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comments or feedback on those 1 day paint centers


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Quick background. Ground up resto on 69/2 door 510. Daily driver for my twin boys. Mainly $$ spent and many more to go. We are finishing up body work and trying to decide what route to go. A friend of mine just went to Maaco and got a pretty nice paint job for 400 bucks.

 

1. Any feed back on one-day, maaco or other?

 

2. They charge for extra coats or clear coat. Thoughts regarding clear coat vs. Additional coats of paint? I'm leaning toward more paint for wet Sanding and polishing.

 

When we first got the car we planned on spending some $ at a top notch paint shop. But that can be done down the road, I would now rather spend the $ on the necessaries.

 

Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

Ryan family 510

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I have seen some good quality paintjobs come from Maaco and the like. The thing is for $400 they do ZERO prep work. So if you get it the body smooth and primer it, it isn't bad. They don't open doors, trunks, hoods, etc either, so it needs to be a close match to whatever the factory paint is. Then again, I think Saturn used a similar cheap process on their plastic paneled cars to save money.  The entire thing is basic chassis black and the body panels are painted elsewhere, then put on the car.

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The basic MAACO paint job is ":guaranteed" for 12 months, because the "intergrated clear coat" will fade in 14 months.  Find out which 1 Day Paint Center in your local area does the training and qualification for new hires and go talk to the manager to find out which days are less rushed and what if any are preferred days for your choice of color.  Tell them you could care less about getting it back in 1 day, you want it done right!  I had a BMW 2002 painted in silver by 1 Day and it came out looking like a BMW factory job because I took the time to talk with the manager  [Torrance CA Western Ave North of Sepulveda, not the one further North on Western Avenue].  You can't mess with silver, it goes on right with the first coat or it looks like crap for the rest of it's life.  I Day will paint the door surrounds just ask for it if you are changing color!  They do mask the door panels but if you can remove the panels, head, parking, and tail lights they will appreciate it and your paint job will look much better.  By the way, remove your wiper arms!  I also removed the front and rear bumpers.

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I have seen some good quality paintjobs come from Maaco and the like. The thing is for $400 they do ZERO prep work. So if you get it the body smooth and primer it, it isn't bad. 

 

 

They do mask the door panels but if you can remove the panels, head, parking, and tail lights they will appreciate it and your paint job will look much better.  By the way, remove your wiper arms!  I also removed the front and rear bumpers.

 

To echo what these guys said, they can do decent paint jobs, they just do lousy prep work. Remove as many parts as possible, and do as much sanding yourself as possible.   :thumbup:

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subscribed. I'll be in the same boat someday when i actually get around to rust repair. Toss up between doing it myself, getting maaco to do it, or spending the money at a real shop. My car will always be a driver, not a show peice so any can work. I just don't want ti to look like pootyhole

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Thanks for the tips. See The New Guy under project datto. You will see that the car is completely taken apart expect the suspension. Very little taping necessary.

 

Any thoughts on clear coat vs. No clear. Sounds like maaco uses a paint that has a clear in it.

 

Like I said, in my experience the MAACO "Integrated Clear Coat" sucks.  Go to One Day and splurge on the polyurethane.  It gleams like you would want it to.  Your factory paint job was Acrylic Enamel which is compatible with and it will bond to and form a good coat with the polyurethane.

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I can put in some input here ,cheap clear is just that , good clear cost 200-300 per gallon ,and as much as I want to thin 10-20 percent to make spray out lay better , lately trying to barely thin 10 percent ,because it has UV protection built in that fights clear peel , but if you live in inland empire and gets really hot and you have no garage in may still screw up in a couple years , I had to repaint Zerows car due to clear peel on roof and hood . With single stage paint also can be too cheap or spend a little more for quality paint .CLEAR IS BETTER !

I have my own spray booth I need to spend a little moron to get up and running .Soon....

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Hosestop,

 

Get that spray booth fixed up!  I'll be your test project!

 

As soon as I get my fenders (they are on order) I will start looking around.  The closest 1-day to me (san bernardino) is closed down but I there are a few others.  I'll take a day and visit a few armed with the info you guys have provided me and report back.

 

datsun2282014019_zps90524aa3.jpg

That's Isuzu Pacific Blue which is a Isuzu factory color.  I'm assuming they can match it.  I guess i can always call the guy that sprayed it for me and get the paint code.  Dude does great work, but I can't afford him right now.

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I did a Maaco job once. Wasn't pissed, but wasn't happy. Did the door jams, they killed my door seals by closing it on wet paint slightly. The rubber stuck to paint and tore. The skin was orange peeled, which is a huge problem with fast dry services. And there was some overspray on undercarriage and strut towers. Even a tire. I got Acrylic Enamel, which they did not want to do, but did. Got three coats of clear. I wish I got a couple more so I could cut it well. And I pulled all trim and taped the door handles because I had to leave them on for them. As well I sanded the entire car, and did all bodywork before I brought it in. Still paid north of $1000. I did interview the manager, and talked with the technician that would be spraying the car. It has held up quite well for 8 years. But I regret not doing it myself. They didn't spray epoxy primer, which I really should have used. I would have. If you end up with a bill for $400, you have not paid for a paint job. I would never expect satisfaction for $400, unless you drive south long enough that $400 is worth a couple grand.

 

I guess what I'm saying is, if your budget is $400, you should save up a little longer. And if you can buy a middle grade gun, and rent a good compressor, have a go at it yourself. I'd spray a single stage. You can sand it to fix your runs and fisheyes. Re spray spots etc. then if the shine is not deep enough, you can still lay clear over it.

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One thing to consider. The time spent with your boys. No matter the quality of the paint job, it will be in a high school parking lot. It's easy to get caught up in all the fussy stuff. I find myself over thinking a lot of my build. It gets over whelming.

 

If you can take the car in pieces with out having them kick you out, I would try that. You have already sanded the panels many times and know the routine. Pay for added coats of clear and do your own colors and and polish at home. Lots of satisfaction in doing it your self. Keep in mind it takes longer and will not likely be perfect. That said..... Family project..... Your car, your way. Memories forever.

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Dan The Man,

 

How the hell are you?

 

You are right, and that's why we are not going to spend 4- 6 grand on paint.  We too have over thought this project but have come to realize that it is not a "show car"  its a fun project and will be a daily driver.

 

P.S. I think we picked out a vinyl for those seats.  we will be cutting door panels this weekend and covering them next week.  I'll post a few pics once we get the vinyl. 

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Ok you can prep the car better than a cheap paint place , so why not spend a little more on paint ! all I am saying is I can buy a kit of cheap single stage make a gallon total 110 bucks .(I prefer quality paint)

Or buy a better quality single stage gallon for 160-200 depends on color ,when hardener added and thinned makes 1.75 gallons .

takes less than one gallon to paint car and you have extra paint incase of small stuff that happens later.

Macco and one day paint is lesser quality paint usually .

Doing such a nice job ,prep it and mask up ,and pay a shop to paint it maybe 400-500 for a shop to spray it.250 for paint ect . May be find a local paint store and get quotes on paint !

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in the topic of spraying your own car, whats a "decent" mid-grade gun to get?

 

pretty easy to assume harborfriend is junk, craftsman probably too, what about the napa ones, what to use? what features to look for?

or is a spray gun something thats pretty hard to mess up, and air condition / pressure / setup will have a bigger affect on it?

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Used to deal a lot with Maaco's around Washington for work and most could do an OK job but that didn't mean you would get an OK job.

They paid the crew pretty low wages so you had the kind of people that don't always show up for work so if the regular painter doesn't show up for work they would grab someone else and have them spray it. The shop managers would get in a rush to get their production numbers up, etc.

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in the topic of spraying your own car, whats a "decent" mid-grade gun to get?

 

pretty easy to assume harborfriend is junk, craftsman probably too, what about the napa ones, what to use?

 

In my (limited) experience, the Harbor Freight guns aren't bad, they just don't hold up to repeated use/abuse. But honestly they are cheap enough to almost be "disposable". They're just cheap Chinese copies of the good guns.

 

I'm about to try and paint my own car in the next few months and my plan was to buy a Harbor Freight gun and just toss it when I'm done.   :rofl:

 

As with basically all Harbor Freight tools, good for occasional use by a hobbyist, not good for repeated use by a shop. 

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I've never done it, but lots of folks are wrapping their cars these days.

 

Side note, talked to a buddy who runs a vinyl shop to get a quote for wrapping a 510 wagon. He said at "buddy" prices, it's $1800-2400 depending on what film you use (3M satin on the low end, 3M carbon on the high end). Can't imagine it would last as long as even a cheap spray job, though?

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