Ok, My 76 sedan deville has 2 spots on the lower quarters with a bit of rot, not alot, but they need tending to. also there are spots where the paint is low. I took it to Maaco and they quoted me $1800.00 including doinf the body work, installing my new set of bumper fillers, pulling out 2 dents. Thats the second best paint job. Its 699.99 for the paint. The next level up is 500.00 more. I wonder if this will come close to that beautiful blue laquer paint of the 1970s? any opinions?
I work in a body shop. I have seen some nice things from macco, but also saw some iffy ones.
I dont think they do the greatest body work, but paint can be nice.
Ever think about a local Vocational Tech High schhool? I got to one and work in a body shop part time. My teacher hates them, my boss loves them. so....
The lacquer finish originally on your car is nothing to write home about. Exceeding it's beauty will be easy with modern basecoat clearcoat paint. The question is will the bodywork be done well and will the rust return. If you ask to see some finished products from this shop then you will either run like hell or sleep at night while your car is being worked on. Personal experience with body shops is that they usually have a feel for how picky the customer is. Be a picky person. Let them know that you didn't just get off the bananna boat. In my state the body shops avoid restoration work as collision work is bread and butter. I don't blame them. Resto work makes good fill-in work when things get slow though.
I totally agree!
The paint-work won't even come close to what you think it should, but it will greatly clean up your ride!
Can you do any of the prep-work yourself?
Previously, I delivered a "ready-to-paint" car to a paint shop.
All they had to do was paint the car...I did the rest.
Even if all you do is remove trim/etc- it might be worth your while.
Good advice above.
Sounds like you are trying to do your homework. The body work is the most important to get right, especially when rust is involved. If you can get some references to find out which body worker does the better job, and has experience with rust, it may be worth your efforts.
Maybe do some of the prep yourself as far as removing exterior hardware, chrome, etc. You can bet they will only tape it off at the price they are quoting. New paint will definetly look better than your old, but you don't want the rust to start reapearing six to eight month down the road.
Maaco is well known for doing inexpensive body and paint work. Some people would call it "cheap". Personally, I probably wouldn't use them unless I was very familiar with the manager/owner and or the shop foreman. They CAN do some good work, the problem is they would rather do a few fast jobs rather than your one long, higher quality job. They are a volume shop and that's how they make their money. You can help yourself by doing as much of the prep work as possible but unless you are well versed in bodywork I would avoid trying to do anything other than trim removal. The actual prep work is what makes or breaks the final job for sure.
Ape man is totally correct about the BCCC paints easily being able to outshine and outlast the old laquer paints. The old GM factory baked laquer jobs sucked IMO. I used to do body and paint and I can tell you that a "properly" applied and color-sanded acrylic laquer paint job can be a thing to behold but a "properly" applied BCCC paint job will look like it's been dipped in the paint, and it will WAY outlast any laquer job.
One tip, if you DO use Maaco, or any other bargain shop, have them throw an extra couple coats of clear on so you can have a detail shop wetsand and polish the finish if needed. If done properly, you can still make a so-so paint job look like a million bucks. Just don't try it with your typical clear coat application. I've seen many a customer try it and end up cutting through the clear and into the base coat (not a good thing).
Whatever you decide, do like the others have said, make the shop aware that you are picky.
the last truck I bought was from a friend of mine and he had done all the prep work before taking it to maaco....they charged 600 dollars for the paint job and its been nearly 4 or 5 years ago. The truck still looks better than it did before painted, but im not impressed with the paint. It scratches to easy its chipping and cracking and peeling off anywhere that you touch with your hands or dirt or rocks or anything. Im afraid of wiping it down after I wash it for fear of scratching it more. It did look good for the first year or two though
Hey Maaco and some other "bargain" shops are a great alternative for people that just need a quick paint job to spruce up a car before selling it, or for the guy that just plain can't afford a real good paint job but still wants his ride to at least be all one color. They perform a service that obviously a lot of people take advantage of. Are they for you? That's a judgement call that has to be made by the individual. I try to go by the old saying, "you get what you pay for".
Well, I agree about Maaco not being top notch. My delimma is this. I like the car, and enjoy the ride. the reality of it though is this is not a 25k eldorado, its a sedan deville probably worth 3500.00 inthe open market. Maaco is charging me about 2k for this job. I dont know if I want to put 5k into the car for a better paint job, but then again, if the 2k job looks crappy then why throw away the money? Hmmmm decisions decisions
Ahhh macco
I work in a body shop. I have seen some nice things from macco, but also saw some iffy ones.
I dont think they do the greatest body work, but paint can be nice.
Ever think about a local Vocational Tech High schhool? I got to one and work in a body shop part time. My teacher hates them, my boss loves them. so....
eh.... if you care about how the car looks... don't go tot he vo-tec... cheap, yes... good quality... no...
I brought my '89 Olds to the vo-tec, they replaced a door and fender (door dosn't seal all the way now and fender is hardly held on... I kinda fixed it) and they (shop teacher) pulled out and fixed a big dent in the quarter panel (actually came out good)
the car, like all others, had rust/rot behind the rear wheels.... well, their rust repair and prep work sucked, because that rust is back. Of yeah, now I have rust bubbles under the paint right behind the windsheild on the roof (these were NOT there before)
the paint and clear itself is PPG Omni, so it is pretty decent stuff, but when they put it on, the car has alot of zebra stripes, you can see each of the sweeps.
Don't get me wrong, for $500 total (I supplied the door/fender) it made me very happy, and look far, far better then it did before.... so in my case, the vo-tec was a good choice.... for a nice clean, fancy Caddy though, it may not be.....
I agree that BC/CC is much more easy to look better then old Laquer... when I had the door repainted on my '79 (surface rust from peeling paint) the guy used BC/CC the paint color match was perfect, and he tried the best he could to match it, but the door is still slightly more shiney... fine with me.... but it makes me think just how nice that car... in the Laramie Beige would look with nice BC/CC and if he tried to make it shiney.... probably alot better (shiney) then now.
The thing... everytime someone says BC/CC last far longer then Laquer... I have to disagree... maybe I got a couple bad picks, but in my experience, the Laquer is lasting far longer then BC/CC. My '89 Olds, the paint on the hood, roof and trunk was completly trashed when I got it in Dec. '03, the clear coat was simply gone, but the sides were still nice. Now my '93 Coupe.. my baby... has cancer clear coat, every day the car gets worse, and it is in many, many spots, dosn't make me happy at all....
then there is my 27 year old car with laquer... sure it may not be as shiney.... but there is not a single paint problem! I mean gosh.... the paint on that car is there, I wax it... well when I was around it every 1-2months... when I bought it, the paint was badly fadded and stuff, but since I have been taking care of it, it is smooth and shiney, I gotta say for Laquer paint, I am very happy with it.
Over the last couple, okay three decades, the OEM paints have been going in many different directions. The US Government mandated changes in VOCs and that drove the paint industry crazy for quite a while. There were all kinds of paint "issues" with regard to OEM finishes for several years. Lately though, I "think" most of those issues have been worked out. The basic BCCC finishes of today are very durable, and much better than any laquer ever could hope to be. If you have a laquer paint job that's holding up fairly well, it's because of a number of factors, but not because it's any where near as good as a urethane. The big killer for laquers was the much increased UV levels that are commonplace these days. It's virtually impossible to leave a deep laquer job outside these days without it crazing (cracking). If you have a laquer finish, keep it out of the sun and keep it waxed. Then you might have a decent chance of it lasting.
I am pretty sure the '79 is Laquer and not Enamel....
this car was bought new in FL, brought up to NY in 2001 or so, then I bought it in May of 2004, I think the guy I bought it from (had it 3 years or so) used it in the winter...
it was NOT in a garage in his ownership, since i have owned it, it sits outside as well, I simply don't have a covered place for it (right now)
I first used rubbing compound to get the general shine going... since then I waxed it I think 4 times.... not all that much, defintly not as much as I should have... funny how a car that starts out as a knock around toy turns out to be your best looking, most prestenable car... not even trying.
I don't have a problem with cracking or anything with the paint... sure there are a couple of hair line scratches that have rust.. but they are small, and the car is/was a 27 year old daily driver.
Like I said, the left rear door had an issue... the paint was peeling, very thin... and there was rust, but it was only $260 to fix that... and damn did that turn the car around as far as looks....
Here is the car the day after I bought it, crappy looking etc...
Here it is now... sure the 15" spoked wheels and matching tires make it look a hell of a lot better.... but the body/paint (on this side) were untouched besides the rubbing compound and then waxing, really is amazing what such little work does to a car.
Here is the rust....the only paint problem I have had on this car... damn I wish my other 2 cars were this simple to fix....
Here is the fix... the guy was really nice, and did amazing work (I have seen other work of his as well) I would say for matching new BC/CC paint to 27 year old Laquer, he did a damn good job... like I said, the color match is perfect, it is just slightly more shiney, he blended the new paint with the old, then cleared the whole thing... so the edges of the door *is* the origanal Laquer, but with clear coat, which, surprisingly looks pretty good. I can deal with the fact it is more shiney, that rust was aweful though, that was the main thing that kept me from *really* enjoying the car... now that it is fixe dI am as happy as could be with it.
Well that's one good thing about living in NM... what's rust?
My 2 cents on Maaco: I'd ask around local car guys and find a reputible non-chain paint shop that people have used and are happy with. I'm lucky, I can just ask the guys at racingsouthwest.com, perhaps you have something local like that where you can ask around.
My guess would be that your paint's longevity is mostly due to it NOT being a metallic. It's the clears that had the most problems. I keep forgetting that some of the more basic cars had non-metallic paints.
I had my 72 Olds 98 done by Fact O Bake. Maaco wouldn't touch it. They said they wouldn't be able to satisfy me because they wouldn't be able to put enough time into it. I am glad the Maaco guy was nice enough to be honest with me.
The car didn't need any body work. I had taken care of that. Fact O Bake charged me about $800 for a polyurethane 3 year paint. That is what it lasted. After three years, the paint started to go dull and couldn't stand up to waxing and polishing.
Like Davesdeville said, I would check the local, non-chain owned shops.
Macco will give you 1 to 3 years of shine, then the paint goes to shit. A Macco paint job is good if you intend to sell a car, but if you plan on keeping the car for a while, I would go else where.
The problem is that there are a couple of dents, and 2 spots in the lower quarters with rust, so maaco tells me there is no sense in doing the rpairs and trying to match paint i should just paint the entire car. But for thir top of the line paint job with they say is a 2 stage process done the same as the manufacturer, it will be 2500.00 bucks, is that too much, or too little?
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