I guess you've got a point... the way I feel about mine is that I'm very conscientious about not letting anything mechanical "decay"... the interior and paint are so expensive lumped together that economically the car really isn't worth doing all of it right - but I do at least keep it moving as a hopefully-reliable well-repaired daily driver.

If you want a good paint job, use sikkens or glasurit.

I would say away from macco, the cheap ***** they spray on your car will start to flake off, indents in the paint, etc. and if you ever decided to have a real paint job done, they will have to strip all that old paint off to do the job right. This will end up costing you MORE money because they have to do MORE work.

Also, there color matching is not right. So if you get into an accident in the future and the dealer or bodyshop takes the paint code off car or the VIN and paint your door, it will be mismatched with the rest of the car.

I know this for a fact cause I sued them a few years ago before I knew any better. You can take the trim off and do the prep work etc. but if you bring your own paint you *might* run into a problem:

a) you supplied your own "parts", so if the paint does fade or flake off 6 months from now, they can blame it on you and they are not responsible.

b) how do you know they are actually going to spray that paint on your car? Hell, the guys in the back can pocket that stuff for there own ride and spray something else on your car. Most people won't know the difference once its dried on your car.

c) most good paint jobs these days are base coat/clear coat. So more labor hours compared to there one stage formula. (assuming you bring them a base/clear coat system).

Anyway, yeah they are franchises and all, and each one varies, but I wouldnt do it unless you knew the owner or bodyguy or really really trust them and seen there work.

Heck the materials alone for a good paint job are going to cost about $1k!

Figure $3k-$5k if you don't need much body work, but if you do its going to cost a lot more.


Don't even think about a color change; doing one right is going to run you about $20k.

When I do mine I'm going to do a ton of the prep myself and try to get away with only spending $3k.

You really will save a lot and get better results if you take the trim off yourself - and on older cars like ours, there is a lot of trim, and it is not impossible to do yourself. On my '85, I took all of it off and took the opportunity to replace/refinish/restore everything. You will be unhappy with a newly-painted car and old, dull everything else.

Keep in mind that any modern car hardly has any trim to remove - it's all masking - and a lot of shops just don't want to get involved with trim, period, and will charge accordingly.

The maaco that is local to me uses Sherwin Williams Dimension paint. It's the lower end Sherwin brand but not what I would call junk. I'm not sure what the other Maaco's use, I suspect that as they are a franchise, it would vary.

Get a quote from these guys:

Manheim California
1320 N. Tustin Avenue
Anaheim, CA 92807-1619

Phone: (714) 996-2400

There are some paints that are just as good as, say, Dupont, but cost a lot less.

Back when I was painting cars, we used to always use Nason-Senour. It was a very high-quality paint and held up very well, and we thought we'd have to be crazy to spend 3 times as much for Dupont just for the brand name.

I think Nason-Senour has been sold, or has changed its name, but I understand that the new company has a similar name and still makes good paint.

Nason is made by dupont. I used it on my SLC repaint. The sales lady at the paint counter (dupont only paint jobber) told me that the only difference between the lower and higher end paints is how well the match the original for collision repair work. If your going to paint a whole car, there is very little difference.

This is my 450SLC 5.0 painted with Nason paint at the local Maaco.

http://www.w108.org/gallery/albums/S...0267.sized.jpg

http://www.w108.org/gallery/albums/S..._001.sized.jpg

http://www.w108.org/gallery/albums/S...0276.sized.jpg

Remember that Maaco is a franchise and hence only as good as the people who run it and the kind of people that they get to work there.

The one that I used is exceptional.

I know the factory paint is "baked on" and thus better. How how is it? Is it too hot for a repaint where the car is assembled? Is there some newer method of accomplishing the same hardening of the paint like ultrasonic or infrared?

Factory paint is always the best.

I think it's 'baked' at fairly low temps, Anything more then Texas heat will melt a car. I've seen some shops with big quartz heaters. It's not necessary to do this as the paint already has hardeners mixed in. I think the main benefit is to dry the paint quickly so that you can get the car out of the booth and put the next one in which is why they are popular in production shops.

Factory paint is always best unless you drive a W210 rust bucket....whomever thought of water based paint needs to have his teeth kicked in. Water and metal don't mix.

If I owned a $100,000 classic like a 280SE convertible or a 67 Camaro (only in America), I could justify spending $5,000-$10,000 dollars on a paint job. Most of us here drive W123 diesels that are worth $2,000 on a good day and $3,000 with fresh paint. You need to figure out if your after "the best" or somewhere between the best and a 30 year old car with faded paint, rust and dings.

Yeah, I tend to use that rule of thumb. I don't want to pay more for a single item to improve my car than the car cost to begin with.

MB went to more environmentaly friendly paint in the early 90's, and it sucked.

So, are they back to hurting the environment now?

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=233989

Ask the pro!