How much to paint entire car?

RysRed96GT

I like it FURRY!!!
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Apr 9, 2001
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Pasadena, MD
I'm thinking of having my 96 repainted the same color, or close to it. I have no idea how much it would cost me or where to go. Is MAACO a reputable place to get a decent paint job? Roughly how much would a full paint job cost? Thanks!

Ryan
 
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I'm thinking of having my 96 repainted the same color, or close to it. I have no idea how much it would cost me or where to go. Is MAACO a reputable place to get a decent paint job? Roughly how much would a full paint job cost? Thanks!

Ryan

in short:

-MAACO is terrible. stay away from them

-Painting a car: you get what you pay for (unless you have someone do it 'on-the-side'


-For a quality job, youre looking at 4-6k
 
maaco is pretty bad. I had a friend who had his car repainted there and the job was horrible. Uneven paint and clearcoat, some runoff, a couple panels were filled with raised bumps and the clearcoat had severe orange peel.

You really do get what you pay for when it comes to paint for the car.
 
It depends on the MAACO.

I know the guy that owns the one in my area, and he is working really hard to turn the rep. around.

If you purchase the lower end paint job from them, it will not be very well done. However, for a still lower (by normal standards) price I have seen him turn out some nice work. Work that has won some trophies at shows.
 
paint is 75% prep and 25% paint and clear coat application from what I have seen. Some Macco's are good, it depends on the approach taken by the upper management of that certain location.
 
Laser Red is a 3 stage paint. More labor intensive & therfore more expensive to paint.

Stay away from any Earl Scheib. As far as Maaco goes, we supply the paint to the only one here in town. He and his wife are trying to NOT be what you expect from Maaco. I've seen some great paint jobs come out of there but those jobs cost 2k or better. If you want the cheapo advertised prices then even the best painter is going to do a so so job because that's all your paying for.

My suggestion, go out to the local get togethers, hangouts, stuff like that. Find people with some nice cars and ask where they got it painted & how much it was. The more people you ask the better chance you have of finding a good job for a decent price.
 
I also have a maaco near my house that does great work. When you walk into the office the walls are lined with pictures of people with mostly older cars that have won shows with there paint jobs. what I am getting at here is do some re-search into a shop before you condem it. not all of them are bad.
 
MAACO's cheap paint jobs are what is terrible. It's all in the prep...but when you get a $400 paint job or whaever their cheap rate job is...they are going to cut corners.

Some of their higher end jobs are decent...but they obviously cost more. It also depends on the people working there.

When i had my 5.0 repainted black..it cost me $4500ish...and that was with very little prep because the body was good to begin with
 
Maaco is garbage. Don't let your car within 2 miles of a Maaco. Thanks to a stolen car and my insurance company my car was repainted (all of it) with body work and parts for a whopping total of $11,200.

You get what you pay for. Either do it right or don't do it at all. Again, Maaco is GARBAGE.
 
You are going to pay between 3-6 grand. I know people dont like Maaco but if you pay for a good paint job from them you will get one. My got his car painted by them and it looks awesome but you have to put the money into it.
 
I'm thinking of having my 96 repainted the same color, or close to it. I have no idea how much it would cost me or where to go. Is MAACO a reputable place to get a decent paint job? Roughly how much would a full paint job cost?

Listen, it all depends on what outcome you're hoping for. Let me give you a for instance: I had an 87 5.0 hatchback that was as clean and straight as when new, except for the peeling clearcoat and some rust on the hatch. This thing didn't even have a door ding. This was in 2001. I spent nearly 2 months prepping for paint. I read up, got advice and did it right. I removed trim, door handles, the works. I then visited a couple of "cheap" paint shops to see if I could live with their work. There was no way I was going to shoot it myself because of tools, supplies and the lack of know how. I settled on this place called Econo Paint. Some friends and family members questioned this decision. The paint job turned out even better than I hoped, no runs or overspray anywhere. The only thing was some dirt in the paint in spots, nothing a wet sand didn't take care of. I paid all of $400 for this paint job, it was a single stage urethane. One thing I think helped getting a good job was that the guy actually spraying the car talked to me and he realized how much work I put into prepping it and how much I cared about my car. I wasn't some 17 year old ricer wanting to go neon green over top of my white 95 civic. Was it a show winning paint job? No. Was it daily driver worthy? No question. I get tired of hearing guys blurt out "for any kind of quality you're going to pay 4-6 grand". crapola

Sorry for the long post, I'm passionate about good work not always costing mega bucks.
 
Lazer red is EXPENSIVE to Paint....and i mean EXPENSIVE.

it is a 3 stage paint and is VERY hard to get perfect......almost harder that mystic.

.......i had to have my rear bumper repainted and it cost me $900!!!!
 
Listen, it all depends on what outcome you're hoping for. Let me give you a for instance: I had an 87 5.0 hatchback that was as clean and straight as when new, except for the peeling clearcoat and some rust on the hatch. This thing didn't even have a door ding. This was in 2001. I spent nearly 2 months prepping for paint. I read up, got advice and did it right. I removed trim, door handles, the works. I then visited a couple of "cheap" paint shops to see if I could live with their work. There was no way I was going to shoot it myself because of tools, supplies and the lack of know how. I settled on this place called Econo Paint. Some friends and family members questioned this decision. The paint job turned out even better than I hoped, no runs or overspray anywhere. The only thing was some dirt in the paint in spots, nothing a wet sand didn't take care of. I paid all of $400 for this paint job, it was a single stage urethane. One thing I think helped getting a good job was that the guy actually spraying the car talked to me and he realized how much work I put into prepping it and how much I cared about my car. I wasn't some 17 year old ricer wanting to go neon green over top of my white 95 civic. Was it a show winning paint job? No. Was it daily driver worthy? No question. I get tired of hearing guys blurt out "for any kind of quality you're going to pay 4-6 grand". crapola

Sorry for the long post, I'm passionate about good work not always costing mega bucks.


This is how I plan to do it, I am going to handle as much of the prep work I can and then pay somebody to spray primer on it so it will be even and professional. Then I am going to rock the primer for a couple months and work on the interior before I get the paint put on. A majority of people that paint cars atleast at one time had spark for doing and loved their work so most of the time all you have to do is talk to them person to person and they come out of the "it's just a job" mentality.
 
I had my Maaco do my 92 years ago. Because the paint was very bad and only had a little cash so I figured it would be fine for the time being.

They actually did a really good job. Though I had no rust it just needed light prep work.

The only problem is the paint started to fade pretty bad after 4 years. Other than that it was a great paint job. But it also only cost $400.