azheat

I have a 98 i30t which I am going to repaint. Between replacing a couple panels and some fading on the trunk, its time. I don't have a whole lot to spend...around $1,000. I don't need a competition paint job, just something that looks decent. Has anyone here tried the services like Maaco? Someone was telling me that as long as you pay for the clear coat layer, the Maaco jobs will look fine. Any thoughts? Any other suggestions on how I could paint it for 1k and come away satisfied? Thanks.

BLACKonBLACK98

iTrader: (42)

unless you prep yourself (and not even then sometimes) you want to stay away from maaco and the like. they do horrible prep work which is 90% of a paint job.

for 1k you couldn't even diy these days (paint is made from oil). save up and get a decent paint job.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

find a local smallish body shop and look at the cars they are painting and see what they charge.
$1k is on the low side for a good job these days.

NR_MAX

Im in the same boat as you, locally i've been getting about 1600... I dont want to spend 1600 but i dont trust maaco so im just going to save up until spring and get it done right.

B_Eaze

iTrader: (3)

Like they said you would have to do all the prep work yourself to get a paint job for a grand. You could get a MAACO but you would NEED TO DO PREP YOURSELF.
Thats a lot of work but i wouldn't recommend letting them do it.

maxpeed96plat.

iTrader: (3)

MAACO = entry level body shop dude practicing and defacing you car, then having nads big enough to charge you. Save up and do it right the first time cause maaco's only for people planning on selling their cars to some blind idiot looking for wavy shine.

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

When i first got my max over a year ago, i had to replace my bumper covers as well as a fender (car belonged to some idiotic college kid from Iowa). I had my uncle do the painting and clear coated it 3 times. we all in all only spent around 90$ for the paint and paint, clear coat, and thinner.. The Only Downside to him having painted those up for me, is that when you do not properly Prep the panels for painting as well as oxidizeing the paint afterwards. You get Cracks. As well as Chips. it Sucks. I will say this, my uncle did a damn good job for an amateur painter; he is a perfectionist, and although it did not come out to be perfection its no ride id be embaressed to be seen in. Just keep in mind that when you paint a car, it will Never Ever look the same as when you bought it.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Now that's good advice and absolutely true. I've painted and prepped @ least 3 Helicopter as a Aircraft tech about a decade ago, paint prep is definitely the big difference between an awesome paint job and an awful paint job!

j2b4osan

one of my best friends went to macco and payed all sorts of rediculous money for the top of the line paint job. He payed extra for every trick they had like protectant and extra for more clear. A month after the paint his car got egged as a prank. He washed the car within 10 min of it being egged and where the egg hit the paint just chipped right off revealing that macco didn't even prime the car first they just sprayed it.

loud3

The old saying 'You get what you pay for...' applies here.

ImmaSquashYou

iTrader: (7)

a good paint job will cost you arond $2500-$3500. I'm guessing that the cheapest you can go with is to find a guy that rebuilds classic cars in their own garage. Those guys know what they're doing. But you have to first sand and prime the car yourself. And yo ucan' do a half-*** job either. Every little dent and bump when you primed and sanded WILL show up. Some will show better on a different color. Black for instance, will show every imperfection that is when you sanded it. If you don't have the time or want to do it, you're probably going to have to shell out aroud $at least $2500 for a paintjob that will last you for a long time.

tallkid2201

iTrader: (1)

DIY lol
you could matte the car with spray paint like most of the silvias you see on the streets

but on a more serious note, ya a good paint job is going to be expensive as hell unless you know someone.

ptatohed

iTrader: (12)

Just have your brother fly in from Kansas and paint your car in your garage.

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...-2-series.html

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

Fixed.

dkillahster

iTrader: (1)

Just have your brother fly in from Kansas and paint your car in your garage and have the Wizard assist, and have the MAACO inspect your work.

Fixed again..

96mAx2fast

iTrader: (2)

If you are near NJ (Newark to be exact), My uncle can probably do it for 1k, depending on whether or not you need body work on the car as well... You can email me at wg00@optonline.net or PM me for more info...

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

It's a YMMV for Maaco, some places do a good job while others don't. Some people have gotten a really nice paint job for $1k at Maaco. But then again, your mileage may vary.

azheat

yeah i know maaco is not really the way to go. I just dont want to sink much money into the car. I don't want to spend as much as the car is worth on the paint job, especially since I am only looking to get another year and a half out of it. If I was fixing it up like a lot of the amazing 4th gens on this site, I would be willing to spend more, but it just doesnt make sense for me to spend $2500 to paint a car that I only want another 18 months out of. Has anyone here ever had their car painted at maaco (and willing to admit it)? If so would you be willing to post a couple pics?

MaxGordon7

iTrader: (36)

Why are you so worry about getting it painted if you are getting rid of it? My paint is showing its age and winter is bubbling my paint makes me sad but I deal with it. I would keep that K for a newer car.

azheat

I was in an accident and just replaced the hood, front bumper cover, and drivers side fender so pretty much the whole front of the car is that primed black color. I just want it to be all one color. My car is gold, which I have been told is one of the toughest colors to blend. Because of the time and effort to blend, it wasn't much more (at the place I got a quote) to just repaint the whole thing and since I have fading other places I figured why not. Had I not been in the accident and replaced those body panels, yeah I would just deal with the fading like you said.

ptatohed

iTrader: (12)

Now's your chance to paint it something other than gold.

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

Basically he's saying it's one of the toughest colors to look at.

ImmaSquashYou

iTrader: (7)

Ok, here it is....since it was in an accident..you're not getting much out of it if carfax shows up that you were in an accident. Second, if you do paint it a different color, the title will show a different color, and now you have to go and explain why you painted the car. I personally will check if all the part #'s match on the fenders and hood and what not. If it doesn't show up in carfax, the person will still know that it was re-painted since its in pristined condition, but now you can go ahead and say that your parents felt bad giving you a 10 yr old car and decided to put money towards a paint job or what not. Either way, i'm not sure what your car is worth, but if car fax comes out with it being in accidents, then basically you're taking an easy 1k off the price gauranteed. So basically a $2.5 k is now $1.5 k...might be wiser to keep it as a beater and have an extra car laying around. Just remember those things while trying to put more money into the car.

Ringo1965

I had a Macco job done on one of my cars before. (Not my Maxima!) I got exactly what I expected. A decent job, for the money I was willing to pay. My car had been keyed all the way around, and the insurance company wanted to total it (1996 pontiac bonneville). It was in too good of shape to just let them total it. I told them to p*$# off, and took the car in to Macco, and had it redone. The car lasted me another 2.5 years. Not the best of job, (lots of over spray) but it looked better than it did. Rust did start to reappear within a 1.5 years. Good luck in your thoughts.

shissqbob

iTrader: (14)

I'm actually in the same boat. I had some paint issues on my front bumper from being attacked my rocks on the highway so I figured I'd start repairing some stuff, including shaving a few things. Besides my car looking like a checkerboard between the bondo and orig. paint, I talked to a body work guy (who works at a paint shop) and he said that my best bet was to probably take it to MAACO. Now, with that being said, I am doing 100% of the prepping myself. I'm laying down the primer and removing all the necessary things.

If you think about it, these MAACO guys might not give a hoot about prep and everything, but these guys paint all day. They have to obviously know what they're doing with the painting process. I'm also bringing my own paint (this is going to be hard because I'm going to have to probably pay them without people knowing).

The reason the paint job there sucks is because they don't really care much about prepping, they spray with crapppp paint, and they don't care about masking. Another biggie is for example: you have your antenna on the side of your car. If you're paying a couple grand for a paint job, they're removing that antenna. If you go to maaco, they tape over it and around it and hope for the best.

So....I believe if you're going to MAACO to get your car painted the same color as it was, you shouldn't really have much of a problem, if you prep it that is.

maximase86

iTrader: (24)

GTFO! :P That was incredibly lame!

ptatohed

iTrader: (12)

LOL!

Come on Jim, admit it - you're an in-the-closet gold-on-tan lover....

MaximaSpd85

iTrader: (14)

i agree 100%, honestly if i were to get my car painted im gonna do maaco as well for a few reasons. one, its gonna be the same color. two, it cant get any worse than it is now. my brother had his car painted a completely different color by maaco, the paint has held up just fine. the only time the paint chipped is because someone hit him. theres been a few times i saw a car and said "wow, this looks nice. did u just get it painted?" and the person replies "yeh, maaco did it last year". that was enough for me. if you really really care about show room quality and are planning to keep the paint job for a very very long time, and you wash your car every weekend, and you scream at the sky when you see a swirl mark, then get a good paint job, but if you're like me where it just has to look good and you'd rather spend your money on something else, then i dont see anything wrong with an econo paint job.