I was thinking about getting my car painted from dark grey to BLACK. I heard Maaco did a decent job and is not to expensive, but my question is what would you guys do? I am not to sure about Maaco, does anyone have any feedback from them or somewhere else? Maaco has a $500 deal, but is the paint job going to look good? What are you thoughts, and what should I expect to pay if I get it painted.

 

You could pick up a bunch of rattle cans of spray paint and some rolls of masking tape if you're really concerned about saving money.

 

I've heard both good and bad reviews about Maaco, I think it really depends on the shop. But essentially, you get what you pay for with paint. For 500 bones they won't prep you car at all, just mask and spray away. If you're ok with that then go for it.

 

If your going to Macco you need to prep the body yourself which is alot of time and hard work.Beleive it or not theres alot that you have to do to make sure the bodys straight and preped the proper way for paint to stick. I've been preping my body and am going to wait til spring to finish it up and have ran into 3 or 4 things I started off doing wrong. If your bodies pretty straight it shouldn't be to bad.I on the other hand am ripping off all of the molding/trim and filling holes.Its going to look alot better if you paint the car the same color to because there not going to do door jams for $500 if you match the two colors up next to each other theres going to probaly be a big difference, Just try to imagine what its going to look like when you open the door everyday.I'm going to Macco also but you have to find out which one to go to.I'm going to the one in Middletown Ct I've heard nothing but good things from people that had work done there and that are in the auto body feild. They have a state of the art paint booth there and they know what there doing.Other Macco's in the area seem like a 50%-50%shoot of getting a good paint job.You can PM me if you want some body tips I'm no expert but I've done my researh on all the proper technics to prep the body. I'm probaly going to end up spending about $700.00 But after doing the body work myself it should come out like a $2000.00 dollar paint job.Your paying mainly for body preping and can get a good deal from any auto body garage if you prep for them prehand.If you just plan on dropping the car off and having them spray in its going to chip away most likly from jobs I've seen and then your car will look horrible!!!

 

you should also know that Maaco keeps cost down by using cheap paint. they use a single stage paint. they dont use a base and clearcoat. single stage is basically a mixture of base and clear. they just spray the car a few times with the single stage and theyre done! from what ive heard the paint doesnt last too long. with that said.. a friend of mine got his 85 mustang sprayed there and it came out surprisingly good. not great, but we were shocked it didnt come out like the nightmares u hear. I also have a friend who took his old explorer there and picked out a color from the coror chart. when he got his truck, it was a different color completely. I swear to God, it looked like ashade of PINK!!!man did we abuse him.. until he sued them and got his truck resprayed by them. But you know the old saying.. u get what u pay for. so dont be surprised if u let them spray it and it comes out bad. JMHO. Personally, id just save for a few more months, a year.. whatever until u have enough $$ to get sprayed from a better body shop. It will be worth the wait. good luck either way.