stangc83

I am not sure really where to post this so i posted it here. I have a sonic blue mustang that i am going to put a saleen body kit on. I am looking to paint the whole car. I was looking at maaco because one of my buddies said that they have stepped up their game so i was thinking about getting a quote. Has anyone gotten a paint job from them lately?

cliffyk

Maaco is just a advertising and product supply franchise, the quality of the work depends 100% on the people currently running and working at a particular shop.

We had my wife's old RAV4 painted a few years ago at the Maaco here in Saint Augustine FL and it was a pretty decent job.

Having used Maaco, Earl Scheib, and other franchise shops over the years, here are some hints:

• Masked all the rubber around the windows, and anything else that needs special attention, yourself--any of the franchise paint shops will do a crappy job of that;
  
• Remove any trim that can be removed--badges, windshield cowl, etc.--they will not do this and will instead do a crappy job of masking them;
  
• Remove the rear wing if you have one and have them paint it separately--they will leave it on and the finish under it and around the posts will suck;
  
• When you get the car to their shop remove the headlight and taillight housings, and the 3rd brake light--as above, they will not do this and will poorly mask them;
  
• Again once at their shop, mask the grill yourself--they will do a crappy job;
  
• Jump up and down and rant and rave that you will no pay them if your wheels or tires have over-spray on them, be real nasty about this or they will;
  
• Be prepared to buy a rattle can of undercoating to spray the wheel wells, and any place else on the undercarriage that did get over-sprayed;
  
• Get their Signature urethane paint/clear coat system. The low-end one coat enamel is pure crap, the Presidential package is OK if you just want to make a crappy car look better, the Supreme system is pretty good, but the Signature package is as good as you could get anywhere without going to aircraft quality coatings--IF the shooter is good;

So, the last thing you need to do is hang around there a bit and look at their work. If you see a car that looks particularly good ask who shot it, and request that he/she be the one to do your car.

All of the above will get you a good cheap paint job. It will not be a custom job but it will cost 1/4 to 1/2 what a custom paint shop would charge.

HasABetterSN

^ What Cliffy said. My buddy just got his Z28 painted, and it really turned out well. He also said it has a 2 year warranty..

stangc83

Thanks for the advice. Well i also asked die to the fact that i tend to see corvettes and mustangs and other sports cars that people tend to give a crap about at a maaco shop near me i asked myself why go there with a car like that? Well i will go there and see what they got.

cliffyk

Some Maaco shops are very good, most are barely OK, others are very bad...

bopiela

Good info Cliffy. Makes sense and always better to be safe than sorry!

SVTeeshirt

the ones here have different "stages" of paintjobs based on $, i've seen a cheap paintjob and it was horrible, didn't remove any lights or even side markers, just taped some stuff up and still got oversprayed pretty bad.

03SonicBlue_GT

very nice sonic blue saleen kit!!!

sv650lex

I just got a quote from a fella that would make it look like it just rolled off the showroom floor for $3000. He was going to pull every thing off and guarantee no tape marks or over spray.

fidelcastrol

There's a Maaco around here that's full of Chevy Celebrities, Chrysler K cars, and Ford Escorts. Maybe I should move on.