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okay it all started out on a nice beautiful morning today my sister and i decided to go to maaco to get a estimate on one of my camaros... so we drive like a half and hour to maaco wait for the guy for 20 mins and then he finally was able to estimate it.. well he looks over it shakes his head and notices everything. guess how much its goin to be without painting it, if theres any body work that needs to be done, and if a rust spot..... $750.00 dollars he said it needed to be striped to the bone!!! and he went on about this and that. i stopped listening after i heard him say its gonna be a lot. well i was wondering does anyone know how to strip a car so maybe i can save that money and do it myself im willing to do it and take my time and everything but if anyone knows anything about this wanna help me out? or is it not worth it?thankz

I thought maaco just taped everything off and shot the paint w/o doing any body work. Hence why they are the cheapest around. Oh well keep in mind you get what you pay for.

ya seriously , j ust try to do most of the prep work your self , dont try to go cheap on paint , i hate it when i see nice cars with crapy paint jobs

When you say stripped.. do you mean the paint stripped off?? or everything fastened to the body? (handles, locks, bumpers, etc.)

I stripped everything off of my car down to save myself money.. and I did.. A LOT.. The guy even let me do it in his shop.. He wouldnt paint around anything so EVERYTHING had to come off... it took about 6 hours (spoiler, handles, locks, f & r bumpers, all gfx, all lights and signals, windshield, dor moldings)

oh, and IMO dont go to macco.. As Shortbus said.. They're hacks.. well at least here they are..

Im not a fan of maaco, if I had to get them to paint my car thats all I would let them do. Take it to a reputable shop to have body work done if you must. Stripping a car, depending on how extensive you do it, can take alot of time.

if the guy meant all the paint had to be stripped......why? sand the car down so all clear coat and atleast half the base coat is removed then use an etching primer. even chips in the existing paint can be feather edged to be un-noticable. if for some reason you do need to remove all the paint, you can get a grinding pad that is designed to remove paint and not metal, but it'll take atleast 10 hours to grind all the paint off. or you can sandblast but that'd cost a small fortune

wow thankz everyone.... he said that there was too much scatches. or whateva something like that and he said if we painted over it that it would show through.. so like say i just try out the hood how would i do it just use a sander?

well, you can order an orbital sander like bodyshops use from just about any online tool store. get the propor pads, an air compressor, and air line. take off all the trim and parts outside the car, mask off the lights and glass, and tires. and just start sanding bascly, i dont think ive ever heard of a car being stripped down to bare metal for just a basic paint job. maybe a full blow resto, where they strip it down bondo it and sand it perfectly smooth like glass, then prime it, then blast it with like ten coats of paint. but if your just lookin for a paint job. sand it down yourself, then take it in right away. no rain mind you. and let them know its already been prepped.

are these scratches deep or just the usuall buffing and polishing scratches? cause if there just polishing scratches that guy is full of shit. sanding down to the base coat like i said earlier will remove most if not all of them. what's left can be filled with a good heavy sanding primer, and even deep scratches can be feather edged.

ive got a scratch or two thats to the metal... how hard are those to remove/paint over, if i were to get it repainted?

well if it's scratched the metal itself, then you'd probly have to sand down the area and use a spot putty or glazing/spot putty mix. then repaint the whole panel. color and and glaze matching is extremely hard to do without repainting the whole panel. or buy one of those paint markers and run that over it, but it'll probly still show

i wish i could get a pic and show u guyz then ud be able to see...maybe ill try and do that tomorrow..... yea thats what the guy told me the car had to be striped the whole car... i think the majority of the car just needs to be sanded down to the same level if u know what im talkin about.. its like peeled in some parts. i really dont care if its not the best paint job just a lil better then it is now!! i think the hood is the badest so if i take it of and spend a lot of time on it i think it would turn out good... its just basically really bad because of the weather. also theres stripes at the bottom of the car i have no clue what id be able to do wit them i think there stickers.... i really need a pic.. ill def try tomorrow!!!!! thankz!!!

If it just needs to be leveled out because of flaking clearcoat or something you should be able to handle that yourself. I think you could just use some wet sand paper and a sanding block and take your time smoothing it out. Or you could get a power sander but I think it would be simpler to use a block.

Even a palm sander would work.. If you wanna use a little elbow grease, and sanding block will work too..
Like Iroc said, mask everything off that isnt getting sanded (keep your windows up to keep dust out)
I would just sand the areas that are scratched for now, stick to a small area at a time..
Hand sand all the tight areas, creases, etc.. Ide use about 150 or 180 grit.. Then use an orbital or palm sander (even a sanding block will work if you wanna go the manual route) and using the same grit, sand the area down til you cant see the scratches anymore.. then sand the area with a 220, 320 then maybe wet sand it with 500 or 600.. You want to make the area smooth as possible but you also want to avoid sanding down to the metal if it all possible.. If you do have to sand it down to the metal, dont let it sit too long before getting it painted..

And if you come across any small dents you want fixed, itd be a good idea to clearly mark them, or even not sand those areas.. Its very hard to see small dents if the areas been sanded away.. Body man might miss them

wow thank you damonee sounds like i might be able to handle that but i dont have a garage so i think i might have to wait till the forecast is clear cuz theres thunderstorms or whateva this weekend..what happens if u wait too long to get a paintjob after sanding it?thankz

.....it'l rust

and dirt collects on it, and paint wont stick to it

Make sure you ask them to tack rag the car before they paint it.. thatl take off all the grease from your fingers and dirt and dust that will collect on the car while your working, transporting, etc..

But if you let it sit without paint, it will rust VERY quickly, especially bare metal.. If you do haveto go down to the metal, and you plan on havin' the car sit for a little while.. Prime it? Get a can of primer/sealer.. Get the good stuff, go to a bodyshop supply store, or to a bodyshop.. mask off glass and lights and such, wipe the area down with acetone, wait a minute, then spray the primer on in 3 or 4 light coats.. Then wet sand to match the texture of the rest of the body

damonee do u paint cars??? or u just know from experience wit urs???? thanks guyz u were a big help!!!!!

i paint cars.
i painted that blue car in my avatar, all you can see is the truck lid tho.
and my truck is goin viper red

i paint cars.
i painted that blue car in my avatar, all you can see is the truck lid tho.
and my truck is goin viper red


really... wanna help paint mine.... where ya from? i dont know now im kinda rethinking about me doin it. i was lookin at it today and i dont know if ill be able to do it. it looks as if a good amount of time will be have to be spent on it. im willing to do it but i drive it everyday so ill be like driving wit spots and what not... they'll really make fun of me at the races....lol i dont know where to start!!!

damonee do u paint cars??? or u just know from experience wit urs???? thanks guyz u were a big help!!!!!

Just from experience with mine.. I did all the body and mechanical work on my first two paint jobs.. An 82' Camaro, factory metallic charcoal grey..
and 86' Camaro, black with blue pearl.. All the fenders and creases turned blue in the right light.. Looked really good..

And my 91' Z I painted factory red with blue pearl.. (creases turn purple) with silver "heritage edition camaro" racing striped painted on.. I also shaved the handles and locks...

My neibor owns a bodyshop, I get him to do my painting and major bodywork cuz I dont have the equipment

i dont know now im kinda rethinking about me doin it. i was lookin at it today and i dont know if ill be able to do it. it looks as if a good amount of time will be have to be spent on it.

Thats the reason the body shop wants so much.. Because that prepwork is the most time consuming part of a paint job.. Where I live, a decent autobody rate is about $65 dollars an hour.. If they want $750 dollars thats about.. Ide say 17 or 18 hours their labor.. That means it'l take you closer to 25 or 30 hours..

If you do decide to do it, Good luck!!

so u painted pearl flakes on your cars???? see ur lucky i have to find someone wit a shop or something like that it would be a lot easier and i could like borrow there equipment.. maaco would actually spend that much prep time into the car???

the pearl flakes are mixed with the paint..usually. if you want to paint your car yourself, i'd suggest you do lots and lots of reading about painting techniques or buy a book. it takes a clean ventilated room with plenty of light. the biggest problem is that you try to paint shadows and then you get runs. spray technique is the most important thing, so you dont get light and dark spots and keep overspray down. but hey, ya cant learn unless ya try.

yea i think i realized im not gonna do it unless i have everything i need and know how to do it. see i dont got a garage so it would be really hard..... but thankz for helping me guyz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!