the last maaco/earl schieb/one day paint thread... (a cheap/low end paint place FAQ)

[kamaccord]

I have 3 year old Maaco paint job from the College Park, Maryland franchise.

[hak1990]

the guy at maaco told me if i really want the paint to last i should have them put another layer of clear coat on for 200 bux extra, what do you guys think of this?

the paint job i have on my teg which is posted 3 posts above was the supreme package i believe the second expensive. I got it cheap through my friends shop otherwise it shoud be like $400.

With my acura, i did all the body work myself. I did not primer the whole car, and you dont need to, only the parts that i did body work on.Before sending it to Maaco, i thoroughly wet sanded the whole car. The paint turned out amazing.See pics in my post 3 posts above.

I suggest you do as much as you can yourself including masking all the parts you dont want paint to get on and you dont need to worry about paying for extra stuff like primer, or extra clear coat. Just make sure you use some good wax on the paint regularly (Meguiars NXT is what i recommend) and you should be set.Good luck.

Edit: one important thing you should do before taking the car for paint, especially after wet sanding it is to wash it properly including the wheel wells so that no dirt gets painted over and so that dirt doesn't get all over your new paint.

[Aaron]

thanks for your input, can you wash a car after you sand it without priming it or is that going to cause rust to form?

[sleepysal]

thanks for your input, can you wash a car after you sand it without priming it or is that going to cause rust to form?

Yes. If you have an air comressor use it to blow off the car, then wash it. But make sure you dry it good. Looks like your getting it painted soon !!
FYI Earl Shieb charged $90.00 for an extra coat of clear, they also recomend that you wait 1 week to wash it and a month to wax it.
post some pics when it is done

[Aaron]

Yes. If you have an air comressor use it to blow off the car, then wash it. But make sure you dry it good. Looks like your getting it painted soon !!
FYI Earl Shieb charged $90.00 for an extra coat of clear, they also recomend that you wait 1 week to wash it and a month to wax it.
post some pics when it is done

thanks sleepysal, do you reccomend the extra clear coat?

[Aaron]

well i got my car painted 2 weeks ago...just washed it today and finally took some pics so heres the before and after...i got it painted at maaco, not the cheapest paint job but the 2nd cheapest and i had them sand my trunk roof and hood all the way down before they painted...the total price was $464, not bad huh?

sorry for the enormous pics...


Before:






After:

[shawn.hayden]

looks really good!

[Clueless]

I want to get my car all fixed up and painted...my problem is the rear quarters.

[fliplyricist1]

damn that black accord looks really good...especially for around 400 bucks lol it takes 400 bucks to get a bumper and a fender repainted at most body shops around here...

so did you do the bodywork, paint stripping, and sanding yourself before taking it in? Did you notice any overspray or areas where the paint was contaminated? My main concern is with the overspray and them getting dirt in the pait and then putting clear over it

but I'm very tempted to get the entire car repainted for a price like that

[Aaron]

damn that black accord looks really good...especially for around 400 bucks lol it takes 400 bucks to get a bumper and a fender repainted at most body shops around here...

so did you do the bodywork, paint stripping, and sanding yourself before taking it in? Did you notice any overspray or areas where the paint was contaminated? My main concern is with the overspray and them getting dirt in the pait and then putting clear over it

but I'm very tempted to get the entire car repainted for a price like that

the only prep work i did was taking off the side chrome stripping (from the pictures you can see i havent gotten around to putting it back on yet) and taking off the corners, bottom turn signals, side markers, tail lights, and antenna...i was gonna sand the roof, hood and trunk myself but they did it for me for only 75 extra bux so i let them do it...

the only overspray i found was on the weather stripping in the wheel well as well as on the suspension parts of the rear wheels, and on the rubber strips that are on the roof

the only spots i found where the paint was contaminated was behind the taillights, the idiots didnt clean the dirt off before they sprayed it so it looks like shit there, im just glad its not in a visible area...i washed the rest of the car before i took it in but i wasnt able to wash behind the tails bc i didnt take them off until i got there

oh yea, i also forgot to add that i had them paint the bars that run vertically between the two doors since they looked like shit

[fliplyricist1]

man I gotta say...that paint job looks freakin great for 400 bucks...and I'm glad you took daytime pics instead of the dusk pics that a lot of people take that hid the luster...it doesn't look like you got much orange peel either...must be a good Maaco you went to


so did you end up getting the extra layer of clear coat? do you know how many base coats of paint they use and layers of clear they give you for the 450? any warranty with the paint job?

[Aaron]

man I gotta say...that paint job looks freakin great for 400 bucks...and I'm glad you took daytime pics instead of the dusk pics that a lot of people take that hid the luster...it doesn't look like you got much orange peel either...must be a good Maaco you went to


so did you end up getting the extra layer of clear coat? do you know how many base coats of paint they use and layers of clear they give you for the 450? any warranty with the paint job?

yea im really happy with the job, it was a good maaco...

i did not get an extra layer of clear coat, the owner of the maaco talked me out of it...he showed me his car which he recently got painted black there w/o the extra layer and told me that it would be better off that i save the extra 275 bux it would cost for the extra layer and then just get it repainted if i needed to in a couple of years, which made sense to me...even without the extra clear coat the car ended up really shinny (sp?) and nice looking...it has a 2 year warranty and the maaco i went to had a deal with the paint package i got which included free value prep and integrated (mixed in to the paint before they spray it) clear coat

as for the layers of base coats, since i paid the extra 75 bux for the hood, roof, and trunk to get sanded they primed those surfaces as well...as for the rest of the car they "spot prepped it" but they did a good job of covering up most of the previous scratches

[hak1990]

man I gotta say...that paint job looks freakin great for 400 bucks...and I'm glad you took daytime pics instead of the dusk pics that a lot of people take that hid the luster...it doesn't look like you got much orange peel either...must be a good Maaco you went to


so did you end up getting the extra layer of clear coat? do you know how many base coats of paint they use and layers of clear they give you for the 450? any warranty with the paint job?

I would say get it done at maaco but do all the prep yourself. I got both my cars done at maaco. my teg ran me $300 bucks for the 2nd best package (commercial rate) and my accord was $225 dollars. As for overspray, there will be some, thats s why its better to mask all the areas you dont want overspray on yourself . A good wetsanding with 800 or 1000 grit sandpaper before taking is what i recommend so that the paint will stick and then a good wash especially around the wheel wells and then dry.

It is also important with darker colors i guess to wax / polish frequently to maintain the shine. I usually wax my teg (when im not feeling lazy lol) every 2-3 weeks. People at my work place always ask me if im going to take my car to heaven with me lol cuz its always shining and i take care of it so much.

[sleepysal]

nice !!!!

[wed3k]

heres mine still holding up after a year.