MACCO or me Painting My Car

[D M N]

Ok i know everyone hates macco but my other alternative is me with no experience except reading alot of how to books.

 

Ok this is what i figure i will be spending on everything

1 roll 80-grit sanding discs 12.99

1 roll 150-grit sanding discs 12.99

1 pkg. 36-grit long-board paper – 14.99

1 pkg. 80-grit long board paper – 14.99

2 pkgs. 220-grit 3M Wet/Dry sandpaper – 6.58

2 pkgs. 400-grit 3M Wet/Dry sandpaper – 6.58

1 Pkg. 600-grit 3M Wet/Dry Sandpaper – 3.29

Total - $72.41

 

1 gallon Yalspar YP-50 epoxy primer – 69.95

1 quart Yalspar YPC-50 Activator – 30.00

1 quart Yalspar X-01 Reducer – 6.10

Total - $106.05

 

2 gallon #21 Candy Apple Red Basecoat – 70.00

2 gallon #6 Acrylic clear coat – 70.00

3 pints #43 "Wet Look" Acrylic Hardener – 66.00

Total - $206.00

 

1 tube 3M piranha Putty and catalyst – 18.60

1 gallon 3M light weight body filler and catalyst – 13.35

3 tubes CarGroom Acrylic glaze – 4.47

Total - $36.42

 

1 Box 3M soft-edge masking foam - 36.61

3 rolls ¾ inch 3M automotive masking tape – 10.32

2 rolls 2-inch 3M automotive masking tape – 17.34

1 toll 3M masking paper – 40.00

I roll duct tape – 3.99

2 boxes Bond Crystal tack cloths – 24.50

2 packs cheesecloth – 2.98

Total - $135.74

 

1 2.5HP Direct Dr 4 Gal Air Pancake Compressor - 115.98

1 NEW Yellow 3/8" x 100' Air Compressor Hose - 24.24

1 NEW SPRAY GUN CLEANING KIT - 17.95

1 NHVLP AIR SPRAY GUN GRAVITY FEED W/ GAUGE NEW - 61.95

Total - $220.12

 

Total - $776.74

 

Any suggestions would be appresiated also one of the reasons i want to do this is for experience thanks

 

P.S. most of these things i'm getting of ebay and the paint is made by Hawthorne "Rayflex" Automotive Acrylic Enamel Oh and also its not a candy paint its just called candy apple red

[89oldscutlass]

Have you talked to anybody about painting your car and about how hard it is to get the metalic to flow good and not get metalic sag? As far as doing it yourself go for it. If you mess it up just tell them its a macco paint job.

[D M N]

its a acrylic enemal, thanks for the advice

[Thabulldog]

I have a Maaco paint job. Its gorgeous and they didnt mess up anywhere. I just want to see if it fades or not over the next couple of years. It was 700 bucks and took 3 days. Well worth it if you ask me. If I had access to a digi cam then I would show a recent pic, the one in my sig is old.

[phantomFE3]

if you are worried about the quality of the paint, then get it all primed and ready and everything to be painted, bring it into maaco and have them paint it, its either you painting it with no experience whatsoever, or the guy at maaco painting it, which has painted alot of cars before, unless he is new there or something, he has the experience and unless hes some fag with a chip on his shoulder and hates everything about the world, he will try at least to do a decent job on your paint

[Thabulldog]

if you are worried about the quality of the paint, then get it all primed and ready and everything to be painted, bring it into maaco and have them paint it, its either you painting it with no experience whatsoever, or the guy at maaco painting it, which has painted alot of cars before, unless he is new there or something, he has the experience and unless hes some fag with a chip on his shoulder and hates everything about the world, he will try at least to do a decent job on your paint

 

Maaco voids the warranty if you do the prep work yourself. I was going to do that to save 300 bucks but it seems they make their money on the prep work, not the actual painting.

[phantomshado]

I'd let the guys at maaco do it for one simple reason. they have climate controlled, dust free, windless booths. you most likely don't. a fly landing in your paint, or a cloud of dust, or a sudden temp change will fuck with the paint. they have booths that take the guess work out of nature. I f you need to practice, do a custom interior paint. The absolute smooth finish isn't needed. In fact, the texture of the plastic will actually give you a buffer zone to make a couple mistakes.

 

I repainted my car, and it looks ok (8 out of 10). But I know every flaw on it. If you don't paint it, you will be happier, the little mistakes, you won't notice them. Besides, I'm sure the guys at maaco are pretty good. How many cars to do they paint in a year?? A ton. Then again, I didn't use the base coat clear coat. I used catalyzed enamel. But thats just because when its a dark color, it looks great. Whatever, thats just my opinion.

[Redfox340]

Maaco voids the warranty if you do the prep work yourself. I was going to do that to save 300 bucks but it seems they make their money on the prep work, not the actual painting.

 

Agreed that if you do all the prep work, the cost of them shooting the paint is cheap.

But, I disagree that it 'voids' the warranty of the paint since the owner is actually making better prep work.

Myself and my dad preped our Celebrity station-wagon ourselves and the shop loved us for it.

They just wiped it down, taped it up, and shot the car. The paint turned out pretty good for a 15 year old car.

However, we've noticed without a base coat / clear coat, it loses it's luster about after 2 years with being in the sun 24-7.

"More wax captain! We need MORE WAX!"

 

- Erik

[90KUTTY]

I got macco its not bad 4 the price check out the pics on my link

[D M N]

thanks for the advice it helps alot.

 

So i'll probably will get it done at macco but what should i do to "prep" it??

[Thabulldog]

Agreed that if you do all the prep work, the cost of them shooting the paint is cheap.

But, I disagree that it 'voids' the warranty of the paint since the owner is actually making better prep work.

Myself and my dad preped our Celebrity station-wagon ourselves and the shop loved us for it.

They just wiped it down, taped it up, and shot the car. The paint turned out pretty good for a 15 year old car.

However, we've noticed without a base coat / clear coat, it loses it's luster about after 2 years with being in the sun 24-7.

"More wax captain! We need MORE WAX!"

 

- Erik

 

 

The manager at the Maaco I went to said straight up, if I do the prep work myself then they dont give a warranty on the paint. So you kinda HAVE to let them do the work.

[D M N]

.................

I repainted my car, and it looks ok (8 out of 10). But I know every flaw on it. If you don't paint it, you will be happier, the little mistakes, you won't notice them. Besides, I'm sure the guys at maaco are pretty good. How many cars to do they paint in a year?? A ton. Then again, I didn't use the base coat clear coat. I used catalyzed enamel. But thats just because when its a dark color, it looks great. Whatever, thats just my opinion.

 

Did you ever have experience painting cars?? what refrencess did you use?? where did you buy your supplies?? how much did everything cost?? how lond did it take you to paint?? and where did you paint it??

 

EDIT: anyone know anything about this product SWS156 - Paint Stripper - Environmentally Safe – $45.02

[MaroonRegal]

Maaco's alright. On my Cougar, I did all my own prep work, and they did not void the warranty. Buy one of the paintjobs that doesn't have prep work, or that only includes like one hour of their prep work, which is most of them. My Cougar's paint did fade after about a year, but that could be because I washed it about once a week, and only waxed it about twice. If you let them do the prep work, make sure you specify that you want them to go down to the metal.

 

Doing everything yourself is not a great idea if you don't know what you're doing.

[Redfox340]

So i'll probably will get it done at macco but what should i do to "prep" it??

 

* Sand down the entire body.

* Grind off any and all rust.

* Fill in any holes / dents if desired.

 

The manager at the Maaco I went to said straight up, if I do the prep work myself then they dont give a warranty on the paint. So you kinda HAVE to let them do the work.

 

That sucks then... our shop was extremely happy that we did a full preping job.

And they kept with the warranty since we preped the entire car, along with removing trim and light assemblys.

Preping the car means everything. If you don't prep, the paint will not adhese and stick to the car.

 

- Erik

[Thabulldog]

 

That sucks then... our shop was extremely happy that we did a full preping job.

And they kept with the warranty since we preped the entire car, along with removing trim and light assemblys.

Preping the car means everything. If you don't prep, the paint will not adhese and stick to the car.

 

- Erik

 

Well his excuse was that he can't warranty work that isnt done by him, so if we did it ourselves, no warranty. I guess he was just a tightass.

[92turboLE]

Honestly, after pianting my motorcycle (95 CBR 600 F3 race bike), it isnt that hard at all as long as you take your time and get some advise form someone with experience.

 

i did mine in a corvette teal, only had it mixed a little darker, added metalic to the base green, then clear w/glas dust, then clear with metalic. I used Dupont paint that turned out REALY good.

 

Kinda hard to see, i have better pics i will scan.

 

Ok, and not to hijack, but i feel like showing off...

 

anyway, like i was saying... it isnt that hard as long as you take your time and do nice THIN even coats.

 

follow all the directions and the person that sells you the paint should tell you how to use it. most base/clear paints, you have to do the base, and let it sit for an hour, but NO more then 6-12 hours depending on the paint, ot you will be sanding and repainting.

 

one good rule of thumb, The more clear the better. The thicker the clear is, the deeper the shine will be and the deeper the color will look. It also helps to cover up some small (if any) imperfections.

 

Also, take the time to do the prep work right. A LOT of sanding and if you have to use bondo/body filler, READ the directions and FOLLOW them. They are there for a reason.

 

As far as primer goes. You shouldnt have to primer your whole car (like ricers tend to do). You only need to use primer whenre there is bare metal and/or bare bondo/fiberglass. Your existing paint - when sanded smooth - will act as a primer.

 

And remember, when doing body work, always rub the palm of your hand over it. When something is sanded and not shiny, you cant always see any dicits in the metal or paint, but you WILL feel them, and if you feel them, you WILL see them once painted.

 

- Justin

[92turboLE]

oh yeah, and when i got my car painted, MACCO wanted me to do the work - that way they didnt have to do it and i still have full warranty.

 

they did an alright job. I paid for a $300 paint job so i got a $300 paint job.

 

- Justin

[D M N]

thanks that helped alot. what kind of compresser do you have??

[92turboLE]

actually, i was at my buddies shop - he owns a sign shop, but we got an automotive paint gun and he had HUGE tanks and a compressor that i bet was at least a 20+ HP motor.

 

but you should be able to do it with a decent compressor (i wouldnt use anything under a 1hp) but i think, IIRC, my brother gun uses 10CFM (cubic feet per minute) at 35-ish PSI.

 

- Justin

[D M N]

I dont have to worry about the compressor or the gun my friend already has them. I'm going to wait till summer when i have some money and some time

[godofthunder]

its mainly because proper prep means beter results in the end.

 

The reason why it would void (actually, it wouldnt be warranted in the first place) is becasuse the prep is the base. So, if it was bad preping, they could blame it on you.

 

I asked the Chevvy dealership about it, when I was going to have just my handles redone (like $250..i said no). I asked if i preped would it help, they said they actualyl dont like haveing people prep their own stuff.

 

Also, im currious....can you get maaco to clear coat? I dont really like 1 stage paints...pain to wax and detail.

 

jon

[GPXGRL]

I personally would be scared shitless to paint my own car, especially the ENTIRE car. I say just take it into Maaco. It may be more expensive, but what is more important to you.. price or quality? Not to say you suck at painting cars.. but I'm sure a guy at a professional store has done it atleast once or twice or 6,000 times.