Maaco!

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Northstar01

New member
Need expert opinion. I know you guys have seen alot of paint. What do you think about Maaco's paint jobs? Not the cheap 400.00 jobs. The more expensive 1000-2000 jobs. Paint and two coats of clear. They say they use PPG paint at the shop near me. How bad can it be? Just wondering what you guys have seen as far as quality. I have heard they are poor and the paint lasts 3-4 years. Then i heard it depends on which Macco you go to because they are all independent. Thanks in advance for the responses.
 
Northstar01 said:
Need expert opinion. I know you guys have seen alot of paint. What do you think about Maaco's paint jobs? Not the cheap 400.00 jobs. The more expensive 1000-2000 jobs. Paint and two coats of clear. They say they use PPG paint at the shop near me. How bad can it be? Just wondering what you guys have seen as far as quality. I have heard they are poor and the paint lasts 3-4 years. Then i heard it depends on which Macco you go to because they are all independent. Thanks in advance for the responses.
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I had a vehicle painted by Maaco once. It turned out pretty good. It was an old Ford Escort EXP I was dressing up to sell. The quality paint job you get all depends on the person painting the car. They are a high volume type shop so I assume they dont pay as well as a custom shop might. Unfortunately, unless you get to know the painters at the Macco you intend to use and feel them out its hit or miss.
 
For a daily driver or beater, to me is the way to go. That way the extra money you save you can use it on your garaged Queen or more detailing supplies......... :bigups
 
While I've never personally had one done they seem to get decent reviews and you do get what you pay for....
 
Ive been detailing a maaco paint job since its new every 4 months or so .

Its 3 years old and the clearcoat is DEAD now . Every time I would deatil it I had to polish the top surfaces because they had oxidized badly .

This last time I polished it it kept a shine for only 10 days!

This is partly the owners fault , he would hardly ever wash it even after I repeatedly scolded/told him his paint was getting ruined .I warned him what was happening each time I detailed the car.

I slowly saw this paint go dead over the 3 years .
 
Prep is key. The better the vehicle is prepped for them the better the job. All edges sanded to edge is important 600 min. All trim removed important they will only tape up. Understand steel wool to clean overspray on windows is a no no the resulting fibers will gather in the bottom of a door or other areas and rust quick.
 
Concours.John said:
All trim removed important they will only tape up.
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Which is really stupid, considering in a lot of cases it takes less time and is easier to remove a piece of trim than to mask it off. The only feasible excuse for not removing trim is the liability if something breaks during removal.
 
Northstar01 said:
It's not a beater or daily driver. From the posts above Maaco does not sound promising.
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If it's not a DD/beater, and you want a QUALITY paint job done, you're likely going to have to budget anywhere between $5-10K and seek out a shop that's not a franchise and/or is known for their quality custom work.

Unfortunately those are the realities of high end paint jobs when it comes to finding someone who will put in the time and do the job right, and then paying them to do it. Product, equipment, supplies, etc. are all very expensive in the paint and body world, and finding someone who has truly mastered the art of using them is not always easy.
 
i would find a quality paint shop other then maaco. as garry dean said they are high volume. maaco also dont prep good at all, always see overspray,unpainted areas, sanding marks,orange peel and yeah just depends on the person prepping(if you know how you can do this yourself) and the person behind the gun. but as i said find a quality paint shop. call around, search the net for say "paintworks collision anytown,america reviews" on google and see if anything pops up. if nothing does don't let it put you off just visit the shops in person and just ask to see some recently painted cars. might take alittle longer then you want but good research will lead to a better paint job at a cheaper price :) good luck hope you get a beautiful paint job. i suggest the 2010 toyota tundra blue mica metallic paint :P
 
Anyone who hangs out on a detailing forum will not be happy with a Maaco paint job.

Unless you plan on selling right away you don't want one of their paint jobs.
The paint and materials to paint a car cost $1200.00 or more then labor for preping.
No way then can prep it for the price they charge.
 
As Bobby said, you get what you pay for. The question is how much would they charge to paint as best they could. When I was looking for quotes, I got costs from $2000 to $3000 for a full job.
 
Macco is for older cars that your not in love with. In any case prep the car yourself and when you take it to Maaco talk to the painter and give him a few dollars, maybe he will care a little more.
 
Thanks for all the posts everybody. Much appreciated. Looks like Macco is not the way to go. I'll keep looking. If anybody knows a painter in NJ hit me up.
 
i would go to a forum for the type of car you have and ask for a good painter in nj, most of the times you can talk to a painter directly and they will give you better service then what you paid for.in all honesty there is only 1 maaco with one good painter(that i've seen) and that's in Massachusetts he does awesome work, seen his work plenty of times on the 6gen celica forums and as i said it all comes down to the man behind the gun. he is one of the few that works for maaco and actually cares about the work he does..but good luck in your quest. like i said just call around and make a physical appearance to the shops. always good to look at certain things, like check out the paint booth see if its tatty or a nice well kept booth. also watch the workers for a few just to see how they work, usually you can tell bad work ethic from their body language/how they work if they seem not to care well i wouldn't want them touching my car because odds are they probably wont care about prepping correctly and just "getting the job done".also just ask questions like what paints they use, how they cure the paints,what they do after painting is completed as in how they wet sand and buff the car, what products/methods they use. it may seem like you're being annoying but you're not just let them know you don't want to pay all this cash for a paint job that will look like crap after a few months and want to make sure you are getting the quality you expect. remember communication is everything. they cannot guess what you want done, so let them know of any specific areas you know you want extra attention paid to. also to save on price you can remove the trim yourself, the prep guys will love you for that LOL. good luck with your painting quest!
 
Concours.John said:
Prep is key. The better the vehicle is prepped for them the better the job. All edges sanded to edge is important 600 min. All trim removed important they will only tape up. Understand steel wool to clean overspray on windows is a no no the resulting fibers will gather in the bottom of a door or other areas and rust quick.
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Agreed!

Bring them a well prepped shell and I'm sure it would turn out very well.
 
RaskyR1 said:
Agreed!

Bring them a well prepped shell and I'm sure it would turn out very well.
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Thank you. My post was based on experience here. It didn't cost $250 more like $4700 and did look nice and I paint.
Macco made their name in cheap repairs. It's no different than offering a $100 detail with upsells. The key is prep and the man behind the gun.

Interviewing with the manager
and painter on what you want
anywhere is key to good results.

One around us is stepping up and offering high quality repairs. They have the financial means to turn out now nice work. It does cost though.
Some Macco's have nicer booths and equipment than more respected collision and restoration shops.

I'm not saying this is across the board.
There is no such thing as a quality cheap paint job. (People who do it all themselves dont count) You would just be surprised where some of them come from. Finishing a good foundation results in a great paint
job.
 
Concours.John said:
Thank you. My post was based on experience here. It didn't cost $250 more like $4700 and did look nice and I paint.
Macco made their name in cheap repairs. It's no different than offering a $100 detail with upsells. The key is prep and the man behind the gun.

Interviewing with the manager
and painter on what you want
anywhere is key to good results.

One around us is stepping up and offering high quality repairs. They have the financial means to turn out now nice work. It does cost though.
Some Macco's have nicer booths and equipment than more respected collision and restoration shops.

I'm not saying this is across the board.
There is no such thing as a quality cheap paint job. (People who do it all themselves dont count) You would just be surprised where some of them come from. Finishing a good foundation results in a great paint
job.
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Right on! ;)

My father has been a body man and painter for over 40 years now, shop owner for over 10 years. Back in the mid 80's they would often bring prepped cars and materials to Macco and have them spray the cars since their booth was tied up and the car needed to be painted that day. Luckily for them Macco was in an adjacent building.

It's not that Macco's painters don't know how to apply paint (at least most anyway). So if the prep and materials are good the job should be the same as a high end shop IMO. :bigups
 
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