Howdy...I just got my Truck (62 Chevy Short Step) back , after 2 months in the shop (Maaco)and $4000.. had a very detailed conversation on what I wanted to be done , they came out to my house. spent over a hour walking around the truck ,talking and taken pictures.Pricing started about $2500 an before he left , he was thinking over,$3300....later in the mail ,I got the estimate , and after carefully estimating ..the price was $4100.Now This was for a Driver ,.not a Show Truck.. This was more than just a wash and shoot ,and with the amount of work that I wanted done ,My expected price a in that range , but.... It was a constant hassle , all bondo and ALWAYS trying for up charges every week . Now . All shops and people are different..... maybe if you do eveything (EVERYTHING) , body work , prep and tape ...maybe ...but , would I do it again ? Doubt it .... Ray
Out of courtesy to my neighbor who suggested I consider the $399.00 paint job, I went to MAACO today. The sign said starting at $399.00. While at MAACO, a customer was picking up his OT Chevy Step Side 4 x 4. MAACO had painted it Dodge Orange Crush in PPG single stage urethane. It was okay but not impressive. There was no orange peel and the masking was done properly....no overspray anywhere. Later found out it was painted with OMNI paint. I spoke with the manager and by the end of the conversation we were at $979.00 + tax. The quote was for solid color (Hugger Orange) PPG single stage urethane. Includes door jambs and tailgate, not under hood. Customer doing own prep, body work, and masking. Therefore, NO WARRANTY. The last sentence scares me. I asked MAACO which PPG paint type they quoted me on. He acted stupid and said what do you mean? Turns out they use PPG's OMNI Brand. Because he tried to deceive me into allowing me to think it was going to be PPG's best quality paint, he lost my future business. Back to square one.
Here in Fla there is a MAACO next door to my paint supplier. The last time I was at my supplier MAACO had just finished a late model Caddy CTS with dark red metallic red. I pulled up next to it and it looked good no runs, sags, etc. . However, when you look down the side it is dull , no reflection, looks like 2000 grit paper.
I've seen quite a few classic cars get "restored" for resale, with Maaco paintjobs. The trick these dealers use is to do all the prep, and remove or mask everything themselves, and then cut and buff the car when it gets back. These cars were worked straight, and the cut and buff jobs looked great. There were a few that came back orange peeled pretty bad though.
So what exactly do you get for $399? It wouldn't be for me, I paint my own cars, just more curious than anything. If for $979 you had to do all the prep and even mask it off, why the upcharge? OMNI still ain't cheap. I bought a pint the other day to paint my interior trim and by the time I was done with hardener, reducer, prime, etc it was still $150 for everything.
It's funny reading this. Guys are confusing a paint job with doing body work. $399 is to spray on the paint. Most times MAACO painters paint for 8 hours a day. They usually get good quickly. Body work is done in another part of the shop. At an average price pre hour. MAACO guidelines are that they are a 90% shop. That means it will not be perfect. A good friend has managed a shop for a number of years. They do ok work as quick as they can. It's all about production not quality.
I had the bumpers repainted on my OT F-150. I pulled them off, sandblasted the rust spots, sanded them out and primed the bare spots with the dupli-color epoxy spray can primer. Had Maaco paint them, and they look great. That was two years ago and they still look great. This particular shop has a lot of pictures of muscle cars and hot rods they painted in their office. I think the quality depends upon the shop.
A paint job is 99% prep. Almost anyone can work a paint gun. You should get the car ready to paint, remove everything you can, wash it in the parking lot, (they WILL paint over bugs), help them mask it off, tell the painter there's a 50 in it for him if makes sure you get a good job, and hope for the best.
I've always prepped my car as best I could before having a spray man shoot it. Someone said before these guys spray cars all day 5 days a week... They are usually quite good at it. But they don't mind spraying over bird shit or dents. I once got a real thick and smooth coat at Earl Scheib in the 70s. Belair said... "tell the painter there's a 50 in it for him if makes sure you get a good job"... Best advice ever.
"QUOTE" You hand them the right materials, a fully prepped car and you get a long lasting paint job. Just my experience... I stripped prepped and delivered (with materials) a bare down to metal car all they had to do was final clean metal etch prime and shoot and they even screwed that up, found out later they couldn't fit my car inside over night and left it in lock up out side uncovered , rolled it inside in the am and started spraying, didn't even wipe off the oxidation from over night ,
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