Maaco Paint Jobs

[55 Fargo]

Hi all, today I stopped by my nearest Maaco, we have 3 in Winnipeg. I wanted to see there $350.00 paint job. They had a newer Cavalier with a brand new Acrylic Enamel Paint job, it was a kind of Hunter dark green color, you know it looked real good, had minimal peel, no fish eyes or runs, and was darn shiny. Has this been others experience with maaco in the USA and Canada. Spoke with the lady running things in the office, she told me they use Sherwin Williams paint, and she had two staff members with 30 years experince painting cars, they were very professional and polite. I just may have my car painted there just as soon as I finish the prep work.......Fred

[Guest mikeys toy]

don't use their metallics; they over reduce the paint to make it lay down. But it just burns off in a year or two.

My friend Aaron had his '63 dart painted orange about 10 years ago. It still looks okay, but the paint is peeling from around the edges of things....

[Young Ed]

I plan to have them paint my coupe eventually too. As with anything its in the prep. The one here quoted me 6K to fix all the issues with mine and paint it. I'm going to do some of that myself and let them do the rest. Oh one other thing my car will be going there with no windows chrome stainless bumpers etc. That should avoid the peeling issue. I'm also planning to get the 1000 top of the line job with clear coat.

[55 Fargo]

I was not going to go with a metallic, sounds like your friend got his money's worth, 10 years on a cheap Maaco sounds pretty good.

I might paint it myself with a sponge roller techinique using enamel paint, have tried and have seen the results of others, the paint jobs are as good as or bettr than a Maaco enamel cheapie paint job, attached is a 48 Chrys dash, rolled 6 coats with Tremclad(canadian rustoleum), Wild Raspberry, its silky smooth, shiny and has no orange peel, it was wetsanded every 2nd coat and hand poilished at the end, it would be 10 times shinier if buffed with an electric buffer..........Fred

[40phil41]

My experience with Maaco is with my 1965 Corvair. I did the body work and prep myself (with Father-in -laws help) and got a $500. base/clear finish. Has lasted about 5 years so far with no complaints. I removed all chrome and stainless except for around the windshield and rear window. Absolutely no problems with the paint. My body work however could have been better; and will be the next time around :-).

Phil Ellis

[bob_amos]

My 63 Belair is a Maaco job. Toney C. from this site has a Maaco job and I have a number of customers with Maaco paint jobs. Every one of them is well worth their cost. Although, none of them have the $350 job. We all popped for a little more expensive job and all of us are very happy.

[JIPJOBXX]

This is the paint job I got for around 500 dollars at MACO but I did do all the prep work. Jon

[Guest mikeys toy]

I'd do a solid; especially if it turned out like that......

I've got the paint for Jellybean, it's going to be a med-dark metallic green (94ish ford aerostar color)

[bob_amos]

As Jon said, he did the prep work. I forgot to mention that on all of those customer cars that I know that used Maaco, all the prep and trim removal was done by us and that allowed the paint to look just that extra bit better when reassembled. So, yes, they do good work but take the time to remove all the trim yourself because if you don't, you are going to have to spend more time removing all of the overspray than it would have taken to do it right and remove the trim.

[JerseyHarold]

Check your local newspapers (usually the sports section) or the Maaco website for sales prices. Here in New Jersey the local Maaco's are running a half-price sale right now. This is an annual event and has happened for many years during the winter months so they can increase business during their slow season. The slow season in the southern states is in the summer, and the sales take place that time of year in those areas.

I've had 6-8 cars painted by Maaco over the years and was very pleased with the results. As others have said, good prep work is very important. Another thing that worked well for me was to bring in coffee and donuts on the mornings I dropped off a car....the shop personnel appreciate your consideration and that translates to a better paint job.

[Young Ed]

Per an article in car craft they use razor blades to cut the masking off around whatever they are masking. This cuts through the old paint and leads to pealing. So the best thing you can do is remove everything.

[55 Fargo]

Jon, have you got any pics of your prep work from beginning to just before getting the car painted, so I can see where I need to be at before I take my car to be painted........Fred

[BobT-47P15]

I had my car painted by a friend who has built himself several hotrods and has done resto work for others over the last several years. He does it all in his attached garage at home. His comment was to get the car prepared as well as you can because any rough place or dent remaining will be simply "a dent with new paint on it." I had all my stainless and bumpers removed except for the windshield trim....no issues with peeling after 8 or 9 years now. Used acryllic enamel with hardener.

In this case, I bought the paint supplies, sanded the car, and he basically just sprayed it. I have since wished I had removed the hood, so it would have received a better job on the underside. Even doing it that way, the cost was around $300 to $350.

[1949P17BC]

I had mine done here in St. Louis, I chose the 900.00 job, since I was going with black. They did an EXCELLENT, the guys in my club can't believe the shine. Now I did do all of the prep work, hours of sanding, removed all of the chrome, glass, and rear fenders. I finished sanding with 600 grit, and before they painted it they went over it with 800 grit. I left my car with them for one week, so they could paint it last of the day and let it sit in the booth over night. This location does a lot of older cars and has a book of the jobs he does. Like anything the better prep the better the look.

[Plymouthy Adams]

It is great to find a shop that can take a few extra minutes for you..the offer to do it last car of the week for curing purposes..that is a plus my friend..when I painted the Porsche..I used the booth at the Air Force base hobby shop in Charleston SC...I was able to leave the car there untouched for two days...my eyes don't do dim light that well anymore..even with all the lights in my paint booth the shadow are like haunting creature waiting to attack..it would be great to find someone with better eyes and more painting skills than my own to even come to my house and paint in my own booth..bi-focals help you see only..they are hell in a paint booth.

[FMSPEED49]

I had a car painted at Erl Schrives in the early 90's, when i went to pick it up, the center line wheels on it were painted the same red as the car, lmao

Can't complain thou, they bought me new wheels all around.

[Young Ed]

Ok as I mentioned in another thread I plan to get my car painted at Maaco. I know all the tips about chrome removal send it with crappy wheels etc. I really need to learn some other stuff to keep the cost down. With all the dents and the couple rust spots the prep work got to be quite high.

[David Maxwell]

...sure enough, I was watching Good Morning America and the first commercial this morning was for MAACO's 1/2 off sale. That equates to $250 here in CA. Think I'm going to prep my daughter's car and take it over there.

[oldmopar]

Check your local newspapers (usually the sports section) or the Maaco website for sales prices. Here in New Jersey the local Maaco's are running a half-price sale right now. This is an annual event and has happened for many years during the winter months so they can increase business during their slow season. The slow season in the southern states is in the summer, and the sales take place that time of year in those areas.

I've had 6-8 cars painted by Maaco over the years and was very pleased with the results. As others have said, good prep work is very important. Another thing that worked well for me was to bring in coffee and donuts on the mornings I dropped off a car....the shop personnel appreciate your consideration and that translates to a better paint job.

Which Macco did you use I am in western monmouth and have a few project comming up that will need paint hopefully around summer

Ed

[JerseyHarold]

I had my cars painted by the Maaco in Staten Island (on Richmond Terrace) before I moved to New Jersey (I'm in Freehold, by the way). I was at the Maaco in Tinton Falls a few months ago and liked what I saw. At the time, they were in the process of painting a '55 Pontiac that I later saw at Cruise Night and it looked really nice. I've seen other cars painted at the Lakewood and Toms River locations (same owner, I've heard) and they weren't bad, but in my opinion Tinton Falls does better work. I was also at the Neptune shop a few years back and wasn't impressed with the work there. Again, just my opinion. When you're ready, the best thing to do is tour each location to judge for yourself.

[JerseyHarold]

Think I'm going to prep my daughter's car and take it over there.

If you get the car painted, let us know how it turns out. Maybe even a before and after photo.