint

the last dealership i worked at had a body shop and i got a quote to paint my Rs as the roof had some fade as did the hatch and hood
i even told them i would do all the dissassembly and any body work was still told 3000 for a full paint job but they would also warrently it for 6 years against fade or if i found any defects problem is even with a brand new great paint job its not like i could sell the car for that much so it wasnt worth it to have it painted there i ended up only painting the faded areas and blending in to where it needed not the best job but cost was 50 in paint and it dosnt look bad at all

but if your looking for a flawless show car finish then dont expect to pay less then 2grand for it maaco's most best is like 1500 and they do a very respectible job you may get a run or 2 but really its done well
but ive also seen there 400 dollar job my last car was painted there from red to black single stage mind you i got it 4 years after it was painted and bearly ever washed so ya it was faded and had poor finish but a day of work
claybaring and buffing with a highspeed dewalt and a nice coat of wax other then the wheel well rust the car look like new and stayed that way for 2years with little effort mind you a did take care of it

the point is if they do a good job painting meaning no runs and bad orange peel if you take care of it it well last no it wasnt a show car job but hey it looked better then most cars with there factory paint
the before pic is what an average macco job looks like after 4 years of not being took care of at all and the "front clean" pic is what it looked like after days work getting back to looking good mind you it had some paint chips here and there but ive seen far newer cars look worse the major issue with color changes is when you get a chip you will see the old color
the last pic was took 3 years after i got the car so at that point the maaco job was 7 years old and showing some age not so much shine was but chips around the grill area showed red and you can see by the mirror where the paint peeled a bit but that was from the bolts comeing loose a bit and by the time i got around to tighting them down it had chipped up the paint around the plastic spacer for the mirror
but overall the car still looked good but what more could you expect from a 400 dollar paint job 6 years later it looked better then most factory jobs that where 6 years old

i have a buddy up in west virginia that is a professional body and paint guy. it costs him $3500 just in supplies to paint a car. his paint jobs start at $7,000. but he takes everything apart and fixes every problem he sees. he has hisd dad's original 67 rs/ss camaro with paint so slick that water won't stay on it.

I'm in the process of painting my car and doing a color change. Based on quotes I got for the MATERIAL ONLY, it'll be around $1,500 for the MATERIAL ONLY. This is Dupont base/clear, with a mid-coat, epoxy primer on some spots, and 2k filer primer all over.

My dad and I will be doing all the work ourselves since he's got several cars under his belt and we're taking our time on this. Here's what my car looks like as of December 6th;

http://www.rbvracing.com/gallery2/ma...g2_itemId=1706

Not an easy task to say the least.

if they are charging 1500 for supplies you are getting burnt......house of koluors aint even that high

maaco sucks. don't go there. my opinion. they did horrible work on my car after I was rear ended and its so bad it caused rust and now I have to repaint my whole car. I am going to do it myself.

That for ALL my supplies including weatherstripping adhesive, rubber disk to remove the factory stripes, all sandpaper,etc... not just paint.

Gangstar55: I recommend the Maaco in Burton, MI. Take the 45 minute drive up I75 and have them quote it. All Maaco's are not equal in our area I found out. I'm happy with the job they did on my daughter's car. It's a 5 footer paint job. Walking by it in a parking lot in looks fantastic.

FYI: I dissassembled everything I didn't want painted and spent around 20 hours sanding (yes, I know I'm slow) down to 400 grit. Signature Base/clear and two-toned the front and rear facias for $900. Presidential would have been about $500 if I remember correctly. The better than new places that "don't know how to do a Maaco job" were running around $3500.

I just picked up a 89 with clear coat peel. but after looking around I think I'm gona tackle this one myself. I figure if I'm doing all the prep work (90% of the job) I might as well shoot the base and clear. However, this is gonna be a car that I do some major work to over the years and I want to be able to do it all myself. If it was a car that I would let go of in the next year or two, I'd go with the cheap fix.

I would go with the base coat/clear coat on the black. enamel just doesn't have the gloss like a base/clear (not without a lot of waxing).

Just my opinion.

macco also painted my car. i put new front and rear bumpers on, new fenders, new gfx, and a fiberglass hood, so the prep work for them was minimal. i paid $1400 for the 2 stage with 4 coats of clear, 4 year warranty on the paint. they did the trunk jam, door jams, and changed the color from charcoal grey to intense blue metallic. the paint was awesome there was no flaws in it that i ever found.

I did ALL the prep work myself, mine has almost been on for a year and no problems,I paid 1k for their paint. I was more pissed when they burnt up my electrical in my cig. lighter and lost my spoiler bolts, they almost lost my spoiler too and told me it never had one

I saw a lot of variation from different Maaco dealers. The one I went to worked with me and didn't loose anything. I even switched out T-tops and rear bumper cover after I dropped it off.

I had a red (and brown and black and bondo...) 91 3.1 Firebird that I got Maacoed. I even got a color change from red to black. Body work too! I was just out of college and on a tight budget. I just wanted something decent that looked better than what I already had. I sprung for the base model paint, but added the integrated clearcoat, and payed for the extensive prep work. I got out of there for a little over $600.00--they even got me a rental car! When I got my baby back, there were one or two drips (in very inconspicuous places, like inside my foglight area). I did not pay for any color sanding, so there was a little orange peel. Then again, I see a lot of brand new Escalades around here with about the same amount of orange peel. Overall, I was very happy with the price AND the work. My car stay pretty for the next year or so (with usual washing and waxing), until it was totaled by a Yellow Cab.

Now I have a blue Formy 350 with a little oxidation on the roof. I plan on taking it back to the same Maaco--If they can match my Maui Blue, or whatever it is...

If anyone lives in the OC area, check out Maaco on Batavia in Orange. The owner's name is Jerry Zanka and I dealt with him personally.

i just need to get paint on my car as well. i however have already sanded, bondoed and primered the car. just need wet sand and paint. i have thought about maaco myself since i did all the prep work... but there is another place near me that does a good job with a 4 yr written guarantee so i ruled out maaco. i would say find a place that will give references any so you their work... maybe guarantee it in writing for x amount of yrs. then go from there. but from what i here on maaco it is a get your car painted and quick and cheap kind a place.

Wow now I am really confused. I am looking to have my 91 RS Vert painted at Maaco. It still has good paint except for the typical 91 GM paint peel on the hood and a ding on the right fender. Everyone on this form is split 50/50 on weather or not they are any good. I think I will take the "get some references" advice before I proceed.

we just had a 200x dodge totaled at work today because of a maaco paint job, no lie. our autobody shop also has a enterprise rent a car incorparated into it. its not all run by the same pereson but they are in the same building. anyway one of the trucks needed a new paint job on it and the took it to maaco. well long story short it looked like crap and they wanted us to repaint it. well our appraisers gave them a realistic estimate on another all over paint job and it was more then enterprise was willing to pay so they totaled it. the paint was about as smooth as a brick wall and had the shine to it that could only be compared to the bottom of a shoe. needless to say dont be surprised if they do a job your not happy with.

Every Maaco is different. They are independently owned and operated. Get some references on the EXACT Maaco in question. The one I went to was awesome.

If they ran it with bc/cc then i will have to laugh.......you can give a
monkey a gun and he wont run the base coat........

Mine was great....EXCEPT for, just around the top edge of the groundFX, front & side pieces....A CONSISTENT run, all the way around. And they didn't bother to sand it down. If they had, it woulda be great.

I never paid them in full, because of that! He kept jerking me around about "There's nothing wrong with it." Despite the pics I showed him. And I wasn't about to leave it with them later, so they could fix it. He wouldn't have anything, yet demanded payment.

If I knew that Macco still had the same owner, I'd point out which location online. I'll just say, I live on the north side of Austin, TX.

another fine example of maacos work is the car that came into our shop last week.......the paint LOOKED GORGOUS............except for the fact that somebody did all there wetsanding with 180 grit......looked freakin gay!!!!, and since they switched from bc/cc it had some fury spots on it too (gotta love when they are too cheap to spray a lil sealer) im not sayin all maacos are bad,
just 99.999999999999999%

the major issue is most shops want 2500-3500 for a paint job when macco charges far less if your driving a third gen normaly its because there in your price range and if i had 3500 to spend on just a paint job id just go buy another car
ive worked for dealer body shops that charged an arm and a leg for everything but yet there was constand fish eyes or runs that alwayed needed heavily sanded and buffed

then they would try and hide it from the customer if it still showed after

macco may not be the best but its also alot cheaper then anywhere else
sorry but 90% of third gens are not worth a 3500 + paint job
i know mine isnt and its in very good shape but even right now if i had to sell it i would bearly get what i have in it and the paint isnt in bad shape at all even with brand new paint i wouldnt get much more out of it i see adds all the time for cars with brand new paint jobs and there just selling them for the price of the paint job talk about a loss sorry but if its gonna be a driver a macco job is fine

every car ive seen done by macco looks like the factory painted it
earl shibe on the other hand always looked like crap
also go look at brand new cars on any dealer lot you can and will find runs and imperfections if you look for them hence a macco paint job is normaly as good as a factory paint job as long as you get the best package
but its true not every macco is gonna be the same but all that i have seen have looked decent
even my last car had an older macco color change on it and it didnt look bad at all i later changed it again to a lower gloss finish but it looked even with a few spots of red showing from chips and it was only the macco base package