I just got my 91 Z28 back from Maaco . I did the "urethane + IC" paint job . I did all the prep on it . The paint job itself isn't too bad, some orange peel, but nothing major. I wish I would've prepped it better and I totally missed some spots. The only thing that pissed me off a little is that the engine has overspray all over it . But for $550 out the door, I can't complain too much.

Before -
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After


http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott597/8478353597/http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott597/8478353597/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/scott597/, on Flickr
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Looks good.
I'm going to be doing the exact same thing. I don't have the place/experience to paint my own, but I can do the body work.
I know it won't be show quality, but it will fit the budget theme of my build.

 

from the time you dropped off the car how long did they have it for? Ive been thinking about doing the same thing.

 

I dropped it off monday morning, it was ready thursday afternoon.

 

looks good now, we'll see in a year.

 

I'm glad you're happy with it. I was not happy with my Maaco finish I had on my Lincoln. Ps I think those blisters would look good in black.

 

Looks good, can't beat it. Certainly better than it did.

 

Looks good.

 

Looks great

 

I wish every paint rolling, spray bombing person out there would take a note as to how to do it if you cant afford a professional high end paint job .
$550.00 and "you" did the prep. that's great, and if your happy with it than that's even better. My mother had her flaking clear coat and faded paint done at a Maaco for $700.00 and it looks great.
As far as any negative replies save it for those that wont take the time to do the prep. necessary and save the money to "do what this man did."

 

It's not that most that go the cheap way cant afford the "high end paint jobs" it's that they dont want one on a car thats worth about the same as a new paint job. Seriously a $3000 and below valued car most likely wont be getting anything more then maco paint or something worse just thought i should mention that. By the way ur car came out looking awsome.

 

Thats exactly what I was trying to say,IMO, any car worth saving is at least worthy of a $550.00 paint job. I'm not talking about what a car is worth financially ,I'm talking about what a car is worth to the owner.
In case that was not clear "IMO" any of our cars even if its a DD beater that you don't want to spend allot of money on is worthy of a Maaco paint job.
Any way lets get back to the OPs car. = Nice job !

 

Thanks for the comments.

This is exactly what I was thinking too. I couldn't justify a $2-3K paint job on a car thats worth about that much anyways. I'm also planning on selling it now and didn't want it looking like the "before" picture (I'm planning on getting a 350 t-top IROC next).

 

What happen to the spoiler in the first pic?

 

It's in the trunk, I haven't been able to put it back on yet, have to make the gaskets for it.

 

You can put 20 grand into a sentimental car and feel good about it , example My fatherinlaw bought a 1990 rs new in 1990 died of cancer 2 yrs ago left me the car and there is no limit to what I will do to the car even though its worth at best 5k . now if I bought the same car on the side of the road for 1000 i may be skeptical about throwing alot of money at it. Its all about what your car means to you . that counts. I'm at $5000 already and its on blocks and no paint or motor so 20 is about rite for me , good luck with yours . and about your engine having overspray ,take it to the manager and show him , ask him what he can do to make it rite (nicely) at first . its very simple to mask an engine bay.

 

I looked at a few 4th gens for my son (15) starts driving in 2 yrs ... first thing that popped into my head was a quick macco job to get it looking clean. Fortunately for me I have a Pal that has a body shop. I can do prep and get a decent paint job with many clear coats and they wet sand and buff it too for under $2K.

Also have neighbor with a brand new macco shop ... can do same w/him for even less. Probably where my sons car will go.

 

Car definitely looks good for $550. Any shots of the engine bay? I'm curious how the over spray you mentioned looks. I noticed some over spray on the door handles and antenna mount. I guess they don't their time masking things off. That should be easy enough to remove though.

Did you take the spoiler off before paint or did Macco do that? I'm assuming the other gfx, bumpers, doors, fenders stayed on the car during paint right? Sorry lots of questions. Eventually my car will be getting new paint so trying to learn about all the options.

 

I'll take some shots later today . I masked some of the trim , door handles, etc my self and the tape wasn't cooperating with me when I was unmasking it . The only thing I took off the car before painting was - rear spoiler, tail lights, side markers, front license plate surround & the rear license plate holder. There are a few other spots I've noticed some overspray, but its not that bad.

 

Nice job.

 

If you can - best to strip off all of the plastic and trim.

Paint plastics with a "Flex Agent" or it will be prone to cracking.

 

Overspray pic

 

Got some more stuff put on the car. Still waiting for the front emblem to show up. It should be 50 out tomorrow , so the rest of the emblems will go on , as well as the door side moulding & marker lights. Then the interior will be next.






http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott597/8482885771/http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott597/8482885771/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/scott597/, on Flickr
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Looks great. A good deal at $550.

 

Well thats kind of annoying. Gonna take some time to get it all off, but its doable I guess.

 

Looks good for that price, I'm in the process of painting my 89 Iroc Frost white and I have 700.00 just in Materials.......

 

nice looks awesome i have maaco jobs on my cars too

 

This looks real good from the pictures. Hard to believe its maaco. Goes to show they do have some quality painters working for them, they are just not always easy to find.

 

Are there any specks of dirt in the paint? Are you reusing your original side moldings?

 

Looks great for $550.00. I know some painters, but when the body work is done on my RS i might go the Maaco route as well.

 

Back in the 80s when I lived in south Fla we would buy cheap cars with sun baked
paint and send them to maaco or econo-bake. We would fix the dents and have
the shop d/a sand and prime/seal them and have them shoot the cheapo single
stage enamel job for $150 bucks !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then take them to NY and sell them as Fla rust free cream puffs!

 

There are a couple near the door locks, but thats about it . I bought new side mouldings from Hawks.

 

Car looks great man. I couldn't be happier with my Maaco paint. I went all out with their best BC CC paint and let them do all the prep/body work. The doors were really wavy and dinged up. The bodywork turned up perfect as did the paint. Maaco's are just like any other bodyshop, you've gotta do your research and find the right one.

 

It looks good today and hopefully will last, however, Maaco is known for not doing quality work. Too bad you didn't remove more parts before having it painted. It makes me wonder just how good of a job this is when the door handle wasn't taped off very well and the plastic gaskets under the side view mirrors were painted right over. The paint WILL crack at the edges of the mirror gaskets and start to peel over time. I'm also hoping that the black trim piece for the hood blisters was removed and not painted white. I can't tell if the piece is actually installed.

 

The white on the door handle isn't over spray , the tape wasn't all the way removed when I took the pics. I taped some of the stuff up before dropping it off and they left that tape on when I picked up the car. When I bought the car, the black piece of the blister was already primered over , I will most likely paint that myself.

 

Like was said there are good shops and bad shops no matter what the name is. Back in the late 90's there was a Maaco around here that did custom paint and they did a great job, they also did the Maaco normal paint jobs, but the owner liked to have both sides. Sadly the shop folded, but man that was a good Maaco-wish they were still around.

 

I always found it funny when guys with zero paint experience on the forum decide that Maaco sucks and they can do a better job in their carport/backyard.

Maaco is like any other body shop. Some have good painters, some don't. Some have good body guys, some don't.

You wouldn't put a 10k paint job on a thirdgen that is worth $2k.

-- Joe

 

We have a local Maaco shop in my area and he sponsors some of his customers cars and puts them in our local car shows,I'll tell what!those cars are flawless.Like everybody's saying,you get what you pay for and some shops are hit and miss.

 

Wish I could get that deal for both my cars LOL! I know alot of painters, buy the issue is it takes them so long to do it in their free time so sometimes a good Maaco looks like a better option.

Also the OP said he is fixing the car up to sell so as long as it looks good why would he want to pay $2k or more for paint just to flip the car. Unless you want to do a full on show car or a perfect restore and will keep the car forver there is no point in putting a $2k plus paint job on a average 3rd gen or any car for that matter. I want my TA to be perfect if I ever redo it and I'm not at the point where I want to drop a ton of cash for paint and the light body work it needs so I just leave it original-it looks good. Now my RS has been resprayed once already and needs some body work so I have to repait-not going to drop a ton of cash on the paint, just make it look good like the OP did.

 

The car looks great. I'm a fan of Maaco and have had a number of cars painted there. That said, I'll never have another one clear coated as that is the most expensive and also the worst paint job I've had from them. It looked good for about a year and then the clear coat started peeling. When it's time for my IROC to be painted, it will go to Maaco. I have a hard time justifying more than a $1000 on a car that I use as a daily driver in the summer. The only thing is that I will check to see which shop in the area does the best job first.

 

So you are saying the Maaco single stage is the way to go? For a fun car that is not going to be in the weather all time and will be kept clean and waxed I don't see an issue with sigle stage. I had a buddy that had a show truck paintrd Corvette victory red in single stage and it looked killer and won many shows, he just kept it clean and waxed it every few months and it always looked like new paint and he drove the truck alot in the summer months for a few good years till he died.

 

Sorry to hear about your friend, but for me the answer was and is Yes. And he had the right idea. You have to keep them clean and waxed.

 

Thanks and it was a long time ago. Yeah I'm going to go single stage on my RS. I see the OP went IC, not sure how I feel about that vs just single stage.

 

In 98 I had Maaco paint my 86 Trans Am. I took all the ground effects, lights, and stuff off. Car looked good for a daily driver. I knew going into it that the paint wouldn't be show finish. For $800 back then, I was in business!

I will never justify spending $5K for paint on a $2K car value, especially a daily driver or summer only car. No matter how careful you are, things happen...teenagers swinging doors into it, shopping carts or whatever. It only takes one dipsh!t to ruin it.

Your car looks good, I'm happy for you. Wish I could see it in person.