Ok guys, I hav $1500 and i need my high rise installed, prep work and i need to have the iroc painted. Will my 1500 cover this?

that would be stretching it pretty thin, you might be able to get it painted for that but it wouldnt be the best job in the world

A good job? Not a chance. You could get a crap *** Maaco job that would only last for a couple years and look like garbage. I would keep saving, a good paint job costs a few thousand and IS WORTH IT to save up as much as you can.

you can get a decent job done. some people on here think that if you don't pay 4 grand for a paint job, it will look like ***. shop around different shops in your area, see how much they charge, ask to see some of their work. depending on the shop, sometimes you can get a decent daily driver paint job without spending a few grand. you won't get a show car finish, but it's not gonna look like "garbage". and if you take care of it, it will last more than just a couple years.

Yea but for under 1500$, they aren't going to take anything off. They'll probably rough up the existing paint, fix any obvious dents. But they aren't going to spend the required time to prep the body like it should be, and they probably won't use decent quality materials.

1500$ will probably last you a few years and it will be a 20fter.

The thing about people who do a half *** job the first time, they always seem to find the money to do it right the 2nd time around.

Maaco jobs don't look bad, they're just crappy paint and they don't do prep work well.

Do your own prep work, or pay someone you know to do it for you on a friendly discount or something... THEN take it in to Maaco.

It will look fine, but yes, the paint doesn't last nearly as long.

People fail to mention the fact that on a daily driver even a 4000 dollar paintjob will look like **** in 2 years anyways, especially if you live where there are lots of bugs or road debris, or alot of dust.

I would rather repaint my car at Maaco every few years than pay 4 grand for paint on my daily driver.

In the end I'll look better for longer for alot less.

Show car?

Strip car?

Ok... THEN I'll pay the 4 grand, because the paint will likely last me 10 to 15 years.

Thats really not true, don't compare apples to oranges. You take a crap paintjob and a good paintjob, and put them through the same really bad daily conditions, you'll still get more life out of the good paintjob, plus the good paintjob will look really good from the start. So you want a maaco job for 1500$ every 2 years, or a good 4000$ paintjob every 5.

Im starting to think your just trying to justify the cost to yourself now stealth
cheer up your car is going to look nice, just be careful with it this time

Lol , oh wow. Ive done alot of the prep work already, and im FOR SURE not going to take it to the maaco around here. The Maaco around here wanted $450 to install my high rise, and $350 to aling my doors
Im gona have a private guy do it, not a company.

this is what my 305 looked like before i sold it.

Paint is one of those things where more often than not, you get what you pay for. I put 3,000 miles on my car last year. I'm buying a 2nd car when summer ends to use as a daily beater, so 4k for paint was something I didn't have a problem doing. I know when I get my car back this week it will look beautiful. I drive 5 miles to college, 1 mile to get to work. No highways, no traffic.

Stalin, you just getting the car sprayed? What do you mean by prep? I mean, I have to believe that if you take the car to a shop and say you have 1500$ for paint, they are going to spray it with the cheapest paint available. Assuming all they do is install the hi-rise, DA the body, and spray. Colorsand/buff takes time, any decent BC/CC system is going to run 500$+ in materials. Just not alot of wiggle room for labor costs.

im saying is, can i make it look like my 305? The car needs alot of sanding. Im not getting the car painted apart but together. Of course im not gona go to a body shop and slap down $1500 and say paint my car


Right now my car is 5 diff colors. Yes i want the old paint off before the new paint is on. I have until July 16th to have the body done in time for the Mid West F-Body Show that ive been going to every year.

My iroc is going to be a daily driver so i am NOT going to dump 4k into just my paint, thats stupid since i live in Iowa. You can have a great looking car even if it is a daily driver. My 305 was a daily driver and i kept it squeeeeky clean.

600 dollar Maaco two tone paint job on my 86 suburban is six years old now.

Not one problem.

Not faded, chipped, orange peeled, NOTHING. It sat outside in the blazing sun for 2 of those years before I got it running again.

It still looks nice actually.

Let it cure, don't wash and wax it too early. When it's all done, wash the hell out of it, do a light buff to smooth it out, then keep waxing the **** out of it for awhile. It will last just fine.

Seems to me like people really just want to justify the cost of expensive paint jobs too much around here (and on every auto board for that matter)

I'm not saying you aren't right about getting what you pay for... But I think you guys get a little crazy with it. Almost like you all think you CAN NOT have paint that looks better than a rattle can job for less than 3000 dollars or some crap... That is total

And I would NEVER let Maaco do any mechanical work on my car either...

When someone asks a question around here (i.e. what can I get done for 1500 bucks) then they want a real answer to thier damn question

they don't want "i would save up and do blahblahblahblah" like most people around here do...

Christ that's annoying.

I agree with Dizturbed One. I do think ill be fine with 1500.

There are plenty of people that have gotten cheap paintjobs that have held up, there are also people that have had them fall off the car after a year. Depends on the shop. Kid I know had his 87 GTA painted at a maaco, 2000$, looked fine. The GTA was white, my car is black and had damaged door, fender, and bumper. I spent 500$ alone on a door and a bumper (GM only, no aftermarket crap, some people would rather spend 150$ on an aftermarket bumper, I'd rather pay 290$ for genuine GM and know it fits perfect)

The average person can't tell a 1000$ from a 5000$ paintjob. If you want a 20 fter then go for it. You can tell yourself your 600$ maaco job is better than a 4000$+ job, or an 8000$ job if you like. It goes both ways, people like to justify paying more, and on the other end people will claim their cheapo job is just as good. You say it looks nice, if I saw the car I might think it looks terrible and pick the car apart.

yes, a shop will install your hi-rise, sand the car, then spray it for 1500$. your definition of "decent" or "good" may differ alot from mine. i honestly hope you get a good paintjob, and 1500$ is reasonable that you should get something fairly decent, but if you get the car back and you really start to look it over inch by inch.....just remember you got what you paid for...but hell, it'll look good from 20 ft.

oops

My bad if I came off more argumentative than I meant...

I never implied my 600 dollar job is better than a 4000 dollar job at all. I know it is not. I can tell the difference also.

BUT... I did ALL of my prep work and even ripped all the chrome off the truck before I took it in.

I'm simply saying that it is in fact good enough for the application for which it was intended, and I do not need a 4000 dollar job on every vehicle I own. I was actually very impressed because I did not expect as much from them. it is after all just an old diesel truck that I haul stuff around with and beat up in the woods in the summertime.

And remember... There are plenty of people who have spent 5K on a paintjob only to have it "fall off" also.

I know someone on another board who spent OVER 10,000 dollars in paint on a 50's truck he had restored.

The painter was a local paint legend or something I guess, and the guy had seen numerous gorgeous cars he painted. So he gave up his truck to this guy and 10,000 dollars & a couple months later he gets back this paintjob that is supposed to be from heaven and not only is it orangepeeled in a particular area the truck came out THREE DIFFERENT SHADES OF GREEN!

Sometimes mistakes and bad luck have no relation to price...

and a 4k paintjob that dissapoints me on my daily driver is REALLY dissapointing... a 1k paintjob that dissapoints me just kind of annoys me... lol

Yea we're just having a discussion, I was thinking the same thing, "hope dizturbed doesn't think I'm just trying to argue with him"

Just kinda seems wierd to assume that a daily driven car is going to have it's paint destroyed. I see alot of people say it's pointless to put a 5000$ paintjob on a car your going to drive on a regular basis. But on the same note, you wouldn't go to your Chevy dealer and buy a brand new car with a paintjob that looks shoddy. What would you do if the salesmen said "well your going to drive this everyday right?, so no point in putting a good looking paintjob on it." I would hope any sane person would walk out the door right away.

If a 10,000$ paintjob is not done correctly, there should be paperwork of some sort. I mean, when your dealing with that much money you should probably take the guy to court or something and get another certifed body guy to say "yea that paintjob is not up to standards". I mean, there are professional standards to adhere to, even maaco will repaint your car for free if it starts to go south a year later. It's just ridiculous to be getting the car repainted every year from poor workmenship, even if it is free.

A buddy of mine has an 86' monte SS and we're always helping eachother out in the garage doing projects. He asked me one day and I quote:

"Would you have the cracked head fixed or just buy new set of dart iron eagles" (the heads were the old fuelie double hump casting)

My response:

"Well it's not my car, so sure, go fix the cracked head it'll be cheaper"

Honestly, if you only have 1500$, and want your car painted then go for it, I wouldn't do it, but hell, it's not my car, I don't have to look at it every day, if it's good enough for you then go for it, but just be aware of what your getting and what your not getting.

I agree with alot of what you say.

My view may be a bit skewed on the subject because where I live it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep a car looking decent for any amount of time unless you don't drive faster than 35 mph... Gravel on the side of the road everywhere, INSANE amounts of bugs, you're always stuck behind a semi, etc.

My car looks disgusting after an accumulated hour on the freeway over here. The entire front is covered with bugs.

So yes, to ME, it's not worth it at all to spend that much on paint for a daily driver.

When I lived dead in the middle of the city I never had that sort of problem though. Then it was all about door dings and bumper taps... lol

And yeah, the guy is pursuing the painter in court I believe, haven't checked up on the situation in a couple months though. The paint DID look great where it wasn't orangepeeled........ But it was three different shades of looking good..... haha. I would've had a stroke if I put that much money into the paint.

The type of person I am dictates my opinion on this also. I like my interior very clean, and as long as the outside is looking decent, I'm happy. Knowing there is better out there doesn't make something less decent to me. I obsess more about having it run perfect. Even if it was a 2.5 iron duke, I'd want it in running to the best of it's ability above all else.

I'm just fine with Maaco while I'm driving my car everyday.

Once I put an LS1 in it (turbo?) next year and stop driving it around everywhere (showoff street/strip car) I'll be taking it down to metal and throwing really nice paint on there.

I think I spent $1800 on this paint job (didnt include the jambs, but was black before so it looked good. The price included removing some rather deep key scratches from a vandalism. It was no maaco job either, but a respected auto-body shop in the area. It was "daily driver" quality, but not show quality. I know it's not a 3rd gen, but merely an example:

Thats EXACTLY what im looking for. I thought $1500 would be right.

Just be careful and keep close tabs on the shop. To get that good price, I also had to let them do my car as "side work"...meaning they would work on it as time allowed. Took longer than normal but I had other transportation.


Good luck with it!

ughh sidework..my car is getting painted that way too..it sux that it takes sooooo much longer that way but it does help with the cost of painting. I was supposed to have my camaro back from paint over a month ago, but I guess I really cant complain that much...so it is taking a long time to get done..the painter is also saving me over $2000.00 to do it.

I saw a guy who took his car to a body shop around the corner from me he got a 600 dollar paint job and up close it looked very good not show quality but very good and he said they did it about 4 years ago.

When i paint my bird i plan to have at least 2000 to get it painted im going to take all the trim off my self have them take out a dent and align my trunk and whats left over will go to paint.