Those of you with p71's, did you have them repainted at maaco or one day? Opinions?

[v8only]

I've done a lot of research on this and get a lot of mixed opinions....I wanted to talk to people who own x cop cars or any car for that matter...

my crown vic is a 99 and the doors were repainted black to match the rest of the car....the lapd stickers were pealed off, but left giant glue residue, which were literally painted over, single stage..(previous owner must have done this)...additionally the 911 stickers in the 1/4 panel were painted over with flat black...urg!!!

so I'm thinking about a mid range $600-800 maaco or one day paint job. I'd like to spring for their top paint, but it's not in the budget. However, I don't want it to come out like total garbage and be shot in 12 months.

anyone have experience here?

[LTD86]

I would stay away from Maaco, Earl Schieb, ect if you plan on keeping the car for a while. They are good to spruce up a car before you sell it, but it does not last long term. One of my friends had his Caprice resprayed the factory color at Maaco because the paint on the hood and trunk was shot, and two years later it is faded badly again and is peeling in numerous places. Maaco is very good at the actual spraying, but the prep work and the paint they use sucks. They will not even touch your car with sandpaper if you don't ask them to, and they do not tape off things well. You would be better off doing the prep work and removing the trim yourself, and see if they would spray a paint that you provide them.

[Ghorneck]

If you prep it yourself, its not a totally crappy job at Maaco. I have had several DD's painted for under $500 after removing everything and sanding them myself. One tan Subaru still had great paint when it was totaled 8 years later. From 10' they looked good enough.

[87gtVIC]

I have known people who went with maaco and the results were okay when the owner of the car did their own work. Like was mentioned above...they will literally spray over anything and everything if you don't tell them to mask it off. If you are looking for a quick turnaround then you can get okay results from them....IF you do all you can to make it look good yourself. They will never go out of their way for you..they are simply wanting to get cars in and out.

I have had two cars in my family painted professionally and the paint alone was over the starting price you mentioned. You can go right up to my Crown Victoria or my dads Mustang and see no flaws. You really get what you pay for IMHO. My dad and I both paid right around $5,000 and the paint job came out great.

I think you can get a good job out of Maaco if you do all you can in prep for the car. Also do not let them remove any trim...do all of this yourself as they do not give a fuck if anything breaks...and then you are shit out of luck. Just do all you can yourself and just let them handle the paintjob and you should be good.

Funny story...the body shop that was painting my car actually said why don't I bring it to maaco and save a ton...I was not having any of that. I know the couple thousand extra would be worth it.

[1987cp]

Black? Touchup? Tight budget? Might be worth looking into doing it at home with RustOleum. Seriously - there's a link somewhere to some Mopar guys who thinned RustOleum 50% with mineral spirits, rolled it on in thin coats with a 4" fine foam roller, and the results looked great. I have more than half a mind to try that routine on my junk in the future, as I don't anticipate being able to justify even Maaco prices for my stuff.

[87gtVIC]

looks up $50 rustoleum paint job on youtube. A bunch of people have done it and showed their results.

[1987cp]

That GMC pickup looks amazing! Mixing it thicker like he did would make it a lot more controllable. Must've experimented to find the minimum amount of thinning needed to make it lay flat?

[v8only]

thanks for the input. I have no problem removing headlights and the sort, but I'll be damned if I have enough time to sand and prep out a vehicle ahead of time.

I may just take it there and have the doors touched up and the 1/4s and leave it that way....we'll see. I have to decide if my current paint is going to be better than a crap maaco job.

[gadget73]

My Mark VII has a 10 year old Maaco single stage black paint job on it. Its not bad, but its not show quality either. I can look at it and see wierd sanding marks where they used only a DA, no block sanding, and no special effort to hit the edges of the panels, but its not something most people would notice, and its not noticeable from more than 5 feet away. Mine does look a hell of a lot better than a lot of Maaco jobs I've seen though. It does have lots of overspray though. If you want to go this route, fix the glue and emblem problems yourself, de-trim the car as much as possible, remove the lights, etc, and mask it off yourself for best results.

[trwp72]

The paint job on both of my cars are $500.00 dollar paint jobs at a chain here in the S.E. called "Fact-o-bake"... I prepped both cars myself, including taking as much trim off as posssible... Even the tailights, when I got to the shop, and then put tape over the holes so the trunk wouldn't get over spray in it... put the tailights in a plasitc bag. (Just to make sure) Then when I picked it up, I just put the tailights back in with a few bolts, went home and put the rest of the car back together. I bought a D/A sander, and sanded the entire car with some fine sand paper, so there were no sanding marks, before I took it to them, and then let them shoot it. They did a great job, and since they didn't really have to do any prep, the put an extra coat on the car. Also since the trim and everything was off the car, they did a better job at masking it off... So not as much overspray etc...
Another thing to do is if you have a friend that uses a shop alot (That maybe owns a used car lot?) See who he uses, and have him "recommend" you to him.... Pays to have friends sometimes...

[v8only]

maybe I'll do that...I can handle doing it with a DA sander....I just can't handle any hand blocking and sanding to great lengths.....I finally got my tinted windows and today finally installed my stereo...so the paint is really starting to bug me now that everything else is coming together.

[Pesty351]

Just remember the type of paint they use is a very soft paint. So If you ever want it to get a good paint job it will end up costing you more than if you got a decent one now.

[1987cp]

Cost of window tint is money you can't spend on better paint.

[trwp72]

Just remember the type of paint they use is a very soft paint. So If you ever want it to get a good paint job it will end up costing you more than if you got a decent one now.

Really? My paint is now two years old, and still looks like new... I have had the car repaited two times since I bought it, last time was because of damage to the door, and numerous dings from jerks slamming their doors into it... I have had no problems with the paint...
Also, if you do the D/A sanding, hand sand ALL of the edges.. as that is usually where you will have problems with it flaking or peeling... doors, trunk lid, hood, etc etc etc... also make sure to sand the bumper covers, and tell them to shoot those with "flex" additive added to the paint, so it will flex if bumped, and not peel...

[Pesty351]

Did they put more of the same type of paint on it? Quality paint will not setup properly on top of macco paint.