Cheap-Ass paintjobs - Who would you choose?
 

OK against everything I have ever told my customers :P I am going to get a cheap spray on my car. I figured since Im gonna race it anyways, and will have to deal with rubber, rock chips, and possible walls - Why deal with the guilt of screwing up a $5k paint job. I'll wait 'til someone else is paying for it to get the bling-bling. Im gonna remove the trim and do most of the masking, so I know the prep will be ~ ok. Im going a similar color so underhood, door jambs, trunk etc etc I dont care about matching

I know everyone claims Earl Schieb is crap, but these are usually the same folks wholl tell you Autometer gauges are crap, and Blitz BOVS leak when never having used them.

So given the choice, who would you use for a cheap paint job? Why? Any first hand experiences?

Maaco
One Day
Earl Schieb

(Flame suit On - Fire Away)

MAACO SUCKS ASS!!!!

I had my last car painted there and it looked great from 5feet away but when close there were so many fisheyes. There were only 2 runs on the whole car though but there were dead bugs under the paint and it was just overall a shitty paintjob. Wouldnt matter if you did all the prep maaco still cant paint so dont go there.
I have a friend who got his car painted at facto-bake and it looked alot better than my car from maaco but still not quality work.

I wouldnt even have maaco paint a car that I was going to use in a demolition derby.

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member...13_16_full.jpg

Thats the maaco paint job. Looks nice from that distance but was just shit upclose.

I guess for a track car that would only be seen blurred in pics it would be fine just expect shit when you go there and you wont be as dissappointed.

Damn everyone who owns RX's are ballers - NOONE put a cheap paint job on, everyone paid $5000 plus for paint? Even the FC worth about 1/2 that? :rolleyes:

BicuspiD,

How much are you going to spend? I've seen 2500-3000 dollar paint jobs from Maaco that look factory. The main thing is that they usually begin to flake a little earlier than some other paint jobs but nothing like 3-4 months after the job is done...

Check the FD section, there's a kid wanting to do a $20 paint job. :D

I drove by an Earl Scheib one day and they were painting cars outside! Ill bet they looked awsome after the bugs/smog/dust stuck to it. At least Maaco (the ones around here) have a paint booth.

Looking to spend less then $750, so I know the materials/prep will be subpar. It's just to get it all one color so I dont have white fenders, lip, and mirrors, and the rest of the car looks like hell. The montego blue has cancer I just want it to match, and try a different color - maybe last a year or two if that, before I get another cheapie or change colors or something.I have this ominous feeling im going to end up in a wall before the end of the year anyways :) I beat on my car, but it deserves better than a rattle can. Anyways I had a 69 Impala painted (white) by One Day a bunch of years ago, and it held up ok - but they are gone now.

Why does everyone hate maaco? You get what you pay for. You spend the $3000 there and it looks awesome, you get the $250 job, its looks like the $250 job...

When I was shopping around town for paint pricing, I stopped at Maaco for the heck of it just to see what they would quote. The guy said they wouldn't even take the car if I wanted one of their "cheapo" paint jobs. That Maaco shop said they wouldn't paint it unless they could do it right (removing the trim, etc) and quoted me an estimate of $2900. That was about 3 years ago so I'm sure their pricing has gone up with everything else.

BTW, I never did ge that paint job yet, but a friend of mine got his car done by a guy moonlighting at a body shop. Did an incredible job and I'll probably do the same. Might be an idea to ask around to find someone like that in your area.

It all depends on the guy spraying the car as to how good its gonna be doesnt really matter who you take it to. Friend of mine told me if you tip the sprayer good he'll do a better job.

You are 100% correct.

you can have a shitty paint job, but if you have a great wetsand buff after.. thats what really makes the car glisten.. all depends on your maaco.. lol id go with them though.

If you're in the south i'd go with SprayGlo; they really did a good job for the money. I painted my car the same color with a pearl coat and a clear coat. They've also done body work for me and i was satisfied.

My only complaint about Macco is the paint faded big time after about 3 years. Other than that they did a decent job. As for any of these discount paint shops you need to prep the car yourself. that means taking off the emblems, removing the trim stickers, and in some cases roughing up the current paint so the new coat will stick. It is also a good idea to remove things you do not want to get painted like windshield wipers.

After the paint has cured it's also a great idea to wetsand it afterwords then gaze it. that way you get the orangepeel off of it and you will be certain the paint has been sealed.

mmaaco

If you can find a school that has Auto Paint & Body and try to see some of the work they have done. I know that at quite a few schools if you pay the teacher for the materials and slip him a couple of $100's he would be happy to paint it for you. Most of them while not the best are better than Maaco etc. since they have good equipment/facilities (school budgets for vocational programs are pretty decent) the teachers know the technique pretty much perfectly since they spend all day trying to teach it and the teacher will probably use it as a demonstration for the class so he/she wont try and just do a quicky job they will do everything by the book. Failing that try to find a guy moonlighting you can usually get pretty decent prices and the work is usually good.

I recently got my daily driver painted at maaco, so I will share my experience.

I got the car and it was really beat up, dents on every panel. I replaced the front end of the car, bumper, hood, fenders with parts off another car (different color). I also pulled a big dent in the rear 1/4 and put on a different color rear bumper. I sanded the entire car and bondo'd the dents and dings the best I could. I had never used bondo before, so it didnt come out perfect by any means. The job was too much for me to do without any knowledge and little time or motivation to work on the car.

So I decided to take the car to maaco. I paid them $330 to paint the car the original color without any prep work. Took them two days. I picked up the car and was happy with the paint quality and how shiny the paint was. I could see most of the spots where I worked with bondo when I was close to the car but thats my fault. The car now looks fine from 10 feet. Although I have not washed the car since I had it painted I have not noticed many imprefections in the paint.

In the past I have had my FD professionally painted twice, both times costing close to $4K. Having gone both the expensive and cheap route now, I would definately reccomend maaco with a car you dont care much about. Don't get me wrong, I didnt want my DD to look like total shit and it doesnt, but at the same time its not a show car like my fd. Another thing I liked about the whole experience is that even if this paint does turn to shit in a year or two, I can have it painted again for another $300.

I will try to get pics as I plan on washing the car today or tomorow.

alright i went out and took some pics of the maaco paint job. heres one huge pic. the rest are in the directory bleow..

http://www.steveprew.com/s14/DSCN3413.JPG

http://www.steveprew.com/s14/

dang, nice DD

do you live near a college, community college, etc? go there and find the auto shop, most have auto body shops, and you can usually find someone who will do it, b/c they need a project. Hell, if your in CA come to cuesta college and find me in 2 months.

don't group these companies into a "they all suck" category.

I got a $250 job from maaco waaay back just cause i wanted to sell the car and it needed paint. I couldn't find a single streak, and I think 1 small spot of overspray that i got off with a claybar. Now don't get me wrong...it wasn't a base/clear coat paint job...it was that all in one mixture they have...but the spray itself was fine.

My point is...the job depends on who sprays it...and I guess here where I live (out in the country)...we don't have any malls and whatnot, but there seems to be a body shop about every 2 blocks, so lots of guys with lots of experience in the field.

that's not bad at all. how much did you pay for it?

I teach Auto body repair at night at our local college and the day class takes in outside work. The paint we use is Dupont, one of the best. We only charge for the supplies, can range from $200 to $600 just for paint, depending on color and paint grade. The problem with the cheaper paint shops is the grade or quality of paint they use and the prep work. I have seen a lot of cheap paint jobs peal and flake after two or three years.