Just to get a quart of base, candy and clear and enough hardener and reducer for my motorcycle it is going to cost me $200. So I always wonder how someone can paint a car for cheap?

As for today’s paints being easy? I guess that depends on what you are laying down. I have tried to get a good-looking candy paint job and cannot. The base has to be perfect because any point that is thicker will be a different color, it has to be dust free because you cannot sand it and the next coat has to melt in so a good work area is a must as is a good gun and technique. It is not easy to get a great looking paint job without a lot of practice and the right equipment.

If you want a good paint job go to all the body shops and talk to the people. A lot of them will shoot a car for cheap if you supply the prepped car and paint you want to use. A shop near me sprayed my Vette a while back for $100 bucks. Now I had to have the car ready for them when they were ready for it but they taped the large stuff and painted the car. I color sanded and buffed it and in the end it was perfect. But as said the paint alone cost more than the discount body guys wanted to paint the whole car.

 

Another idea. I have painted about 6 trucks including my own. See my gallery. One thing that you could do instead of Maaco is to go to your local skills center and take a body class. The one by me charges $200 for a 12 week night course where you work on your own vehicle. They even have a new down draft booth. While in class you get HUGE discounts on paint an supplies because they are for educational purposes. Check to see if there is a class offered around you - not only will you learn something but you get cool tools to use.

 

I think what a lot of you are missing is the value of the vehicle. It is one thing to be putting a fancy candy and flame paint job on a '56 show truck or a restored Mustang, but a $1500 transportation vehicle just doesn't warrant a $1500 paint job. I think he is just looking to "clean up" his truck so it looks decent, not to enter a show. I think what 1yamman350 is asking is, is the Maaco paint job worth the money (economy, cheap job for a daily transportation vehicle) or not. Most of you have answered the question. Yes it is, because you can't do it that cheap yourself. Make sense? My $.02, could be wrong!!

 

Johndoe your are right but you must also look at what you get out of the deal. If you are just going to have to repaint it in 1 or 2 years then is it worth it? Only you can answer that.

You don't have to be laying down a high dollar job to want it to last. So if you do the prep and buy good paint you can come in for $600 or so VS saving a few hundred to get paint so thin that the rain washes it off.

 

Uh, Maaco does have a warranty with their paintjobs...

 

Yeah read it!
It was not Maaco but a company called facto bake (same basic type of place) that did a friends car. 4 months later it started flaking off. The warranty has a paint compatibility clause! Basically it lays out what type of prep work is needed for a proper paint job and that any existing paint can affect adhesion. So since you did not wish to pay them for the full and total prep and paint job it is your fault!

Read the entire contract that you sign! Same thing with the most expensive paint there is, if you lay it on another companies primer and it comes off your stuck, even though the primer was the exact same thing.

 

But I believe that we are talking about Maaco paint, not your friend's experience at another joint...

Maaco's "Ultra Urethane" paint level offers a 4-year gloss warrantey. I would imagine that a paint job can't be too glossy when it washes off with the rain.

 

All I say is read the warrantey.

 

Uh - oh, I went to "macko" - once, but NEVER AGAIN!!! They may have some decent workers somewhere in the world, but not at the shop I went to. The extra $$$ we paid didn't even get the (peeling) clear coat smoothed. I was extremely dissappointed, though my wife thought it looked "better". I could have made it look "better" with a rattle can..."mucco" - NEVER AGAIN!!!