6G Celicas Forums

I've read the horror stories of maaco, and I'm just wondering of what level paint job or service the maaco victims requested. I'm planning on getting my car painted there in the near future. I tend to buy their premium deal which includes prep work, choice of paint, an extra layer of high gloss and uv ray protectant coat, and a 5 year warranty for a total of little over 1,000 dollars. The problem though, is that if you do the prep work yourself, you are not eligible for that 5 year warranty..... that's weird in my opinion. But all in all, it sounds like a good deal hopefully. What do you guys think? I'd like to also hear from people who actually had the premium paint job at maaco.

There prep work is the only ****ty thing. I would say YOu do all the prep work yourself.. and You buy the cheapist paint spray.

Maaco is a franchise. Not all of them are bad (although most are). Remember that it's not the same painter working at all the maacos. Ask for pics of their work or references from other people. the "high gloss" and "uv protectant" sound like a rip off. Just have them spray extra coats of clear.

This post has been edited by WannabeGT4: Oct 27, 2004 - 9:28 PM

Yes.... they have all looked really bad ive seen and some are already sprouting LOTS of chips ect.... I would never ever touch a macco job unless I was about to sell the car.

if you do go through them make sure you get a warrinty

-DMC

This post has been edited by thedevilmaycrie: Oct 28, 2004 - 12:02 PM

Thats because they dont do prep work, If you do it yourself , It will be perfectly fine.. Prep work is the biggiest thing to any paint job, well really anything.

Hold on folks... I know prep work is important, but remember that if i do the prep work myself, I won't be elligible for that 5 year warranty. I don't know which is better though....- 5 year warranty, or do my own prep work. Uh oh.. another problem Any ideas?

My idea is to save that thousand dollars, prep the car yourself, and buy a nice compressor, nice gun, good paint, and the necessary other stuff to paint a car, and then do it yourself. I'd much rather do that than have Maaco paint my car.

yea but the problem about that is, not everyone has a nice big garage to put the car in and paint it.. you paint it outside it will have contamination from the dust in the air. and you need experience using a paint gun

Yes, that's true...but I've seen cars painted in gravel driveways that look better than some Maaco jobs.

we should sticky this.

yea my front bumper was done by them before i bought it. now theres more clear coat ripping off then ever. DIE MAACO DIE!!!! but if you have a friend that works there they do a good job.

What paintjob level did you choose?

there is a good site to go to that would give you plenty of good pointers, ideas, and techniques on how to paint your own car. www.autobody101.com
it is a forum with plenty of experts and old guys who know what they are talking about. this is if you want to do it yourself of course.

wow what a wonderfull site.. so much information

I got my car painted at Maaco back in June. I sanded my car myself, did all the bondo work I needed done myself (had a couple dents and dings), and took it to them for the spray. I got them to do the job with the integrated clear coat (not the bottom quality one, but not the best one) and had them put 3 layers of clear on top of that. They fixed the very common bend/dog-ear on the driver's side of the drunk where my hinge broke (common 5th gen problem) for free, too, since I did all my prep.

The work they did was great. I showed up to get it and found some overspray (muffler and a little on the windows), and they took some heavy paint thinner and got it all off for me.

I paid $590 and got a 2-year full warranty. Very worth it. Just do the prep yourself. I haven't had ANY problems with mine (chipping, orange peel, etc).

Has anybody else ever get their car painted a maaco and likes it? If you do, did you do the prep work yerself?

nothing has gone wrong with macco paint so far 2 people after seeing my car up close went to the same maaco. its good stuff.