Decent paint without breaking the bank...

I’m in the San Antonio area and shopping for a decent paint job. I realize you get what you pay for, but what would you guys suggest for the best bang for my buck? Hopefully someone from San Antonio can refer me!

 

i am not from San Antonio, so not sure where to go
maybe refer to the Texas pages in TW in the regionals and see if anybody has a good place

how bad is your paint?

 

I had an old truck painted at a trade school body shop class once. In those days it just cost you materials.

It wasn't Riddler worthy, but it wasn't awful either. Way better than it was before painting.

Might be something to at least investigate. Because a real body shop is gonna cost a lot.

 

Maaco Special!

 

I hear Maaco has state of the Art spray booths.

The trick is to do as much of your own prep work That is what drives the cost so high .

My days of $ 5000.00 or more paint jobs are over .

The next one could indeed be a roller

 

Honestly, I’d cross the border for a paint job if you’re that close to Mexico. Labor will be very very negligible and the results will be better.

 

plastiderp

 

how far south of the border must one go?

 

Wondering if you thought of visiting your local high school to see if they offer auto mechanics at the school. Often they will have a course on auto body and paint and because they are teaching students often the price is quiet reasonable and I've heard also will consider donations.
Good Luck and keep us posted....

 

Any border city. San Antonio is closest to Laredo.

 

No need to get a $10k+ job. You can get a decent job for $3-5k

If you can't afford it, I would wait to get more money and not get a quick cheapie-cheapo job

There's always the option of going to a bodyshop school, though...

 

Body shop school is nice but the wait is going to be months. Most kids in the program want to paint their own cars first. My friend had his car painted at an auto body school and he was on a waiting list for two years.

 

is the macco special still a thing, if so totally worth it

 

What about a wrap?

They can be a little pricey (a couple grand maybe?) but it opens up the possibility of pretty custom looks/graphics without that extra cost of custom paint/artwork...

The neighbor of a friend of mine wrapped his lease vehicle. Not only does the flat grey look badass, but it protects the paint for when he returns it.

 

There are some good threads on here about trucks coated with rapror bedliner. There are also a bunch of videos on YouTube. From what I've seen you can adjust the air pressure to adjust the texture (so it's not too clumpy).
These kits sell for a few hundred $$ and are tintable so you can match (or get it close to) your trucks original color.
When my truck is due for a paint job, I think that's the way I'm gonna go. I can afford a $5k paint job, but the reality of it is that I bought my truck 3 years ago as an $800 winter beater. It keeps running so I keep driving it. Hopefully by the time it needs a paint job it will be 20+ years old with 300k on it. Not sure I'd want to put $5k into it at that point.

 

A good paint job (not changing color) and moderate prep/bodywork is typically going to cost $5000 for a Tacoma.

Could be worst as a good paint job on a Corvette is running $10-$12K these days.

 

Good input guys. It’s not bad right now, it’s just super faded and it’s got some scratches. I’m not thinking a wrap since I’m not really interested in any fancy artwork. So my options are either save $3-$5k for a decent job, or look around for a school and try my luck. I hear mixed things about maaco... they say you get what you pay for, but I have heard some good reviews from random people. What’s the Maaco special though??

 

My next will be roller with Monstaliner!!

 

Painted my truck in Mexico for $700-800 bucks. Quality is definitely higher than the best paint job Maaco has to offer. Color is 209 Black Sand Pearl