Where should I go to get my car painted?

[supesman]

I've heard good and bad things about both. It's an old car i bought a few months ago. a 1993 camry but I don't like the color. Looking for something around $200- $250. Is that reasonable?

 

[Aikouka]

I've only ever heard bad things about Maaco. Although it's not an option with your budget, I'd rather pay a pro to do it.

 

[RedArmy]

Wait, you want the WHOLE car painted for $200-250?

That's impossible.

 

[Toastedlightly]

Originally posted by: RedArmy
Wait, you want the WHOLE car painted for $200-250?

That's impossible.

Well, he could buy his own paint for that... maybe sandpaper and a small bit o' body filler. Maybe.

 

[chrisms]

My brother was selling his car and a guy came to look at it. "Ha! Did you get Maaco to paint this thing?" he said. My brother didn't admit it but the guy was right. Needless to say he didn't buy the car.


This was for a Mustang Mach 1 that he had rebuilt, though. You could probably buy a 1993 Camry for $200-$250.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Your're going to get orange peel galore with those places.

 

[AdamK47]

Since it's a Toyota Camry I'd get a few buckets of paint and a roller.

 

[bobsmith1492]

I got mine painted at Maaco this fall and it's been fine so far; we'll see how the winter treats it.

P.S. : It was about 1200 bucks, though.

 

[JulesMaximus]

If you want a cheap crappy paintjob then you won't be disappointed with either of those places.

 

[supesman]

Actually, there's a coupon on Earl Scheib's website that says $229.95 for auto paint service. I dont know how good of a job it'll be though.
Text

Originally posted by: RedArmy
Wait, you want the WHOLE car painted for $200-250?

That's impossible.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra
Your're going to get orange peel galore with those places.

What's wrong with orange peel? I think it looks good......on antique furniture.

 

[kyparrish]

Originally posted by: supesman
Actually, there's a coupon on Earl Scheib's website that says $229.95 for auto paint service. I dont know how good of a job it'll be though.
Text

Originally posted by: RedArmy
Wait, you want the WHOLE car painted for $200-250?

That's impossible.

Add the cost to sand to metal.
Add the cost to prime.
Want a clearcoat? That will cost you.

That coupon gets you in the door, but believe me, you will be upsold very quickly. Bait and switch.

 

[supesman]

Dang. Thanks Kyparrish and others. I guess i'll stick w/ this crappy paint. It's a pretty good car. It had less than 60k when i bought it. I know the miles weren't rolled back 'cuz I bought it from a friend. Only cost me $2500 so i don't want to spend too much on a paint job.

 

[kyparrish]

Originally posted by: supesman
Dang. Thanks Kyparrish and others. I guess i'll stick w/ this crappy paint. It's a pretty good car. It had less than 60k when i bought it. I know the miles weren't rolled back 'cuz I bought it from a friend. Only cost me $2500 so i don't want to spend too much on a paint job.

Actually, I looked at that coupon, it said something about hand sanding for better paint adhesion.

I mean, the bottom line is, this is really one of those things where you will def. get what you pay for. But, you could always go into the shop w/ the coupon and talk to somebody, ask them exactly what the coupon would cover. Ask if they have any cars around that have had the $230 treatment. You could always just look, it's not going to make the car look like it just came off of the showroom floor, but if you are driving by the place, just stop in. You can ALWAYS walk out the door, and stick to your guns about not wanting to pay $1k or so.

Good luck.

 

[Bekker]

Poster above is right. Once had a quote and virtually everything was added cost. But, I need a repair to mine now and paint shop said paint is now outrageous and a good job total paint job would run from 2500-5000.

 

[supesman]

Cool thx. I"ll try that.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: kyparrish

Originally posted by: supesman
Actually, there's a coupon on Earl Scheib's website that says $229.95 for auto paint service. I dont know how good of a job it'll be though.
Text

Originally posted by: RedArmy
Wait, you want the WHOLE car painted for $200-250?

That's impossible.

Add the cost to sand to metal.
Add the cost to prime.
Want a clearcoat? That will cost you.

That coupon gets you in the door, but believe me, you will be upsold very quickly. Bait and switch.

Well, in all fairness it's impossible to get good results on something as labor intensive as repainting an entire car for such a low cost. If you don't do it right it's not worth doing at all.

My Mother-In-Law had a Jaguar repainted a number of years ago and it cost her over four thousand dollars. They removed all the trim, bumpers etc. and stripped it down to metal, then masked, repainted and clearcoated the car. Then of course you have to remove all the masking and put the trim pieces back on. It looked perfect when completed but it's a lot of work. I think they had her car for three weeks or so.

My Father-In-Law had a BMW repainted at Earl Shibe (he's cheap as hell) and it looked like complete crap. They didn't strip off the old paint so it cracked all over one of the doors and it basically looked like sh!t.