New paint job.

[XeVeNskyLiNE]

Well its about that time. My car is starting to look like an old man balding. Paints fading and rough on the roof and hatch.

What chain paint shops would you guys recommend if any? My mom took her old Camry to Earl Schreib and they fucked her stuff all the hell up. They painted her mudflaps, got some on the exhaust, and even painted the damn key locks! Personally I would've demanded my money back after such a bullshit paint job. Not even a month later the paint was cracking on the bumpers, lol.

I know its pretty much a, you get what you pay for, kind of deal. But which shops have you guys had good experiences with?

[nova1313]

The maaco close to me owns. The guys there really care and don't produce the same type of shit 99% of the maaco's do. If you can find one in your area and see people's cars after I say go for it.

Keep in mind if you get the cheapest paint job they offer it's not going to be amazing. I think the best paintjob they had with a clear coat was like 2k on my eclipse spyder (but alas no roof) and they were going to take out 1 dent. 2k is still decently cheap for a good paint job.

I've seen friends cars painted by these guys and it looks great, no flaws and the paint is holding up. But I've seen peoples cars painted at other maaco's and they are teh suck.

Get to know the people that are going to paint it and ask them to see their work. If they do it right it's going to be an expensive job.

AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE for the love of god if you decide to change the color paint the hatch, and door jams at least!

[smoke121212]

i dont know where you live but my friend does pant jobs for like 900 wit 3 coats of clear im getting mine done this summer.

[XeVeNskyLiNE]

Good lawd I didn't think they'd be THAT expensive. I'm getting it painted black again, so hopefully it won't be some out the ballpark price, but I'm not gonna settle for the cheapest job either. I'll have to look around the area I'm staying at right now with my dad, which is a pretty wealthy neighborhood. So I'm guessing if there's a Maaco around here the employees will pay more attention to detail than say the middle class neighborhood I'm from.

[smoke121212]

dude my dad lives in a pretty upper class area and he cant get a paint job for less than 1500 unless he comes down by me.
i think black pearl with 3 coats of clear is good when paying 900.
but if your paintin it black they will probally just put 1 coat of black and one of clear. it wont be more than 350-400 if you go to the right places.

[spyderturbo007]

I ended up going to a local shop that is highly respected and I can see why now. I fixed every flaw in the body, repainted my jams because I traded for the cost of the custom paint. They recoated my wheel wells and painted my windshield wiper arms just because they said they were flaking.

It took 3 weeks for them to do the job but it looks incrediable. A couple of my friends are detailers and have told me that if I didn't tell them it was repainted, they would have never known.

I went in about 2 weeks into the process and saw that every body panel have been removed from the car. No hood, doors, bumpers, side shirts, hatch, and she was covered with bondo. I almost cried.

Here are some pictures I took:

[XeVeNskyLiNE]

Wow man 3 weeks seems like an enternity, but its good to see they out effort into it.

I dropped mine off yesterday at Maaco and opted for the $400 job, but told em to just forget about popping all the dings. I should get it back on Tuesday, I got to check out some of the other cars that were drying and they seemed decent.

[spyderturbo007]

Originally Posted by XeVeNskyLiNE

Wow man 3 weeks seems like an enternity, but its good to see they out effort into it.

It is, especially when you end up getting a purple PT cruiser as a rental.

[l_eclipse_l]

So what did a job like that end up costing you spyderturbo007? Had to be above the $2k mark even with just basic paint.

[gthompson97]

Oh geezus, another one bites the dust with a Maaco paintjob. I wouldn't even take my bicycle to Maaco to get it painted, they would have to PAY ME to have them do anything of mine. Usually if you look around enough and get enough quotes, you can find a good paintjob for pretty decent. I wish I would have gotten here earlier, because I would have seriously tried talking you out of it. I bet that shit starts flaking off within a year.

[spyderturbo007]

Originally Posted by l_eclipse_l

So what did a job like that end up costing you spyderturbo007? Had to be above the $2k mark even with just basic paint.

It was about $3400, but well worth it. I paid for the paint, reducers, etc and traded that for them painting the underside of the hood and the trunk lid, along with the jams and under the gas cap. Recoating of the wheel wells, replacement of all outside molding and painting the wiper arms was something they did for free.

The ended up taking pictures of the car before, during and after the paint job. My baby is now proudly hanging up on their wall for all to see.

[Shpyder]

From personal experience, stay away from Earl Schieb. My brother had his car painted there, and it started flaking after 2 months. Ridiculous. I'm not sure if the Maaco guy near nova1313 is different, but I would stay away from Maaco too. These guys are dealer whores and move out repainted cars en masse. You want to go to a place that's not as commercial as those, perhaps.

I had my 3000GT repainted just recently, same color (red), from Carcoa Body & Paint (will post pics soon). It was a basic paint job, but they are known for their quality of paint. They are a small family owned business, so do check to see if there's one near you.

[Sonic Eclipse]

Originally Posted by gthompson97

Oh geezus, another one bites the dust with a Maaco paintjob. I wouldn't even take my bicycle to Maaco to get it painted, they would have to PAY ME to have them do anything of mine. Usually if you look around enough and get enough quotes, you can find a good paintjob for pretty decent. I wish I would have gotten here earlier, because I would have seriously tried talking you out of it. I bet that shit starts flaking off within a year.

Don't be so hard on the guy, some people just don't have the finances to go to the real good places that also charge a pretty penny. I'm also having a hard time finding a place to paint my car for decent price for the budget I have. While I'm not going to Maaco, I also won't disrepect anyone who does.

[nova1313]

yeah the maaco around me is awesome. The owner is super nice and does an excellent job. I've seen other maaco's work and it's not nearly as nice or as good.

But I can't say much for their dirt cheap paint jobs. They may suck. The people I know have always gotten the highest grade one with the extra clear coat and it came out amazing. But you paid about 1700-2000 for the full sanding, painting all jams and under hood and trunk and the extra clear coat.

The trick is the prep job. If the places prep job sucks the paint will suck. Hands down.

[gthompson97]

Painting a car doesn't have to do alot with the actual paintjob iteslf, it's the prep job that makes or breaks a nice paintjob. A decent paintjob is 90% prep, 10% painting. If you get good paint and someone who knows what they're doing, the job will come out very nice, it's the shitty prep and shitty paintjobs that flake off within a couple months.