A friend up the street just left my house. He knows I plan on painting my '64 Step Side soon. He said MAACO in town put out a sign $399.00 per paint job. I'll be going over in the morning with my truck to confirm this. My friend said he spoke with them, and MAACO said, "Any body work is best to let them do. It will be cheaper and faster in the long run." I said, I need to first weld in a corner patch on the cab. I have the patch panel. My friend knows I have a mig welder and oxy/acetylene. He said, "they prefer to do it for you." Any words of caution?
Yes,don't let them do body work,,they will slather bad metal with bondo,,it will look good for 6 months. HRP
You get what you pay for, but i have seen some OK jobs out of there. I'd do the bodywork on it myself, and have it prepped as much as possible before taking it to them.
Don't have them do bodywork! They can put color on something and that's about it. Get your base 100% if you have them to do it
I bought a car that had a maaco paint job, they dont remove anything just mask over it, which is to say the masking was HORRIBLE, overspray EVERYWHERE even on the seatbelts... runs runs, and more runs.. they use a single stage that is over reduced then they layer it on extremely wet... then within the year with normal sun, rain, weather, washing ex... the paint starts to chip off everywhere.... so if your planning on having it last i would go with a different route... plus if its a little rusty we just call that aged to perfection, why ruin somthing that took that long to look that way... Paintjob courtesy of time is the way to go! Hopefully this was a little helpful... P.S. you get what you pay for, good work aint cheap and cheap work aint good...
The quality of any paint job is in the preperation, I've seen some decent paint jobs from MAACO but all the prepwork was done before it was delivered to them.
I told my friend I just got a quote on PPG epoxy primer and paint. I know these guys know how to shoot paint. I would do the prep work and let them paint it the PPG supplies (about $625.00). I would remove the bumpers, handles, trim, grill, bezels, etc, tape it off, and let the paint it for $399.00, and tip them if they do good work.
Yeah they will do a window screen and bondo job on it. Don't do it. I wouldn't let them touch it if I were you
the closest Maaco to me, is run by a car guy. The paint work is flawless. However, when it comes to the actual bodywork, it was not some special priced bargain. Labor needs to be paid for, so that part adds up very quickly. I have never heard one bad word about this local place in 15 years, and the cars that people showed to me, look fantastic.
I saw an absolutely beautiful Chevelle in a parking lot. When the owner approached, I asked who painted the car. It was perfect. He told me that he did all the body work, removed all the trim and he masked it. All MAACO did was paint it. Again, it was perfect. Based on that one experience, I would say that you do all the prep work and let MAACO just apply the paint. It might not be the very highest quality in the world, but it will be very acceptable. Let us know how it goes for you.
Amazing there are so many horror stories and Maaco is STILL in business? My brothers wife had his old Toyota painted last year and the damn car looks very nice for the price. Will it take honors at a show? Hell no. But for the money, it was a great job. No runs and no over spray. At $399, I'd get it done, rather than drive around in "patina". Then, save up for that "$8,000 scared of rock chips" job.
I called about this deal. There are add ins that bump up the price. Plus the guy who said they just mask and shoot is correct.
Man paint jobs are over rated in my book. It takes years to get that "PATINA" look and why mess it up with a cheap ass paint job?........
I've worked at a Maaco here in Kansas City for 3 summers now. It really depends on the employees that work there when it comes to the quality you get. There where 4 body guys at the place I worked at, 3 of the four I would say were decent body guys. One didn't speak any english, one was a huge pot head, and the other got distracted so easily we always had to keep an eye on him. They all did good enough work and did a better job when they were working on an old car they were interested in. The masking is the down fall at a place like Maaco, your best bet is to take off all the moldings or anything removable that isn't getting painted. Maaco paint jobs do come with warranties that cover fading and peeling, but you will not get that if you do the prep work yourself. So there is some incentive for them to do decent prep work, I know my boss freaked out if there ever was a redo. Now the $399 paint job is still a single stage paint job. Your best bet is to jump up to the lowest price two stage paint job, and the place I worked at for another $100 would get you an extra coat of clear (well worth it so you can cut and buff it your self later on). I know the ins and outs of places like this, so if you have any specific questions just let me know. Also one more piece of advice, and I don't know if this is specific to just the shop I worked at or not, but production shops like this deal with idiots all day long, so you would be surprised how much more pleasant your experience there will be by just showing the guy writing your estimate a little respect. You wanna be nice to people that work on your car other wise they will not be nice to your stuff, trust me some guys are just assholes with other people stuff. here are a couple cars I had painted at maaco, but I was there to supervise everything so I made sure everyone was doing good work. (this is the day after it got painted, notice how I removed most of the trim and bumpers) Sold this car 6 years ago and see it around still, paint looks as good as ever. And my hot rod was painted there, still looking good too.
We have a company 1 day paint and body here in San Diego and I have seen some "specials" over the years. The special is the hook to get you in the door and once the extras are added the special isn't so special any more. I had them paint my ranchero along time ago and the results were piss poor. Ultimately this worked out well because it made me realize that I could do a better job than that. I learned basic paint and body skills, bought tools, and while my car wont win any awards it is very presentable and my work has out lasted the pro's. If this is a work truck and you know your going to beat the hell out of it then go for it. Just be sure to remove anything you don't want paint on, and if you can do body work go for it.
I think the $399 special includes washing it before they spray. I've got an OT '88 Cherokee with a Maaco special job on it and it is excellent for a 10' job. It's chipping in places and there is overspray on all of the trim they poorly masked, but for a POS cherokee for offroading it's great. If you can see some of their work and it's decent it may be worth it to have them shoot the color if you bodywork/prep, but I'll bet they won't let you bring in your own materials. The guy that sprayed my '62 did it in his garage for $25/hr (10 years ago). He metalworked the warpage out of my hood and body worked it and sprayed it. I think I was about 8~900 in labor and another 1k in materials. Check the bulletin board at your local parts houses for freelancers. Maaco can probably shoot a decent coat of paint, but it's a gamble. The guy that did mine was a retired body man that had an excellent black '34 Ford streetrod that had a mile deep paint job. Find that guy in your area and get him to do it. And if you find someone who'll do it for $25 an hour, please share.
Years ago I had a '54 chevy - I did all the prep, removed all the trim, sanded, primed, masked, and a local shop, like a Maaco, shot the paint. I paid a little extra for an OEM color. They only shot the outside, not the jambs. I also slipped the guy who was doing the spraying a few extra bucks. It came out great, and looked great for the two years I owned it after that. The other side... a buddy of mine bought an old TR6 from a guy who had just had it painted by Maaco/Earl Scheib/similar. About two weeks after he bought it, he took it to the 25cent car wash - about a fourth of the paint blew off!
Cheap paint job? That's an Oxy Moron if ever there was one. Although I did now a guy that got a great job for $1800. I went for spot-in for $600 and it was CRAP. I heard they hire whoever drifts into town and says they're a painter. If the painter is any good, he'll move on, but if he is sober and likes your car you may get lucky, but I never have. I can forgive my own runs and dust and poor body work, but not that of what I pay for.
​I have a VERY GOOD FRIEND that does excellent body and paint work. When my daughters Honda and the other daughters Sable needed paint he suggested that I prep it and mask and let MACCO do the paint work turned out great and lasted years. My brother had a Camaro painted at the same place and left the prep work to them and well lets just say the results were less than stellar. Glue from body side mouldings painted over mud on the rockers painted over so the key I guess is you prep you mask you get a better job.
Do all the prep work your self and pull anything that you don't want painted. Wash it too and as I didn't know washing was an extra. Don't get it dirty on the way there. I don't have photos of the mud they made shiny on one they painted. They made good on it though. They did my '39 in 1972 and this is a photo of it in 2008 still looks good today. I think the price was $399.00 then too. By the way MAACO is AAMCO (beep beep) backwards. Same guy started both. Also racecar spelled backwards is racecar LJ
Good advice. Appreciate the input. Like the idea about checking auto parts store's bulletin boards for retired painters. Not in a hurry.
I doubt they'll really paint it for $399, unless they shoot it as you drive by! Three years ago I took a car to them that was straight and primed, ready for paint. Asked them about their special and they were happy to sell it to me, but wanted to look the car over first. After a few minutes going over the car the guy hands me the estimate; $1900 and a note at the bottom saying, "No guarantee on paint, as owner did prep." So I ask him why it went up to nearly $2k and he starts telling me how they need to go over all my bodywork, and get it "better". I decided I'd take the car to a legitimate bodyshop, and get a 2nd estimate. He looked it over and told me he'd pull the hood, trunk lid, doors, go over the whole car, and make sure it was ready for paint, and shoot it with PPG. Guaranteed for 8 yrs. in writing, and priced at $1800. Guess where I went?
99.95 any car any color want it masked mask it your self, , only other advise I have is hell no run for your cars life if there any thing like the M-istake double A co. up here , all the hood paint came off my hood at 50mph , one piece. both I and the guy behind me were glad to see the sheet metal stayed put(thought the whole hood blew off) just the paint flying
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