Thoughts/Opinions on Maaco's paint services

Thirdgen89GTA

Aka "That Focus RS Guy"
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Sep 19, 2010
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Bill
Depends on what you are getting. If it’s single stage and you pay them to do everything expect a pretty horrible job.

My GTA was a multi-colored monstrosity.
Back in 2009 I did all the prep work in about 6 hours, drove it to maaco and had them spray it with a single stage urethane and an final mixed clear on it.

now to preface this, my car sat outside, no cover since then. The paint lasted about 7-8 years before it started to fade on the top surfaces.

the paint however was always soft and prone to chipping in larger chunks from a rock chip. Especially on leading edges.

I took pics from every stage. Total was about $800


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cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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The age old saying "You get what you pay for" describes paintjobs 100%.

There is a lot of labor in a quality paintjob, good quality paints and clear's can cost well over $1,000 in materials alone

Maaco is cheap and fast, they don't use quality products and their prepwork is almost non existent . I have seen some decent paintjobs come out of Maaco but like ThirdgenTA you had to do all the prepwork up front. Which if you are trying to just get a car to look ok is a good way to save some coin. Many paint shops won't let you do your own prepwork and allow you to roll your car in and let them spray it. If you don't use the right primers, don't block it right or use the wrong grit sandpaper all of these things and more will show in the paint.
 

v6buicks

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Oct 22, 2018
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I had Maaco paint my '95 LeSabre when the original paint started peeling off in sheets. They actually did a fairly respectable job. From my understanding it definitely depends on the management of the particular shop. However, I would still not recommend going elsewhere if you're actually wanting something that looks good. My car was white and I really just didn't want the car to rust out.
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

TCG Conspiracy Lead Investigator
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Jul 8, 2007
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I think I’d rather prep it myself and use a single stage paint and a hvlp gun. You can buy some fairly cheap tools to get this done yourself if you wanted to tackle it.
The hardest part about this route is controlling the environment you spray in. Wind, dust, dirt etc... Can ruin a paint job fast
 

Thirdgen89GTA

Aka "That Focus RS Guy"
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Sep 19, 2010
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Rockford
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Bill
I think I’d rather prep it myself and use a single stage paint and a hvlp gun. You can buy some fairly cheap tools to get this done yourself if you wanted to tackle it.
If I was going to do it myself, I'd still do a base/clear. At that point, even cheap base/clear will be better than cheap single stage.
 

Thirdgen89GTA

Aka "That Focus RS Guy"
TCG Premium
Sep 19, 2010
19,297
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Rockford
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Bill
Even spraying in a booth you can get trash in the paintjob. It's easy to build a temp booth at home. 2x4's and .5mil plastic sheets. Grab a few boxes fans and cheapo filters to fit them. Just make sure to wet the floor before spraying to keep the dust down.
If I had a garage, this was my plan for the GTA since the Maaco paint has started to really let go in the last 2 years.
 

Outlaw

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Jul 24, 2009
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Johnsburg
Are you mechanically inclined enough to use a sander and remove trim and shit? I would do the prep work and remove trim, moldings, etc yourself and have a body shop shoot it. Let them put most of their efforts towards finish prep and paint. That’s where a lot of the costs come from.
 

Shawn1112

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Aug 4, 2010
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Streamwood
When I was younger we were tagging and flipping 2-3 G Bodies every 10 days or so. Macco by the Brick Yard in the city would do all our paint jobs. We would tip the manager and painter $100 each and the cars looked really good. Not sure how long the paint lasted as we would sell them asap. In fact when our garages got raided for tagging cars, they went to Macco to try and pull all the records of how many cars we had painted. Paid cash for a reason morons, no paper trail lol.
 

Kensington

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Aug 14, 2017
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