Maaco: Package? Clear Coat?

[mikeedler]

You get what you pay for!!! I am not at all surprised your paint flaked off. 400 dollars for a complete paint job?????? please, here in germany, you couldnt get a bumper painted for 400 dollars.

If you are going to do it, do it right!!!!!!!!!! spend the extra money and have it done correctly. or your going to be spending double to do it a 2nd time.

ohh, and if it is only 1 stage, it isnt going to be metallic.

last 2 years/4 years??????? WTF are they using for garbage materials over there nowadays???? If it is "prepped, and done correctly", it should last 15 years???? right???

[Teaguer]

If you get a panel or two spot painted at Maaco they will typically use good eurethane base/clear on it .
So that is as good as most factory jobs and it will last for many years .

If you've got a older car and/or want to save $$ then you can opt for cheaper single stage enamel or eurethane .

Maaco will typically charge about $250 or so per panel on spot jobs .


Mike , you are absolutely right with your comments .
If you pay a measly $400 for a complete respray you are basically accepting the fact that you are getting a sub-par job just to hold you over .

In the paint & body business you definitely get what you pay for .
Maaco is a production shop and they make their profits from volume and cheaper materials .
While your typical independant shop will paint aroun d 10 or less cars a week , a properly run Maaco should be painting at least 40 cars a week .

Thats not to say that you can't get a good quality job from a production shop like Maaco .
I regularly paint cars for several thousand Dollars at my shop .

[kylebes1]

Good paint, much less acceptible paint, reducer, clear and hardener will cost FAR more than $400.

If that was the last of the expenses it would be nice, but proper wax and grease remover, proper towels for using the final cleaner, the time in a good booth, time of a good painter, time of a good masker and detrimer, paint thinner to clean the guns before and after a job, air cleaners for the masks they use, sand paper, light for the booth, power for the fans, heaters, and the list continues.

If you can accept fisheyes and dirt in the paint, poor coverage and runs, then go to a bargain shop.

If not, have the dam thing buffed and PDRed. don't waste the $400 plus tax on a krylon Maaco job.


Let me take a step back. Since Maaco is a big company, do they require each shop to use bargain basement, crappy paints? Or does the one you, Teaguer, work at use some thing liek PPG, Sikkens, or IMo the best, BASF?

[silversleeper]

My friend had parts of his car Maaco'd and it started peeling a year later, which is why I am afraid of that place. How could I ensure Maaco will give me better results?

I really think it varies by which shop you go to. There is a particular Maaco in Frederick, MD that I have heard does awesome work. Then there are shitty ones in other areas that do sub par work. A paint job is only as good as the guy holding the gun.

[kylebes1]

A paint job is only as good as the guy holding the gun.

You can train an ape to spray well. It is what he is spraying that will make a difference.

[Teaguer]

You can train an ape to spray well. It is what he is spraying that will make a difference.

Funny that you say that , as I actualy do have a monkey painting for me . :D

Yeah the painter is only one small part of the whole process to getting a quality finish .

My shop uses the Sherwin Williams products exclusively .
I changed from PPG to Sherwin Williams about 2yrs ago to save on overhead .
Other Maaco's use whatever brand products their owners prefer to use .

Also don't get the idea that ever production or "bargain" shop is going to give you fisheys, thrash, runs and poor coverage for your money .
Every shop is only as good as the people running them .

Oh yeah and YES you can get metallic single stage paint .

[mikeedler]

I 100 percent agree with everything your saying here Teaguer. A very good friend of mine owns a body shop a few blocks from my house. I regularly sit over there in the evening and drink beer with him, and talk about paint stuff.

I honestly dont agree with the painter not mattering. Here in germany, (at my buddies shop) almost 95 % of the work that comes out of his shop doesnt need buffing, and looks better than factory. this saves time/materials, which saves in the cost of your paint job. Here in germany to become a "painter" you need to go through a 3 year school. to become a "frame/hardcore damage guy" you need to go through another 3 years. there is alot of pride from all that work at my buddies shop.

I would never knock Maaco, just the cheap ass people who get the cheap job done, then complain.

Oh, and my buddies shop is on the upper end of body shops here in germany, they do alot of classic U.S. American car "body restorations" and I have seen some days, where it is absolute crap that comes out---but the very next day(under my buddies expense) it is right back in the booth getting redone.

everyone has their on and off days.

[smooth]

Oh yeah and YES you can get metallic single stage paint .

Is this new?
My friend did paint and body work up in P-town for years and he explained to me that I couldn't use touchup on my royalblau-metallic because the clearcoat brings the flecks out.

So how can a single stage bring depth to the metallic coloration?


mikeedler,
was your friend trained in prep as part of his painting and body work training?
if so, I would say that would account for his stellar jobs moreso than his spraying abilities.

maybe a better stament would be that anyone can spray paint, but the job depends on the prep work before the paint is laid. from what I've heard from people who do it for a living that I personally know, to what I read on the boards from people doing projects and posting pictures, this is the order of importance for a good paint job:

1. Prep
2. Materials
3. Technique

good prep work can overcome mid-grade materials (and some claim even poor-grade materials) and technique.

but it doesn't work in reverse...good paint and excellent technique can't overcome poor prep work.

You either have to pay for or do the prep work yourself
how much do you think you're buying for $400?

if I only had $400, I wouldn't try to find a paintjob for that
I'd use maaco if I was a used car dealer or for a government agency fleet
I've never seen a maaco estimate produced for insurance purposes, and it'd seem that people would use those for their low estimate all the time if they worked.

so not to offend anyone on here working for maaco, but I wouldn't spend the money on their paint job unless I made sure good prep work was done beforehand.

I have to go through the same thing right now.
but I've got something going on through someone who's claiming he can respray the vert with PPG for $1400. it's going to take about a 2 week prep, he said (but I don't know if that's 2 weeks straight).
that's on the low end of the price spectrum, from what I've been finding. only thing is I don't know how I can make sure he uses quality paint.

should I just stand there while he's mixing it?

[mikeedler]

yes, his painters are all trained in prep. -- all the fine work/bondo. they do all the stuff, but pull the dents, and change panels- that work is for the "body bangers"

I think technique is more important. Its like having good tools, but not knowing what to do with them. ex. if the paint starts to "fisheye" there are techniques to making it still work out. or runs in the paint, you can burry runs correctly. If your not spraying a good pattern, your going to have metallic stripes in the paint, or if its sprayed in a wrong pattern/wrong pressure, your shine is going to be crap, or orange peel.

As far as the one stage met. Never seen that over here, how is going to lay smooth? do they have it in every color?