How far will Maaco go for you?

[Arne]

Hell, if you weren't 1500 miles away, I'd come have you paint my car.

I was thinking the very same thing...

[jackboxxx]

Very possible.

I'm just noting my experience from trying to get my '77 LTD sprayed at the Macco that used to be in Downer's Grove, IL. If there is a specific way things are supposed to be handled, that's great, but they sure weren't in my case.

Of course, the manager there was a real ****, and maybe thats part of why the place shut down a few years ago. I don't mean to blacklist the company if one guy wasn't on the up and up.

Hell, if you weren't 1500 miles away, I'd come have you paint my car.

Im sorry to hear about your bad experience, and yea there are bad owners

out there, I bought my Maaco from the black sheep of the maaco chain,

who really burned a lot of people in my area. there are creditors calling, angry customers coming in looking for him etc...its quite a challenge trying to get this store back in good graces with the commiunity around me.

(I only bought this franchise because it was the only one available in So. Cal.)

Maaco also has contracts with UPS, DHL FED EX, the US postal service and other large companies to paint thier vehicles.

Also, the corporate office does have a customer service dept. to handle issues of unsatisfied customers, even if it comes down to bringing the car

to another maaco center to be repaired...then the orginal maaco that did the work will be charged for the repairs...

[jackboxxx]

Lance-

Good info... may make others think twice about where to go for paint/body work. Nova looks great! You can even make out y'alls reflestions in the black stripes.

Nate

Thank You Sir

[bobc]

Hey Lance,

You should post some pictures of your demo Z with the half paint job for everyone to see. I was incredibly impressed with the quality of the work. I mean there was some overspray on the rubber, but what do you expect for that type of price? The shine and color were incredible.

If you're in So Cal. I would give a lot of thought to having Lance do your paint work. He is a Z guy after all! Tell me you didn't pull the motor out of that beautiful blue Z!

[bobc]

Sorry, must have hit enter twice!

[jackboxxx]

I was thinking the very same thing...

but but your only 800 ish miles away

[jackboxxx]

Hey Lance,

You should post some pictures of your demo Z with the half paint job for everyone to see. I was incredibly impressed with the quality of the work. I mean there was some overspray on the rubber, but what do you expect for that type of price? The shine and color were incredible.

If you're in So Cal. I would give a lot of thought to having Lance do your paint work. He is a Z guy after all! Tell me you didn't pull the motor out of that beautiful blue Z!

Hey Bob!

1st time ive seen you post in here your car looks great with that new paint!

I'll upload some of the of those 50 / 50 pics up when I get to the shop today

dont have any on the home computer

I painted and threw that car together in 3 days I guess I got kinda sloppy

and missed cleaning up that rubber. I was up till 1am the nite before the Temecula show...

[ncz]

Lance good post, thought your prices for your services were very reasonable and if I could get my Z to look like that Nova, I would be a very happy camper. I'm only 3k miles away and still wish I could get mine to your shop. Maaco should start to work on ads that will focus on the companies changes in the way they are doing business. What people "hear" when they see the commercials is the cheap paint job. In business it has always been my experience that proclaiming your strong points and promoting from there leads to more satisfaction for you and your customers. You get better customers and more cash! That may be in the works, haven't seen a commercial in awhile. Send some pics of the blue Z and its progress!!

[jmark]

uh oh...I think you are misinformed..

As a Maaco Owner I will try to shed some light on what Maaco does or does

not do. It needs to be said that Maaco is a privately owned company, and all

the Maacos across the U.S. and Canada are privately owned franchises,

since they are franchises, they are required to operate within specific guidelines laid out by Maaco Corporate...or could lose thier franchise...

though there are owners out there that dont follow the corp guidelines as they are supposed to. these franchises will be targeted and eliminated

from the chain as Maaco is undergoing some major changes that will require ALL the centers to do work at a certain quality level more akin to that of a collision shop rather than like a "earl schieb" or "one a day paint" type

shop. All Maacos will have to be "certified" in the very near future or be eliminated from the chain.

Ok, in regards to what Maaco does or does not do....

Ambassador service: (single stage enamel paint just like a 240 came with...)

Maacos cheapest paint service, Nationally advertised on TV for 249.00....

prices vary...some shops sell it for a bit more...299 329 etc...

What is done for 249.00?? well, this depends on the current condition of your cars paint, if its just old and faded for example, we are just going to

(depending on what state) powerwash the car, or hand clean the car, remove some items like emblems, then, machine & hand sand the vehicle to a 320grit smoothness all over, then mask off everything, windows, lights, bumpers etc...then put it in the booth apply a primer/sealer, then paint the vehicle, then bake it, then take it out, de-mask it, and detail it.

We dont require that you mask off the car yourself...

We do sand the car...

We do use a primer/sealer on the car prior to painting...

We generally make 2-3 passes (coats) around a car when painting.

Maaco is not "getting away" from bodywork, in fact we are moving more

towards doing more..targeting "spotwork" specifically...minor hits..fender benders on late model cars...

all Maacos do bodywork...almost all do serious collision work as well...

the majority of Maacos have frame machines as well.

Will your car be perfect for 249.00? nope...not a chance in hell any paint shop can make your 25-35 year old car look perfect for that kind of money.

but it will look much better than it did.

Now that being said, its time to help you understand other paint issues,

1st, being this is a classic Z forum, most of the owners here have 20 yr+

old cars...most of these cars if in orginal condition, are restoration projects

needing quite a bit more than 249.00 worth of painting..(my 3 240s included)

a restoration shop may charge 5000-10,000 to restore the body and paint of a classic car, a collision shop may charge 2500-5000 to do a 1st rate base / clear paintjob.

for example: my nice 240Z, the blue one, which I searched for for several months, has no rust to speak of, orginal shiny blue paint, garage kept all its life, and has about 120k miles...it needs:

20ish dings straightened: 20x $22.50 = $450.00 bodywork then about 8 hours blocking on each side of the car, 16x$45.00 = $720.00 bodywork

$300.00 in sanding/prep work, hand & machine sand, prime then hand wetsand entire car to say 400grit. then mask and shoot it with my paint of choice..I would have no problem painting it with single stage ambassador

paint if i park it in a garage..so lets add $249.00 for paint..

so, 450+720+300+249= $1719.00 plus tax of course...

$1750.00 for a Z in pretty decent shape...

if you have other issues,

costs can raise the price alot..

strip bad vehicle paint to metal. (per panel..) 100.00

rustwork...cut and weld... one 2"-4" spot 90.00

dents... one 3"x5" dent 45.00

dent on bodyline add 1 hr.

so, lets look at a bad case...say 4 dents, a few parking lot dings, say 10, 4 rust spots, and real bad paint needing the whole car stripped to metal...

dents = 180.00 4x45

dings = 225.00 10x22.50

rust = 360.00 4x90

strip = 800.00 (8 major panels)

block = 720.00

sand = 300.00

paint = 249.00

Total: = 2834.00

add for base /clear 850.00

add for colorsand /buff 350.00

*of course these costs are just examples, prices very alot from car to car...

some need more of 1 thing and less of another..my average "nice" paintjobs

with some work needed are 1500-2500 dollars. my average "cheap" paintjobs are about 400-500 dollars...the average Maaco paintjob in california hovers around 850-900 dollars..nationally the average is about

650.00 or so.*

Maacos use one of the following paints,

Dupont

Sherwin Williams

PPG

This is the choice of the owner of the center...I use Sherwin Williams, mainly because they are local to me, so I get great support and service.

I also prefer the way Sherwin Williams single stage paints lay down on a car

they seem to be easyer to apply, nice and flat and shiny. for base / clear

I think dupont probably lays down a bit better, but sherwin williams is just as good quality but a touch harder to lay down.

with any classic car, I personally would "detrim" the car before bringing it

to a paint shop, pulling all emblems, marker lights, bumpers, headlights,

mirrors, etc..

ok ive typed enough i think...heres a couple pics of a car we did,

499.00 presidential single stage paint service, 200.00 for the stripes, and a few hundred for bodywork...

My painter carlos, Me in the middle and the owner on the right.

Nice post Lance. Wish you were closer.... I would love to have my 240Z repainted by someone who cares about the Z.

[Blue Meanie]

Friend of mine used Maaco to finish his restoration on a 1980 X11 Citation. He didn't get the "mega" paint job and it still looks pretty damn good. They do body work, the door jams, under hood etcetera as well.

[280z1975]

jackboxxx,

Thanks for the great comments on Maaco. Like you said, each one is independently owned and you will get different service from store to store.

The local Maaco in Houston quoted me a good price, but I wasn't happy with the vibe the guy was giving me in regards to how well he would look after my car. Plus I had the doors, hood, rear hatch and other parts off and he didn't seem to like having to deal with it in that state (I thought it would be a plus, but I was wrong). In the end i painted it myself for the same cost and it turned out ok, but not perfect (I have to repaint two panels I screwed up), but it's was still a great experince.

[Blue Meanie]

I took my Z to the local Maaco guys this morning. All mine really needs now is a little prep, sanding and paint. They quoted a really good price for their best paint. The owner also promised that my Z would be locked inside the building without me even asking him to.