llvll4l2c91350

anyone have any comments/complaints about the "supreme" macco paint job? i got a quote today for my car for $1100. body work on the spoiler, front bumper and hood. main damage on the paint is on the roof, side panels and mirrors. i'd say 75% of the paint still looks somewhat decent from a distance. of course up close u can see its dull and scratches everywhere. i'll have pics later tonite.

also what exactly needs to be removed from the car as part of the prep work? i wanna try and do this myself but all the sanding and stuff i'll leave it to them as i am completely ignorant when it comes to anything related to paint. here are some notes from the estimate:

Supreme urethane value package
$999.95 value 4-year warranty Florida sun pkg - $599.95

protection packages - UV sunscreen, int clr ct

surface reconditioning - strip roof and upper quarter panels - 60.00

materials and supplies - 35.00

body labor - 336.00

gross sales - 1041.45

total w/ tax - 1109

no paint warranty on plastic/rubber

Gr89RS

iTrader: (5)

Honestly I wouldn't take my car to Maaco but it's your choice.

For insurance I would remove everything that you don't want painted since many times they either do a terrible masking job or don't mask at all.

Good luck.

Al Hasse

Mine was done at Maaco, similar package, same price. Overall a good paint job. Make sure you point out ALL of the spots you want fixed or it just sanded and painted. Also I still have some fine sanding scratches under the paint in a couple of places, but mostly not noticeable to anyone but me. I was overall pleased with the result, it looks great for a daily driver.

MaNiAk86

iTrader: (2)

i was planning on having my car done at maaco and then just slip the painter some extra money to put on a couple extra coats so i could wet sand and buff it. it will look like a $4000 paint job.

and if anyone else in this area is interested in any work done like this i work at a shop called memory lane motors and we can do alot of body work there but we have to take it someplace else to paint it. but we can do it

84RIceEater

yeah i just got a paint job from macco on my integra, it was the 400$ one. it turned out good i thought. i had a macco paint job done on my camaro by them, it also turned out great.Just i washed my camaro w/ Dish soap and not car soap and it got a lil dull.But other than that its Fine for a daily driver.

camaro430sut

iTrader: (2)

be carful with macco. id do the prep yourself if possible, ints nit to hard and this site has tons of info. macco doesnt do great prep jobs at all. they r good painters but arent the best at prep work. however i do understand each macco is independantly owned and i have seen so real high quality ones and some real crappy ones. ask if you can see some of their other work.
matt

Diggler86

they usually have some 1/2 off deals at this time of year. maybe ask them if it will start soon.

that quote sounds expensive. got mine done for like $250 with the 1/2 off.

llvll4l2c91350

yea the one thing im worried about is that if i spend 1100 and then have it turn out not so good that i'll have to repaint it couple years from now. if thats gonna be the case then i might as well get something for 500 or 600. im wonderin if maybe i should just pay for the "lesser" package seeing as my car is a daily driver. at first he quoted me around 800 for the "presidential".

my boss's truck was done on the left side by this shop. turned out pretty good IMO.

al hasse - how old is ur paint job? turned out nice from the pic. did u do the prep work urself?

edit: decided to post the link to my cardomain page so u guys can see some older pics of my ride. there wasnt as much fading back then as there is now.

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

i wouldn't take my car to Maaco if it the was last paint shop on earth. they sprayed over my friends intercooler on his Turbo Supra. and they also left the door jams and trunk jam white on my friends black civic and there's white spots around the cracks where you call tell they did a crappy job masking

Cadillac

From what I've learned on TGO about this topic is that you will find a wide range of skilled sprayers in places like Maaco, Earl, etc. See if you can find other customers or even local TGO members to provide a reference.

Regardless of how good they are you will be best served doing some advanced prep work yourself. You'll be lucky if some parts of your car even see sand paper or prep at these places. Also, the words about the masking are well founded. I had my car painted with by Earl and although I was pleased with the results I was gradually disappointed in the amount of overspray that happened in the wheel wells, around the weather strinping, and actually on my rims. It sucks to spend time with mineral spirts after the spray to remove paint where it ought not be.

Your mileage will vary...

Zrated83

iTrader: (17)

Every Maaco is different. Some turn out good and others like crap. What other paint packages do they have? I think I got the presidential or ambassador. I got my car painted at Maaco since its my daily driver and im in college so I cant really afford a 2k paint job. I did all of the prep work myself though. I also took off every thing I could to eliminate overspray. The paint job turned out pretty nice for $300 Check out my cardomain for more pics.

'Shifter

iTrader: (2)

I had Maaco throw a quickie on my wife's car, which was shedding due to
GM paint cancer, and for the itty bit of cash I chucked them, they did a dang
nice job, and quickly.

Diggler86

yeah if its your daily driver, i'd consider the less expensive option. it sucks when you have a nice new paint job, and then a week later you got a rock chip from the freeway. which WILL happen. you wont cry about it as much if you didnt overspend on the paint job.

Gunny Highway

iTrader: (1)

Maaco's "best." I didn't do any prep work and it was a color change as well with a few pieces replaced. Had to send it back twice, but it's free so whatever. People seem to like it.

83_Camaro_83

Man, out of all the cars on the boards YOURS was done at macco? but yours is so nice!

nex your gonna say kandied's car was done at macco

Brisk

iTrader: (25)

wow Gunny

llvll4l2c91350

Gunny - how much was that?

u guys that paid around 500 or less got some pretty good results. were all those the "ambassador"? presidential isnt too bad of a price. its the body work and prep work thats gonna kill me. i dont feel comfortable doing most of it myself. i just want my car to look better. i think any job will satisfy. hate seeing my car all faded or dented or missing paint in some areas.

Gunny Highway

iTrader: (1)

Just a hair under $2k.

Replaced one fender, added blisters, replaced all the lights, replaced 3 pieces of GFX, added Z-28 grill, jammed it out, painted all the t-top and hatch trim.

It definately could have been done better, but it's free to send it back . . . so that's what I kept doing until they got it right. I had to use McGuier's (sp?) 3 stage cleaner/polish/wax to get the orange peel out. That pic was simply a wash, dry and tire shine deal. It hadn't been waxed in 4 months when I took that pic.

Gunny Highway

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, his was right next to mine.

But that's a little wierd that my car is now mentioned in the same sentence as Kandied's. . . . something not right about that.

Brisk

iTrader: (25)

theres nothing wrong about that. you worked hard to custom and tailer your car to your likings. its a sharp looking car! that in itself is worth an honorable mention in my books

Dark Mavis

maaco

llvll4l2c91350

wow dark. which package was that? how much?

rideon1200

Had the daughters car painted. After the car is painted, dont be afraid to have any places your not satisfied with redone. I refused to accept my daughters car twice. Its not there fault if you accept a bad paint job. They were very polite and I ended up with a very good paint job, actually it was excellent and I KNOW I didnt pay 1100.00. But if you are getting a diffrent color or the door jambs painted then it is worth it. My daughters car was redone in white. I recently waxed it and it still, 2 years later, looks good. Just go over it and dont be afraid to speak up. Also dont be in hurry to get car back. Make sure everything is in contract, dont ASSUME. (*** out of you and me)

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

Ironic screenname you have there.

bitchin85camaro

if you have the resources it might be worth doing it yourself. as long as you dont do a real high gloss color your first time, i bet you'l be impressed with what you can do by learning as you go along. as far as saving money, might be the same as a maaco job, but you'l have the pride of knowing you did it yourself. ive done a couple cars myself now, if you wanted some pointers i could help you along. oh yeah and white would be the easiest. white would hide any body work you had to do. where as black is a real high gloss color, and is very difficult to get perfect. just an idea.

cooltc2004

iTrader: (4)

Hey man, that car ^^^ NEEDS MORE COWBELL



Maaco is only as good as your prep work, or the depth of your wallets.

smokeycamaro51

I painted my 90 5 speed V-8 vert. Me and my dad took his 86 vette down for a quick spray. All the damn rubber bumpers are peeling up crazy. Doing it yourself really isn't that hard. Now Of course I had 3 years of working a body shop but to be totally honest as long as a you have a block for the sanding, body work is cake and stick with a fairly basic color setup your good. Now Single stage is tough stuff to work with. Not really my favorite. I used a two stage system. Dupont Chromabase Le Mans blue( got the paint code off of my dads 04 Le mans Ed. Vette) It was orignally a three stage but you can ask for it to be mixed with out a mid coat. Spraying the blue down is easy very hard to run it. The PPG Clear (don't remember which one it was) but that stuff is pretty hard to run as well. On my entire car i had one 1/2 inch sag but then again i put 4 coats of clear. thats cuz i did some flames and wanted to eliminate the edge. Hell i did it with 50 dollar guns too. If i had my nice Sata then i coulda done an even bitchin job. Now if you really want a slick job pull out the 1500 grit wet/dry sand paper a couple of buckets of water and sand off all the gloss be careful not to go through to the basecoat and graphics. Then pull out your buffer set it 1500 RPM and the 3M perfect it III and buff it to a mirror really does a lot. Too bad I had to sell the car. Now instead of paintin bodies I hang em on Racecars. CHeck out my pictures.

smokeycamaro51

Well looks like they didn't go through again. Check out my website. Can't wait till i start on my next project. I'll be taking a convert and sticking a 03 ZO6 LS6 with a supercharger in it with body work that looks like the old porshces from the 80s with the 12 in wide tires and radical front ends. http://www.geocities.com/flameblueca...11296542677ugh hit my webpage.

TKO500

iTrader: (5)

Are all of you guys having a base/clear paint job done?

sunbitz

My question as well.
Is this a base coat/ clear coat.... or a mix job?

I'll admit these are impressive results coming out of Macco, but I can still see a difference in the pics.

I had mine painted at a custom shop 5 years ago and it's coming out of the same shop here again in a few weeks.
I'm paying $2900 for a base coat clear coat job.
I'll post some pics if this thread is still alive when I get it back.

The last time they painted the car...... You could see yourself from ten feet away as though you were standing in a mirror.
They put two heavy coats of clear on the car and it being dark teal metallic in color... just looked very deep when you just stared at the paint.

I've never dealt with Macco myself, but have seen plenty of their work and I must agree with the majority here. Do the prepwork yourself. They go wild with the paint guns and overspray is everywhere. If you don't want it painted.... then mask it off. Seems like the only thing they cover are the windows and lights.

The shop my car is in right now.... they took off everything.
They took off all the lights, door handles, door locks, emblems, hood, ground effects, etc. Some shops just tape them up and spray around them and you can tell it when the tape comes off.

Point blank.... You get what you pay for, and they don't see your car like you do. They see it as just another car to paint until you look your baby over and say .... this and that is not acceptable no matter where you go or how much you pay..

Also ask them what kind of paint they use.
Last time my car was painted with Dupont paint and I forget the brand on the clear coat and I must say it's really great paint.
They showed me their invoice on the cost for the dark teal metallic was $700 and the clear coat was $200.
I can say this.... the 5 years that paint has been on the car.... it still looked "wet" after I washed it and put a coat of wax on it.

The main question is... are you going to keep the car.
If yes, then you will be painting it again sometime in the future, if no..... then go for something you can afford that will look good and get a decent resale value when you decide to sell it.

1989karr

well, it depends which one you go to apaprently....I'm personally never going back to the one i wen to....even though I never had them do anything for me.....quotes like

"......do you want us to sand before we paint?"

Me: "hmmm that's not to bad for a paint job...what if ..."
Them (to another customer): "Excuse me sir, I can help you here" (as he walks off before i finish my sentence)


"Well, i think you're door got bent somehow. We'll ahve to bend it back so we can't guarantee it'll fit though...plus your window may not align and it may even shatter....."

"Also, we'll probably have to apply heat to the door, but if the thing catches fire, we can't be held responsible"

"You want THAT thing painted?!?!"


....IDK, could just be mine, but still....those experiences are just enough to turn me off........

sunbitz

1989karr..... WOW!!!

That has to be the worst experience I've ever heard as a customer period.

Then I'm liking my body shop more and more.
My car got tore all down the drivers side in the accident.
Looked like Ruffles with Ridges.
I told them I wanted to buy all the parts cause I felt they were too high in the estimate. (which they were)
I got a door in a matter of a few weeks, but they told me they would not hang the door until I get a fender so they could align it properly so the car would have nice clean and straight lines after the repair. Long story short.... took 3 months to find a fender.

And frankly.... the replacement door works better than the original door.

And they were telling you this kind of stuff at Macco?

sunbitz

Smokey!!!
One heck of a paint job!!
If it's you in the drivers seat with that BIG OLE' SMILE..... only proves a job well done!

Not to diss on anyone's paint job here but.....
look at smokeys and look at the pics from the Macco jobs.
You can see the difference...... the difference being materials, experience and most of all love (err uhhh PRIDE).

The car looks great smokey!
Macco can't touch that in my opinion!

1989karr

yup, those were based on several experience just going there. But the BEST one was one I forgot to mention. Regarding the time I went to get my doro aligned (the fire and glass breaking time) they told me this....

"Wow, is that a new paint job?"

Now, I knew what my paint job was already like. It was peeling, chipped, flaking, lots or orange peel.......(and it still is lol) and I said, "yeah. The previous owner got it painted somewhere..."

I was going to say "Yeah, the paint really sucks yeah?"

but then they said 'Wow, it looks pretty good. I think it's one of ours....are you going to get it repainted again?"

Why I went back for those other estimates is beyond me!!! lol

1989karr

oh....I should finish the door story lol

So I went down the street to this much better/more professional body shop. I asked them for an estimate. The estimate i got from Maaco was over $1,000 for that bending/heat/fire thing

.....the estimate from this other body shop????

"hmmm.......$85....and I see your fender is kinda messed up too....I'll throw that in for you for free"

$85 later I still got me a crappy paint job from...i wonder where lol and a really nicely aligned fender and door!!!

sunbitz

one heck of a story....
Here is a link to my car pics...
There will be more pics on there once it's done.
The first pic you see is NOT my car.
But it will look like it when it's done. Same color... same rims.
The second pic with the "clear" hood was taken about 4 years ago. And No..... I don't have a clear hood. A little trick photography I did.
Main thing to look at is the shine on the front spoiler and needless to say... my license plate. "sunbitz"

http://www.cardomain.com/id/91ragtop

smokeycamaro51

Thanks Sunbitz. Although I will say this. The get what you pay for statement is very true. Now for racecars your Western Single stage is fine cuz damnit you need to be spendin money on go fast not look cool I used all quality materials. The dupont Basecoat Le Mans blue:330 dollars
PPG Speed Clear Setup (catalyst and reducer): 300
Dupont basemaker (reducer): 50
3M 1500 grit wet/dry: 30
3M Perfect it III: 20
Primer: 90
Treated paper, tape, plastic: 50
Flames (pearl and Intercoat clear) 150 (they were really proud of that damn pearl.

So it was about the same price just in materials but then you gotta figure in your time, the amount of beer you have to buy to sucker your friends into wet sanding, and all the parts you buy because when you take off the trim you reel back and think "I aint puttin this crap on my nice new paint" But its worth it. Every time you walk up to and away from your car you smile. At least I did.

Droptop_Z

Cool man, Thats my car. Glad you like it

sunbitz

Wow.... That IS you car!
I found that picture on a website back in early december wondering who owned it and where it is.
It's been my inspiration ever since I found it, I even have is as my desktop wall paper.
Great picture by the way...
I really liked the angle that you took of the car.

Soon there will be a twin running around in Cali.
I've seen a lot of Camaros with the TTII's on them, but never a Vert in dark metallic green.

llvll4l2c91350

well now im wondering if i should just get their least expensive "ambassador" package. i dont remember if its 299 or 399 but with the body work the total might turn out to be around 600 or 700. what i'd like to know is, lets say the paint turns out great. what about the protection of the paint. how will it look 2 or 3 years from now being down here in the FL sun. will it fade quickly? how much protection is in the package? how long will the shiny look last? im not expecting amazing results with this package. i'll remove as much as i can to avoid any overspray. but the body work will hurt me a lil. the package price by itself aint bad at all.

87CIZ

iTrader: (8)

I had my 87 iroc done at maaco after a guy ran a red light and hit me almost head on. i only got $1400 out of insurance minus $250 for my deductable. So I bought all the parts to fix and had them put everything on and paint. I got the $700 paint job and they painted over the pinstriping that was on the car before. They were hand laid pinstripes so all you seen were raised bumps all over the car. Had them take it back for that. They sanded them down and repainted it. They didn't take the dents out of the door that i was charged for. they took it back for that. 3 months later I had it buffed by a professional shop and they tell me that it wasn't a base coat clear coat system that I had bought but it was the integrated clear coat paint. I'm ****ing furious now so I take it back. Guess what sign in window says "Space for rent" they went out of business and i got screwed out of my 4 year warranty. so it's been almost 4 years now and since 03 paint has been randomly falling off the car in different places. Never again will I have anything to do with Maaco. And would never recommend them to anyone else. But as someone said it depends on the people working there. They are all franchises and corporate won't help you at all with the warranty. My charges after everything was done was $1580 the body work, paint, and panel replacement. Oh yeah they "tried" to give me my car back without a nose emblem. Because they threw it out with the old front bumper cover. That didn't go over so well so the guy that owned the shop ordered me a new one, since it was their mistake. Took me 2 weeks to get that resolved. Sorry had to vent a little.

sunbitz

81CIZ
Now THAT is a nightmare story!

llvll4l2c91350
I don't remember seeing if this is your daily driver or not.
I can say from experience... it's much cheaper getting the parts yourself, but it will prolong the process. I saved huge chunk on my repair bill by buying all the parts myself.
My Estimate was $6300.87 just to fix what was damaged in the accident if they bought the parts. I told them I would buy the parts and the bill is $6122.49.
The $6122.49 is with the whole car getting repainted with a base coat clear coat paint job which they chardged me $2900 for. The $6300.87 was only to repair and paint damage caused in the accident and blend the rest. So techically you have to subtract about 1/2 of the $2900 from the $6122.49 since they are now repainting the whole car rather than just the drivers side and doing a blend.

Just to give you an idea.... they were going to charge me $400 for a used door which I got from House of Camaro for $75. Thanks again Thomas!!

The real question remains....
Are you going to keep the car?
If so.... are you going to enter the car in a car show?

After my accident.... I had doubts about keeping the car or sending it to the bone yard. I searched ad after ad looking for a replacement vert. Turned out anything local would cost me about $1,000 more than it would cost to fix mine.
And I don't know the problems I'm buying....
So I decided to fix mine eventhough it will have no re-sale value what so ever since the insurance company totalled the car. When she gets out.... she will have a salavage title, but I'll bet anyone it will be the best looking salvage on the road. And yes, you can call me an idiot.... I've been wondering the same the whole time.

llvll4l2c91350

yes i plan on keepin the car. it is a daily driver and not a show car. the body work i need isnt that much. basically fix cracks on the spoiler. try and fix a dented hood and bumper.

sunbitz

A picture of the car would definately be a plus here.
From the sounds of it..... makes me think they will do a bondo job on the car and you won't be happy in a few years.

A new lower front spoiler will set you back under $150.
I got mine from gmpartsdirect.com
As for the hood..... I'm guessing/hoping it only has minor dents and dings. If not... grab a buddy and hit local junk yards for a replacemnt.
or.... get a new cowl hood or something you wanted.

It being your daily driver.... makes a big difference.
My car was a daily driver when I had the accident.
I knew it would take months for the repairs.
I paid for a rental for 6 weeks out of pocket.
Then I bought me a junker Volvo for $700 which looks like crap but runs great! After having it for 5 weeks.... it paid for itself and I can now make my vert a weekend driver.

You do have options.... you just have to look at all the angles.
If you plan on keeping the car... store it someplace and buy the parts needed to make it your dream car.
In the mean time... buy something cheap and reliable.

llvll4l2c91350

pics are in the link below, but they are old. the hood is dented but i can live with it. its not major. and they said they'd try and fix it as much as they can. they did recommend of course altogether replacing the hood, spoiler and bumper. the roof is crap b/c i went over it with rattle can paint a while ago. the side panels have that white faded look. same with the mirrors. rest is ok except for touch up paint in a lot of areas. i have a bike that i use as my main transportation right now so no need for me to get another car. i dont want it to be perfect. just want it to look decent as far as paint goes. i will have pics tomorrow morning for sure so u guys can have a look at what im talkin about.

seanof30306

iTrader: (4)

Holy Crap Gunny! That thing came out BEAUTIFUL! Congrats.

TKO500

iTrader: (5)

Gunny - How long ago was that piant job done? In the pic it looks good!

Dark Mavis

It was one step under their Supreme, I don't remember what they call it. It was about $600.00. I did all of the prepping, fiberglassing, bondo, everything necessary before paint. They sanded primed and painted.

Gunny Highway

iTrader: (1)

I took that pic in November so it's been a year since the car was painted. It was waxed about 5 months prior to that picture being taken as well.

. . and thanks man.

Gunny Highway

iTrader: (1)

Thanks man. Too bad you're not around anymore so you can get a better look at it.