titanium Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 How much did you pay and are you happy with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MaXbOOst Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 i know a guy that runs the macco over here , and in his back room he has a whole bunch of cars hes restoring.. i let him do two of my cars that are now sold , excellent job...... a honda accord and a ford escort. came out really nice and shined when waxed.... for $200 i was impressed. but when it came time to get my Z done i was a lil worried .... but i got the $500 paint job on the Z polyureathane + 2 coats of clearcoat... and look at this : i was very impressed......... plus they did a lil body work here and there , make sure they do the $50 bondo layer on the car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rags Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 How about $7000 for a complete paint job? I was getting prices of $30k from the shops that would even talk to me. The shop that I finally got to do it was a reputable shop that was always busy with insurance work and would occasionally have a full paint job. The shop didn't have to assemble, the car, it was completely stripped of all glass, interior brightwork and powertrain. When I got it back there were drips down the length of both sides and the bottom of the rockers had no paint. It looked like the guy tried to use gravity to get the paint on the bottom of the rockers!!! Be glad you don't live in my neck of the woods! Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titanium Posted December 16, 2004 Author Share Posted December 16, 2004 I've always been afraid of Macco and all those other chain stores. I hear that they're franchised so its a crap shoot but does anyone else have a story to tell about a paint job there. I have about 1k to spend, I have all the interior gutted out too I wanted to get the exposed metal cleaned up and painted as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 free....very happy with it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleachZee Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 All Maccos are independantly owned. I had a horrible experience with one Macco painting my car. I later heard that the same shop had done other cars and screwed them up. They refused to fix anything they messed up. Then I tried a different Macco and they did a great job. Go for the $500 paint job. Guaranteed for 4 years instead of the 2 year paint job for $400. Then keep it waxed and covered in a carport or garage if you can. It should last way longer than 4 years. The finish on my 2 year paint job lasted for just over 2 years then started to fade. I never waxed it and it was never covered. Parked out in the rain and driven daily all year round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 About 5 years ago, at a local shop, a good quality paintjob and body prep with small rust repair cost me about $3200. I keep the car indoors and drive only in nice weather. The paint still looks awesome. I disassembled and reassembled the car to save $. It is a BMW Arctic Silver, base/clear coat. Had the glass out and the jambs painted also. Searching for a shop was difficult. Many people won't touch these old cars for fear of liability/rust and low profit. BTW - the Arctic Silver paint job on my Z looks waaay better than the Arctic Silver on my friends factory 5 series BMW. LOL. http://www.hvmparts.com/dc/A7.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 $2500 to paint with no interior in the car and the engine compartment already painted black. All he had to do was the bodywork, pull the windows, and spray it. Took 2 months and looks like utter crap now, ~5 years later. He didn't strip it down like he said he would, rust poking through, etc. "Good" body shops gave me estimates of $7 or $8K. After getting really into the unibody I understand why a good paint job is so expensive. Lots of work to actually get all the rust out. Lots. Bottom line for me is I'll never get an old car painted at a shop again. I might have them spray the paint on for me, but if you want all the rust out, you've got two options. Option A involves a good body shop, some vaseline and a donut pillow, Option B involves buying some tools and spending a lot of time in the garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleachZee Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Yes, I assume that the owner will do ALL the needed bodywork and primer the car before bringing it to Macco. Their bodywork is just "ok" and also very expensive. If the car you have has original paint and almost no rust to begin with, you'll have better luck at not having rust come up in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage-TechZ Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 I don't mean to come across "SMARTY" or anything,but a "paint job" for the guy doing it....is masking the car after only a thorough inspection has been done for final flaws....then spending 5-8 hours doing nothing more than mixing and spraying sealer,base then clear ! That is IF the car is totally dissasemled and bolt on panels/parts are hanging or on saw-horses.(doors,hood,hatch,cowl,fenders,etc.) If done with experiance and providing the bodywork is first rate(by most likely someone else) the" paint job" should be around 450-1200.00$ for materials alone (using good stuff) and the Painter might get 000.00$- 2,200.00$ for his troubleshooting perfection with the materials and HVLP guns. The fella who you choose to do the final wet-sand of the Clear or topcoat and make the paint as slick "above and below" literally like glass or better might charge as much as 250.00$-1000.00$ depending on what the painter and bodyman have left him with. It could take him a day to a week ! The only reason I know this stuff is that I owned/operated my hometowns best known service for this type of work for 23 years. When I sold it some years later I STILL had my very first customer coming in. My point in all this is.....Choose the level at which you KNOW your car is at or going to be...and since 97% of bodyshops rely on Insurance work for their staple income ....don't expect their laborers to have the Mastered pace that a restore requires or to charge you anything but "shop hourly".IF they even agree to do it. Unless your lucky enough to find the "dieing breed" of professionals that can take the project on from the top (unlikely to happen in REALITY) you'll need to do ALL the prepwork of pulling the car down to the bare cabin/chasis yourself,since it would be YOU to put it back together properly anyway. The body work (all rust welding,grinding,sanding,body filler,epoxy primers,etc need to be done by A SEASONED PRO ! Or I guarantee you a less than perfect straight/unwavy product. And by seasoned I do mean well versed in the latest eurothanes and epoxies that ACTUALLY last. Body work is an ART in its self,the rest is aplied knowledge of product. OK ,the rest of you can wake up know if I put you to sleep ! LOL. Daily drivers don't really have to fall in this level/catagory......the real world is too cruel ! ...........Vince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleachZee Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Very true! Macco doesn't even think about wetsanding! hahaha... for $500 you get a spray on. They don't do doorjams either. Just mask and spray and they don't accept body parts separate from the car. If you have a bodykit, it better be ON the car. I guess we're talking about totally different quality levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHO-Z Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 A most of painting is in the prep. If you go to Maaco or such prep the car yourself before taking it in. Remove all of the trim that you can, fill in the chips and wet sand the entire car. Go to several Maaco or such stores and check out who is doing the best job for the money. Hell back in the 60s when I was in HS I bought and sold cars all of the time to make money. Painted over half of them at Earl Shiebs, for $19.95 each saved $10 since I would sand and mask them myself and all they would do is paint. The painter they had there was one of the best around. The paint jobs always looked good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zdmz Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 I paid a guy $200 to paint my car in his garage. I am happy with how the paint turned out - not bad for a garage job. It cost about $200 for materials, including tape and laquer thinner for clean up, etc. . . I plan on painting it again after installing a wide body kit ( a couple years down the line) and I will probably paint it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z2NV Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 Most body shops make their money ("margin") on repairs, NOT complete jobs...as stated already. Production shops (Maaco, Earl Scheib, etc.) rarely sand the car at all before painting. They usually just wipe it down with a thinner or etch to soften or degloss the paint, and spray it. If (when) you get the inevitable chip, and you were to hit the chip with high pressure water like those coin operated car washes, it will blow off in sheets!! I know this.... As stated by some of you, do ALL of the prep before bringing it to them, and you have a decent chance for a finished product....UNTIL it chips, then fuhgett aboud it! (say it like a "Soprano"). Practice makes perfect, and those high volume production shops have GREAT painters! Try to talk one of them into painting it for you on the side, in maybe yours or someone else's garage. Some shops rent out "booth time", that is another option to get that painter to do it on the side. Lastly, if you have a vocational or trade school near you, one can often get really nice jobs through them because they are students and the instructor (should) see to it that it is done right. That's how I learned, MANY moons ago, and the instructor, when sober, was quite good and taught me some 'skills'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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