Paint Job Heresy?

[Halm]

Maybe I should title this “how to get a decent paint job on the cheap.” First a little background. My SC is Grand Prix White and paint challenged to say the least. I knew the passenger side door was a bit off color when I bought it but it is worse than that. At some point in its life, a PO used cheap or incorrect touch-up paint all over the car without any prep work. Think about a chip the size of a pencil eraser. The PO smeared paint over it the size of a dime. To add insult to injury, the paint has slightly discolored. There are literally dozens of places like this all over the car. When I arrived home with the car, my wife heard us and came out to see the new car. Her immediate comment was that the SC has Measles.

Things are a little bit complicated because I still haven’t decided where to go with the car. If it goes down the track car route then the current paint is ok. But anything else, I would like it cleaned up. And I don’t want a $10k, bare metal, concours paint job. Candidly I don’t want to spend $3k if I can help it.

Ok purists, close your eyes. . . Has anyone taken their 911 to a Maaco or similar paint shop? Actually, I want more than their standard $500 job but it would be on the prep side, not the actual paint. I would remove the windshield, remove the front and rear bumpers, and the door handles. If the flag mirrors are easy to remove they would come off too. Actually, I am willing to do this and deliver it to the paint shop in the disassembled state. Then when it is reassembled I would replace the windshield seal, sunroof seal, the door handle and mirror seals too. The bellows, bumper strips and smile are in good shape and would be reused.

Anyone go this route or something close to it? How do you find a body shop that would be willing to do this type job? Or am I smoking bad banana peels to think I can do this? BTW, I have neither the talent, place, or inclination to try this in my garage.

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.


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[GaryR]

Maaco quality is 100% dependent on the owner of THAT Maaco. I know of two good body shops near me that send their pre-prepped cars to a local Maaco for paint. The prep is 90% of a good paint job. Ask around, get opinions, maybe even contacts from their recent customers. A freind just brought his 924 to a Maaco in NYC, has been there for 30 years. Car looks great in pictures, i'll see it in person in a month or so.. he paid $800 and that included some minor body work.

[don gilbert]

there is no such thing as a cheap paint job. My brother painted mine, and i spent 2 grand just in materials. Ive had 2 Waco paint jobs (in my youth) and was very disapointed in both, but can't complain, what do you expect for 500.00? I would go to the lot and look at the work they do, although it takes a few months for the poor prep work to come through. just forewarning you, you get what you pay for, as you are well aware.

[mikeferg75]

I would start by finding the supplier for the area body shops, go talk to him and ask who has the best "painter" then try to talk to him direct skirting the estimate guys in the front office if you can.

Then it's a matter of stripping (trim not paint) the car yourself and bringing it to them sans window trim ect. I got a show quality job years ago doing this for less than 3k and I still use the same guy for small jobs and touchups.

[nineball]

if time is not a concern you can usually do some bargaining with a body shop. years ago i went in for a paint job for one of my cars and i was quoted $4000. i told them they could take their time (5 months in all) and i would pay cash under the table so to speak and the price dropped to $2500.

[don gilbert]

As someone who has has a lot of experience with body shops, i would not tell them to take their time, you might not see it for years. I had a 67 Shelby project that sat in a body shop for almost 3 years. Anybody who knows bodymen, if you tell them to take their time,, they will.

[whiteSC59]

I just talked to some guy yesterday who painted his own tub and used the google search for
'50.00 paint job'. im excited enough that Im starting on an old volvo this afternoon. the quality is as good as maaco and maybe better. how can you lose...? google it. sound kewl for a beater and the story alone is worth more than 50.00. ill be posting the results before and after. wish me luck...

[Roc Doc]

I did a color change on my Targa, welded on Carerra/SC flares, filled in the antenna hole, and some other minor bodywork. I removed the bumpers, doors, windshield and rear glass. My bodyman/ painter did all the rest including the reassembly. This was a guy with 20+ years in high-end body shops, and he still had 110 hours in labor. I don't know what bodyshops charge now, but his shop was getting $60 per hour back in 1991.

Materials were about $600, but I understand that prices have gone up a bunch since then, so $2k doesn't sound unreasonable.

FWIW.

[village idiot]

Now is as good a time as any to learn how to do this by yourself. I taught myself to paint starting with motorcycles and graduated to cars. I'm taught myself to weld on my RS project.

If you keep the car white, that's one of the less expensive colors and you can just do the exterior without touching the jamb/trunk/under hood areas. That will save you money.

Also, you'll come away with a marketable skill and a great feeling of accomplishment when you're done.

Tom

[Halm]

Thanks for the ideas and thoughts guys. I am going to contact a PCA'er I know that used to have a body shop and is now working for one of the big paint companies. I'll see if he has a shop or two that he can recommend.

[ennisk1]

The best bit of advice here was to find the guy that supplies the paint to the shops and ask his opinion. That is exactly how I found the guy that does my work. Trust me, there is a guy in your area with a tiny shop behind his house that does fantastic work for a fraction of the price. You just have to find him. Asking around the PCA will also do the trick.

[sc_rufctr]

One thing to be said about paint shops like "Maaco" is that the painters there can really paint.

The have to because they have to be able to cover a car with minimal paint in minimal time. That takes some skill...

[jhelgesen]

Hal, doing the prep work yourself, pull the glass, bumpers, lights etch. Every bit you take off saves you money. That is the right track.

The flag mirrors are held on with 1 allen head bolt, next to the window.

Painting is the quick part, the prep is what drives the cost up.

If you can sand it out yourself too, more money to save.

Get a time estimate up front and keep them to it.

ANY rubber trim left on a car at a macco WILL come back with paint on it.

Another option. Have you considered having the paint you have wet sanded? It would help level out the touch up paint and bring some new life to the old paint.

[kenikh]

Spend an hour rading the paint forum on this site and especially read freddie henandez's sticky 101 series. You'll quickly learn you can do it all yourself. Prep is everything.

[500_19B]

I did my own job. It was a huge undertaking but the result has been much better than I ever expected and pretty close to perfect. I do not have any prior skills or talent. I just spent a huge amount of time. If I could distill what a quality paint job requires it would be thus:

1) Prep: Everything you choose to do and choose not to do will have a discernable effect on the final job.

2) In addition to prep, the quality of materials are critical. Pretty much ANY paint can be made to look good (at first), but long-term durability is another matter. Good quality paint systems (Glasurit, PPG, Sikkens etc) make a real difference that no amount of application skill can overcome. It strikes me as crazy to save a few hundred bucks going with cheaper materials given the huge amount of labor expense that goes into the job.

I spent over $2K on my actual paint products (Glasurit throughout). Professional shops doubtlessly pay less. In addition I had to spend money on a powered fresh-air supply system, various spray guns etc, in addition to building a temporary paint booth in my garage.

Clearly the major cost factor in good jobs is the prep. Having done it, I can entirely understand why good paint jobs cost what they do.

If doing the actual paint work is something you really don't want to undertake, then try to find a shop that is motivated to work with you so that you can do a bunch of the prep yourself.

[petrolblue83911]

I have had two P car's painted at Macco, 1 911 and 1 914. Both came out great, I know the local Macco owners, and they did a great job.

My 911 came to around 2400.00 -and that was for their seporate base and clearcoat high end (relative term) dupont paint. I did all the prep (glass out, rubber seals off, bumpers off, mirrors off, rockers, etc...), and they fixed two rust areas on a fender, and maybe a dozen dents -10hrs or so of labor

My 914 also came out really nice, and ended up at around 1500.00-same process as above, IE for my end with the prep, and some extranious labor for fixing rust and dents. I used a lower end clear and base combo paint on the 914.

in the end I was very happy, the paint held up well, had great shine-esp after color sanding/buffing the clear.

[tcar]

I had Maaco do a beetle I restored. There was a good Maaco here...

Fixed a dent, sanded, replaced fender welting.

A month later, they colorsanded also.

Looked very good.

$1700.

[byfdinky]

I found my painter from talking to my muffler man. Seams motor-heads have connections. I spent nearly 2K but it needed some body work. My painter was working out of a oversized garage in my neighborhood. Paint was perfect! Get compliments on it too! Yes it is true, I had to wait for it, body and paint guys are not fast!