Travis

Just wanna see how you guys feel about them, ran into some financial difficulties as of late, and will be strapped for cash when car is painted. I have heard various things about how bad they are, and good also. A friend of mine that use to work there said that they put Vasoline over the parts of the car they didn't wan't paint on, and then after painted just wiped them off. However, if they do such a shitty job how are they still in business, and have as many franchises around the US as they do? I don't know, just looking for comments/experiences.

Pro_fan

Do a search on Google for "Maaco". You'll get some interesting hits....

I found this one on the first page:
http://members.tripod.com/~Yikeit/Maaco

Travis

Looks like I aint going to Maaco. Thanks for the link.

Brubeck

We had a 66 mustang painted there, and the promised a coat of primer, two coats of black, and a clear coat.

When we got the car back, we waited two weeks, then waxed it, and the buff bad came off black. We took it back and complained, they said they couldn't put a clear coat on because the paint had thoroughly dried, had wax on it, and was dirty. We raised hell, and they finally agreed to fix the paint job. We got it back and it was obvious that they did no prep work, just sprayed clear coat on the car as is (we could see tree sap frozen between the paint and the clear coat).

We finally gave up complaining about it, because we were afraid of what they would do when they tried to fix it a second time.

About 6 months later, paint started peeling off in sections, and you could see that they obviously had not bothered to primer the car either.

If I ever have a car painted again, I will insist on seeing it between stages.

funkdaddysmack

My roomate had his car painted there. He needed to do quite a bit of body work (patching up little rust spots and whatnot), but they did a HORRIBLE job. The paint itself it ok, but the rust is still all there and eating away at the paint again. I would not reccomend MAACO.

Elchulo

Say no to Macoo!

Travis

damn, my question is, how do they stay in business? I will just go with my friends shop painting it, he allows payments to be made so that will work out for the better.

Elchulo

People that go to macoo are same people that buy american

bheath

You just may have answered your own question Travis. I would think that the reason a company like this stays in business is because of people who are "strapped for cash". Cheap paint job for instant gratification (even though it won't last long). You get what you pay for.

Other reasons could be someone buying a used car that looks terrible but doesn't want to put a lot of money into it because they don't plan on keeping it for a long time but still wants it to look decent. Or the guy that wants to sell his car but it looks like s*%# so he goes and slaps a $99 special on it in hopes of getting 4 or 5 hundred more in the sell.

Sir Nuke

for those of you that know anything about paint jobs...KNOW...that the prep work is the heart of the paint job....if the prep work is shoddy....I don't care how good the paint or the painter....the job will suck and not last.....

if you want to go to macco....and you know how to do the prep work yourself...do it....to all the body work....do all the sanding....do all the tapeing off yourself...or even remove the things you can and avoid the over spray all together.....THEN....take it there.....you will still get a cheep paint job....but the probability of it lasting will greatly increase.

bmassche

nuff said Maaco Sucks ***

Travis

Sir Nuke: that is true, the preparation of the of the car plays a major role, I will see how everything turns out, maybe prepping it myself and having them paint wont be so bad afterall.

Invincibleredp5

lol maaco... you gotta be on crack, or not care about your car to leave it in the hands of morons.

its like taking your car to the dealer and asking them to rotate your tires and believing the actually did it.

-Jason

hihoslva

The prep work is all-important, of course, but Maaco still uses crap-*** paint.

I think you'd be hard pressed to get them to actually use OEM or basecoat/clearcoat paints.

The stuff they generally use is a one-shot paint - has it's own "gloss" (which will fade to **** in 6 months), and is not durable at all. It will also discolor (yellowing) if you put on a bra or something.

Maaco is okay if you don't care much. I had my '79 Camaro done there - I did all the prep work, removed all the lights, etc. All they had to do was tape off the windows, prime and paint. Well, they scratched my chrome trim (sanded it!), and there were "fisheyes" in the silver paint (imperfections usually caused by contaminants). They painted it again for free, and it was okay. Not great, but decent. I paid $300.

There is a reason a quality paint job costs lotsa bucks.

mp5

as a former paint/service salesman---you get what you pay for.