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is macco even worth it?need opinions


boneTSI
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i have an 87 that still have its orginal paint.it doesnt look bad but except the front right quarter panel,looks scary since the clear coat is pealing off and its real noticeable.also idk if anyone would remember but grazel3793 had a black 87 for sale over a year ago and im the one who bought it.had a HUGE dent from an accident right to the left of the passenger door and it was about 2 ft long and a 1 ft wide.i had to us a dent puller to pull it out,sand it down,bondo it and paint it and since the car is so old i couldnt exact match the paint so during the day theres a lighter black patch.i was thinking about getting a macco pretty soon just to cover up the minor dings and dents and so my car is all one color but i know macco sucks.anyone have any opinions on this to either stay how i have it or get a macco?cause i dont have the money to get a full legit paint job..thanks

-bonetsi-

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I'm considering the same thing. Guess it's up to the local Macco. Two of my friends here in Huntsville, AL had a 94 Jeep Cherokee and a 91 Jeep Wagoner done and they did a great job. Took out dings, small dents, added pin stripping and all.
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does macco pop dings out and fix things like that?i didnt know that lol.but i was curious since i know they dont primer before or clear coat after..dont they just spray right overtop of what you have?to me it seems like itll look ugly.
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A local friend of mine goes to them for all of his hondas. He said that the cheap paint jobs they advertise arent all they offer so you just need to go to the local shop and get an estimate. His DD that is also a rolling billboard for his shop, is all custom colors and designed, was done at macco and it looks very good considering its a macco paint job.

 

BC_99

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I have seen some maaco jobs that looked OK. The quality varies by place, but varies more by price.

 

 

Their cheap $300 jobs or whatever get you a half --------------- scuff, tape and prep, and a crappy single stage paint. If you want better paint, it's more, if you want body work, it's more, if you want the body work to look good, it's more, if you want a proper prep and tape job it's more. You get the idea.

 

So yeah, if you live near one of the few Maacos that do quality work, and you pay for way more than just the basics, you will get a good job, and probably for quite a bit cheaper than a standard quality body shop.

 

 

That being said, I would NEVER reccomend them. The few good jobs I've seen them do can never make up for bad things. Same with Earl Scheib. Overall they're butchers. I'm sure you could find someone on craigslist who does it on the side by you that will use better materials, and do a better job for cheaper than even Maaco. You just have to check them out and look at their work in person. You'll find guys doing full paint jobs, door jambs included with good quality paints for $1200 or less. I bet 50% of my work comes from Craigslist.

Edited by Burton
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the one by us painted a lebaron for my dad so he could sell it. Well, 2 years later, it was still as bright red as it was that day. And, it was a pretty good paintjob.

 

Wouldn't call it show quality, but, is driver quality.

 

That was their $400 job.

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the one by us painted a lebaron for my dad so he could sell it. Well, 2 years later, it was still as bright red as it was that day. And, it was a pretty good paintjob.

 

Wouldn't call it show quality, but, is driver quality.

 

That was their $400 job.

 

thats good enough for me lol.for now atleast.im thinking about wet sanding my whole car down and maybe priming it myself than get like a 200$ macco maybe.

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^ yeah you have the right idea. They do OK if you do all the hard stuff. IE prpr the whole car, sand the whole car, take off everything or they will get pain on it, take it there and tape it in the lot, and remove the rest of the stuff needed for you to drive it there.

 

IF you do all that they do an OK job. Personaly I would do as burton recomends and find someone local on C/L etc.

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^ yeah you have the right idea. They do OK if you do all the hard stuff. IE prpr the whole car, sand the whole car, take off everything or they will get pain on it, take it there and tape it in the lot, and remove the rest of the stuff needed for you to drive it there.

 

IF you do all that they do an OK job. Personaly I would do as burton recomends and find someone local on C/L etc.

 

 

Oh, funny story. Not sure if it was Maaco or Earl Scheib, but check this out. I met a dude at the audio shop I worked at who spent a bunch of time doing his own body work and priming on his car. He wetsanded everything and took off as much trim as he could. He even put his bra on the front of the car to avoid rock chips on the drive over and everything. He had them lined up to tape off the windows and the remaining trim, and spray it with a nice base/clear. He came back to pick the car up and it was a beautiful, shiny shade of red- Bra and all. Well, red everywhere except under the bra, which was still primer.

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Oh, funny story. Not sure if it was Maaco or Earl Scheib, but check this out. I met a dude at the audio shop I worked at who spent a bunch of time doing his own body work and priming on his car. He wetsanded everything and took off as much trim as he could. He even put his bra on the front of the car to avoid rock chips on the drive over and everything. He had them lined up to tape off the windows and the remaining trim, and spray it with a nice base/clear. He came back to pick the car up and it was a beautiful, shiny shade of red- Bra and all. Well, red everywhere except under the bra, which was still primer.

 

 

i would have to say that was an earl shieb special

 

ive heard they would use tape to cover rust,,then paint over the tape

 

high quailty,,wat was it 69 bux for a paint job back in the day???

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haha i would be so mad about that.i understand his idea of using the bra but now he cant take it off which would kill me cause im not a fan of the bras

 

 

Yeah, he hated the bra, actually. It came with the car and had trashed the front end so much it was a driving factor of wanting his car all redone nice. He put it on one last time to protect it on the drive over.

 

I can see how it's probably mostly his fault, but he was kinda in a hurry to drop it off on his way to work. Still, the place knew he wanted it nice and he had taken the time to do everything nice, and they had his number. Why didn't they at least call him to make sure he wanted it on there?

 

 

That's just one of the "bad" things I've seen those places do, and the "good" ones I've seen aren't enough to make up for the "bad" IMO.

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  • 2 weeks later...
When i was in HS I would take friends cars fix all the body work remove all trim and scuff the car up nice. Macco would paint it and the car would look good. Since they never use sealer even if you paid for it after 2 days the paint shrinks and you start to see some sanding marks. I have had good luck with them just painting the car, I would not trust the one by me to do any body work. They do not sand the car so if you dont prep it expect the paint to start pealing of the front and lower sections of the car. Like all things some are better then others, I cant buy the paint for what they charge.
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I have had 3 cars painted there at the same time. They all had EXTREME trash in the paint. The bodies were not even cleaned, still had mud around the wheel wells, under the paint. Tons of Fish Eyes everywhere and started peeling within a year.

I never went back.

 

If you do take your car there, make sure YOU prep the body well and do all the preliminary work. All they do is point and spray the car.........

 

you get what you pay for.

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For any of you guys thinking about prepping your own car and getting it painted somewhere, you may want to check out some of the chapters of my 21 chapter online body/paint/detailing manual...

 

body manual

 

 

Links to all the chapters are at the bottom of the first post. You'll want to start about chapter 9. Read enough of the chapters, and you may just decide to do everything, including the painting, yourself.

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My red Quest was a 2-stage Macco job:

 

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t142/molotovmaz/HIN%20Nightshift/hinquest.jpg

Questions is: How's it holding up.

Looks good from the pic, but is there any peeling? How much overspray is there? Did they paint over anything that they weren't supposed to, how bout fish eyes in the paint? Did you prep the car yourself or was it REALLY clean before they sprayed it?

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You'd have to ask averse how it's doing right now. But when I had it, worst think I had was a decent chip on the driver headlight panel because Pluto came down on it. Other than that, things were great. The guy I worked w/ was good to. Before Nats in MI, the paint on the hood split. I brought it to him and he refinished the entire hood for nothing, and in time. I'm going back to him when I get the flatty repainted.

 

Plenty of overspray, of course. I'm taking the tails, mouldings, and anything else that shouldn't be painted off the car this time(but it wasn't anything really bad)

 

Oh yeah: They preped it. They had a package deal going on @ the time. Not going that route this time just because I've got some dents and rust spots to take care of. But yeah - everyone I told that it was Macco'd was shocked every time.

Edited by Mazarin
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For sure! I saw that car at Nats 07, and never would have guessed it was a Maacco job.

 

 

I guess they can do some good work from time to time, especially if you work with them so they know what you want. Sounds like you also have to hope your local Maacco doesn't have a bunch of butchers working there.

 

I guess the best bet is to research who you have do it wether that be Maacco, someone off Craigslist, or a buddy who will hook ya up.

 

Probably the biggest thing you'll want with whomever you choose, is good communication. I know with all my customers, they have many options depending on what they want. My basic jobs are just $750, but that incluses proper prepping, base/clear, and is a much better overall job than the cheapie Maacco deal. My average paint job is about $1200, and that includes a sealer primer, as well as wetsanding and polishing of the paint job for a super smooth finish. For something that's a little more show quality, the price gets up closer to $2000. Anyway, if someone contacts me wanting the basic paint job, I will make sure they realize that it's not quite of the quality you'd expect to find from the factory or a high dollar body shop. If that's what they want, I step them up to my average job. I just always make sure that the customer knows what they're getting for their money. I think a lot of people just assume that they can get a cheap paint job and have it be winning shows the next weekend. I would rather lose the job because they didn't want to pay $1200, than do the job for $750, and have them be dissatisfied with my work.

 

As long as you communicate what you want the final product to be with whomever does the job, you'll probably be OK. That way you'll know what you're getting even if you do have to spend a little extra cash.

Edited by Burton
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