Oh Oh, better get Maaco

On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 23:13:38 -0500, "Built_Well" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Does Maaco do a good job?

The cheapie advertised paint jobs are crap, with little to no surface
prep. The finished product will be nowhere near the quality of a
factory job. A good quality job starts with good surface prep, which
is very labor intensive on an assembled vehicle, and since paint shops
charge by the hour...

> Is there a better painter than Maaco anyone
>can recommend?

Some Maaco shops are better than others, and a few can probably do as
well as custom hot rod shops. The bottom line is that any excellent
paint job, from any shop qualified to do it, can run many thousands of
dollars.

This is one of those "can I convert my 2wd truck to 4wd" questions.
It's possible, but it's ridiculously expensive.

Another poster also mentioned that a repaint will scare a prospective
buyer if you ever decide to sell it. Unless we're talking about a
totally custom car, a new paint job leaves that dangling question of
"why?"

On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 23:13:38 -0500, Built_Well wrote:

> If I buy that gray Aichi Camry, one of the few Japan
> Camrys around in a hundred mile radius, can I take it
> to Maaco to get it painted "Catalina Blue" or something?
> (The '03s came in that color.)
>
> Does Maaco do a good job? Would the car still be
> just as rust-resistant? Would Toyota's rust warranty
> be broken? Is there a better painter than Maaco anyone
> can recommend?
>
> Thanks.

Hey, Uh, BW, I'm beginning to wonder if you're for real. A paint job on a
new car? From Maaco? I have a 20 year old Corolla and a 17 year old Supra
and I would bring either one of them to Maaco, and I really don't want to
repaint them unless really necessary. )In the Corolla's case, it is.)

--
Have your Virtual Pet spayed/neutered!!

"Hachiroku" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]
> On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 23:13:38 -0500, Built_Well wrote:
>
>> If I buy that gray Aichi Camry, one of the few Japan
>> Camrys around in a hundred mile radius, can I take it
>> to Maaco to get it painted "Catalina Blue" or something?
>> (The '03s came in that color.)
>>
>> Does Maaco do a good job? Would the car still be
>> just as rust-resistant? Would Toyota's rust warranty
>> be broken? Is there a better painter than Maaco anyone
>> can recommend?
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> Hey, Uh, BW, I'm beginning to wonder if you're for real. A paint job on a
> new car? From Maaco? I have a 20 year old Corolla and a 17 year old Supra
> and I would bring either one of them to Maaco, and I really don't want to
> repaint them unless really necessary. )In the Corolla's case, it is.)
>
> --
> Have your Virtual Pet spayed/neutered!!
>

UH is right, I think B_W is stringing some one along and you pegged him
right as being for real, look at some of his earlier posts in Dec.

Thanks for the information to avoid Maaco. It really was a
serious question. Unfortunately, I'm not a car expert,
but I've learned a lot about cars the past 3 months from
this newsgroup.

With my '95 Tercel I didn't have to be a car expert.
I put the key in, and it went. Never a complaint or a problem.
Other than follow the maintenance schedule, the only thing I
ever did to that ten-year old car was replace the battery after
5 years and the tires after 10. Then, whamo, I got Wyman'ed.

Otherwise, that car would have been good for at least
another 10 years. But now that I gotta buy a replacement,
it's going to be a Camry, not a Corolla. Originally I was
looking at Corollas, but the Camrys are so much nicer.

I had a old car painted by MAACO once. This was probably in 1977 when they
were just opening up. I removed all the chrome and bumpers myself and
sanded bad spots. It came out pretty decent.



"Built_Well" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
> If I buy that gray Aichi Camry, one of the few Japan
> Camrys around in a hundred mile radius, can I take it
> to Maaco to get it painted "Catalina Blue" or something?
> (The '03s came in that color.)
>
> Does Maaco do a good job? Would the car still be
> just as rust-resistant? Would Toyota's rust warranty
> be broken? Is there a better painter than Maaco anyone
> can recommend?
>
> Thanks.

Yeah, Maaco's probably great for older cars. I'll be sure
not to take my new one there, though, even though I'm not
crazy about the '06 colors.

My red Tercel never needed a paint job. I parked it
outside 24/7 for 10 years--in the snow, the rain, the scorching
sun--not a hint of rust anywhere. I look and look--no rust!
What a pleasant surprise compared to the Ford Tempo and Dodge
Colt I drove for about 3 years each before I stumbled upon
the gods that are Toyota.

Before I bought Toyota, I thought regular car visits to
the shop were normal. Now I know better, and will probably
never buy anything else--not even Honda. Oh what a feeling!

I have to qualify my remark about my 10-year old Tercel
not having any rust on it. There was a very, very small
amount, but only in one spot, and that was a spot that
I scraped up against a concrete parking post in 1997.

I barely scraped up against the post in '97, but it
did cause a tiny __one-inch by 2 millimeter__ scratch
that removed some paint over the car's rear wheel--it removed
the paint down to the metal. Very small area, but
noticeable if you looked up close.

I went to the auto store the next day to buy the
paint, but he had to mix it and told me to come back the
following day. Well, things got busy and I never
returned.

Remembering my Tempo and Colt, I felt sure the rust
would spread, at which point I would definitely go back and
get the paint.

But the rust never spread! Since that scraping day
in 1997, the car has been outside in rain, snow, sun, and
hale, but the rust hasn't spread. The surrounding paint just
won't oxidize! Amazing.

Before the accident, I'd take the car to the Car Wash once
every 3 months--on occasion once in 6 months. I think there
was one time I musta gone a year before going to the Car Wash.
I never waxed the car myself, although I think 3 or 4 times
in ten years I let the Car Wash apply the automatic wax.

Toyota's factory paint job was so good, the damn thing
looked brand new every time it came outta the car wash! And
I'm not exaggerating about anything in this post. That '95
Tercel was special.

I hope I have as much luck with my future Camry.

Let's see -- you drove it off lot - $3k depreciation. Then you get it
painted by cheapest place in town - another $5k depreciation. There is no
difference between a US and a Japan built Camry.

"Built_Well" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
> If I buy that gray Aichi Camry, one of the few Japan
> Camrys around in a hundred mile radius, can I take it
> to Maaco to get it painted "Catalina Blue" or something?
> (The '03s came in that color.)
>
> Does Maaco do a good job? Would the car still be
> just as rust-resistant? Would Toyota's rust warranty
> be broken? Is there a better painter than Maaco anyone
> can recommend?
>
> Thanks.

On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 08:57:09 -0800, Charlie wrote:

>
> "Hachiroku" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news[email protected]
>> On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 23:13:38 -0500, Built_Well wrote:
>>
>>> If I buy that gray Aichi Camry, one of the few Japan
>>> Camrys around in a hundred mile radius, can I take it
>>> to Maaco to get it painted "Catalina Blue" or something?
>>> (The '03s came in that color.)
>>>
>>> Does Maaco do a good job? Would the car still be
>>> just as rust-resistant? Would Toyota's rust warranty
>>> be broken? Is there a better painter than Maaco anyone
>>> can recommend?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>
>> Hey, Uh, BW, I'm beginning to wonder if you're for real. A paint job on a
>> new car? From Maaco? I have a 20 year old Corolla and a 17 year old Supra
>> and I would bring either one of them to Maaco, and I really don't want to
>> repaint them unless really necessary. )In the Corolla's case, it is.)
>>
>> --
>> Have your Virtual Pet spayed/neutered!!
>>
>
> UH is right, I think B_W is stringing some one along and you pegged him
> right as being for real, look at some of his earlier posts in Dec.

Oh, and by the way, I meant I *WOULDN'T* bring either of those cars to
Maaco.

I can paint better in my back yard with the wind kicking up a Dust Bowl...

--
Have your Virtual Pet spayed/neutered!!

Built_Well wrote:
> Wolfgang wrote:

>>Let's see -- you drove it off lot - $3k depreciation. Then you
>>get it painted by cheapest place in town - another $5k depreciation.

I believe a 1st class paint job now costs at least $5000, and a decent
one starts at around $2,000.. At least 80-90% of this is for body
preparation, and the sandpaper alone can cost well over $100.

The only way to get a decent paint job cheaply is by either having an
auto tech school do it or do all the prep work yourself and deliver the
car to the body shop already masked (bring cleaning supplies for final
prep -- some shops won't even remove accumulated mud).

A first class job removes all trim -- that takes time - hence the extra
cost. When supplies cost $100 you can't expect much prep from MAACO for
$259 can ya.

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
>
> Built_Well wrote:
>> Wolfgang wrote:
>
>>>Let's see -- you drove it off lot - $3k depreciation. Then you
>>>get it painted by cheapest place in town - another $5k depreciation.
>
> I believe a 1st class paint job now costs at least $5000, and a decent
> one starts at around $2,000.. At least 80-90% of this is for body
> preparation, and the sandpaper alone can cost well over $100.
>
> The only way to get a decent paint job cheaply is by either having an
> auto tech school do it or do all the prep work yourself and deliver the
> car to the body shop already masked (bring cleaning supplies for final
> prep -- some shops won't even remove accumulated mud).
>

In alt.autos.toyota.camry Clay <[email protected]> wrote:
> Remember "Earl Shibe, we paint any car for $99.95". They used to have
> a shop in Wichita years ago but not sure if they are still in business.
> Shibe was a chain simular to MAACO. The deluxe Earl Shibe paint job
> came with a box of razor blades to scrape off paint from windows and
> chrome. lol

Still around! (chuckle)

www.earlscheib.com

Hell, I remember them advertising $19.95 in the mid 60's. Big ugly sign
that you could see a mile away.

This makes me feel old...

Clay wrote:

>Remember "Earl Shibe, we paint any car for $99.95". They used to have
>a shop in Wichita years ago but not sure if they are still in business.
> Shibe was a chain simular to MAACO. The deluxe Earl Shibe paint job
>came with a box of razor blades to scrape off paint from windows and
>chrome. lol

Scheibe painted my father's car for $39.95, Dad splurging on the extra
$10 fee to have the factory color matched. My brother and I did the
prep work and removed most of the body hardware, and after the car was
at Scheibe we removed the mirror and tail lights and wiped the body
with wax remover and tack rags. The paint job actually looked decent,
and after it was color sanded to remove the dust and polished several
months later (the enamel remained soft for an extended period), if you
stood at least 2-3' away it looked as good as a factory finish.