Just wondering how good are those Maaco paint jobs. They're really cheap (base package that they advertise) but are they any good?

 

my gf had her door and fender painted for $418 ... it looks perfect ..dont know how it will hold up though

 

You Get What You Pay For...

 

I've heard nothing but bad news from maaco, sure it looks nice now.. but 6-10 months the clear will start to peel 50% of the time roughly...

 

Here is my Jeep I had painted there and my first car in the background. I did the prep work my first time. It looked good and held up for the 5 months I had it.

 

no. stay away from them. Unless you plan to sell your Max

 

STAY AWAY! I really don't have to worry about paint cause my friend has a hookup that will do free body work and painting (you just have to buy the paint which is still expensive) if my friend just asks. He just got his beemer done and I'm soon to take my max and transform it from a champahgne to something else (havent decided yet). If you live near the Los Angeles area, i'll see if I can give some hookups.

 

Yeah maaco does a great job. What a value - My friend asked to get his Jeep painted and they got almost all the body panels (except door sills, engine bay etc.) they also were nice enough to paint over all his emblems, some parts of his taillights, most of his headlights, some on the rims, parts of the exhaust and also his tires. So if you can pick one color you would like your whole car to be painted - go with maaco!!

 

It depends on what kind of job you're looking for and how much of the work you're willing to do....for instance if you do all the prep work, ie strip the car of emblems moldings, lights, door handles, then they do a decent job. All these people on here bashing maaco, expect that for the $250/$400 they will strip your car and then paint it....get real Most of the money in a $1200 paint job is in the disassembly, prep and assembly work.

 

not true, they strip the car down if its being built- i think you watch to much "OCC". its really just masking stuff so that it doesnt get painted. and the other part of the cost is first sanding, bondo, primer coats, base color coats (if metallic paint), metal flake, clear coats, then buffing. buffing would take the longest by far.

 

I think you're talking out our @$$...How can you assume that I watch OCC...and last I checked they built motorcycles and not cars.... I'm speaking from experience in having 3 cars painted by maaco and last I checked sanding/bondo are part of the prep work....on a good paint job, the buffing is an added bonus to make it look even better...

 

its not like you're painting your car every day. Think about it. When you take your Max to a shop for mechanical work, wouldn't you want a quality repair job instead of a half-assed job? Same logic would apply w/ a collision shop.

 

the cheap maaco paint job is single stage garbage....suitable for heavy eqiptment, dumpsters, etc. if you upgrade to the 2 stage base/ clear, urethane primer/sealer and do most of the prep work yourself, it might not come out to bad ! but by then your close to a grand and have to do work yourself...

 

Where would you recomend getting a paint job?

 

ask around for a reputable, local body shop. lots of new car stealerships have good painters and equiptment, spraybooths etc. look for quality products like ppg, dupont, sikkens and be extra carefull with pearl white..a.k.a. milk metallic, an inexperienced painter can screw that color up real bad !!! alot of pearls are 3 stage systems that are harder to paint and cost more money.

the worst part about maaco is ya never know what mix they'll spray on your car, and if you get in an accident it'll be impossable to match, they hardly ever use the exact factory code and there are always alternate blends for every color.

then again, pearl white is one of the hardest colors to match or blend, good luck