toddk911

Just curious if in the last 5 years or so has MAACO made any advancements in paint quality or their work, etc. ?

Or are they still pretty much you get what you pay for??

gpr8er

I've used them a few times. Just realize they are a "production" paint shop. They crank out work as fast and cheap as possible. I had a truck painted by them and they missed the whole bottom 6" . They had to repaint the whole truck. I wasn't happy with the result but you get what you pay for. I have had them paint some of my P car stuff, the 968 mirrors and header panel. Mirrors where great, header panel lousy. I think it's very dependent who's working the paint gun that day. I't s really a hit or miss take your chances. I won't be going back, there's an auto body shop on every corner out here.

Dougs951

Depends on the shop. Each one is different.

What are you looking to get painted?

Lemming

I had a MAACO like shop do a former race car, for $400 it was well worth it. I would not have been happy had it been a street car.

ausgeflippt951

What's the price point nowadays? I recently had my 968 mirrors and rear bumper painted for $300 total, and they turned out beautiful. I remember back in the day Maaco was literally 50% as expensive as the competition. With advancements in paint technology, has that changed?

ausgeflippt951

Speak of the devil. Holy cow -- $400 for an entire car?! Yowzers.

Lemming

Yup!

Here it is, right after paint.

George D

When I was tuning 280Z cars back in the mid 80's we used to use a similar company but we knew the owner. He would let us come over and circle every blemish after sanding with a grease pencil, and have them fill and sand again. He would make sure we got his best painter.

The paint was ****, and these jobs cost us about as much as a very good detail job. The car would look good for about two years, then they would have to be "detailed" again. From 10 feet away they looked decent.

Proper paint for our cars like Dupont Chromabase including clear coat costs $1000 to $1500 depending on the color, and coats of clear.

gruhsy

It's not the paint that is the problem its the prep work

You get what you pay for....yes each shop would be different but for a street car forget it.

I spoke to a guy who used them on an 87 turbo and he said it looked terrible which was the reason he was selling below market price.

Jason

V2Rocket

i think it depends on the shop you use - i had my 944 done by maaco last year since they did another car of mine and did a great job on it.

someone mentioned they sort of 'hurry' - when i went to see my car the paint was a little thin on the door jambs and wheel wells, so they repainted the car at no cost. then the header panel got bugs in it, so they buffed the hell out of it, you can shave in it.

i had a LOT of little dings all over the car, door dings, birds, rocks etc and they repaired them all, even ones i told them to leave alone for cost reasons.

got my car done in carmona red, a 997 color, as oddly they couldnt find maraschino metallic...?

cost was $1500. needs a buff to take care of some orangepeel but overall i am happy and i think it looks great. now i need to spruce the interior up since the paint makes it look so bad :X

fwb42

A quality paint job is made up of proper prep,experienced painter and the best materials. Leave anyone of these steps out and you get less than perfect results. Now saying that,I use our local high school auto body class for some of my work. They use all the right stuff,the 2 year students handle the spraying and the instructor oversees their work.

Ifly951

I would suggest going the local high school route also. You can get a good paint job that way.

Another better option is to seek a newer independent shop that want's to build upon the reputation they have. Be willing to do some prep work. Buy the paint yourself and work a deal with them that way. This is what we do in San Diego and it's worked out great for my friends. Now that my car is back on the road I will be getting it painted this same way in about 2 month's.

Total cost will be about $1300 to $1500 for a 3 base 2 clear paint job.

CyCloNe!

I've used some Maaco's with excellent results and quality. Biggest things I've learned are:
1) Find the one with the best rep in your area
2) Do the prep your self and then let them do theirs (that way you still get warranty on the paint job if they prep)
3) Remove, tape or mention anything you don't want painted (some are worse then others but they tend to get careless and paint certain things)
4) Enjoy

CyCloNe!

Did you get them to do the door jams and underside of the hood?

V2Rocket

Yes - the hood that I had on the car was black before! I actually asked them not to paint under the hood as that would have been extra but they did anyways for free!

(my engine bay is black after my crash repair, so it would have matched)