Ok heres the deal. I Have an 88 Trans Am GTA that i am restoring. I want to get it painted so took the car to Maaco to get an estimate price. They gave me a reasonable price for the job but the problem lies with the front bumper cover and rear spoiler. The man told me that if i want a "good job" that will last i i have to buy a new front bumper cover and spoiler because if the paint over it, it will just chip away again. This Did NOT make sense to me. Is he right and what is my solution? Here are a few pics to show the the bumper cover condition...

 

From what it looks like you have at least two coats of Silver paint on your car. I'm no expert on these matters, in fact far from it, but I would say either get them to sand both those things down to base and put new primer down as well as a new coat of silver, or if you're in an even tighter bunch on the cash, sand it down yourself and apply your own coat of primer. But if you choose that route make sure that you are using the same kind of primer paint. I'm not sure but I think that not having the same primer would effect the overall outcome to your paint job. Again, I'm no expert but this is probably something along the lines of what I would do.

 

ooo ok BTW i guess the first color silver is starting to chip but ok thanks i never even thought that so more than likely i would not have to buy a new one because other than that its perfect?

 

Yeh I don't see anything physically wrong with it besides the paint. I had my Firebird towed in October and some chains got under the front bumper and pretty much inverted my GFX.

The Good News: It's a Fiberglass gfx so it pliable which means there shouldn't be to much wrong w/ it unless you've just hit a car with it. The Dealership sanded the whole thing down and put a new coat of white paint on it. It looks just like the rest of the car now.

The Bad News: I had to watch that happen to my prized possession. Bad feeling when you've put your own sweat and blood into something.

 

My uncle is a body man and when we repainted my IROC, we just sanded the noise cone down and made sure to "feather" the chip marks so that they are smooth and then they sprayed it. If you do the right prep work it will be fine. You might want to ask another body shop for some tips. Most times they are pretty helpful.

 

thanx to all for everything greatly appreciated

 

I wouldn't let macco anywhere near my car . They hardly prep a car for paint and then they use cheap paint , in 2 or 3 years your whole car could be flaking off like your front is now . I know a few painters and one of them actually worked for macco a long time ago and he put the fear of god in me about them .
I know it will cost a whole bunch more money to have a real painter do it but the quality will be a thousand times better .

 

The front bumper on mine was in a far worse state than yours. Never had to get another one though. They just re-painted it and it looks as good as new. The paint on it's layered on quite thick too so I doubt it's gonna flake off any time soon.

 

a buddy of mine had them paint his hood a few months ago. Saying they did a horrible job would be an understatment. It cost him $500 and it's become pretty self evident that they did no prep work. The paint had small bubbles that are becoming large bubbles under the paint because of this damn Florida heat and there are a few drip spots. They didnt even bother putting a sheet over his engine compartment so now he has little grey and yellow (some sort of cleaner) spots all over it. If i were you...i'd go buy $1000 worth of paint equip, take your time and do it right. You're the only one who respects your car and will put quality work into it. That is unless you get a $10000 paint job

anyways...yeah...keep the bumper

 

WOW i did not know Maaco had that type of rep. Well thanx for the heads up i actually thought that letting an actual "professional company" do it would do a better work then some small time guy but obviously thats not the case. I have know clue when it comes to bodywork and paint (pretty sound under the hood though ) but I have a buddy that painted his car himself. I know he has all the equipment to do get the job done right and he actually cares. Guess it kinda works out...now i can actually learn! Thanx for all the tips and input

 

go to a local auto paint store make sure you get a primer, base, and clear that all work together. When we did my buddies truck we sprayed a primer down sanded it, everything looked great, as soon as we sprayed the base it reacted with the primer clumped up and pulled off the metal (viper blue $$$$) and then fell off the truck. it was nasty to sand it all off and start again but theres no reason you should go through the same thing. Just have your buddy recommend the stuff since he's painted before and spray it yourself its not that bad its all in the sanding and prep.

 

Macco does have a pretty good rep for being a bad place to get a car painted at.
They are a general example of, “you get what you pay for”.

As for buying all your paint supplies yourself, expect the supplies to cost more than what Macco is saying they will paint your car for.

Most people that get their first paintjob experience a huge sticker shock.

There are a few different routes you can take.
Have Macco do it, but expect the paint to peel in a year.

Buy the equipment and do it yourself, you results might not be much better than Macco your first time, but at least you are working on a skill that will payoff in the long run.

Go to a paint store, and ask them if why know of anyone that does painting on the side. Many times people that do side jobs in painting will get to know the people in the stores, and the people in the stores will send more business their way.

Final option, save your money and take it to a paint shop. While you are saving money, research which place in your area does good work at a fair price.

Usually the last two options will give you a better quality that will last longer than Macco.

P.S. I have painted plenty of bumpers on 3rd gens, and all I have had to do, is sand them down, prime them and paint them. I have used both an epoxy paint and polyurethane.
I generally use a Poly though.

Only time I have experienced a chip is when someone has driven the car into something.

But they also make flex agents that might be able to be used with your paint that will help prevent chipping all together on the bumpers.

Hope this helps.

 

QFT!! I saw one car come out of macco that I think they forgot to even wash judging by the dirt in it.

"Restoring" and "Macco" should never be anywhere near each other.

 

If they tell you you need to buy a bumper to have a good paint job, that should by a signal right there. If you want a good paint job, you need to go to a good paint shop and spend a few grand and get a paint job that will last another 10-15 years.

I had Maaco paint just my rear bumper after I got rear ended, and it looks like ****. It is quite obvious the bumper is a different color. When I recently had to buy a brand new bumper and have the hood repaired and both painted, you can't even tell because I took it to a good body shop.

 

I'm not sure about the front bumper because I never had a problem on that end but I did have the old wrap around spoiler and it had cracks in it I was also told by a body shop that the paint would continue to chip off it because what happens is the metal frame inside it rusts and expands causing it to be warped and continue to crack. I had them prep it and paint it and sure enough it flaked within a year or so... I ended up going with Hawks fiberglass wrap around and it not only was lighter but looked a lot better and has held up for a while now.

 

I have this same issue. A friend who runs a body shop explained the problem is not reusing the old front cover, it is that the cost of sanding it down to base to prepare it for paint is almost always more than simply buying a new one ($300-500 to prep depending on condition). And yes, you can still buy a new front cover--GM has a few left over.

 

dont dis us "small time guys" i can paint and do body work better than maaco with a blind fold and a roller brush..........

 

Dude, I don't think he was putting anybody down. Just learning something new about 3rd Gen Care. The only person whose taking a side is you, so, cool your jets. Now, haha :P

 

I have had both methods done. My Maaco paint job on my 1986 looked good for about 3-4 years. With body work I paid about $2200 back in 2000. Had to take it back numerous times. I am now preparing for a new paint job next month. My custom paint job on my 92 is great. It shines properly and there is no flaking. I have not had to take it back once. Look at that shine in my avitar. That is what you want - five years after the job is done. Same cost as my Maaco job except they removed all of my parts (GFX, bumper covers, blisters, soiler, etc.). I recomend using flex additive on that bumper so that it does not spider crack. In the end you not only get what you pay for. If you are going to go to Maaco at the least get a life time warrenty if they have one. I know Earl Schieb has one. I will be using them for painting my work truck this summer. But never Maaco / Earl Schieb for any car that is going to be a show car.

 

Its not just YOUR bumper that will crack, its a generic problem. The reason is because the bumper and the spoiler are made of poly-urethane. If you touch the rest of the car, and go and touch the nose and spoiler, you will notice they feel kinda rubbery.

This flexes alot, and the flexing cracks the paint. So ask for the flex additive, and spray it on the nose, rear bumper, and the spoiler, and you'll be in good shape. The additive is sprayed on at the "primer" stage i beleive. Its all in the prep work.

If youre getting a job from MAACO, dont worry about quality......

 

flex additive is just a trick for body shops, it wears off in about 3 months.......it keeps the shop from having to worry about the paint flaking when they are putting the bumper back on or buffing it

 

Maaco does a hack job, all they do is buff the car then PAINT OVER the car, they do no sanding, no priming, nothing!!!

I had a black car repainted black by them (was our race car) and after they were done, it looked like my 7 year old could have done a better job with a box of crayons!!

Do it right and take it to a body shop and have it sanded to bare metal and painted. It will cost more, but the car will look a 1000X's better I swear!!

 

Okkkk i didn't read every post, but i want to give you a heads up.. i sent my car into maaco on january 11th of this year.. i need all new parts up front cause the previous owner wrecked it.. they ended up making me track down all the parts myself and the few they could get a hold of where nearly double the price i paid... anyways i finally got the car back in like march 22nd... and in that time period, they parked it in front and some guy crashed into it after they painted it.. then another time they called me to pick it up and they actually dented my hood, and my headlights where hanging out.. and a third time, the paint just looked horrible.. looked like they mixed syrup with the paint... the paint was cracked in places.. they all around suck, i give them 2 thumbs down.. and not to be harsh, but if the place burnt to the ground, i'd be happy..