im taking my car to macco for paint tomorrow, now BEFORE anyone says EW macco! iv had several of my friends reccomend this macco and have seen their work and body work, its top notch so im trusting them tomorrow, what should i do before i drop it off? im going to have them do the same paint as now but insted of having the black strip down the bottom of my car, should i have it all red?, also im going to have them paint my wiper arms, antana, ect, anything else anyone can think off that i should do?, also please tell me about the black strip, should i keep it or should it go?

 

need these answers quick guys

 

well if it was me, and I was do these things before I took my car to have somebody else paint it

remove the side markers, taillight lenses, headlights, turnsignals (you can do the taillights when you are there if the car has to be driveable)

I would mask off everything I didn't want overspray on, including drip moldings, door handles, mirrors, emblems, and anything else you can see

remove the side body moldings totally
remove hood louvers

sand down any scratches

go over the entire car with 400 grit sandpaper

fill any tiny dings with body putty, the two part epoxy works the best

 

I think the black strip looks ok, but Maaco is probably going to charge you a fortune for a two tone

 

Remove everything you can that you don't want painted red. I would have no problem with a Maaco spraying my car but they are a production type shop that doesn't spend a lot of time masking and prepping. They usually DA sand the whole car and don't hand sand. This means edges are not sanded properly but they usually manage to hit things like glass and moldings. If I was having them paint my car I would deliver them an almost stripped car. Handles, mouldings, glass, lights, etc. would all be removed. The more you remove and the more you prep yourself the better the job will be. The painters they employ are usually very skilled and all they do is spray cars 8 hours a day. Just pay for the good paint and expect to be removing overspray yourself from things like wheelwells, exhaust, undercarriage, etc. and you should be ok.

 

I would reconsider, your car doesn't look too bad right now as it sits.

 

passenger side is the worst, and the roof is sunbaked, my grandmas buying me the paint since ill be driving in auguest and well theres another story behind the car, back in june my grandpa gave me the money to go and get me a parts car for my 90 rs, after i found this and noticed it was in better shape i kept this and parted the 90 out, well my grandpa funded this car for me on any part i needed and provided me with knowledge on getting it started and running, he had set aside plans to have this car finished for me a few weeks after he heard he got cancer, after about 5 months of radiation his cancer shrunk and i got the car running but after that he said his dream was to see me actually driving the car after i spent so much time and work working on this car since most kids are into videogames, well he died 2 days after i got to drive the car around the block, the night before he passed i had just installed my system into my car and me and him stood outside and talked about cars for about an hour. well back on topic, my grandma found his ideas on finishing the car for me on his computer and is completeing that task for him, shes getting the paint and body work, my mom and dad are getting my windsheild, so ill i have to get is a headliner and tint before this car is completly done.

 

that's a great story, but if you rush through the prep job, you're going to regret it. I know you're probably excited about getting it painted, but the horror stories about Maaco usually revolve around overspray in horrible places (because they don't tape most things) or around peeling (because they don't prep hardly at all)

I would consider taking my car to maaco, but only after I tol care of the detail work myself

 

I would paint the whole car red except these: the inside where the headlights are would be black and the handles too. Like you said I would paint the wipers arms and the metal thing around the rear hatch window black too.

 

On and the hood grills too black again.

 

if you have the drip rails above the window(most cars don't have them) make sure you remove them I completely forgot to take them off mine when I got it painted, and have regretted it since.

 

How much are you paying maaco to paint your car? Thinking about doing the same thing to my firebird.

 

it came out to be $600, $300 for the paint, $100 for body work, $200 for labor

 

they're not gonna spray my louvers, door handles, ect are they? im really only worried about the louvers

 

they might mask them off, but if they haven't sprayed the car yet, call them tomorrow and make that clear

You really should have done more prep. it's not that hard to remove those things.

 

they are painting tomorrow, aslong as they mask them off ill be fine, i called today to have them take off the drip rails...

 

louvers are hard to mask, because of the ridges. I hope it works out ok for you.

 

me too, i didnt have time to prep, my grandma sprung this on me, along with money for new rims and the money for my headliner and windsheild, so now all i need is a driver side window sweep and my cars done!!!!

 

The drip rails aren't very easy to remove from a third gen. Their mounting tabs are under the weatherstrip channel. You'll need new roof rail weatherstrips if they remove them. They WILL destroy the weatherstrips removing them.
Here's how I sent my car to the paint shop.

 

Cool shot!

 

they destroy them, they replace them, they had a big sign on their wall saying they remove all trim and accesorys prior to paint so ima hold it to em

 

get the car today, should be leaving in about 30 minutes to go get her!!! excited

 

pictures are in my album link here ----> https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/album.php?albumid=3374

i am pleased with it

 

Look good but I noticed your Camaro emblems on the sides is not in the right places... It should be above the side molding, not under... I would ask them if they could relocate them safely without damaging anything.

 

all the sport coups iv seen have them there, im pleased with them there

 

Yeah it's your ride you can do whatever you want with it, but originally from Chevrolet they were placed where I told you...

 

well the cars going back up to maaco, went outside today to look at my cruise since its not working, and i noticed the paint bubbling at the bottom of the fender, so im taking it back up so they can fix it, i never noticed it before so idk if its from driving it in the wintery slush and water or what but i dont like it, gonna call tomorrow about it

 

It's not from driving it in the slush, it's from poor prep work.

Car looks pretty good, but the real test will be how it holds up over the next 1-2 years.

 

Let's see some after shots of this Maui ride.

 

its got a 2 year warranty so im okay.