Project!

[x-pride]

maaco does okay job but any plastic trim being painted will flake over time...i.e. bumper....

[Tauni]

maaco does okay job but any plastic trim being painted will flake over time...i.e. bumper....

Hmm well what are some other good places you guys know about?

[Pimpin Dsmstyle]

If you are going to drive the car in the winter a cheap Maaco paint job will not be ok. It will be chipped to shit within one year. If you are going to store the car in the winter then it wouldn't be a bad idea.That's not entirely correct. Maaco doesnt use the best quality of paint or body work. HOWEVER, if someone knows what they are doing, you can completely prep / tape the car yourself and have them spray it. My dad had a friend that worked there a few years ago. The painters typically work there for YEARS AND YEARS. This brings quality paintmenship. Not to say you will get a great painter, but prep is where the chipping / bubbling comes from. Painting is pretty hard to mess up once you get into habbits.

The only way to fix rust is to REMOVE it. Neutralizer only works for a short period of time. If you want the rust gone, you need to chop it out and reweld. Even then you will likely have expossed metal on the opposite side.

[Kracka]

Maaco higher-end paint jobs are actually pretty good, I've seen some nice work come out of those shops. The key is to NOT buy their $189 "Admiral" service or whatever they call it these days, pay to have the car prepped properly if you don't know what you are doing, and make sure to get multiple coats of clear sprayed on after the paint.

[slowbubblecar]

That's not entirely correct. Maaco doesnt use the best quality of paint or body work. HOWEVER, if someone knows what they are doing, you can completely prep / tape the car yourself and have them spray it. My dad had a friend that worked there a few years ago. The painters typically work there for YEARS AND YEARS. This brings quality paintmenship. Not to say you will get a great painter, but prep is where the chipping / bubbling comes from. Painting is pretty hard to mess up once you get into habbits.

The only way to fix rust is to REMOVE it. Neutralizer only works for a short period of time. If you want the rust gone, you need to chop it out and reweld. Even then you will likely have expossed metal on the opposite side.

You pulled up an old thread. Also, sometimes ciutting out the rust and welding in a nother piece doesn't work out that well either. My friend brought his car to a shop to get rid of bubbling above the wheel well. It was cut out and a new piece put in. 6 months down the road, it was worse than before.

[Kevin 1G Drummer]

The main reason maaco jobs are so cheap are because they use cheap quality paint. Also, there are some points to prepping your car that can't be done till it goes into the booth to be sprayed such as masking. Most of the time they just kind of "half-ass" the masking paper and tape on the car. A friend of mine had his Integra painted there and he had overspray all over his mirrors and windows. About 6 months after he had it painted, the clear started flaking off from around the window moldings. Personally, I would never bring my car to maaco to be painted.

[LaunchHard]

The main reason maaco jobs are so cheap are because they use cheap quality paint. Also, there are some points to prepping your car that can't be done till it goes into the booth to be sprayed such as masking. Most of the time they just kind of "half-ass" the masking paper and tape on the car. Personally, I would never bring my car to maaco to be painted.
I agree 100%, paint is one of those things, I belive, that you get what you pay for. If your paint job was cheap, it's gonna look cheap, if it was expensive you can definitly tell it was. It all depends on what you're trying to do, a maaco paint job is perfect for a car you're trying to fix and sell, but if you want it to look good, save up.