[OTreborO]

Has anyone ever had a car painted by one of those same day places? I was thinking of using Earl Shives or Macco. I would like the car to look better, but don't really want to fork out any serious cash right now.

[HMUSN]

those places do ok work.. but it's won't look good for long.

cheap and paint shouldn't be words that are put together.
i would wait and do it right so you have have a paint job in the future

[CyberPrey]

If you DO have to use one of those places due to money limitations, I highly recommend you do ALL the prep work yourself....

a good paint job is basically 75% preperation.... if you get all the dings and dents out and prep the car REALLY well, you will get a somewhat ok paint job from maaco and those places.....

I am NOT recommending them.. I'm just saying you really want to prep your car BEFORE you take it there.....

[jerb43]

I wouldn't use maaco! macco sux my A$$!!! I know a guy that used to work for maaco, and all they use to sand it down, is an under the counter SOS pad! then they paint it.... if you can do all the work and preps yourself, i would reccommend doing that, then taking it to a local guy, he is probably going to be better then maaco, and have it down within a couple of days!

[Bish]

You are best off looking for the little shop around the corner, most people don't know about.

They are the guys they have built their lives around the "career" of painting cars. Not an employee of some big corp that does quantity and not quality.

[mikethetigerrr]

do the prep work urself, take it to a collision center. if uve ever gotten a qoute for body damade from a collision center and look at the cost of paint, im pretty sure u crapped ur pants. if u do the prep work urself im 95% possative u could get a local collision center to paint it for somewhere between 200 and 500 depending on how much u need painted.


EDIT: atleast thats wut ive seen here in louisiana, i got a qoute on my 95 grand prix and the cost of paint was 254 or something like that, and thats with prep work for rear quarter panel, fender, trunk, and bumber.

[ChrisJ]

I had my old T-Bird Painted by Macco...

Its all in the prep for the most part...You wont have a show car paint job but it will look good enough for a DD...As long as you do all the prep work that you want done then you will be fine...

There prep work sorta sux from what I have seen...SO if you do it right then they will have a hard time messing up...

But you get what you pay for...

[CyberPrey]

Here is an example..

My car..

Shop does ALL WORK.... $6100 total.

Now with ME doing all the prep, changing the front/rear bumpers, changing the hood, removing anything that needs to be removed and basically having the car 100% ready to primer and paint....

Down to $1100 if the paint inside the door's/trunk/hood, remove the sidescoops and other little stuff......

down to $400 if I just have the car sprayed.......

[jerb43]

yeah, i have painted a few cars myself, and trust me i charge out the ass to do all the jams on a car! its a bitch, trying to get everything tape off! but, if you go back with the original color, then you wouldn't have to do the jams, then you can pay just the 400!

[MSTGGT00]

I'd say actually goto Earl Scheib. They arent some amazing top of the line but if you get their pro 3 package they do very decent work... my stang looks great took it from black to satin silver. They got the jambs nice and everything, cost under 700.

[trueballerisme]

im thinkin about jus closin of my garage and doin it myself. i know it will take a LONG time but all it takes is time, measurements, and some paint. not really alota skill. jus gotta learn wut the steps r

[jerb43]

well it really doen't take that long... well if you do, do ALL the work, YOURSELF. then yes, it will take some time, but if you have someone to help with the sanding, and preps, then 2 weeks tops!

[trueballerisme]

can any1 give me a website with step by step how to paint i stripe... im thinkin a shely stripe probably... still debating on wut color though

[FaStStAnG5-0]

shit, prep wont take you too long unless the body on your car is completely fucked..

i did all the body work on my car in 3 days starting on a monday, sprayed the high build primer one afternoon, & my brother & i wet sanded the high build in a day, paint was done by my old boss all on the saturday morning, afternoon & early eve. ... sunday i got my car.. monday & tuesday wet sanded & buffed my whole car...

granted, i worked at a custom hot rod/body & paint/resto shop for 3 years before i joined the airforce so i already have my methods & stuff down.. it's not really rocket science, just make sure you get everything completely straight or it will definately show..

my car is black so i made sure all my prep work was triple checked.. i checked it initially, had my dad check it, & then had my old boss check it..
all the hard work during the bodywork & prep phases is definately worth it when you see how straight it looks with fresh paint!

[trueballerisme]

nice bro i was thinkin about goin with a red stripe, but i wanna look at some different kinds them maybe get a glossy paintjob all over it... do u think that would be hard. and is there anywhere were i can learn the steps??

[FaStStAnG5-0]

i'm sure you could do all that.. i personally always hated doing stripes on cars! not because the way it looked, but i hated taping them up & making them line up completely!

without actually working at a body shop the best way to pick up on some of the stuff would be to try & find some books about paint & body repair.. i usually try to pick one up every now & then to learn different techniqes & what not.. try that!

[trueballerisme]

alright thanks bro also. how hard is it to put a glossy cover over the whole car!?

[FaStStAnG5-0]

you mean like clear coat to make it shine? it's not that hard. the clearcoat is sprayed right after the basecoat (color coat) is sprayed!

if thats what ya mean, most painters today use basecoat/clearcoat 2 step systems. they spray the color coat first, then lay on anywhere from 4 to 10 coats of clearcoat.

once you spray out the clear & everything is dry, you will have a little bit of dirt specks in the paint & that orange peel look to it... this is impossible to get away from. dirt will get in the clear coat no matter how clean the booth is.
the fix for dirt in the clear & orange peel is to block sand the clear coat.

basically, i always start out with 1000 grit paper. always have running over where you are sanding for that you just use a hose. while you are sanding dont apply much pressure, let the paper do the work for you. make sure to stay away from edges & parts that you could easily sand through & keep drying off the area to check your progress. when you dry the area, you will most likely see really shiney spots that haven't been sanded. that means you are getting there, & keep working on that area (i say area meaning like a whole top of the fender or half the hood). you know you got all the orange peel & dirt out of the paint when you sqeegee it & there are no more really shiney spots. it is very important to not sand through the clear!!!!!! stay away from edges & do not use a whole lot of force when sanding!! also ALWAYs, ALWAYS keep running water over the paint when you are sanding....

i do the whole car like that in 1000 grit paper, go back over the whole car with 1500 grit, then hit it with 2000 grit. when you are finished sanding you will have to use a high speed buffer & a compond from 3M to get the scratches out. then you will go back over the car with a polish or a swirl remover..

i do not recommend anyone to do all this unless they are under direct supervision of an EXPERIENCED body & paint man!!!!! the best thing to do is to pay the body shop to do the color sanding & buffing!!!! honestly it's worth it! but if you are interested in learning the process, ask the owner of the shop if you can come in & watch them buff the car... i did that when i was 14 & we were having my parent's Corvette repainted. i asked if i could watch & maybe work with him to learn some things.... it was a great learning experience! & after all was said & done, he gave me a job working at his high end custom/restoration shop!

anyways, i only recommend that kind of work for someone with experience because you can easily screw it up!!!

[MSTGGT00]

I tried painting my other stang once. It's alot harder than it seems, long story short it turned out decent. Although it didn't have the proper luster to it I had hoped it would.

I'd probably tell you just to take it to a shop, whats a paint job run these days? A good one? 800, 900?

[FaStStAnG5-0]

a good paint job will run you from 1000 to 2500 or so.. an excellent paint job can get up to 8 grand or so.. it's all about how much money you are willing to spend!