MAACO paint job--worth it for my car?

[HRC]

Hi, everyone. I'm brand new to the forum and very inexperienced with cars. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My car is a 2001 Nissan Sentra GXE with over 200k miles. I paid $2,800 for this car and it has run well for me since mid 2008. I've been keeping up on the maintenance and only recently had to replace the radiator.

Anyway, my car is white and has quite a few scuffs and scrapes on it, and someone keyed it in the past. My grandmother somehow thought it would be a good idea to try to spray paint over one of the key marks, and did so without my knowledge. Not surprisingly, the spray paint has yellowed. The original paint job isn't peeling or rusting or anything, but with all of the things I listed, it doesn't look great.

QUESTION1: The above considered, would a cheap $300 MAACO paint job be worth it? I don't expect it to come out perfect, and I really don't care if it has some imperfections. I just want a quick, cheap fix for a cheap car.

QUESTION 2: I DO care if there are things like overspray on my windows. I've been reading up, and someone said that if the paint job doesn't meet your expectations, you should not accept the car and make them fix it. Can you even do that?

QUESTION 3: What are things I can do to the car myself to prep it for being painted? How do you sand down things like a ragged bumper? Someone mentioned that you should put in the painting contract that the shops needs to seal the engine compartment with plastic and paper or something like that?

Sorry for all of the questions and the length. Kudos if you read this far through.

[jon@af]

I have a 98 Cavalier that my wife got from a friend for around 800 bucks. It was wrecked and repaired (hence the price) and had 60k miles on it with the interior completely clean and a good motor in it. The only problem was, it was three colors on the front - red fender, primer hood and green bumper (the rest of the car is teal).

We went the $300 paint job route through Maaco and while it's obviously not the top of the line, it certainly did the job. I will tell you that for the price, you will sort of get what you pay for. There are a couple of blemishes in the paint, but literally only a couple.

Also, because we take this thing through a lot of different areas of the state, we get rocks chipping away at the paint, but this may be different for you depending on where you live.

Is it perfect? No. But for the price, it's a good option if you're wanting a better looking car. I have no regrets about it. I'd rather be driving a car that is one color.

[-Josh-]

Originally Posted by HRC

Hi, everyone. I'm brand new to the forum and very inexperienced with cars. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My car is a 2001 Nissan Sentra GXE with over 200k miles. I paid $2,800 for this car and it has run well for me since mid 2008. I've been keeping up on the maintenance and only recently had to replace the radiator.

Anyway, my car is white and has quite a few scuffs and scrapes on it, and someone keyed it in the past. My grandmother somehow thought it would be a good idea to try to spray paint over one of the key marks, and did so without my knowledge. Not surprisingly, the spray paint has yellowed. The original paint job isn't peeling or rusting or anything, but with all of the things I listed, it doesn't look great.

QUESTION1: The above considered, would a cheap $300 MAACO paint job be worth it? I don't expect it to come out perfect, and I really don't care if it has some imperfections. I just want a quick, cheap fix for a cheap car.

QUESTION 2: I DO care if there are things like overspray on my windows. I've been reading up, and someone said that if the paint job doesn't meet your expectations, you should not accept the car and make them fix it. Can you even do that?

QUESTION 3: What are things I can do to the car myself to prep it for being painted? How do you sand down things like a ragged bumper? Someone mentioned that you should put in the painting contract that the shops needs to seal the engine compartment with plastic and paper or something like that?

Sorry for all of the questions and the length. Kudos if you read this far through.

I'll try my best to answer the three questions.


1) You get what you pay for, i've seen MAACO work magic and i've seen them do crap, $300 wont give you a great paint job but if you're not going to show the car at auto shows who really cares if theres runs in the paint?

2) Yes you can have them take the overspray off but to be honest it's a quick do it yourself fix if you want to avoid the hastle. All you need is a car detailing clay bar and some spray on body shine and it will come right off.

3) Sand away, you'll wanna sand the whole car and if it were me i would tape off everything myself that i didn't want paint getting in...door jams etc...


Good luck.

[Shondez George]

I worke for Maaca for six months and I can tell you from experience that a cheap spay paint is exactly what your going to get. If you take your car to maaco the best thing to do is sand it yourself so that the paint holds alot better Maaco gets money on how fast they can get your car in and out with your money in their hand so the most tedious part of the job which is the sanding is rushed and not completely sanded. what ever the DA can get is scratched with sand paper just to take the gloss off of the original paint.

[HRC]

Thanks for the replies!

I have no idea how to sand a car. I'll have to look it up.

Josh touched on my question about sending the car back a little, but I'd like more information on this subject. Specifically, I want to know if it will fly if I see blemishes or something and tell them to fix it. Will they do it? For free? Kinda like sending back a pizza with the wrong toppings, haha.

[Colabr8]

Many body/paint shops will want to repaint the entire car, or an entire panel. Maaco can go the high-end route, or if the customer wants, Maaco will discuss options for a durable and more minimal repair. They are pros at listening to the customer and matching the work to the clients request and budget.

This has earned Maaco about 50% marketshare, which lowers their cost. This volume advantage and taking smaller repair/repaint jobs allow Maaco to rightfully advertise that their average repair cost is less than conventional shops.

Maaco has the skill, paint booths and paints suitable for a luxury or classic, but it won't come for the $499 special price for the whole animal. Be sure to specify and discuss better prep, the high-end paints and required, numerous coats to get the finish you want- if you are going full-tilt.

[Chris V]

Answered this in another thread on here:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul....php?t=1069488