To Maco or not?

[Ven]

Well the income tax $$ just came in and I have about 800 of it set aside for my 944. When I got my 85 it had taken a hit in the from feft side of the bumper. It knocked the bumper back about 1/4 an inch and took off some paint but you could not really notice it unless you were looking for it. I want to have this fixed, and have my front spoiler and hood repainted. I took ot to a local place here and left as soon as they started talking about placing it on a frame stretcher to fix the bumper. The second place wanted 1200 to do this job. I had an entire door replaced and repainted on my 928 for 1100 so I cant help to think thats a bit steep. So I hear a lot of horror sroties about Maco paint and body work. I asked around and looked at some cars that had been painted my them and they did not look to bad. I would never let them paint my entire car but I just might let them do the hood and fix the bumper.

What do you guys think I should do?

[Blackfoot]

you should realize that what's considered a good to very good paint job costs generally about $2.5k-$4k, with a custom or a "factory" job costing even more. so $1200 for a partial doesn't sound too much out of line. you might want to get estimates from several other reputable body shops before you consider maaco.

remember, what you really pay for is labor and most importantly, craftmanship. any painter, even a maaco one, can order & use glasurit (oem porsche paint), but if an experienced painter really cares about his craft, you'll do well. you might really have to pay for it through the nose, or you might not. shop around, do some research, visit body shops to see their work.

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it's all the painter...

[This message has been edited by Blackfoot (edited 02-24-2001).]

[thamlin000]

My 83 944 was victim to a hit-and-run last year. The bumper was pushed in on one side, (the damage sounds similar to yours) It cost $90 to replace the bumper shock. Now all is good.

As for painting, you pay more, you get better results. I got a cheapo repair job done on my passenger rear 1/4 panel after a seperate parking lot accident, and I have regreted it since. The paint doesn't match, and the prep job was horrible, and the paint is peeling and flakeing. And every time I look at that side of my car, I feel sick.

I'd get the bodywork/paint done at a reputable body shop w/ nice cars and don't be afraid to pay more to get results. I wish I did.

[K Wayne]

2 WORDS............................................. .........MAACO SUCKS !!!!!!!

[lm6y]

Be sure to look at the work a bodyshop does. I paid $3000 to get mine repainted from a guy that everyone said was great. As it turns out, the paint is coming off, and it's starting to rust. He didn't seem really interested in fixing it, so I told the three people in his office to go somewhere else, and will tell everyone I know not to go to him.

Don't pick up the car at night either. Be sure it's broad daylight, and you can look it over real well. Once you have a receipt, and drive it off the lot in Illinois, it is considered a done deal. Don't ask me how I know........

[PrerYDoG]

Well, I've looked at FULL Macco jobs done by the guys in this area and they are really, really good. I've seen them do some 240, 260 and 280 Z's that a guy I know rebuilds and sells, and they are perfect, last a long time and don't have problems. In this area infact, from what I've seen out of the "reputable" boys, and out of Macco, and after talking to people about customer satisfaction (been researching as I want to repaint my black 951), Macco is the best place in town, for quality, service, and price.

No, I don't work at, nor indorse macco in anyway, but around here, they really are that good.

I will say though, our Pep Boys, still sucks ass.

My 2 cents

[todd951]

Maaco is good in your area? What area would that be?

[hoff944]

I've seen too much crap come out of Maaco.
The place I had mine done has a lifetime guarantee on the paint job. If anything ever goes wrong with it, I take it back and they fix it. Yes it was expensive, but when your dealing with paint, its worth the peace of mind.

Your 944 is starting to rust lm6y? That sucks. Was your car repainted when I saw it last summer? It looked great then. Have you taken it back to him? If he feeds you the "He's not responsible thing" just tell him you won't be responsible for bricks flying through his window at 3am. j/k

[K Wayne]

If you want to know what maaco is all about, just look at their television commercials.......Do you really think they're
capable of doing quality paint work for $199.00 ? If you believe the hype ......you deserve a maaco paint job ! I would'nt let maaco touch my car........even if I drove a
pinto.....

[lm6y]

Hoff, It was still too wet to wax! It had been done about 60 days when you saw it. I took it back when the paint peeled off, and he fixed it with a brush! There isn't enough space on this board to go through the whole ordeal. But I hang around with a lot of hot rodders, so the word is spreading fast not to give this guy any work. I've driven by his shop, and he seems to be not as busy. I don't know much of that was from me, but I'll take credit for it! I can be a real bastard if it comes down to it.

[stray15]

well guys, I am sorry to say that I have take my car to maaco to get repainted. I got the presidental special with cost me a whole $250. BUT, that was with my old car...not the 944! The paint job that they did looked alright from a distance but the closer you got the worse it looked. Less than a year and the painted is chipping, fading, ect. If I were you, I wouldn't go near Maaco!

------------------
Porsche, Through and through
Tim
'83 944

[wolfrpi]

The key is prep work from what I've heard. Paint is paint if it is the same brand. I've seen excellent paint jobs for $299 and ****ty paint jobs for over $3000. The difference is the effort in prep work. If you do it yourself, you'll be able to save big $$$$.

Erick

[RaF944]

Look at my paint job in my old topic....that is something that Maaco will never have the talent to do.....I paid $1500 and it was a hookup...THe paint job usualoly runs from $2000 to $2500......My paint job increased my car value...Macco will not.

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85.5 Porsche 944

[kukunaokala]

I'm looking for-need a paint job. Over here, the cheapo guy's name is Earl Shrieb? A friend (?) of mine quoted me 2G's. I saw your paint job Raf, P (paint, Porsche, p---s, am I on to something?)- envy. Neal

[RJ]

Ven
These guys are right, you get what you pay for. My wife backed into my 951, and I just made an appointment to get an isolated dent fixed on one front fender. The bid was about 1500 dollars. I went to these guys upon the recomendation of a friend who had them do work on his M-3, and is very happy. While I was there I walked around, the shop is full of 993 and 996 turbos, and Boxters. Good sign. While I was there I made some inquiries about repainting the entire car, I was told about 7000 dollars, which involved stripping to bare metal, dissassembly and reassembly of all perephiphy parts, which on a 951 is quite a lot, and factory paint and clear coat. Their reputatiion is the best shop in Denver, so if you want quality you will pay for it. At 300 dollars Maaco will spray over the existing paint with minimal prep work, and the job will look very bad in a couple of years.

[Obin Robinson]

it's all in the prep work. take the trim off, and do the prep work yourself... then bring it to them and have them blast the paint on.

i'm putting my 924 on the track and i've been told by no less than 3 dozen racers that if i do anything more expensive than Maaco i will be wasting my money. when a car goes through track punishment, it gets scratched by gravel, and marked by debris on the track.

i'm going to do all the touch up and prep myself in my spare time, and then let them blast the paint on. sure it will look good for only 4 or 5 years, but i've seen $2000 paint jobs that ended up looking like total crap after only 2 years because it wasn't done right. $200 or $2000... it's all in the prep work.

if you read inbetween the lines in the excellence or Panorama articles... a lot of those "feature" cars were painted by the person that restored it. i distinctly remember seeing a beautiful 356 in Excellence a while back that was painted in the guy's driveway. i also have a friend with a gorgeous 924 turbo and his car was painted on the side of an alley.

i'll say it again... it's all in the prep.

obin

[AMCPorsche924Powerhaus!]

double post

[This message has been edited by AMCPorsche924Powerhaus! (edited 02-25-2001).]

[AMCPorsche924Powerhaus!]

Originally posted by AMCPorsche924Powerhaus!:
It's also the person. YOu could have a guy working at maaco thats just good and just naturally skilled, and just not getting paid for his skill.
Usually all paint jobs look good the first few months, but I have never seen a paint job that has looked good after 10 years, other than the factory job done on the car, and guess what, the factory prepped properly.
Prep prep prep.
Don't sand down to the metal, you'll rip all the anti-rust coating off.

[Peter A. Holiat]

Obin, the guy with the 931 painted in the alley (Vince) did all the prep work himself before it was painted (removed all trim and sanded all rough spots). As everyone said, the key to a great paint job is the prep work.
I just got a 931 that I plan on repainting myself so I am doing research by reading several car-painting books. One of the most important reasons why the factory paint jobs are the best is because the factory bakes the freshly painted car frame at an extremely high temperature. The best paint shop in the world would have to first remove every electrical component in your car (which is not practical) before it could attempt to duplicate the factory paint job.

[Obin Robinson]

hey Peter,

yeah, i'm talking about Vince. i saw the paint job and you'd never think it was done outside in an alley . i didn't include his name because i usually ask for permission before quoting someone.

offhand... i went to high school with a kid that worked at his father's car painting business. he drilled it into my head that the key to a good paint job was PREP. i saw his paint jobs and they were indistinguishable from factory. he said that if you were going to paint a car then AT LEAST 75% of the time should be spent doing prep work:

masking, sanding, filling, removing trim, etc.

also, i will be the guinea pig for this. Maaco is scheduled to paint my car sometime in may or june. after all, it will only be a track car. i'll let everyone see the before and after.

obin