Maaco Paint

Anyone have an experience with Maaco paint? If so show off your pictures!

 

I have seen the quality (Lack of) right after it was done. I haven’t seen the long term looks. It’s a cheap paint job at a cheap price. The cost of just the materials for a good quality job is more than the total price of most Maaco paint jobs. If you have a $2K vehicle and you want it to look decent for a few years, go ahead with a Maaco paint job. I would never get a Maaco paint job on a vehicle worth $5K or more. It will actually reduce the value of the vehicle.

 

If you plan on immediately selling a shitbox to a 16 year old that knows nothing about cars, get it Maaco'd. If you plan on keeping said car, a) take it to a reputable body shop, or if you are on a budget, b) find a struggling truck customs shop and have the whole thing LineX'd.

Oh, and welcome to TW!

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-paint-job.622337/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/maaco-paint-jobs.564680/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-cost-of-a-decent-paint-job.540078/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/maaco-paint.312489/

 

Really depends on what you want to do with the truck. If you want to keep it for a long time, get a good quality job. If it's just to sell it or go offroading with it, don't invest too much on it

the most important part of a paintjob is preparation work. The paint in itself is not that expensive, but it's the prep and labor that is. You can put the best quality most expensive paint you can find, but if there is no preparation work, it won't hold up.

Maaco does not do preparation work. So unless you do ALL of the preparation work yourself, go for it, but you better leave it to the pros, unless you really know what you are doing

Then lastly, the thing with paintjobs is that you really get what you pay for. 10k jobs are jobs where they completely tear down the truck, like a complete restoration. It's up to you if you really need this type of job, but you can get a decent job for 3k-5K

 

Cheap paint over crappy prep work. But if you are on a tight budget and really need it done then spend lots of time on YouTube learning how to do a PROPER PROFESSIONAL prep job. Prep will make or break the paint job and to do it right take a lot of time which Maako cant do at that price. Do that part yourself and then take it to Maako.

 

Friends '5yr' Macco job is pooping out at 3 years in.

And that's the repaint that happened a couple of weeks after the original job was done. Because it looked like it was sprayed by 3 chimps using rattle cans.

If you are DIY natured, check out www.monstaliner.com. IMHO, superior to 'bedliner' in many ways.

 

I had a pretty good experience with them, back in 2004 I got my 86 Prelude painted black. I did all the body work myself and just had them spray it. It was around the time of their $400 paint job promotion (Single stage no clear coat).
Pics aren't that clear but you can still see the paint shine.

Minimal overspray and the paint looked awesome.

 

I had them do a '79 Z28 I had (many years ago), requested that they remove the decals, and just paint. They ended up just painting over the decals, and didn't even fully cover them in some spots.

 

I didn’t even know that they’re still around.

 

At least we get a (semi) reasonable rate to paint our trucks. A basic decent paint job on my vette is 10k because of the corvette tax. That’s why I am either going to wrap my vette or derp it.

 

The only thing worse than an old vehicle with a shitty old paint job is an old vehicle with a shitty new paint job.

 

I knew guy a long time ago that got one of those famous Maaco paint jobs. Came over to show off how great the cheap paint was. Driving down the highway there must have been a pinhole in the paint as the entire hood blew up like a balloon. Funny as hell. Esp when he stopped and it deflated and looked like an old used rubber.

Stay clear of Maaco.

 

Guy I used to work with had his truck painted there once. He had some nails in the left front corner of the bed he forgot to take out. They were painted blue along with the rest of the truck. It was a pile of them, about 25 total.

 

I had Maaco paint my FJ40 (other than the roof and summer doors and tailgate, which I did myself). It turned out great. I did all the prep, removed all windows and trim. All they had to do was mask and shoot (note that I painted under the hardtop, apron area by the fender and areas their job wouldn't reach before having them paint). I also know the owner and trusted him. After wet sanding it turned out great.


Maaco quality varies from store to store, look at reviews and look at sample jobs. The paint they have is from Sherwin Williams and it is decent quality. And they get huge volume discounts. It would have cost about the same to paint it myself. I should add this was not a $299 special paint job. I think I paid $1300.

Often times if you go to a paint store they can point you to a good indy painter who can do a job for a good deal.

If you don't do your own prep, it likely won't last. Although I had the same shop respray a used camper on my 84 Toy pickup and it has held up well.

 

I think if you do your own prepwork, and just take it in for the spray you do alright, but if you just drop off your car unprepped you are better off getting a spray can......

 

My brother-in-law buys a cheap car every now and then to tinker on during the winter when he is stuck at home. He fix it up mechanically and then have Maaco pay it and sell it for a little profit. His experience has been good considering what he pays for it.

 

Make sense, for his business model.

 

they sell cheap paint jobs for a reason

 

I had Maaco paint my 1986 Toyota pickup..It came with a lifetime warranty..They first painted it in 1991..then they repainted it 6 months later.it was repainted again in 1992,1993,1994,1995 and the last time was in 1997....I am unsure if they still have a lifetime warranty..if not it's my bad!