Maaco Paint job

SouthernYankee · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 7:30 pm Post subject:

Lol, thanks Bob.

Damn insect, I bet you hated to see this post! Well, the fact that Macco mentioned welding as opposed to filler is a good sign. Yeah man, get us some pics, it'll be nice to see. I hope it holds up for ya!
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rlarkin · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 8:02 pm Post subject:

I don't know if Macco franchises anything, but if they do, the franchise would have the option of offering better jobs and service.

the dayzwalker · Samba Member Joined: September 18, 2003 Posts: 156

Maaco does franchise and prices do vary greatly from shop to shop. My dad once got a Maaco paint job, the middle of the line job, on an old acura. He got it and sold it two months later. The new owner came back not even a year after he bought the car and wanted a "refund" because the paint was peeling right off in chunks, talk about NO prep work. It didn't even look like the original piant job had been touched by sandpaper!

F U MAACO!

hlwimmer · Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2003 3:05 pm Post subject:

when i had my cars painted by maaco and scheib, i had plenty of driveway/parking-lot space, but absolutely *no* way to construct even a makeshift paintbooth, much less rent a gun, compressor and buy supplies.

i *was* able to master the art of rattle-can priming, bondo-mixing and lots of wax-on-wax-off sanding... it took a loooong time, but @ 16 during the summer, you have a lot more time than money. when i say i prepped it, it was really, really prepped. initial sanding to nearly bare metal, everything that could unbolt or pry-off was removed (down to the body-moulding clips) and it was delivered wet-sanded -- if maaco drove it right into the booth with no prep on their side, it'd be better than many paint jobs i've seen... and the paint really held up (at least for the following few years that i owned the cars).

however... during another adventure, i had the task for finding dozens of pre-50s cars for a movie-set. one of the cars we needed was a period police car. i found a 1950 ford with an aligator-skin paintjob -- looked like cracked mud. it needed to "shine" in a night shot, so we took it to scheib for a quickie spray refresher... no prep. we got exactly what we expected... they painted over everything -- even the door handles -- with *no* sanfing. fortunately, the camera was very forgiving and the darkness hid many, many flaws.

so... lesson of the story: if you have more time than money (and space) and more patience than experience... you can do a pretty good job prepping your car with basic materials and no specialty equipment... then take it to someone with a booth and some skill for the finish coat -- be it maaco, scheib or the local highschool. if you're willing to invest the time, you can save some $ and blow a few braincells on primer-fumes... but don't expect caviar when you're paying for bait.

sorry for the long post...

hlwimmer · Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2003 3:13 pm Post subject:

fyi: for kicks, i called the maaco that painted the galaxie in 1993 (maaco on west broad st. in richmond va)...

his response to my initial question ("if i bring a car to you wet-sanded, how much would it cost to shoot it with a coat of paint?") was... "well, it depends... how nice do you want it to look?... maybe $250-400" -- alluding to the notion that i shouldn't expect concours quality for budget prices... he finished with "hey, take the bumpers off"...

hope that helps.

[email protected] · Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2003 3:24 pm Post subject:

Sorry guys but if you can spend only a couple off hunderd on a paintjob including preping and suspect a decent job then you are a cheap ass!!!

You get what you pay for, all those guys looking for the short run and pull a total budget like $1000 to buy a car, weld it, do the mechanic stuff AND have paintjob get what they pay for: SHIT!

If your a cheap ass buy something for $500 and drive it as is, let the real cars to the big guys who take a car serious and not look at it like its a pain to money into it as this or the only real vw minded people.

Cheap asses stay away from the hobby.

"Can I get my car painted for $100? Should I paint it myself with an old paintgun I have laying around? Blablabla..."

Suckers.
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John · Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2003 3:48 pm Post subject:

What?....I must have missed something in the translation!

SouthernYankee · Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2003 4:00 pm Post subject:

hlwimmer · Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2003 5:01 pm Post subject:

care to carry this to rants forum or continue to help out a kid with a 73super who's short on cash?

has anyone else *actually* had a car painted by maaco? if not, please don't respond... it wasn't the original question.

John · Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2003 5:17 pm Post subject:

There is an early 60's Vert bug here in Las Vegas...he had it painted at the Maaco in North Las Vegas. When I first saw it I asked him who painted it and he reluctantly told me it was Maaco!

His car looks fantastic...If I had to quess I would say he paid at least $3,000 for the job.

I went by the Maaco where he had it done and 99% of the paint jobs looked like SH*T! But every now and then there was a perfect job.

I think bottom line is that this Maaco CAN do a good job if they want to and you are willing to spend the cash.

By the way the Vert paint job was $1,100 including some body work and prep.

The guys name is Von who had the Vert painted at Maaco...If he is on this forum maybe he will post pics.

John

[email protected] · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:00 am Post subject:

Whatever Yankee,

if you can't live with my comments to bad for you.
If your happy with a half ass job good for you, keep up patching rust holes, fill it up with bondo, firberglass your pan instaed off replace it with decent new sheetmetal and sertenly try to be ass cheap as you can on the paint job cause every $ you spend on paint and prepping is a $ to much...

Must be cool to drive a half ass v dub.

Enjoy.
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Erik G · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:44 am Post subject:

S. Yankee, Since you are JHC and all, I'm not gonna blast you, but I suggest you read up on who you are talking shit too, and telling them you will shove a foot up their ass. Thats not how you treat a longtime JHC member. You should be thanking him for his advice, as he has proven that he knows a shitload about bodywork/restoring/fabrication, not only here on thesamba, but in real life.
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Skim · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:53 am Post subject:

time and time again. You get what you pay for. If you want a cheap paint job then expect:
Cheap materials
Cheap quick prep work
Cheap labor.
sure if you were there working spraying cars all day, you could be good at spraying but if Maaco is pumping out 500 cars a day, do you think the manager is gonna let his preppers spend hours getting your car right for a couple hundred bucks? No way! Its get it in and get it out. If you want a cheap spray job thats for you but dont be suprised to find overspray on the rubber and trash in the paint and paint that shines for 6 months with free orange peel. Its only logical.
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SouthernYankee · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:37 am Post subject:

Alright then, hopefully my sig now affords me the right to talk. I’m gonna go ahead and shoot Empi PM. Nothing personal, I’m just not down with this.

Since when can a person be decisively “real vw minded people.” by judging the money in their pocket? I think some people forget that some of us barely make it by and do by our dubs the best we can and if that is $500 for a paintjob that only lasts 2 years, so be it. I have seen some half dead vehicles that were owned by people more in the vw mindset than myself.

I know this isn’t the rants so this will be the end of this for me. If anyone wants to continue it, start it up over there and I’ll be glad to pitch in.
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bljones · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 9:12 am Post subject:

it makes as little sense to invest $3500 in painting a $2500 car as it does to spend $500 painting a $20,000 car. Most of the advice given so far has been sensible, on topic and helpful. The belgian was a little tactless, but he has a point, the same point hlwimmer made- you wouldn't want to do this to a trophy-aspiring zwitter, but for a daily driver super, a franchise paint shop "in n out' job may be just what the doctor ordered.
Prep it yourself- your time is always cheaper than the bodyshop's. Get three estimates, so you can see what the "real world' cost for the job in your area is. a paint job is likely cheaper in Podunk, South Dakota than it is in Cupertino, Ca, for example.
Look in your local shopper type paper- you may find a guy who has a little booth in his garage, where he does work on the side- you may be able to get quality you are happy with at a price you like.

"don't expect caviar when you are paying for bait." i like that. mind if i use it?
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UncleBob · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 10:05 am Post subject:

Kals57rag · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:14 pm Post subject:

When I bought my 56 from Cali., the owner said it was painted by Maaco. The car was shiny but thats about it. Looked good in pics but far from good.

insect · Samba Member Joined: August 13, 2003 Posts: 22

Well I won't need to take any pictures. They called today and when I went to pick it up I refused to pay the second half I owed. They say they will correct the problems which are as follows:

1) Chunks under the paint. Their explanation "you get that kind of stuff in a production environment". My reply, "If you want paid, you'll fix it".

2) Very large and obvious runs in four places. The owner thought this was obviously wrong.

3) They were supposed to brush out the rust in a few spots I didn't get, then fill before primer. They didn't. This is going to turn into a he said she said between the estimator and the body person. Guess who will probably loose? (Hint. Neither of them.)

4) They were only supposed to paint inside the door jamb but they painted the insides of the doors, so now I have to get the rest of the interior painted because they didn't match the paint very well and I'm not into the two tone look inside.

The owner assured me they stand by they word and their workmanship. The onlything that looks like they got it right was patching the roof.

The parts of the body that I did all the prep work on look twice as good as the roof and front fenders (which I only did part of). There is quite a bit of orange peel even though I paid for their extra 'sanding' package.

I must agree with the majority. Maaco can make a crappy looking car less embarrassing to drive and will probably do for most of us on a budget for daily drivers. Had I been able to complete all the body work I could have purchased the paint and taken it to a different body shop where they were willing to spray it for about $1000. The next time I have to paint the car (hopefully the 4 year warranty holds up) I'll do all of the body prep myself and may even try the painting too.

When I do get my car back I'll post another followup as to how they fixed the problems.

UncleBob · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2003 6:39 am Post subject:

Sorry to hear you got 'Maaco-ed' Insect. I hope that Maaco makes it right for you. 4 year warranty? I don't think so.
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Erik G · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 3:34 pm Post subject:

hey insect

If what was on the estimate was not what was actually done, it is a direct violation of the BAR's laws (Bureau of Automotive Repair)

If you take your car to a BAR inspector, and they see these things not done properly, they can be fined (body shop, estimator, and body/paint tech)

Educate yourself on the laws, print them out, and return to the body shop. I am learning the trade right now, and there is no excuse for a he said she said discrepency between the estimator and the body man. It is absolutely against the law to write something on an estimate, and then not do the work according to the estimate. Blatent Violation, and if the BAR sees this, they may fine the buisness and give you a 100% refund (that is the case in CA)

Any discrepencys between the Estimate and the work done must be recorded on a suppliment to the original estimate, and the work (more work, or less work) must be authorized by you, the consumer, prior to the work being performed
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