Paint Jobs

Probably none.

Maaco used to advertise a paint job for $199 or so. Now, I it is probably $299.

Spend your time and money on books, not cars.

Jeff

I think you would be better off going to a local paint shop. The thing is you have to pay dearly for a good paint job. No one can do a decent job for three or four hundred dollars. I have painted several cars myself and have a real appreciation for the amount of labor involved in the preparation work. Find a good local guy and figure on at least $800. Good luck. jor

Welcome to the 1980's!!! ;)

$800?!?! Estimates for my Supra, complete with rust removal run $2700. If I do 80% of the rust work myself, and remove what needs to be removed before painting I can bang it down to $1500~1700.

I saw a guy who had his Lexus ES-300 painted by a local guy. The car had minimal rust; the price included rust removal, etc, and it came up to $2700.

I have to admit, it looked MINT! He definitely got his money's worth.

That's what I was going to say.

I have figured it would cost 1000 or more. At Maaco.com they talk about the different finishes they have.

Nah, I'll stick by the "at least $800" but 8 to 12 is probably more accurate. This price would NOT include any body work, no trim or hardware would be removed (masked instead), no interior painting (door jams and the color would remain the same. Of course, I live in Tucson, Arizona and we all work real cheap here! jor

Dude, I'm there!!! Make a room for me! ;)

Here are the prices on Maaco.com

Avoid $200-300 paint jobs unless you bring in the car all prepped, in which case you can get the equivalent of a $2000 finish. Some independent shops will do this as well.

Look for certification by a paint manufacturer like PPG or DuPont.

you get it here, and I'll paint it, and I will give you a BETTER paint job then Maaco or Earl Scheib, or double your money back!*

(*for the cost of the paint. I get my paint at a discount, so I'll still walk away with ~$350...)

After following the link to Maaco, I can offer this guarantee. I don't know if it's a fault of my Linux browser, but I couldn't access prices. All I could get was (Under $1000------------------->Over $1000)

Their next to the top paint job was Urethane. I painted my Tercel with Urethane, bright yellow with a hint of pearl, and a pearl clearcoat. Total cost was just under $600. A guy I knew whos' family ownes one of the biggest body shops in Mass looked at it and said, "YOU did that?!?!" Yup.

Urethane is Old Technology, it was the Latest and Greatest in 1977 and was EXPENSIVE!!! (Check out Imron...). The gallon I used on my car was an off the rack color I modified; the gallon price was $65, and I still have over a third of a gallon left.

After you spray the car you let the paint fully harden (a few weeks in the summer, a few months any other time) and wet-sand with 1500 grit paper, keeping the surface nice and wet, and you'll get as good a gloss or better than you would with anything else, including lacquer (now illegal because of the VOC rules) or even Base Coat/Clear Coat. I think the finish is more durable than anything else, too...

And if I paid $65 a gallon, they do the same thing I did: they buy the Off The Rack colors and then add tints, etc to match colors. But since they buy the stuff in lots of 55 gallon drums, I can guarantee they pay a LOT less then $65 a gallon!!!