Maaco baked enamel paintjob
 

OK, Maaco quoted $225 for a once over quick sand, sprayed with enamel, and then baked.

I'm gonna do all the prep, and deliver the car ready to tape off and shoot.

My question is about the paint. What is enamel? I mean, compared to something else. What's the difference? There is no clearcoat, so is this gonna look like crap? I'm ignorant to the levels and qualities of paintjobs. I am NOT looking for spectacular show quality, and I don't mind some imperfections, but I don't want a ghetto a$$ rattle can look. The price is about what I want to put into this (not my Iroc).

Like I said, the prep will be pretty good, and I can buff and polish all day long, but if the quality is crap to begin with......
I just want a decent paintjob, nothing special.

By the way, what kind/quality of paint did thirdgens have from the factory?

enamal is old school every1 uses base coat clear coat now

Ok, well, how's it gonna look on my car?. I know that's a relative question, but I'm just not sure how to get this done. Keep in mind this is NOT going on my Iroc...which is my baby. This is going on the SC which I'm just trying to get back into good condition.What's the finish like? Can you wax it and buff it? When you say old school, how old we talkin'?

Sorry for all the questions, I just really don't know.

OK, I've just been reading. I actually went to Barnes and Noble!!!:lala:

-Anyway:rolleyes: , I think that my problem is that I (and most of us) are so into our cars that "our" perception of what good paint is, is far above most people. The impression that I had is that base/clear coat is the best and enamel might as well be rattle can. After reading, it think I'm a little more down to Earth and I think that enamel will do just fine, and can even look absolutely fantastic when done right!!!

...as always, anymore comments or experiences with paint are appreciated. I'd love to hear what you guys have heard or seen.

Here's an acryllic enamel paint job I did in my garage.

As you can see - it's not "rattle can" paint.


http://immortaltk.tripod.com/talon.html

Acryllic enamel is good paint - it won't have the shine clear does, but it's nice paint. I've done 2 cars with it - no complaints.

I never meant to offend anyone. (hope I didn't).:(

I just want this to look good, and I'm "paint" illiterate!!!


That paintjob you did looks great!!! I'm sure you can tell the difference, but I would've never known.

Thanks for the pic, and the confidence!!!

I had maaco do my 85 camaro in the 1 stage urethane, and I did all the prepwork myself. The paint has a really nice shine to it, but their cleaning before the paint sucked because all the paint was pealing and chipping within a few months. My girlfriend, who is the current owner took it back to have it redone. They did all the sanding and prep work, and within 2 months all of it was coming off again. It was conveniently a couple weeks after the warranty was up. I know this isn't a pro/con maaco thread, but MAKE SURE you find a good one or you will regret your choice. I Gaaaroontee it :)

i got mine done at macco 5 weeks ago, its the baked enemal.

mods: the pic has to do with the tread even though its of a 4th gen, remove if u feel u need to

that does not look bad at all....how much did it cost you? if that is the 225 paint job i might get that done to my car as soon as i get some body peices...

no, it was $279 on sale, reg. 329, i paid extra and got a clear coat, though u dont need one, i pefer the added protection from stuff sctraching it

that does look good.

i need to find out how to to body work and start getting my dents out.

the macco around here looks to do pretty nice work as far as paint goes.

i need to find a cheap body man.

When u are at the MAACO store, just ask to see some of their finished products. Like, how does someone else's car that was just painted with a similar product look? How well was the car taped off? Overspray? Door Jambs? under the hood?

Pay close attention to the underneath of the ground effects. Sometimes they just paint what they see, instead of the curve underneath to the horizontal portion of the ground effects.

I plan to take off all of my ground effects and have them add a flex agent to the paint prior to doing the ground effects, nose, and rear bumper.

ask to talk to the guy who is actually gona paint the car.
They usually only make Mim. wage or a tad more.

tell him you will slip him a $50 if h does a little extra work and makes it look good.

My buddie in FLA did this with 3 cars. Each time He will Tear the $50 in 1/2 and give it ot the guy. (insurance)

So far all 3 cars have looked great. no over spray,etc..

When we picked up the car he would take the riped 1/2 back and give him $50bucks and say Thanks See ya again wiht the NExt car.

I disagree with enamel not shining as good as clear. It just depends how enamel paint jobs are finished. As long as they are wet sanded and buffed.....they can even outshine clear coat paints.....most of you guys have saw my 91....and it just as shiny..if not shinier then alot of clear coat jobs....

mods...you can remove mine if you need to also...just showing that enamel paint shines very very well if finished right.

Guys, thanks for the pics! I'm convinced that Enamel can give me MORE than enough than what I'm lookin for, although it can never look TOOOO good!:p

I was also told to ask for a hardener, which will allow for wetsanding if necessary....although I bet that was included from the get go.

Thanks again!!!:hail:

mine from maaco is fine the only thing is its very sensitive to scratching and bird poop if you dont wash it off right away it will leave a shadow kindof.

the 89 camaro i had painted at macco scratched easily, but that car had no added clear coat just paint. this car is much harder to scratch, i got a few small (1/16th inch) chips from hitting a tree limb the other day, and i bottem out alot and the paint is still on the bumper. i think as long as u have the added clear coat. ($79?) it really helps. i have alot of chips on the nose from rocks but the clear coat saved the paint so its just chips in clear not black. there body work has alot to be improved on, but hey u cant complain when u got 8+hrs of body work for nearly free. remember, macco charges $48 a hour for body work, i paid $120 for mine cause the paint didnt stick over my body work, which in my opinion was better work than theirs. take it to maccon pay $229 for the paint and $79 for clear and u will be very happy with the results

Maaco can spray okay, here is what you need to go, go to a auto body supply story, alost of autoparts stores have this....look for 3M's red Scotch Bright Scuff pads, Find some Final Sand (you can also order all this online), fineal Sand is a gritty paste. Take your scuff pad, put the final sand (or even Ajax if you want to) with lots of water and scuff untill everything is dull, then you know the car is scuffed, do this the day before you bring it to maaco. if it is scuffed it will stick. P.S. a baked finish has no advanages over an air dryed one besides that is cures faster....it is not more durable, not more glossy, NOTHING. Also, enamle can shine just fine (see above posts), but Basecoat Clearcoat is more durable, more flexable, resistes chips and scratches better, remember you have a plastic nose and rear bumper, if you get maacos paint...DO NOT even think about bumping something or you will get cracked an spridered paint.

Crappy Primer
 

No ones mentioned it yet but third gens painted at the California plant used a terrible primer(check your VIN). You will see many factory stock third gens peeling badly. If you do your own prep and then take it to a shop to paint, you might just run into the same peeling problem because a paint job is only as good as what's underneath.

You may want to make sure that there is enough paint on the car to do a little "scuff and buff" later on.

It will be okay on your bumper and nose if you tell them to add a "flex agent" to the paint.

When I painted my '78 Camaro, I added the flex agent when painting the urethane parts and it worked great. I could "ding" the nose against solid objects and it would not crack.

I did mine in enamel. :) came out really good for an unexperianced 17 year old. I've got the pics on cardomain, 85 camaro in my sig.

Enamel looks fine at first. Not quite as good as a 2 stage urethane paint, but it looks good.

The problem is in 2 years you'll have a pink car.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

No clear on mine Chris. I'll show you a bitchen GTX my paint guy did with just a single stage paint 5 years ago. Opinions seem to vary quite a bit with different painters.

Re: Crappy Primer
 

That's just the basecoat/clearcoat paints. From 82-85 it was a single coat paint and looked great. I still have the factory paint on my 85 and it still looks good.

Why do you say that? Here at my house, we've painted several cars....as long as you keep them up and polish them....the paint won't turn.....I'll take a picture of a 66 Impala that we've painted about 6 years ago if you would like to see it..we painted it with enamel red...it's been about 6 years....and it's still red. Now I could see if noone took care of it and didn't polish it where it would turn....(not trying to be a butt, but if it's kept up right and maintained...then it shouldn't turn)

show how the paint looks after 2 months. it was losing it orginal shine and i hadnt waxed it so i figured id give it a try. i think its even shiner than when i got it back.

mods: again delete if u need to. it goes with the thread, thats why im posting.

I'm not taking sides here, but it amazes me how Macco can even cover the cost of the paint for $225, let alone the labor.

ok, not to change the subject, but how much approx would it cost for a maaco paint job, including sanding down the car and primering and fixing a few little dings?? does anyone know

Re: Re: Crappy Primer
 

Thanks for the clarification, Morley. Is there an easy way to tell the difference between the two?

i paid $550 for my paint and body work. macco charges a **** load for body work. $43/hr labor. if u get the cheapest paint job, and get a prep package, assume for around $350

i reread the thread. and about scraching. i hit a line of tree limbs the other day going about 60. i thought i scraped my paint to nothingness. i stoped and looked at it, had all of 2 scraches. which was amaxing because the line of limbs was atleast 30ft long. i used the color cure wax by turtle wax and it along with a buffer fixed the scraches and ud never know it happened

yea, see i really dont have much body work, one tiny dent on a drivers side fender, and then i have ONE door ding, really tiny, eassy fix, and i have a little bit of hell damage on the hood, which looks easy to fix, i saw that they have a PRESIDENTIAL package with 4 hours of body labor for 349.95, and i was thinkin that should cover the little dings, and u pay a extra 20 for the materials, so what exactly is this plan? does it sound good? or should i do my own body work, and get the supreme package for 299.95 includes uv suncreen, intergrated clear, value prep? and when they say value prep, does that just mean a quick sand to make the car smooth or what??

differant maacos vary. here the supreme package includes no body work. value prep here consist of a quick sand and primer. that is all i figure u need. why put sealer on it when they are gonna paint it within hours?

Re: Maaco baked enamel paintjob
 

Can't you just spray on your own implement paint for like 1/6th that price? Implement paint is self etching, self leveling, and made to be out in the elements, throw some hardener in it and you should have one tough paint job. This is assuming you're willing to spray the car yourself but I picked up a can of implement enamel primer for 7 bucks and that stuff is amazing, we sprayed my friends truck bed with it and it came out really well.

Re: Maaco baked enamel paintjob
 

They have a paint job that cost about 1000.00 that comes with clearcoat. I think it looks alot better. I had my bumper done and got a 5 yr warrenty against fade and peel. Cost 250.00 but uit looks good. Dont be scared to leave car there if not done right.

Re: Maaco baked enamel paintjob
 

u dont need to add hardener when single stage paints are mixed to spray hardener is mixed in, u also dont need a flex additive. most if not all paints now already have a flex additive in it, think about all the cars that have plastic bumpers now a days.u wont get the best job from a maaco but it should be fine for a DD. also i would stay on top of waxing it and stuff because if not it will fade quick. some cars today still come from the factory with single stage mostly red, black, white, and yellow non metallic (metallic single stage is hard to get looking right)