>Re-painting the car and will be going with maaco
>Budget is pretty much $1500 if they paint the whole car etc..
>Any of you went through maaco before?
>>15412306
>maaco
enjoy them painting over bugs
It'll look like a rattlecan job. But with a smooth even finish.
Might look OK from 15 feet away for a year if you catch them on a good day
>>15412324
>You have to be fucking kidding me
>not doing the $50 Rustoleum paint job yourself
>>15412306
I had Maaco do my Cavalier, when the clearcoat failure on the roof got too bad to look at. It was just color-matched black over my factory black - one of the easiest jobs to do. Price was $850, which included an extra $100 fee for "prep of damaged surface."
I just got the basic one-coat "integrated clearcoat" package, what their website calls the "preferred package".. just a step above the taxicabs only el-cheapo enamel paint job. I didn't do any prep or masking myself before I brought it in... I seriously didn't even wash it, brought it to them dirty with road grime.
It came out OK, honestly better than I was expecting. You can see some orange-peel in a few spots, but honestly nothing any worse than the factory GM paint job. 5 year warranty, so if it starts to peel because their prep was shitty, I'm covered.
>>15412401
>5 year warranty
No wait, sorry, it was 4 years. Just checked the invoice.
>>15412424
>4 years later the paint job dissolves
>>15412615
>3 years later the car is in the junkyard cause its a fucking cavalier.
>>15412306
>>Any of you went through maaco before?
Lots of people have done Maaco. The paint job can be pretty good if you are willing to do prep work and even arrange to tow it in rather than drive it in. Since you are only getting the basic, that means the front and rear windshields remain, but are masked off.
There have been detailed descriptions in forums where people who have some mechanical skill remove all the pieces such as trim, windshields, and badges. Then they sandblast the car down and do hand sanding touch up. They then prime the car and sand that smooth. A smooth surface gives a smoother looking painted surface. But it won't prevent orange skin.
Maaco won't do it but can come closer with their premium package. Those pro show car jobs paint, cure, then hand sand it smooth. Paint another coat, cure, then sand it smooth. They build up the thickness by layers to where the final sanding to make it smooth followed by the final polishing results in a mirror smooth paint layer that is still thick. But you say, I am a smart aleck, so why not just spray a super thick single layer and then polish it smooth to avoid this layer crap? Strength of paint. That's why. But you can see why that method is expensive as it eats up the shop's floor space. The so-called "dust free" booth is not so unique. I've been in body shops where the entire large barn-like space was "dust free". It was heavily filtered and I went thru an air blower hallway and that included a water rinse for the bottoms of my shoes. It was a better shop and the insurance company told them to give me a tour of how high quality it was.
Orange skin results in trying to do a one pass paint job because the paint needs to be a minimum thickness, thus a lot of it gets sprayed on and you have a thick coat. It's tough enough at Maaco since they want to rush the paint and get the clear coat on ASAP so they can free up floor space for another car.
>>15412867
They might scuff it a bit between coats for some extra mechanical adhesion but not everyone does that. If you watch John Kosmoski paint he doesn't and he's done some of the best show car jobs ever. Most of the adhesion layer to layer is chemical, which is why you don't wait to long between each stage, and they definitely don't cure it between coats, just flash for a short time to make sure all the reducer is out of the paint before the next coat.
>>15412306
>Re-painting the car and will be going with maaco
Be very sure as to what they do for prep work for your minimum quality job. Almost all the real effort is in the prep work and not the painting and curing which actually is pretty easy.
$1500 for a whole car repaint means it is as >>15412867 said. They will mask off your windows and certain trim, then spray all over the place. You may get telltale paint marks at trim edges layer, but no worry. Razor that down and touch up with toothpick. You will ask for a jar of the paint they used. Bring your small foolproof jar that won't let the contents dry out. Or all metal flask.
Find out ahead of time the following:
1.. Do they remove and sand smooth badge areas? Or they just mask it off? If they just mask, then remove all insignia and stick it back later. Resarch what you need to restick badges.
2. Trim? Some trim can be masked and look good. Some trim can't due to see thru holes. You will decide if you will remove and replace trim and the broken trim mounts.
3. What prep do they NOT do? That is prep you should do if possible.
4. Read about maaco paint jobs in other forum sites. You want blog length details. All these posters that say don't post blog - they suck. To them, the perfect advice is one line "Do it perfectly" <-- see, that is such useful advice. all details covered right there. forums can be repositories of knowledge, or simply one line chat posts with smart aleck comments which is what those types of posters want.
5. How are edge areas treated? Will paint spray be wrapped behind edge areas? That's a big deal if edges are revealed like you open the trunk lid.
6. If you remove wheel well trim, will they courtesy spray behind there?
7. Do they spray underneath the hood?
8. Do they spray the hidden door areas when doors are opened? That means both the door and the frame well. If greasy, you need to clean it.
9. Demand AyanamiBlue for your anime car.
sounds like too much prep work etc.. to get a quality paint job which will lat 5+ years'
the car's a 2003 and the front/back numbers are chipped
figure i could find a quality shop to do a quality job for 2k
If you're already willing to be 1500 for a shitty job, might aswel wait an extra 2 months and save up that extra 500 for a better quality paint job
>>15413037
kek, wait two months for an extra $500
did you think i am broke?
sometimes i forget i am on 4chan.
>>15413066
Nigger if you start a thread for a paintjob with a budget of $1500 my expectations of your finances won't be very high.
And don't belittle 4chan if you're the scrub asking us for help famalam
>>15413066
DO YOU THINK IM BROKE!?!?!
>taking his cavalir to maaco
Dude you are a poor pleb
>>15412990
>sounds like too much prep work etc.. to get a quality paint job which will lat 5+ years'
>the car's a 2003 and the front/back numbers are chipped
As with all paint jobs, it looks wrong if they cannot open the doors and spray everything a uniform coat of paint. If you remove all the trim and seals, they might even do all the inside painting for free because now they don't have to do any masking. That is a big savings to them. So they might as well spray everything inside.
Remove trim
Remove badges
Remove door seals
Remove windshields
Remove seats.
Remove interior trim.
Remove headliner
Remove door trim, door handle, door interior panels, windows. Mask motor and rods.
Mask antenna connectors.
Remove speakers, label each speaker and wire with backsided tape overlap or hide labels inside duct tape rendered nonsticky by taping a pocket inside.
Remove carpets.
Mask dash twice.
Oh my, that was a lot of work. Just typing I am tired already. I can't hardly imagine you actually doing that for a cavalier.
>did you think i am broke?
Don't get mad when we are trying with the minimal info you give. You are just too picky here. You ask for help. You give minimal info. You make us ask more questions about even what car you are painting. What kind of request for help is this? Then you get snippy with us.
Yeah, yeah, you don't care. But that makes the rest of us less likely to help the next person who asks for help. So snippy or ungrateful people do affect the forum quality for the future. If we don't speak up, then your answers will all be from alphonse or one of his alter egos.
>>15413193
Wow, do you guys really think i'm the cavalier guy?
