maaco paint job

[420benz]

Has anyone had there mb painted by them? pros/cons.

[CJ]

A friend of mine had his MR2 painted by them. It turned out pretty well, but we did a great deal of prep work such as removing all trim, windows, unbolting the front nose cone to have it painted seperately, the mirrors, rear wing and all body moldings/weather stripping. We did not want any over spray on unrelated items and we did not want any of the rubber body seals painted, so we removed that as well. It took us an entire weekend to properly remove evrything so that they would just paint and not do a half ass job on taping up stuff that should not be painted.

[420benz]

Car has some scratches and paint chips on front of hood . What should i do,or will thay take care of that?

[jobah]

I had my car painted by maaco years ago. They did a lousy job. It cost me about $1400 with the body work. It lasted about 1 year. They do a really poor job with rust and with taping (I took almost everything off (except door handles and rear window molding). They got paint on everything I did not take off. I made them respray after the first paint job looked so bad. Further, I had to wet sand the second paint job to even get it to look ok.

I just took the car to real pros who will do a full media blast where necessary and do a full repaint including the door interiors and the jambs. This is costing me about $3000 (mechanically the car is perfect but Chicago winters kill the exterior).

I know that it is more expensive, but I wish I never did the first paint job and that I waited for this paint job. It is nice to work with people who care about your car rather than those who want a quick buck.

Never again.

190 D 2.2 5 speed 307kmi.

I had it maaco do work on my car, complete paint job (signature service). I ended up suing them in court. So needless to say I was highly dissatisfied.

1) wrong color paint 2) paint peeled and flaked after 6 months 3) parts were not properly masked and got paint on the rubber, handles, etc. 3) painted over scratches, rock chips etc and showed through paint 4) clear coat wore off in less than yr 5) does not honor warranty 6) masking tape on parts of car that would not come off with cleaning, clay bar, etc.

I cant rmember some of the other stuff either, but anyway I had to have it repainted by pros and it costed around 3 grand. I paid $1500.00 with maaco, I guess you get what u pay for.

[elau]

I used them years ago on a Honda, and the paint job was so bad it faded only a year later. Will never waste a penny with those people again. Take your car to a real body shop and spend a little more, it will cost you less in the long run if you plan on keeping your car.

87 W124
95 R129
98 W163

[yal]

Horrible, horrible people who seem to equate the job of painting a car to the job of serving fast food.
The description of their different levels of paint service looks so tempting but buyer beware!
They completely ruined my old Nissan I would have been better of painting it myself.
I learnt a valuable lesson...a good paint job is between $3000-5000 (unless you know someone), a great paint job is the price of a KIA or more. Either save up or do the offending body panel separately.
Just my 2 cents, hope it helps....

[-fad]

most often in life- ya get what you pay for....

maaco- volume, volume, volume inexpensive paint jobs (not unlike 'Earl Sheib' one day in and out specials)

if one is not so particular about quality and/or may not keep a vehicle longer term- maaco may fit the bill (there's something for every body)

-fad

[Alan W]

I wonder why anyone would take a car like a MB to a shop like Maaco, given the comments above. Think of a paint job as the equivalent of cosmetic surgery for the car and decide whether you'd have a "Maaco" doctor work on your body. Now I recognize that equating a car body and a human body is improper, but if it is important for that car body to look wonderful, expect to pay.

[-fad]

True, true....however, I've seen brand new MBs trashed inside and out and older ones trashed inside and out....and a maaco paint job would be a step up, so maaco may make sense in for these owners (and owners on a budget)

on the other end of the spectrum, we've seen absolutely mint MBs old and new and maaco would not be consistent to the nature of the upkeep of those vehicles

-fad

I forgot to add, their was lots of streaking of the paint on the drivers side door and human hair embedded in the paint/clear coat on the hood and trunk. And no thats not a misprint, human hair. Their was dirt in the clear coat and they just left it like that. Nobody would do a wet sand on the maaco paintjob including maaco themselves, they were worried it would go through the clear coat. Oh also they forgot to paint my two outside rearview mirrors.

The thing that made me most upset was their attitude. When I pointed out all these problems, I expected it to be corrected, and most people would understand. Instead they basically told me to go screw myself they had painted the car and left it at that. After I signed my name on the credit card slip, they dont care.

I have a 4 year warranty against fading, and peeling of the paint, which after 1 year, it was already doing, i went back told them about it and they said oh im sorry but we painted your car like we were supposed to. Goodbye...

Because of this attitude, I took them to court and had all evidence to the judge. He tried to deny it in court so pictures do not lie, the better business beraeu report i had filed does not lie, etc. etc.

Back to the point, not all independant maaco's are like this, but this is my experience with a particular one in missouri and i cannot recomend someone to go back. Just dont say I never warned you.

[-fad]

Johnson- sorry to hear that episode....I think the majority consensus would be similar experiences with the one day paint job establishments

on a lighter note, did you pay more for the custom "hair" option? (j/k)

-fad

[CaptAlex300e]

I would not do it. About a year and a half ago I had my 300E painted, and it cost me about $1,400, however the person who did it was my brothers good friend. They did the job properly and it entailed doing the following:

1:Remove all body parts: NOT TAPE OVER
2:Take all the old paint off.
3:Fair the surface of the car: (make finish level)
4:Clean and tack surface
5rime in a down draft booth: NOT just spray water on the floor)
6:Sand primer
7:Fair surface again, and tack and clean it
8:Spray base coat in down draft booth
9:Sand first coat
10aint secondary coat
11:Lightly sand and clean
12:Spray finish coat
13:Clean and spray clear coat
14:Wet sand/compound/polish
15.Put body parts back on


Thats what they did; It would cost about 4,200, but I paid 1,400 reason why: explained above.

Thats good paint job, and why I restore my fiberglass boats (my hobby) thats how I paint them with Awlgrip.

[CaptAlex300e]

Ohh I forgot, when you do have it painted, make sure you wait at least 3 months before waxing. If you wax before then; it will cause the solvents that are evaporating from the paint to get caught and that will destroy your finish.

Capt,

Is this still the case with newer paint jobs? I emailed zaino a while back and asked him if i needed to wait 3 months and he said its a myth and with todays "modern" paint jobs, you do not need 3 months, only a couple weeks tops. I guess back in the days with laquer, etc. you needed the time for solvents to dry.

Anyway, I just had my hood and trunk repainted, and its been a month and half and I just waxed it. The reason is because winter time is coming soon, salt, harsh weather, bird droppings, etc. might hurt the finish.

Anybody have inputs?