Ok I am fixing cars on the side and just got my maxima professionally painted from a guy that sprays dealer cars and started thinking. I actually have done cars with a maaco paint job in the past spending about $600 and doing all the prep work myself. The only problem with there paint jobs were they never did anything with orange peel and I would always get a little overspray. I found out a couple things. If you want to get a decent paint job from maaco this is how I would do it.

-Get one of there $400-600 range paint jobs
-scuff the whole car. either use 2000 grit or a scotch brite pad, get everything!!
-Tape up the little things so they don't get oversprayed, mirrors are window trim mainly and possibly headlights and tails, let maaco get the windows
-After you get the car look for orange peel, use 2000 grit to sand it out lightly then buff it with a buffer and 3M Perfect It Extra Cut Rubbing Compound 6060

This will get your paint job looking nice and by all means check out you maaco's work before giving them you car!!! Some shops really suck. This is what I am doing on a old school celica I just bought and I will show before and after pics. I am also not responsible for what you do to your car. This is merely what i've figured out after painting several cars thru maaco, working with professional painters, and doing body work on every car I owned.

 

yeah i hear that any one can spray a car, but its all in the prep work on if it will look good or not

 

Prep work doesn't do diddley against the poor quality of the paint product itself. If the paint sucks, which most of their stuff does, or has in the past, it will dull out in under two years, but outlast their 1 year warrantee. And for $600 I don't think you even get a clear coat.

Also, you shouldn't prep the car with 2000 grit, that's a waste of time. No bite whatsoever for the paint to grab. Typically you'd prep the car with about 320 grit on a dual action sander (DA). Anything lower will leave marks that need primer/sealer then sanding again before the base color goes on. Sure, you could go higher, but once you get to 600 grit, again, you're not providing much for the paint to grab. And scotch brite works great for hard to reach places like inside bumpers and door jams, but shouldn't be used on full panels, again because of the marks it would leave.

Oh, and I'm not just an opponent of Macco, I once used them. I actually had to take the car back because the first time through they missed body work I paid for, and the lower half of the car was actually dull because they didn't coat correctly, and let the car go without reworking it. They did a much better job the second time, but again, some 18 months later, the paint was dull and nothing I could do would fix it...short of repainting somewhere else.

 

You've heard wrong. Anyone can cut in parts; spray around door jams, inside fenders, under the hood. But it takes years of experience with technique, decent equipment, and a filtering paint booth to spray outside the car. You also need to know how different paints work, when to coat, when to clear, how long to wait between coats. Most painters even mix their own paint, because color matching repair work doesn't mean mix the code from the factory and you're done. Often it takes a few re-tints to get the exact match with the rest of the car.

And Just "anyone" would never pull off a metallic paint job on flat panels (horizontal and vertical) the first 10 times they do it. Metal flake will have a tendency to stand up inside the paint if it's too heavily sprayed on, and too little you'll get a funny shading across the car, especially where the nozzle stops...most people double up at the ends of their spray pattern, and it's heavier in certain spots on the panel. The trick is to release and reengage the handle at the right time--this again takes years of experience to get that right if you're ever going to get a professional looking job on a car.

 

well i still believe that a lot has to do with good prep. and you are correct it takes a skilled pro painter to lay down the paint and make it look good. i guess great prep + good painter = damn good paint job. But you wont find that at Macco

 

ya idk about macco i bought an replacement front bumper and had them paint it due to lack of funds i couldnt get a good paint shop to do it and about 2 years later its chipped off in several areas thankfully im hoping to repaint the entire car soon with a good company

 

You're right, I was agreeing to that point. But what I'm saying is that all the proper prep in the world won't keep a car from fading if the paint itself is of crap quality.

 

I had a $600 job on my altima and it didn't fade or chip for 3 years. It was metallic. 2000 grits good for buffing. I think I was wrong on prep. You do wanna go to probably with a lower rougher grit. I wouldn't go to low like a 100 grit or its going to eat through to the steel.

 

Oh and check the work of that maaco. The one in Addison Texas does a good job but some of them really suck

 

a lot has to do with the prep and then the process after the paint job. My friend has a 67 gto show car that was shot at maaco and it looks awesome!