A little over three years ago I wanted to paint the 944. I shopped around and I found that everybody I talked to immediately said "$5-8k for a good (no, not great) paint job. I swung by the local Maaco for grins. I looked at some of the work they did and reminded them that they were right across the street from my Porsche mechanic and that I'm sure there were other owners who were as offended by the Porsche markup as I was, so this could be a good marketing opportunity for them.

They quoted me $1.6k to strip off the stoneguards, fill some dents, sand, prime and spray with the two-stage paint. I decided to go with it.

I stripped off every exterior piece except the front and rear windows and brought it over to them. They sprayed it, I brought it back home and reassembled it. Total cost, including almost all new seals, hood crest, badges, stone guards, rear speakers, 951 rear valance and a bumper pad (a stud broke during removal) came to about $4k.

Is it a perfect paint job? Nope. It has a bit of orange peel (I never wet sanded it, although I should have since that would solve it) and two runs. The flaws are there, but you have to pay attention to see them. And yes, it does chip a bit more readily than a quality job would. However, three years later it has held up suprisingly well. I think it was a worthwhile expenditure, and I am constantly getting compliments on the car.

Not to say that all Maacos will do a good job, but I wouldn't outright reject them as cheap. Their low paintjobs are, IMHO, crap, and I think that is where the reputation comes from. But if you are willing to do some of the work yourself and you have a good shop, it may be a worthwhile approach.

I'm glad I did.

BB.

 

no such thing as an investment into a car. get the $399 Maaco special and enjoy driving!

 

Maybe you should look into an electric DA sander if you need one. I have a Porter Cable that I use for polishing. It costs about $130 and has the advantage that you could get foam pads for buffing.

Also, orange peel is a fact with low VOC paints. Wet sanding is about the only way to get rid of it.

 

Is it just me or does the rear of a 944 look creepy without the lights, kinda like a skull....

 

Several years ago, a friend of mine's father had their beloved '83 Chevy Caprice Classic station wagon (think family truckster - you could seriously fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood in the back and close all the doors/windows) repainted. I'm not sure if it was Maaco or not, but I remember it was cheap. The ad was like "$299 to repaint any car." When my friend's father pulled in, the shop owner said "now that's a lot of car." But it got repainted. And it was terrible. It went from being a faded but reasonable medium blue, to looking like it was painted with several dozen cans of flat blue spray paint and then sanded with 180-grit just for good measure.

In that case, $299 was not a bargain.

 

120 volts - 60hz - 4.5 amps - 1985 rpm. My dad gave it to me to polish the car some years ago when it looked much better. Hadnt thought about it in a while.
Thanks