I have been thinking about getting the car painted, ( for some time now actually ) and this is going to be a pretty big step in the car’s life & the survivability of my checking account.

Yes, there is the Maaco possibility, but one that I have read enough about to know that you should avoid them like the plague. Yes, there are those that have had a pretty good experience with them, but there are WAY more of those that have not. I'm not willing to take the risk for the amount of funding that this is conceivably going to cost.

I guess what I'm looking for is:

• What did you pay for your car to be painted?
  
• Were you happy with it?
  
• If you were to do it again, what would you do differently?
  
• How was the quality of painting for those that have had it for a while?
  
• Any tips for those that are looking for a shop to take their car to?
  
• Are there any national chains that you can recommend?

Thanx in advance;

--Allen

You might try what I did...............Find a "first class" collision shop, asked if they had a slow period of the year, and would they be willing to take the car in during that period, and slide it inbetween insurance jobs, for a decent cash price.

Worked for me, did a full panels off restore on the car while we were at it. Out the door for $4,500 with full color change, and the list of work done/items replaced is so long that you would be amazed. Overall result is a car that takes "Best of Show" or "Best In Class" in Hot Rod Shows running 1985 to 1995 Modified Street Machine. Has the job held up? I didn't enter a show since 2001, but put it in one this year, still pulled Best of Show.

You'd get off lower in price than I paid, simply because we did so much to my car while it was torn down. It's just a matter of how much you want to throw at your project. Ask around for reference of repair work, or talk to the shop, and see if they've ever done any show cars. Am I happy with the work that was done to my car??? They had the car tied up for 8 weeks, but I didn't miss it during the winter months. The bill on my car would have easily reached $8,000 from about any other shop for this quality work.

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Car History: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/025670.html

[This message has been edited by California Kid (edited 11-20-2005).]

Ask Spddy?

quote Originally posted by madcurl: Ask Spddy?

He's so darn busy, it's not even funny. I was talking to Pokey, and he stated that John has more than a 9 month wait for cars to hit his shop.

I guess that it's a result of doing things the right way, the first time, everytime.

I graduate in May, and will be leaving shortly there after. It dosent leave a whole lot of time.

Mine will cost me $300.00 for paint and $50.00 to rent a paint booth for a day.

I've removed the body and will do all the work myself. Currently working on DA'ing all the old crap paint out.

Yes there is value in my time, but there is also value in having done the work myself. You have to love the journey, not just the destination

DLD

I know a shop here in San Jose that does great work; they painted my red notchie and did an amazing job...

Maaco's done pretty decent jobs for me. I do ALL the prep and they just spray it though. I send the cheap used cars always to them because my dealers dont want to spend a bunch. So anyway, they start at $200 and the only extra id get from them is if a customer wants to go the cheap route too and use their basecoat/ clearcoat. Any other options you get from them are rip offs, like hardener (they put it in all the jobs anyway so they can fix screw ups) . A top notch show job will cost you upwards of $3000 for a one color job. You can find them in between. One idea already mentioned is if you dont drive your car during the winter, let a shop 'store' it for you for free and take 5 or 6 months to paint it for a deep discount. If your finances are so close that you cant afford the top job, you may have to go for a cheaper budget job. Its always hard to justify a $3000 paint job on a $1500 car. Check with your insurance company too, to make sure you can add that cost onto your cars insurance value.

Like some of the other guys have already said it depends alot on how much work you are willing to do yourself.

I did all the prep work myself and then brought it to a reputable body shop for paint. The car was painted with four coats of black urethane. I brought it home and did the colour sanding, brought it back to paint shop and they machince polished and buffed it. I did all the hand polishing and buffing. My cost (not including huge quantity of sand paper) about $575
I think I got pretty good results.

Find a shop that you can look at some of the cars they have done, soup to nuts, not just insurance jobs.
I would never paint another car black - you just can't keep them looking clean

http://www.grinsgalore.com

[This message has been edited by Enterra-BC (edited 11-21-2005).]

Not sure how far you are from Oliverhurst, CA (Yuba City), but I had R & D Rod and Coustom do my paint. I did a lot for the prep work and then when I took it over to his shop I took the week off work and helped at his shop. Cost $1,800, very happy with the final results. Sorry i do not have his phone number.

http://www.frontiernet.net/~jgunsett/Last.html

Jack

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If you can not run with the big dogs, stay on the porch!

J Gunsett:

quote From Google: R & D Rod and Custom 1791 14th Street, Olivehurst, CA 95961 (530) 743-7637 Driving distance: 258.7 miles

Man, I love google - Looks good on your car as well. I really like the white and silver.
Not bad on the pricing as well.

Thanx a bunch.

--Allen