Ok, wife says I can have my car painted.

I'm near Cincinnati. I've heard enough bad stories about Maaco but since I'm cheap (Hey I drive a Fiero) I want to tempt fate.

Has anybody near Cincinnati had GOOD experiences with any particular Maaco (since I know they are franchised)? I'm willing to drive as far north as Columbus, as far west as Indianapolis, as far south as Louisville or Lexington...

Thanx!

I don't have personal experience (my own cars) with Maaco, but I've seen their work. If you are set on giving them a try, you might try to better your odds by doing some of the prep work yourself. Many of the problems appear to be related to poor prep...overspray on trim, painting over dirt, bugs (no kidding), and pits. You would probably get a much better job if you removed as much as possible, and if you cleaned and sanded scratches, pits, etc.

Another one of the problems that their paint jobs had was poor application of polychromatic paints (metal flake). A solid, non-poly color would probably better the odds.

[This message has been edited by 2m8 (edited 10-12-2004).]

As stated above.... Prep Prep Prep!!!!

Just recently helped (ok, did most of) do the prep work on a buddies car he sent off to the "M" place.

On his 86SE, we pulled all the trim, lights, you name it. If it had a screw or a clip, it came off. Make SURE you remove the rear deck lid and have the engine area masked off properly, and the deck lid shot at the same time but off the car. I've had a few cars roll through here that they had painted with it on.... ewwwww......

Looking at the cars that rolled out of there shop that THEY (M place) had done, you could see overspray on things that weren't masked properly (a lot of things that simply could have been removed!), and a few flaws (but those could have been sanded/buffed out).

Lets face it - it's not the name hanging on the building that gives you a crappy job - it's primarily the guy pulling the trigger.
(and on that note - we think he got a better job since the guy puling the trigger... was a Fiero owner! Total fluke though, we didn't find out until the car was rolling in the door of the shop)

Spend the extra money for a real paint job,I've seen Macco paint jobs from all over North America and have yet to see one that was decent,my present car came from New York with a Macco job,it has over spray everywhere it would take a person days to clean it up,you get what you pay for.

I think I would spend the same amount of $ I would fo a Maaco paint job to get the tools to do it myself...I've never attempted painting a car before but I would rather have that control in my own hands then let them do it. I yet to also see a great Maaco paint job too.

Hey Rob! Been a long time!

Send a PM to "rogergarrison"
He has a body shop in Columbus, and IIRC, he sometimes farms out his "not so custom" jobs to one of the local Maaco establishments.
If Roger is comfortable using them, they can't be *too* bad.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 10-12-2004).]

I would echo the guys who said do the prep work yourself. Also masking, etc.

I would talk to both the owner and the guy doing the painting and offer a little more to make sure you get a really good job. If they know that they won't be doing any sanding or masking and they will get a little extra on top, I bet they will be inclined to do a better job.

I have seen a car locally that followed the above philospophy and it was actually a pretty decent paint job. As far as the comment you should get a more expensive paint job no matter what.. not everyone has 3 or 4k to toss at a car for a paint job that won't increase its value measurably above 2500 or 3500. IMO.

I totally agree with those abovr, do the trim removal and clean-up yourself.

Another tactic that works well is to talk to the guy that is going to be doing the work and hand him a $50 before he ever touches your car. He will remember it when he is about to cut a corner and do better work.

The one behind me does a lot of the car lot cars I repair. Also does some of the cheapy paint jobs for friends after I help them fix them. They do a fair job for around $200 for me. Your welcome to use my shop space to take the last parts off and mask it yourself here. Then all you need to do is drive it about 100 yards to their booth. Do all the sanding and scuffing before you bring it up. ( #400 or finer grit ). Then a day or 2 later come back and you can use the shop to put it back together. BTW they dont give me the special price to paint it with all the parts removed, you can spray the little bit of jams and hood edges yourself at home with spray can just fine. You need the body intact with only the wing and headlite covers off.

A profesional paint job is going to cost$2,500 minimum.Here are some prep tips,my car was painted at Earl Sheib and the did an excellent job (Mayco is suposedly better).Be sure to prep and cover anything you think might get over spray on.You will also want the clear coat with UV protection.

Fiero Painting Prep Tips for those preping the car for painting
I had a car painted a Earl Sheib and they did a great job,I chose a nice Dodge viper red.Maco is also a good choice.They both should prep the car for you, thats sanding and primering.But I wanted to make sure it was done right so I sanded the car my self (I didn't primer though).I wanted to make sure the paint wasn't going to peel off.Get your car painted on sale because Maco charges about $550 when it's not on sale.They also charge a little extra for any body work,like cracked paint in the front nose or rear bumper and Im not talking about cracked plastic, just the paint.These hair line cracks will show up again after the car is painted so be sure to fill them your self or have them fill them, includeing any pits you may have (be sure to use the correct bondo,I think it's a flexible plastic.)As for sanding,I would do one piece at a time,(fender,hood,door) unless your energentic and want to do the whole thing in one day.Start by washing the car this will remove surface grit and will help prevent scratches.Buy some wet and dry sand paper (not too course and not too fine you want to avoid scratches) Have a bucket of soapy water(this will help prevent scratches) and a sponge handy,Cut the sand paper (or tear) into squars. Now rub two piece together to break the surface tension (this will reduce scratches, that can show up later)Dip in you bucket of soapy water and start sanding (by hand), the surface should be dull, your Not removeing the paint completely, just dulling the surface and be carefull all the body parts are plastic so dont use a sanding block because you could shave off a corner. Pay close attention to detail like nooks and cranies (the edge of the hood and were the fenders fold over the top and trunk area.) Rinse your sand paper often and hose off the paint residue,this will greately reduce scratches.When your finished wash the car again and you will may see some shiney spots that you missed sand those.You will probubly end up washing the car at least 3 times or more.Make sure you sand all the shiney spots because this will prevent what is called Fish Eye.Thats were you get a small circle due to the paint being unable to cling to the shiney area.If you want it done right do one to two body pieces a day (removal is not necessary).When you take the car in you will have your choice of paints, includeing metal flake or Peral or both. The metal flake and Peral cost extra and so does painting the door jams, but the door jams can be painted by you prior to painting the car.Be sure to get the Clear Coat and UV protection.They also charge extra to sand and repair pealing paint (Total coast Varries, I paid $380).Be sure to remove any Tar around the lower body panels.After all this is done you end up with a $2,500 paint job

This is what the "M" place did to our car when we simply asked for it to be repainted silver. As you can clearly see in the pic-the car was painted Pink! When we complained, they gave a very poor--and aggressive attitude toward us. Not only was the paint the wrong color but it was dull, rough, had runs all over it and cost over $600. After I threatened a lawsuit-they repainted our car but it is still not a good paint job at all.
I will never recomend the "M" place to anyone!!!

The big problem is you'll spend a lot of money not too far down the road to have a real paint shop fix the garbage job that Macco did to your car,your far better off spending the extra money and having it done right in the first place with a paint job that looks good and will last for many years because it was preeped right and sprayed right,theres always going to be people that think cheap is better but the sad fact is it can't be, it will cost me at least 500.00 just to have the overspray cleaned on my car,to repaint it it would need to be stripped right down because the next paint will only be as good as whats under it and if thats a Macco paint job good luck.To say you have to spend 2500.00 for a paint job or go to Macco makes no sense at all,you can get good paint jobs for well under 1000.00,shop around maybe find a backyard body shop that has a good rep.some real nice paint jobs come out of home based businesses,I have a guy that has a shop in his back yard and hes painted four of my cars now and he does a good job,its not a show paint job but for 600.00 he gives me far more than I would ever get from Macco.

well, i havent had my fiero painted yet, but we (my dad and i) plan on doing it ourselves to make sure it's all done right. we used to have an olds 98, which we had painted by maaco. same thing as jeff said, the first time around it was such a poor job. it didnt look much better than when we brought it in to get painted! so my dad made them paint it again, but the second time it wasnt too bad. just the thought that tehy can screw it up so bad and still call it finished...scares me. but as for them painting a fiero, i called the maaco that's near my house, and the guy told me straight up, "ugh, a fiero? we hate painting fieros." so i said "thanks, bye." i dont plan on letting someone paint my car who hates painting them.

I know I am not in your area but recently my father has had three trucks (full size trucks, not pickups) painted at a Maaco a few towns over. Maaco charged approx $600 to paint the top half of the cab including the prep work. I gotta say, WOW it is a lot of bang for the buck. By no means is the paint perfect, but I'd give it a 9 out of 10, this is on work trucks so it is better than most trucks on the road.

Ok. So if I do the prep work, then I CAN get a DECENT job...

I called a few of them today and was quoted between 800 and 2000 for a "factory" style Base Coat/Clear Coat paint job.

I'm really confused by the range of these estimates.

Anybody know of any decent paint / body shops in the Cincinnati Area??

You get what you pay for...this applies even more to paint jobs. When good paint costs $800 for JUST THE PAINT and additives, how good of a job do you think you'll get when you pay $300-$600 for the entire job?

Ok, I'm gonna go against the grain here. We bought a 96 F150 new. Beautiful teal green truck, but 8 years of the West Texas sun killed the paint. We work the truck on our acreage, so we didn't want to spend a lot to get it painted, but wanted it to look better. Here's what $600 at Maaco bought us.

The first four pics...

Best bet, find a private painter. I got my 86 painted for $300 plus paint, and it looked AWESOME. I mean we could read his watch from 3' away off the hood. Course I did most of the prepwork. I also know another guy who said hed do all the work and a decent job for 600 plus paint. But I think that was kind of a favor price. Still you get the idea. If time is not a major issue and you can travel 45 mins north of columbus, I can get you in touch with both of them.

Your talking about painting extra hood, trunk and wing also. And also adding flames. For one thing the flames have to be done while its being done, not after its already painted. It takes a different paint than they would use for just an all over original job. Now your talking about $2500-$3500 paint job. I thought you were talking about having a daily driver just shot an original color.

*for some reason pming you didnt work, said your name was not valid.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 10-13-2004).]

One thing some of you guys are missing is one shop (maaco vs maaco or private vs private) is not equal to another. Realize that one shop that is "equivalent" to another may produce a vastly superior (or inferior) paint job. Just do your homework and you'll be fine.

I did see your post that said 800-2000 for a Maaco job? That's pretty close to a pro job.

You know, the paint guys HATE sanding and probably don't enjoy masking much either. You may also consider getting friendly with a GOOD painter in the area (no better way to find a good painter than to look at his/her work and have a talk with him/her). Find out how much they would want just to lay onthe top and clearcoat, after you find, say, 3 that you would be willing to have paint your car. After you select your guy/girl, ask them everything they need done to prep the car for paint. Obviously everything masked/removed but also what kind of primer needs to be used, grit of sand paper to prep for painting, etc.

IMO you would get an awesome paint job for $1k if all they had to do was lay the paint down. Both painter and owner would be happy.

$1000 for '87 Medium Red Metallic with clearcoat. We removed the deck lid, wing, rear fascia, all ground effects, mirrors, drip rails, and headlight covers. They added $150 to paint the silver on the ground effects and fascias and to sand out a spiderweb crack in the paint of the rear fascia. On the way back from the shop, the right rocker panel blew out and was crushed. Don Hulse provided another rocker panel, totally prepped for painting. They charged $100 to spray the 1 piece.

The masking was very good and there's no over-spray. The car looks very good from 4-5 feet away, but get up close and you can see all the trash. They had to repaint the top because they clearcoated polishing compound into the paint and there was a big scrape on the top where the paint had been scraped off. The lip of the front fascia at the juncture with the hood is filled with polishing compound, also clearcoated into the paint. Same with front edges of the doors and in some areas of the side moldings.

They apparently used a razor knife to cut masking on the brand new quarter window, leaving a cut mark around the rear half, about 1 inch in from the edge. When it went back for the repaint of the top, they cut up the window even more with gouges up and down, and several more running the length of the window. They appeared to be deliberate. They threw away the driver's floor mat, sprayed the inside of the drivers side with what appeared to be dirty water (Mr. Mike's leathers) and the underside of the instrument panel is still coated with the dirt. The steering wheel had a gouge about 3/16 wide and over 2 inches long, hanging by one end. It appears that the steering wheel might have been tied off, as if it were towed from the rear. Maybe one of the workers took it out to play and it quit.

They denied any responsibility for the damage and missing mat and even suggested that since the car had been sitting in Don's garage that he might have been the one who did it.

I file my suit against MAACO of Douglasville, Ga., this Friday.

Raydar, send me directions to the court house.

There is a place here in Jacksonville that does a nice job for $300. Owned by a woman, sanded by women, and taped by women. They do a good job. Little bit of overspray, but for $300 it is a great value. Economy Paint on Beach Blvd. Will have my 88 painted there in a couple months.

One thing you should watch out for when choosing a paint shop is how long you want your paint job to last. "M" shop paint jobs, when they are done not to badly, have a tendency to look good for the first year or so, then the imperfections can start to appear. But the imperfections appear because of improper preping. If the painter doesn't make sure the surface is clean before laying down the paint than it wont stick properly and eventually will start to peel and chip. My fiero is starting to do that, the paint job was done before I bought the car and I'm very suspicious that it was a "M" or equivalent paint job.

Edit... like I originally stated yes you can paint flames on after the paint job has been cleared..... like the message below mine states you will end up with the flames being raised rather than being flush with the rest of the paint....

I guess I should have said that the first time :-/

[This message has been edited by Kitten (edited 10-14-2004).]

No kitten, if you want the flames done right they have to be put on over the basecoat, then the whole thing is cleared after. That way there are no edges. You can paint them on afterwards and if it doesnt craize the original paint, it will still have an edge surrounding it that you can feel. Ive been painting flame jobs since the 60s btw.

quote Originally posted by DZ: There is a place here in Jacksonville that does a nice job for $300. Owned by a woman, sanded by women, and taped by women. They do a good job. Little bit of overspray, but for $300 it is a great value. Economy Paint on Beach Blvd. Will have my 88 painted there in a couple months.

Do they wear bikini's while painting--lol Ok=just wondering why it is so important to point out that it is owned by a woman, sanded by women and taped by women???
I don't care whether the owners/operators are male-female-caucasion-or little green guys with huge eyeballs!!! What I want is a decent paint job. Thanks for the info-maybe we will try them for our next paint job.
Jeff

My wonderful Macco paint job,I think they used maybe half a gallon of low budget 50.00 dollar a gallon paint for the whole car.I deducted 300.00 from the asking price of this car due to the garbage paint,you may not increase the value of your Fiero with a 2500.00 paint job but you will no doubt devalue it with a garbage paint job.Macco is known as the 50 foot one year paint job,looks good at 50 feet for one year.But this subject is rather moot as there will always be people that think they have a good deal just because it was cheap,kinda like Walmart photo finishing

quote Originally posted by jeffndebrus: This is what the "M" place did to our car when we simply asked for it to be repainted silver. As you can clearly see in the pic-the car was painted Pink! When we complained, they gave a very poor--and aggressive attitude toward us. Not only was the paint the wrong color but it was dull, rough, had runs all over it and cost over $600. After I threatened a lawsuit-they repainted our car but it is still not a good paint job at all. I will never recomend the "M" place to anyone!!!

when a paint shop thinks pink is the same as silver and then threatens you when you complain-------you have a real problem. I didn't mention above that this shop also broke our trunk release and rain visors and refused to repair or replace either. You make your choice! But if you want a silver car perhaps you better ask the "M" people for green or purple.

quote Originally posted by fierofool: I file my suit against MAACO of Douglasville, Ga., this Friday. Raydar, send me directions to the court house.

Sorry it had to come to that, although I'm not really surprised.

I'll send you directions tonight. I'm at work, now.

Ok sounds like they charge around 600.00 so you can buy a compressor for 350.00, a paint gun for 80.00 (my paint guns cost over 400.00 but a cheap one will work OK) Paint and sand paper sanding blocks ect. will be around 350.00 . so that's 780.00 but remember that the air compressor is a must have anyway. Yes you can do it yourself and it's easy. If anyone needs help painting just ask? there are more then just me here that will help you. Another thing is if you don't have a place to paint you can use por15 tricoat and even paint it on with a brush then sand with 220 grit . Yes with 2 stage paint (base coat clear coat) you can even paint it outside. And come up with perfect paint job that would cost you 3000.00-5000.00.

quote Originally posted by Raydar: I'll send you directions tonight. I'm at work, now.

Charlie, check your PMs.

Thanks, Raydar. Got the directions and will be heading that way tomorrow, after rush hour.

When you do your own prep work (sanding, filling, priming), doesn't this invalidate the painter's warranty, since they no longer control the quality of the painting surface? Has anyone discussed this with Maaco, etc.?

Hey Rob, I am picking my car up from Maaco today, I got the "presidential" paint package with the "value prep light sanding" sevice, if you combine these they knock over a 100 off the price, my total was $360.00 with tax (479.95 before a acted like I was going to walk). SO its not that bad of a deal. Well I shouldnt get ahead of myself before I pick the car up. I will post some pics later this afternoon so we can see how it turned out.

I saw a fiero once that the guy had a Maaco paint the car and they painted everything, sail panels, decklid vents and all.

Yea I am getting my molding painted same color and the black around the t-tops, vents leaving alone

I think there is a huge difference from one shop to another. I can't help you out in Ohio, but I brought my GT to a local Earl Scheib. I wanted to strip everything and mask it myself but time prevented me from doing that. I did manage to remove the wing, headlight covers and front bumper. I also unbolted the wheel wells from the fender and tucked them behind the fender lip. I paid about $625 for a nice metallic blue with clear coat. They screwed it all up. It was dull, there were lots of imperfections and overspray everywhere. I paid extra for them to do the fender lips under the hood. While they were in there they sprayed the entire underside of the hood and it looks bad. I also paid extra for them to paint the black pieces behind the quarter panels. They charged me for a "door jamb". I thought that meant they would raise the deck lid and paint under there, but no.
That's the bad part, the good part is when I brought it back to have them fix it, they were too busy and sent me to another Earl Scheib shop. The other shop said they fixed a lot of bad paint jobs from them. They completely redid the car, for free and it looks GREAT! They didn't fix any overspray or anything though and they still didn't get under the deck lid.
I am swapping body panels with my formula so next week I will bring it back to have them paint the roof and touch it up with the trim and decklid off.

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Rick Lord
http://www.KingdomCustoms.com

Im thinking of 2 places to get my car painted.... 1 place will do mine for $559.... comes with a warranty

Another place want's $1200 comes with a warranty And they take all the panels off your car and paint them individualy.

Im still trying to figure what color I want.

Gun metal black, Gloss black , Yellow or white

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WOOOO-HOOO AND YEEE-HAW, TOO. Won my case against Maaco of Douglasville, Ga. Got everything I asked for. Reimbursement cost for the factory quarter window and the cost of the Fiero GT floor mats from the Fiero Store. Here's some other damage they did, but I didn't go after.
The garbage sprayed inside the car

Gouges and cuts on the quarter window

How they did this, I don't know.

quote Originally posted by Rob Ernst: but since I'm cheap (Hey I drive a Fiero) I want to tempt fate.

So your calling every fiero owner cheap?