How necessary is primer on a simple maaco job?

[pninja82]

Right now Maaco has a sale. $299 for paint. then I read the disclaimer that comes up real fast. It shows "paint only" So I guess the sales person will claim it will need to be primed and since it is "only paint" it will need a clear coat too. I'm thinking...was this guy in the steam rug cleaning before this. All I need on the coupe is a paint over-same color. Deever, what stage was that paint job and did it come with clear coat?

Your correct on that, so make sure you know what you need done. I went with the 2nd paint option they offered for $400 plus tax.All together $467 with a great 2 year warranty,of course this was a grand opening sale though.You do have to pay for any extra services as well.

[SilverShadow]

$467 is good, what did that include? Did the sales person try to talk you into getting this and that? I'm sure the "extra" services is fixing dents, and spraying door jams and little things. So they paint and apply what over it?

[cobratt03]

its all bout prep work with maaco. I would primer the whole car with buildable primer and sand it down and bring it to them to have them shoot the car.

I actually have pictures of priming the car with spray cans then having them shoot the car with the results after but it aint on a cb7. If no one cares i will post them.

Also alot of times its the paint they use that sucks. If you bring ur own paint some shops will use that.

[drummerwill]

Hey I'd like to see those before/after pics of the car, paint's paint and to me the quality isnt going to change from car to car. haha...

The paint I'm going to be getting is the 3rd stage poly paint, they call it the "Supreme" package.

I've actually started doing rust and body work on my car. It's going to look odd cause the duplicolor i have is a GM oem color but it's only a few shades off, and better looking than just primer. Yesterday I hit the biggest rust location along the egde of the passenger roofline and it really wasnt too bad. I'll be taking my time with it and doing small areas as I get free time to mess with it. When I finish it all I might have enough "rainy day" money to get the car painted. Curse the utility bills! hahaha

[pninja82]

I gotta find some before pics! I can say the original paint was going bad! Luckily the body was straight except for a fender which I provided and they replaced for free!The salesman actually asked me what I specifically wanted done and never tried to upsale at anytime.He let me tell him what I wanted done exactly.They even did a great job at masking and taping the car.I had minimal overspray.Another thing I liked was that they actually removed certain parts to spray seperatley,such as my flushie.The car came out gorgeous,I dont have my MRT yet(I will soon) but you can check on my statistics to see a thread titled "went for a ride and snapped some pics" to see what it looks like.I know every store will differ but, I gotta say,I couldnt beat it for the price and any little thing is covered for the next 2 years.I say go for it, be cool with the guys,and theyll be cool with you too.Good luck on your choice!

[pninja82]

$467 is good, what did that include? Did the sales person try to talk you into getting this and that? I'm sure the "extra" services is fixing dents, and spraying door jams and little things. So they paint and apply what over it?

Extra fees include extra clear,major dent removal(they did my little dings free) rust repair.Im not certain but I do believe the doro jams are extra as well.If your changing color completley this is prefered! My color change wasnt too dramatic.You can see where they blended into my door jams but barely.They truly did a great job.The salesman was cool too,he never tried to upsale.All he did was ask what I wanted done.Alot of people knock theyre jobs but Id go back.The service was great,the guys were cool and the work has even impressed some of the local paint shop guys.

[SilverShadow]

That settles it, Forget driving from LA to T.J. for paint job, I'm going to Texas!

[cobratt03]

buildable primer. It was in spray cans...alot of sanding.

[cobratt03]

holy shit didnt even realize my first cb7 is in the pics....lol

[cobratt03]

after

[cobratt03]

Trust me the paint wasnt perfect but for the price it came out great. i sold the car to a guy by me and the paint held up till now. that was 5-6 yrs ago and thats only cause the dick beat the hell out of it and never took car of the car.

[drummerwill]

looks good for bargain paint. Then again you did put some time in on the primer so i'd hope it would look pretty good, hahaha... Thanks for posting those up!

I'm looking at pulling up the black rubber/plastic roof weld seam stripping to get into there and make sure it looks good. But when i was checking it the stripping is in bad condition, i'm thinking about pulling it out and then filling the seam channel with bondo after i clean the rust and get some sealer in there. Any thoughts as to why or why I shouldn't do it?

[4DRCB7ftw]

so i sanded my whole car and decided to just go with 80 grit also had to bondo up some cracks the paint im getting (going to one day paint) is a 500 dollar dark gray mettallic color pretty much gumetal. the guy straight out told me their going to have to sand and get every last bit of the spray paint thats on there off he also told be some of the smaller cracks in the body can be fully sanded down and dissapear as for the big ones hes gonna sand them as best he can and patch them up too then paint it..... on there website and prepwork they have to is 356 extra with tax i assume the guy gave me a deal at 550 as you can see it woulda 856. anyways their gonna sand and prep the car for paint so well see what she looks like i get her back tmmrw dropped her off four days ago

[Gr1m]

Maaco shops are independently owned, so some have better business practices than others. Some hold their painters to a higher standard as well. Take a look at their work beforehand, and decide if it's something you want to go with. I've seen some VERY bad paint jobs in the past... mine has some flaws, but for the price (and for the way I treat my cars...) I can't complain one bit.

So I was under the misconception that they were all the same. Does that mean because of the different standards at each shop (I.e. platinum certified shops), there'll be price differences?

And how long was the waiting period for your car painted?

[AccordWarrior]

I've always read that prep work is the key to a good paint job.

I'm toying with having my truck resprayed in the near future. It's got a lot of flaws and needs a lot of patching up in places, and I'm thinking I'll have it completely prepared for paint, so all they'll do is shoot the actual paint. I have no doubt rust will punch through in a bunch of places in the next year or two, but having a few years of "nice paint" might not be so bad.

If you are planning on having the color changed, remove as many pieces as you can so that they can spray all the under panels.