Maaco???

[crazeflier07]

Well I was just thinking of dropping by and asking what it would run to fix some body work and do the signature job on my car. The Maaco I had my old Z done at up in PA did some nice hot rods and customs so I know that they can do good work but I was wondering if anyone has had anything of theirs done there. I basically got what I paid for with my Z and it was alright, not the greatest but good, but I was wondering if anyone has had any real cars done there and what it costed you. Thanks.
Jon~
Oh and happy turkey day in advance to everyone!

[MarkM66]

If you want anything more then "daily driver" quality, go elsewhere.

No one expects Maaco to do a show quality job.

[danbob67]

from what I have seen around here I would not want them to do anything to my car very low quality for a low cost I would say to save your money and get a local independent shop to do it, kinda wierd for me saying that because I paint at a dealership.

[Tony_SS]

No one expects Maaco to do a show quality job.

I do! And for $299 and not a penny more! lolol...

The problem is the body guys are right out of school. The painters are usually decent, so you can bring them a prepped car BUT the fact that they use the cheapest materials on the earth is reason enough not to use them. Maybe bring them the paints as well. Just do everything short of actually spraying your own car. lol.

[CRead01]

I have had mixed results. I had a daily driver camaro painted there about 7 years ago and was extremely suprised with how good the job was. but then I recomended them to my cousin and he had his car done at the same place and the results were not so good.

[MonzaRacer]

Talked to the painters and body guys, some are simply body shop guys that needed to start new shop.
There is nothing wrong with a body shop regardless of the name on the outside,,,heck ask around ask for references, and referals.
I mean there was aguy with nearly 30 yrs experience at the one in Evansville and because he wasnt as fast anymore he got fired from his other job, he goes there and tada show quality jobs from a Maaco.
He takes home around $2k a week(last I heard) and they were standing room only at one time.
He taught several body guys how to actually work metal and repair cars rather than replace everything.
I may have to go look him up next year.

[vintageracer]

Look at your local community college or trade school. You can sometimes score some good work at these locations for little to no money. Many times the only expense will be materials.

The more quality work you do in the preparation for paint will result in a better job overall.

[cheapta]

I had Monte SS that had a Maaco paint job.It looked great for about a year and then the paint faded like mad.As if that wasn't bad enough,the paint then started to literally fall of the car in sheets.Seriously-big sheets of maroon paint laying in the driveway.

[Tony_SS]

The more quality work you do in the preparation for paint will result in a better job overall.

Not if they are using cheap materials... the clearcoat will haze etc etc... I would rather paint the car myself and use quality stuff rather than pay someone money to screw it up for me. JMHO

[70 Chevelle]

Go to any quality paint supply store and ask them for 1 gallon of base coat and 1 gallon of clear in any quality paint system, dupont, ppg, standox, glasruit. The base and clear with the appropriate hardeners and reducers will cost more than maaco's entire paint job. not including the appropriate primers , masking papers, masking tape, surface preps, sandpapers, buffing compounds. Automotive paint systems are EXTREMELY expensive for a reason they need to withstand constant sunlight, rain ,snow, bird droppings, and they need to retain their shine through constant expansion and contraction from being hot and cold all the time. Auto finishes need to survive in harsh enviorments. So if the car is something that you are just trying to make look good temporarily maaco is fine. If your looking for anything more go to an experienced body shop with a good reputation. Body work is expensive cause it's a lot of work and the materials are expensive. hope this helps

[Happyfunballs]

I worked at a Maaco while going to college. We'd paint anything from a used car lot beater to an all fiberglass 32 show job. It all depends on the location. As far as cheap materials, yes, the single stages were the not the best quality. Our shop did do base/clear jobs and the materials were the best at the time, but the price you paid reflected that. The phrase "you get what you pay for" really applies here. If I needed a daily driver painted, I would absolutely take it to Maaco(if I didn't paint it myself). However, I would prep it and remove all of the headlights, taillights, etc also before I dropped it off. I'd get the cheapest job and have them clear it and you'll probably get a pretty fair result. Again, it depends on the shop. If you're considering Maaco, ask to see some of the finished products. It's important to find out what that customer paid to have done, because Maaco won't hesitate to paint over dents, scratches, etc. if the customer doesn't pay to have them removed.

[Tony_SS]

Happyfunballs, what location did you work at? I heard the Reavis one isnt all that bad... but the Kirkwood one sucks and few others in the area do too.

[Dookie]

We have a similar franchise shop like that around here , Sprayglo, i have gotten to know these guys pretty good ,they paint 2 to 4 trucks for me a month , and always to a better than expected job for the money , keep in mind these are 3 to 8k trucks , and i havent seen any of them 2 years later though , but my point being , their Spray guy has been with them for over 4 years that i know of , and i know they pump out at least 10 to 15 cars a week , I am pretty sure he is the reason that most of their jobs look pretty good , the only complaint that i ever have is the prep work is usually pretty poor . He has been pushing me to let him shoot my car and assured me that they would take extra care in the prep work on it ... but the only problem is , the franchise policy will not allow them to let any customer supply there own paint ...so

[newbaa]

Look at your local community college or trade school. You can sometimes score some good work at these locations for little to no money. Many times the only expense will be materials.

x2. When i was in school we had several cars come in that needed a paint job. We couldn't charge for labor, so the only costs were materials. And we could do either a single stage, or bc/cc and we had nice paints too... PPG and Sikkens (although i hated spraying sikkens), and occasionally we would use Martin Senour - just so we had a "broad" base of different products.
We didn't have a definite timeline of when cars would get done, so sometimes it was kind of like "paint jail" but it all depends on who you got to do a job. me and a buddy would crank out cars pretty quick. others took quite a long time getting them ready to go.

Damn, i need to do some more painting. I loved painting. Body work wasn't as much fun, but if that looked like crap, then so did your paint job, so you had to take your time and get it done right the first time.

[Happyfunballs]

Tony....I worked at the one in St. Peters from opening to close, about 7 years. They closed in 99 so it's been a while ago since I was hip on all the local shops. I've been wanting to hit the new one in Ofallon Mo, but I haven't had a reason yet.