Okay so here is the deal I procrastinate like ***** but I really need to paint my car its got chips and dings like a **** on the front bumber and the rear has the oh so lovely indents from idiots who bump your car while parking. I parked next to another Super Black and was like damn Im dull and i just waxed. ( 2years of parking under a tree has done its work) So I shopped around for a price to do the whole repaint and DAMN. the I happened upon Maaco. I know its generic and whatnot but the prices are way cheaper than ANY other place. Anyone ever get there car painted by Maaco? Any feed back would be appreciated

 

I think Maaco is summed up by you get what you pay for. Please don't do it.

 

I have used them and you will not be happy when they are done.

 

+1 ... i'm speaking from experience. I now have to shop around again to have it repainted after only 5 months.

 

DONT DO IT! I had my first car painted by them and it was horrible!

Their "premium paint job" sounds impressive for the price, but all it consists of is them rinsing your car off with water, putting some tape on windows and such, and then throwing a quick coat of paint on. No sanding, prep work, or anything.

 

I used them once, color match was horrible, painting was shitty, began to flake, ohh and the best, they managed to over spray on my rims and exhaust, then painted my exhasut to cover it, while doing that managed to over spray the exhaust on to the car. Needless to say, I wouldn't recomend them.

 

Only two years and it needs new paint? A paint job to turn your car back to new again will cost you thousands of dollars. IMO, its not worth it! If you like the car a whole lot, trade in on a new one. Paint jobs are the type thing that you get what you pay for. You can pay as little as you want (like maaco), or as much as you paid for the car itself!

 

how about for a beater car? are they really that bad?

I definitely wouldn't even let them touch my Z, that's for sure.

 

DOn't do it. When i went there to get my front bumper painted, even the guy that worked there said, "your car is too nice ! I would take it to a more professional body shop" LOL I Finally got Nissan to paint it for $150, and this was a brand new bumper

 

I'd take it to Maaco for a beater car, but not the Z

 

I tried them before, just to spray a fesh paint my on 94 accord, so I can have a quick sell. It was okay job.. if you are going to keep the car, then I wouldn't recommend them.

 

well I don;t know where you guys live but the Maaco here in NJ does a great job. you can ask them to use specific paint and they will, I have seen many cars come out of there and still today look good. I guess it depends on who the paint and prep person is.

 

My cousin got his civic hatch painted by maaco. Costed around $1100. He really doesn't know much about cars but wanted to get his car painted so he went to them before consulting with me. I go there and ask about what they do and I find out that it's a polyurethane paint with some sort of "built-in" clearcoat and they just fixed the dents and painted over the original paint. After a few weeks, the paint started bubbling in some areas. However, I was pretty surprised by speed of this service. It only took like 2 days to get it all done.(I wonder why...)

 

+1 key is prep work and i bet maaco doesn't do a day of prep!

 

God damn alright you all scared the crap out of me. I wont do it. I was close to it too. When its waxed it doesn't look that bad (in my eye and Im critical as hell) but It has faded a bit compared to others who have waxed and polished there cars religiously. Damn I wish I had taken better car of it when I had the chance

 

over price also.

 

Polyurethane is great paint (used on airplanes). Unfortunately they didn't properly prep the surface which is obviously why it bubbled. Otherwise it would of held up better than other paints. It dries like glass, is extremely hard & although you could apply one, it doesn't really need a clear coat.If you know what you want & can convey that to them they'd probably be okay but you'd be paying thousands for them or any other shop to do it the RIGHT way.

 

Alright I have another alternative for painting the whole thing they're just waaay more expensive but do beautiful work on classic cars and restorations. Now to save up for it.

 

If you have a garage that you could temporarily convert into a paint booth you COULD do it yourself. A little reading up & some practice and you could probably lay it down and end up with a much better finish.

I believe PPG offers a free class for anyone using their paints. As long as you don't have any major body work to do it really is farely easy. Just takes a lot of time and patience and wet sanding, lot & lots of wet sanding.

Paint, material (including compressor & gun) would probably cost you less than 1,000.00.

I built a paint boot in my garage using PVC, velcro & 6 mil plastic. I bought a couple of cheap fans at Wal-Mart to exhaust the over spray and away I went. Oh, I wasn't painting a car but I could have easily.

Sounds like a lot of work I know (because it is) but by the time you're done you'll have many more layers of paint and clear coat than any body shop would normally do. It'd probably be in the neighborhood of 15k for them to do it as well.