I am thinking about painting my car for several reason. I was wondering if it is true that having a car re-painted de values it when it comes to resale because people think it was in an accident. or something, or does it actually bring the value up? Also I dont want a real expensive paint job and dont really care if it lasts more then 3 years. I am thinking about stripping the car myself and then taking it to a maaco shop around here to have them prime/paint it. I heard hte majority of the problems w/ maaco involve them not stripping the old paint off. Anyone here ever use maaco? I know it wont be the best pain job ever but it will be a lot better then what I have now.

- One of my front side panels is a darker red cuz it was replaced
- Hood is a very faded red w/ wierd spots on it from where someone tried to buff it
- Fadeing in random area
- Spider webbing on front/rear
- Plastic door bumper things are faded/peeling

I mean the car looks good if I put like 2 layers of wax on, but the wax comes off within ina week cuz there is virtualy no clear-coat left on the car.

EDIT: Also I really want to paint it black, the car is currently red is it bad to do this? Should I just have it painted red again so that imperfections wont be as clear?

 

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I used Maaco to paint an 81 Z28 I had... I thought they did a good job considering what I paid... I was surprised how good it looked when I picked it up actually... My friend has a 91 Mustang GT that was repainted in the front after an accident... It was done by the dealer and I thought my paint job looked as good or better than his... So a lot depends on the painter... Also it depends on how long you want the paint job to last... Towards the end of owning my Z28 I had slacked on waxing it... It really showed it too and I could never get it to shine like it did when I first had it painted... It had faded somewhat, but I never had any problems with cracking or peeling though... It did last 5 years or so before it faded.

What I did was go around to several of the Maaco's in my area and talk to the guys there... I had them show me cars they had recently painted... I found the shop I liked and they knew I wanted a good paint job.. Probably didn't help telling them that, but it didn't hurt... As far as stripping it.. I did that to my car and used stuff called "Aircraft Remover"... It took a few layers of that stuff to strip the paint and it was messy but it worked... Time consuming, but worked... I would have them prime it so the primer is compatable with their paint... Also, they will charge you more to change colors... If you have it painted from red to black, remember your engine bay will be red, along with under your hood, door jambs, and under the hatch... Unless you have all that painted too of course... You might want a flex agent for the bumpers so it won't crack right away.. But I don't know if that's worth the extra $$$ or not.

 

If the paint on your car isn't to bad, I wouldn't strip it. They will sand it down good at the shop. But the thing I would do is take anything off you don't want painted, Like door handels, emblems, moldings. Because they sometimes rush when they mask things off. If your worried about the value, stick with red. I had a car done there and it was a color change from blue to red, they did a good job except for the jams. They did not sand them well and the paint flaked, plus there was over spray all over the interior.

 

I agree, if the paint is not flaking off your car don't strip it. If you feel the need to do something you could use a good cleaner/wax remover just before taking it in. Stay with the same color and you l will get a good job for the money.

 

For what its worth, I worked with a guy that had an 89 GTA, he stripped it down and masked off what he did not want painted and got the paint job for 500.00 It was painted a nice navy blue and it looked just as good as when the car drove off the dealer lot.

 

I agree with everybody else on that it depends on the painter

another important thing to reliaze is that you get what you paint for with paint jobs

if it is gonna cost you more to go with a shop that you know uses quality paint and has a good rep i would rather pay more then go to macco

 

Shouldnt it at leaste be sanded or something how is the new paint gona stick to a part clearcoat/paint that is 12 years old.

 

I used maaco and never will used them again I spend $1600.00 on the paint job with 5 years warranty and with in 4month the paint started to show spider web cracks on my fenders I took it back and they told me its not warranty because they believe someone lean on my fenders causing it to crack and since they didnt strip the original paint it not warranty

 

It doesn't depend on the painter so much as it depends on the quality of the paint job. Note, I'm not an expert, but I'll give some info. Expensive car paints have chemicals in them so they are stronger than just regular enamel paint like Hotwheels have. As far as I know, MAACO just uses enamel paint and remember how easy your Hotwheels would chip when you crashed them? Well... nuff said.

If you get your car painted at Maaco the value is going to go down most likely because their $300 paint jobs don't even stand up to acid rain or any other pollution/chemical fallout. From what I hear, they don't use catalysts in their paint, so they don't adhere very well and their paint fades in the sun. If you are changing the color of the car, you will have to remove the engine and hood and have the underside of the hood painted as well as the engine bay or the value definitely goes down.

Getting a car painted and having it last and look good is a much larger ordeal than most people think. Heck, I used to think that I could just hook up the airbrush and use Testors model paint to touch up a car. Boy... I was stupid.

 

My worry would be that they wouldn't put any flex agent in paint before they spray it. Our plastic cars need flex agent put in or the paint will just crack when the bumper or fender flexes.

 

Stay away from Maaco. No flex agent = problems. Maaco doesn't do good prep work. Moldings, windows, door jams, bottom of rocker pannels are usually areas they cut corners. I've had several friends get paint jobs from them, everyone of them was pissed at the outcome. Black is the worst color to have Maaco. Black shows EVERY imperfection and with a lack of decent prepwork (like they do usually) black will not turn out good.

 

Sanding is part of the cost of the paint job, even at MAACO. Many shops are happy to let you do the prep work as this is the most expensive part, so sand it if you want.
The point is that paint chemically bonds to the steel, if this bond is still good there is no advantage in stripping it, for this type pf paint job.

It's begining to sound like you really want a custom paint job, but can't afford one. If your willing to do all this prep work yourself, which is 90% of a good paint job, why not just conitue and paint it too. I'll bet your local autoparts has a "How to Paint and Body" book on the shelf.