Uh oh...I just got Maaco (done to the car)

[Bhavesh]

Background: The '97 Camry my parents own started with slight paint cracking, but after a wash/wax job, the whole body started to lose its finish over the course of 1-1/2 years. What used to be a shiny dark green car, now had a rough surface, was dusty, cracked and faded.

For what was wanted, a Maaco spray job fulfilled the needs: a spray over to make the car look better, and (possibly) prevent further sun/rust damage.

Synopsis: It's only been one day, but it looks ok
The Bad
-From really, really close, you can see the see fine hints of the "orange peel" type of finish. But you have to be scrutinizing it from about a foot or closer and be consciously looking for it.
-It doesn't look quite like a factory finish; it lacks the appearance of depth (probably because it doesn't have a heavy clearcoat).
-The enamel based paint after a day feels "soft". If I drag the corner of a credit card over it, I feel like it would smudge.
-The car smells like paint
-The finish doesn't feel as smooth as factory paint if you run your hand over it. Compared to factory, it feels soft, or tacky.

The Good
-It looks alright.
-I parked next to an ES300 with factory paint, and from a foot or more away, you couldn't tell the difference.
-The specific shop I went to, took the car in within one day of an estimate.
-For a Monday morning drop off, I picked it up on Wednesday evening.
-There wasn't much (if any) overspray.
-I replaced a factory mirror with an aftermarket (unpainted, black) one, and now both mirrors are color matched.
-The car does have a glossy appearance.
-The color doesn't look any different from the one we had before.
-It was a pretty good price, and it came with a 2-year gloss warranty.

Email me for a picture which (although lacks in resolution quality) is pretty much dead-on to what it looks like in person.

Edit: 2/21/06, I took the photo off my webspace.

[CDub LXi]

Can't you pay more and get extra coats of clear put on?

[Bhavesh]

Yes, you can.

[Knailgun]

get more clear on it before it cures for too long.......safer investment on you part

[skewe]

give it a few more days
it takes time for the paint to set

[YESCA]

Good luck with the paint job. If you got the cheap one give it about a year before you have to get it painted again A buddy of mine got his done there on his 72 Chevelle and the paint did not last, but he got the $200 job. On the other hand if you got the really nice one...I think thats the $1000 one I don't think you will have a problem. Anyway the car looks good but I just don't trust Macco. I'm Earl Schwibe and I'll paint any car for $39.95

[Knailgun]

Originally Posted by YESCA

I'm Earl Schwibe and I'll paint any car for $39.95

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[chronoti]

i dont like macco jobs either ... actualy my dad got ban from macco after one paint job because they had mad swirls in the paint afterwards and they wouldnt fix it while we were trying to sell the car.

some people get good luck with them some dont kinda like a gamble there.

[dna59]

Yeah the paint takes a lil' while to set correctly. If u wanna test it to see when it's fully cured u can take u'r fingernail and if it goes in then it isn't set yet. However if you do do this silly test u might wanna pick somewhere that u won't tsee the fingernail mark if it does go in

[Bhavesh]

I'll wait a couple of days for the paint to cure and I'll come back here with the updates.

I don't see any swirls, and my parents didn't want the clear coat simply because of cost.

And that paint job isn't the cheapest one; nor is it the most expensive. It's the one in the middle, and we also got a "value prep" to wet-sand, smooth, and prime everything before painting. It comes with a 2 year gloss warranty, so it should be good for 1-1/2 years or I'd contest a free re-spray.

The fingernail test is the best way to describe how I'm testing it. If I did it now, it would smudge or leave a scratch. I'll try it next week.

[xylium]

How much of the car did they paint? My 94 needs the hood and bumper done in black. The hood got Mad Stone Chips, someone must have been driving behind a gravel truck. And the bumper looks like someone ran into a snow bank a couple of times, paint is all crack and chipping off.

[Eye8Pussies]

soft paint...?

so do they not bake it??? that's not cool....

[redgtxdi]

There are arguments for & against baking. While it doesn't really matter to me, just remember that people spent thousands of dollars on very high quality paint jobs that didn't need to be baked............so just because you see it on overhaulin' or PMR doesn't mean that baking is a good thing!

I'm having the rear bumper redone on my '98 at this very hour. It started that 'cradle cap' thing, but the rest of the car is still flawless so since it's been about a year since I first noticed it and it was starting to bug me & really gettin' flaky, I decided to drop it off to my local guy. It'll cost me $150, but it'll outlast the rest of the paint on the car.

The guy uses good paint, good materials, with a good gun, in a bitchin' booth and they don't mess around. No masking crap. The whole bumper's comin' off the car, gettin' sanded, wet sanded, prepped, primed, painted, cleared, etc. etc. and ***NO*** color-sanding and buffing. It will look EXACTLY like factory (or better in the case of my F150) and you could never tell the bumper ever came off the vehicle when it's done!!

Needless to say, I like this guy's work!

Oh and hey......BHAVESH.........get some more (and better) pics up!! Would very much like to get a better look at it overall. To be honest it looks pretty good in the pic you've got there, but that's not enough to judge it truthfully. (If you don't want to eat bandwidth on your site, use imageshack.us to host 'em)

[TOYO-ED]

side note: like everyone said, let it settle for a couple days. im not sure if they told you this when you picked up your car, but dont wash your car during the week.

[yungcamry8706]

hey bhavesh, question which paint job did u get...the supreme one? the one right below signature (which is the highest one: base coat clear coat around my way starts at 1200) or the one below the supreme....cuz im gettin the supreme one for 750 come w/ value prep, im gonna get xtra metallic flake if i can,