If you do your own sanding and masking, is Maaco all that bad?

[slugg]

So I just picked up a hard top for my Miata. Finally, after looking for about a year, I found one that wasn't a piece of crap or absolute ripoff.

Anyhow... I need to get it painted to match my car. I'm getting quotes of like $450. That's insane to me, especially how it's a completely removable from the car.

So I've heard Maaco is crap. But they're so cheap... they'll spray my hard top for around $125. So that got me thinking; if I were to sand it myself and mask the intricate parts, would a Maaco job be all that bad?

Any tips or recommended tutorials on sanding/prepping/masking?

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

Go to a auto paint supply and see how much decent automotive paint costs, then you will realize that the price probably isn't as bad as you think. I'm not sure what macco uses but it can't be very nice if they can offer prices that low.

 

[Danimal1209]

I put a different spoiler on my 2004 mustang and got it painted at maaco. They did a poor job prepping, but the paint has matched perfectly and is still in great condition 3 years later. It looks like it came with the car. I would say for $125 it's worth a go. If you do the prep work yourself you should be fine.

 

[Black2na]

He would be more In materials to do himself. Just take off all that you can easily remove from the hard top then with 400 grit wet sand paper prep the top. Then rinse it clean let it dry and then scuff down with a red scotch pad make sure to spend time in all the small spaces then take it to maaco and have them apply a base/clear coat finish might cost a little more but in 2-3 years you'd be.glad you spent it. Also look at the paint finish comming out of the booth painters varies and find a good one and you'll be OK with a maaco job

 

[unokitty]

So I just picked up a hard top for my Miata. Finally, after looking for about a year, I found one that wasn't a piece of crap or absolute ripoff.

Anyhow... I need to get it painted to match my car. I'm getting quotes of like $450. That's insane to me, especially how it's a completely removable from the car.

So I've heard Maaco is crap. But they're so cheap... they'll spray my hard top for around $125. So that got me thinking; if I were to sand it myself and mask the intricate parts, would a Maaco job be all that bad?

Any tips or recommended tutorials on sanding/prepping/masking?

Don't have personal experience.

But I have heard that the quality varies widely from one individual shop to the next. May be worth your time to ask around and see if you can find a paint shop that has consistently good word of mouth.

Congrats on the hard top. Suspect that it will be really nice this winter.

Uno

 

[SparkyJJO]

From what I understand Maaco isn't too bad if you do the prep work yourself (and do it right). If you bring them an unprepped part more often than not they run a scuff pad over the surface and spray it lol.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I think the rear window is just bolted in. If you take it out should make it even easier to deal with. I wouldn't want them painting my whole car but just the hardtop I'd give them a shot. It is only on in the winter anyway.

 

[Vic Vega]

You have to do ALL the prep work and I mean all of if - don't leave anything on the car you don't want painted. The car should arrive ready to be shot basically, which means you can't drive the car there (won't be road legal) and will need to trailer it.

I have seen them shoot everything, windows and moldings, wheels, exhaust systems, head lights, THE INSIDE OF THE CAR.

For $450 you're getting a single stage paint and not that much of it, for a weekend car that doesn't get out much it can be OK. For a daily driver it will be peeling in less than two years from cars I have seen.

They will not prime your car either for that price, so you'll either need to do this yourself or pay them to do it.

 

[slugg]

You have to do ALL the prep work and I mean all of if - don't leave anything on the car you don't want painted. The car should arrive ready to be shot basically, which means you can't drive the car there (won't be road legal) and will need to trailer it.

I have seen them shoot everything, windows and moldings, wheels, exhaust systems, head lights, THE INSIDE OF THE CAR.

For $450 you're getting a single stage paint and not that much of it, for a weekend car that doesn't get out much it can be OK. For a daily driver it will be peeling in less than two years from cars I have seen.

They will not prime your car either for that price, so you'll either need to do this yourself or pay them to do it.

You didn't read the OP...

 

[Vic Vega]

You didn't read the OP...

Yeah I did and thought you may like some real world experience before you make a decision. I guess I was wrong.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Yeah I did and thought you may like some real world experience before you make a decision. I guess I was wrong.

you obviously didnt because you didnt read that he is only going to have the Hard top painted.

 

[slugg]

Well. I decided on just biting the bullet, paying the money, and having an independent shop do it right. I did cut one corner, though; I opted to leave the window in the hard top and just masking it off during painting. The rubber window seal costs $100 from Mazda, plus the labor, it would have been $150 more for that option. Since my car isn't a show car, I don't really think it'd make all that big of a difference.

Here's the "before" crappy cell phone pic:

"After" will be tomorrow or Wednesday

edit: oh and I forgot to mention... they're throwing in the spoiler (which is black, the rest of the car is a blue mica) for free. So currently, the car sits like this:

^^ that's the remaining "racing stripe" left over from when I removed them when I bought the car, in case some of you may remember that thread. Here's with them removed:

^^ I didn't do as thorough of a job as the rest of the car, simply because it's just going to be covered again by the color-matched spoiler.

 

[phucheneh]

Even independents, if you just bring them a part, often neglect to do good prep. I think the attitude is 'they didn't want us to work on the car, so just spray it.' The paint will probably be well applied (no runs, fisheyes, ect), but no attention to prep. I've seen it a lot with plastic stuff; like not cleaning up little molding imperfections and whatnot before spraying.

Maaco adds in the worry of a bad sprayjob. I've seen cars come out of some of the local ones with all kinds of paint runs, specs of crap in the finish, ect. They charge cheap rates because they pay cheap painters. And use cheap products. Not just cheap polyurethane...last I knew, their low-end stuff was still cheap enamel. That means no clearcoat. Basically, a cheap version of 70's paint.

edit: also, the guy who mentioned peeling is a little off. Peeling is a result of bad prep....so, if you prepped it...well, you know.

Fast oxidation (dulling) is a more common problem. Although if they don't use the right plasticizers, it's common to have cracking and peeling on flexible parts.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Maaco paint job looks like crap when it's done and ages....well, it hardly lasts a year or 2 before it looks WORSE than your currant original paint (chances are)

 

[franksta]

For reference, I had an all-over done to my Grand Marquis. My brother-in-law did 99% of the labor. Some friends and I did simple stuff like removing the badges and letters from the trunk, the stripes on the sides, scuffed some with the DA sander, etc. I paid only for materials and supplies and was in for around $1000. That was with Shopline PPG which is one of their more economical series. It's a base/clear system. I asked him afterward how much he would charge for it out the door and his response was $3000 to $4000.

I know it might be too late for this nugget but my brother-in-law recommends hitting the existing paint with 400 grit wet/dry on a durablock and rinsing it with water. The shop should go over it with a tack cloth immediately prior to the shoot.

Durablocks at Summit Racing

400 grit sandpaper

Good luck.