Anyone had their car repainted?

**TheFatKidDeath** · 05-27-2009, 05:27 PM

Thinking of taking my 95' Civic to be repainted at Maaco. Anyone had any experience with them or repainting in general?

**Hambergler** · 05-27-2009, 11:40 PM

To properly re-painted a car costs 3-4 grand. You subtract the amount maaco quotes. Then you apply the rule: savings are directly proportionate to the crappyness of their work. Then you divide the blue book value of your car by the savings. If your result is anyware close to 1. It's probably a good idea.

**jmaker** · 05-28-2009, 12:24 AM

Nice post Hambergler. I was going to say something similar about if you really wanted a good paint job on the complete car, it's probably going to cost you a lot more than what Maaco charges. You only get what you pay for. What do they even charge for the whole car?

**Bamboo** · 05-31-2009, 01:47 PM

Just like hookers, you get what you pay for

I had a 90' BroncoII that had paint peeling on the roof and hood, and my mom took it to Maaco (I was letting her drive it for a while because she needed a car and I had a new truck). The paint job sucked, and acutally had a palm print and a couple of finger prints in the paint. Extremely noticable, not being picky. She took it back and fussed and they redid the whole thing, and it actually looked pretty decent. I think they did a higher end job to make her happy (there are different levels of work they do).

We ended up selling the truck a few months later and the guy who bought it liked it.

Really though, do you just want something to cover the car because anything would look better than what you have now, or do you want an artist to use your car as a canvas. You get what you pay for.

Morganan · 06-01-2009, 01:37 AM

Let me put it like this, and you can draw your own conclusions...

To do a proper, professional job, and assuming you are looking at 2 guys doing the work..

3-6 hours to completely remove all the paint/rust spots on the car.
5-8 hours taping off everything that isn't getting painted. (the smaller the vehicle, the harder this becomes actually)
Applying 1 coat of primer: 2 hours tops, paint must dry for at least an entire day. (depends on conditions, more humid or cooler, longer drying cycle, less humid and/or hotter, shorter drying cycle)
Applying first finish coat: again, 2 hours tops, paint must dry for at least an entire day.
Applying either a 2nd finish coat or a clear coat, 2 hours tops plus an 36 hours drying time.

Removing all the tape-work, 1-2 hours.

So you are looking at paying at least 35 hours of labor and say $300-$400 in materials. MAACO uses lower quality paints, and, shall we say, "less professional" employees..

My advice? Knowing that it's a honda and you probably have at least another 100,000 miles to go on the car before you have any serious mechanical problems. If you are planning on getting rid of it in the next couple of years, go to MAACO, if you are planning on keeping it for awhile, spend some extra money and get a more professional job done. I'm not knocking MAACO here as much as trying to be reasonable with expectations for the quality of the job compared to it's pricing scheme. You might get lucky and get a high quality job from MAACO for a low price, but with my experiences with honda cars, the bodies rot away long before the drivetrains go bad, so investing in keeping your car in good physical condition so to speak is a wise investment so thus a solid paint job isn't a good place to skimp.

**TG Latina** · 06-01-2009, 01:34 PM

Oh my!!! I have a Yukon Denali XL....I was thinking of repainting. Given I don't know anything about the subject but was hoping it wasn't as expensive. I'm sure the expense will be that much higher if it's a bigger vehicle. Duh! I'm sure. I have two very small areas where my paint is chipped and its causing it to rust. It worries me that the areas will continue to chip but not sure what to put on them. If you guys can kindly give me a lil advice....I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you

**sordavie** · 06-01-2009, 03:55 PM

I don't think Maaco uses lower quality paints.

I think it's all about the same quality paints. The difference between an expensive and inexpensive job is the amount of prep work done. When you pay 3 grand for a paint job, you're paying not only for the technicians to tape off certain areas but to remove certain components entirely. Lights all get removed so they can properly paint the housing area. Also they will sand the current paint off. Sanding the entire car is a labor intensive project.

Maaco will just tape everything they don't want painted and spray over the current paint.

For a '95 Civic, I'd go with Maaco. No need for a paint job that's worth more than the car itself.

Sarcoma · 06-01-2009, 04:40 PM

I painted cars for cash after High school. You really do get what you pay for.
My guess is that your 95 Honda isnt looking so good but is not worth 2-4K for a high-end job.
Id go to neighborhood shop and just ask for a new clear coat/scratch fix to make the old ride pretty again.

Sarcoma

**Anospa** · 06-01-2009, 09:59 PM

Mm, I painted my computer case with a mirror shine finish. The amount time and labor it took, but blown up to a car, I could easily justify spending 2-4k on it, for a '95 Civic, it makes me hold back. If the car's in perfect condition and you're in love with it and have the extra cash, go for it, it'll be very good looking!

Evo<^|SiNz|^> · 06-01-2009, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TG Latina

Oh my!!! I have a Yukon Denali XL....I was thinking of repainting. Given I don't know anything about the subject but was hoping it wasn't as expensive. I'm sure the expense will be that much higher if it's a bigger vehicle. Duh! I'm sure. I have two very small areas where my paint is chipped and its causing it to rust. It worries me that the areas will continue to chip but not sure what to put on them. If you guys can kindly give me a lil advice....I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you

You may want to take it to a couple different body shops and get some opinions to see if they could just do a spot fix instead of repainting the whole thing.

**TG Latina** · 06-02-2009, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evo<^|SiNz|^>

You may want to take it to a couple different body shops and get some opinions to see if they could just do a spot fix instead of repainting the whole thing.

Evo<^|SiNz|^ Thank you so much for your advice. I just wonder if they just work on the actual spot....will it look good. Like I said I'm not to familiar with repainting a vehicle but I will give it a try and she what is the best thing to do. Again, thank you very much

**Hambergler** · 06-02-2009, 09:20 AM

How good it looks depends on your body man and how well he can match the faded paint on your car.

Evo<^|SiNz|^> · 06-02-2009, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TG Latina

Evo<^|SiNz|^ Thank you so much for your advice. I just wonder if they just work on the actual spot....will it look good. Like I said I'm not to familiar with repainting a vehicle but I will give it a try and she what is the best thing to do. Again, thank you very much

Chances are a paint match will look better than a rust spot.