94dxpro

A peice of paint chipped of my car yesterday when i washed it so i have decided to get it painted because it looks kinda dull anyway. It is white right now and i think i ll get white again. How much would it cost to get my first gen protege painted ?? anyone know??

hihoslva

It all depends on what quality you want. For a better-than-OEM, show quality, wet sanded, see-your-reflection-well-enough-to-shave job, could be in the thousands. For a real nice, but not show-quality stuff, probably well under $1000. I got a car painted with silver metallic paint (more $$ than monochrome) at Maaco for $300 - I did a lot of the prep myself, though, including some sanding, fixing of dings, etc. I also removed my head and tail lights for better paint coverage. They had to paint it twice 'cause they screwed up the flake in te first spray. Cheap one-coat paint, not a base/clear coat job - started to fade after 12-18 months, but for $300, that's what you get. Besides, the car was a 79 Camaro, so when it faded a little, it almost looked like it was real nice original paint!

for the most part, you get what you pay for - avoid Maaco if you want a good job that'll last.

Identity_X

I have heard some negative things about Maaco as well..........

they are cheap, but you get what you pay for basically..........

Bizob

Never go to MAACO, please!@!! they sanded my original paint with coarse grit sand paper, then did'nt finish it with finer grain, so now there are swirl marks under the paint on my hood, roof and trunklid... No matter what I do, I'll never get those swirls out! I paid 1500$ and they would'nt fix it. Bad business men! Also, I asked for Milano Red paint and when I bought Milano red touchup paint, it was darker... All around worst thing I've ever paid for in my life...

hihoslva

Touch up paint rarely matches the actual color of your vehicle - even my Pro5 touch up is a close match at best - you can see (well, I notice) where I've used it on tiny spots, and I'd never be able to use it on anything larger than a pin head - too noticeable.

$1500 is no small change for a paint job - Maaco or not. You say they wouldn't fix it?? I don't know how long ago this was, but I'd have sued their asses off, and only taken money - sorry, no, you can't re-paint my car. Trust me, if you get screwed by a business, taking them to small claims is the greatest thing - most consumers win, because the judges know that not too many people will take the time to sue for a bullshit claim. They also may have seen the same businesses many times over, and know that they are shady. Trust me - I sued a real-estate referral service - idiots didn't even bother to show in court (you still have to prove your case though). It was only for like $150 or so, but nobody's gonna take me for a sucker like that - it was more principle than money.

If it wasn't too long ago (your paint "job"), ask an attorney about the statute of limitations - you might still be able to get 'em (no lawyers necessary in small claims). Maaco robbed you, bro. Like I said, they did one car for me, and I made them paint it twice because there were tons of "fisheyes" and "shadows" in the flake the first time.

Sir Nuke

first off....do your homework....if you think you know the shop you want to use...search out other people that have used them...look at their cars....inspect the work.....and the addage..."you get what you pay for" is very true...if its inexpensive..you can bet it won't last. The last thing I had done was a custom I built...I had a shop that restores antique cars paint it for me....it ran me $2500...and that was in 1988.....and I had done all the body work.....not to mention the car was stripped out..no interior in it...no glass in it....not a single inch of wireing in it...nothing but the body, the frame and the wheels.....thats been 14 years ago and the thing still looks like NEW.....of course I babied it...garaged kept.....however...its show quality....and I won plenty of awards with it along the way.

azrakain

all those shops such as maaco are cheap. Someone posted a valid point....if you see hooked up cars at the shop then they are probably reputable. A hot rodder is not going to take their baby to a cheap *** place. My dad has a 1970 el camino that he got painted in 1985. He paid almost $3000 just for the paint. His uncle paints cars and gave him a discount on the paint and painted it for free; all my dad did was help with the prep work. This would have been a nearly $10,000 paint job in the 80's. Paint is not cheap if done properly and it will last for a long time if you take car of it properly. The paint has the same luster as it did the day we pulled it out of the booth. Bottom line: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!

mazda2005

..so what's the best price you could expect to get a decent paint job? i'm looking into paint jobs myself, and i'm curious as to what prices to expect.

Sir Nuke

I think it would depend on your area....I think the best thing you can do is start asking around to people you know...and even some you don't as to where they got their work done....go to some car clubs....you can bet some of the members either had their rides redone or at least some work....its the first place I would start....talk to people that LOVE their cars....not just someone that uses it for transportation from point a to b.

PlutoPeopz

Hehe, nobody's posted here in a while...

I do agree that you get what you pay for, and I too have heard a few bad things about Maaco, but, it can also depend on the shop. All Maaco's are independantly run franchises...simply licensed to use the Maaco name, and required to run their business by a few general rules. Because of this, you will have to rely on your luck .

My next door neighbor (who is an EXTREME enthusiast and very picky...99 Jeep with more than $50,000 invested in it) had his wife's car painted by Maaco back about 4 years ago, and said they did a damn good job for the money, and he would go back to em.

In addition, when I stopped by a Maaco to get an estimate on getting my car painted, the guy who helped me out was extremely friendly, and while that really has nothing to do with the paint quality, it's always a good sign.

There's always that warranty as well...it may not be long, but just stay on the lookout during the warranty period, and if the slightest thing goes wrong, TAKE IT BACK!

They quoted me $403 after taxes for the Supreme paint package with some sort of 'advanced' surface preparation and clearcoat. Not bad in my opinion.

PlutoPeopz

Your post made me wonder if you read my post. Everyone has a different experience. Maybe your shop sucked. As I said, there are no corporate Maaco shops...they're all franchises. Therefore you can't judge Maaco as a whole. The only thing you probably can say is that they may be more likely to cut corners than a shop that charges three grand for the average paint job.

Besides, if they did a shitty job, why didn't you take it back?

When I get to dealing with a ripoff place, I take my car back to them as many times as humanly possible to suck the warranty fricking dry. (of course not paying a cent after the initial work). I just keep taking it back until they fix absolutely every imperfection of their work.

(The above, of course, does not apply to people who actually have social lives, and/or work more than 10 hours a week, unlike me )

Of course the job they did when trying to cover up your key scratches was just shitty work done by careless employees.

As far as other people's Maaco paint jobs going bad quicker than a more expensive job, there may be a way around that. (BTW, go ahead and shell out the extra dough for the clearcoat job...as I said in an earlier post, only $403 for the package...) According to "paint experts" (LOL) you are supposed to wash your car weekly as a minimum, and you are supposed to do it RIGHT. Common contaminants can expedite the process of oxidation and fading, and not washing your car the correct way can cause unwanted scratches. Also, you should keep your paint waxed at the proper intervals. Wax is a protectant, and does exactly that...PROTECTS.

If your paint has already started to deteriorate, try picking up the Mothers Ultimate Wax system or Meguiars Deep Crystal System. I have been looking into these recently, and basically, they both have 3 parts: Paint Cleaner, Polish, and Caranuba Wax. I bought the Meguiar's system last night, and I'm going to go ahead and do the whole process this afternoon. I've heard good things about these systems, and I'll post my results when I get finished.

Sorry about the long post, lol. When I get started I can't stop.

jporky99

hey, i just wanted to post that this thread was really useful to me. I've got a 94 protege LX and its paint is dull and getting to be pretty crappy.

well i was thinkin about goin to maaco but thanks to all your info im having 2nd thoughts.

now the hard part is...... where do i find a good paint shop i can trust?

i dont know ANYONE who has done any kind of mod to their car.

if all else, i may just go to maaco anyway and get that clearcoat package; then try to keep my car clean and waxed. Cause i figure my car has 90k miles on it right now and i'm sure it'll last me another 80 or 90k. BUT at my average yearly mileage of 12k a year.... i need a paint job to last me 7 years.

I dont think a 400 dollar paint job from maaco will cut it.

demoninvictus

hmm, well, read the post man, it DEPENDS on who owns the maaco. some can be good, some can be bad. any place that doesn't clear coat IS NOT going to do it for you. clear coat is the biggest thing. here's an option for ya, go to a local body shop, say you're interested in getting a paint job in the next year or so (when isn't important)...and most likely they'll treat you like gold. ask them what they're general process would be for repainting your car, do they clear coat, ask to see some of their finished cars if they have any, ask how long they stand behind their work from fading, anything pertinent to making sure you're gonna pay for a quality job. we can't tell you from here what shops are good and what shops aren't..nor the price of the paint job. you could get a real good paint job for 600 bucks, you could get a good one for 2000+. research first, and remember, the best key is to see the work that they've done.
peace