black paint job for gray accord

[hondaaccord_86]

Hey everyone,
I'm looking around for a paint job right now. I went to three shops and got a quote from them. One said, $2500, $2000, and $1600. I want to get black, because the gray isn't looking so great and thought my car would look better. Anyone know if places like Maacco? do a good job? I'm not sure I want to pay that much for a paint job. Any tips and pointers?

-ed


btw, if i get the rubber part that goes around the car painted, will that last long and stay painted? :huh:

[meohmy01]

maaco paint isn't that bad. it isn't great in any respect. it fades and stuff like. i got my 94 accord painted there, black, and it came out pretty good. no one thinks it's a maaco job. but it is starting to fade. if you do all of the prep work and sand the car it shouldn't come out to bad.

[MrBen]

If you keep it waxed with silicone wax it'll last much longer.

[Grant2k]

i have heard that if you prep the car correctly yourself and spend time on it and then don't get the cheapest that Macoo has to offer their paint jobs will be respectable also. as for the rubber i would think that as long as it's properly primed and prepped it would come out fine. a lot of people have that painted and they look good.

[meohmy01]

yea i did all the prep work myself and it came out decent. i got the mid grade paint. it was like 499 plus 50 to paint the wing separate. of course black is a really revealing color so if you are going 5to prep it yourself do a good job.

[danronian]

I just got my chevelle done at Maaco last year, did all the prep myself, picked a nice metallic color with a integrated clearcoat and it is actually show quality. Not one person that has seen the car has ever said that it looks like a Maaco job. Just spend lots of time on the prep, block sanding, and most importantly the cleaning and de-dusting, thats the one thing they screwed up, they didnt blow out the one place and dirt was everywhere but they willingly repainted the whole car so no complaints from me. I would use Maaco again.

[meohmy01]

i got the integrated clear coat again. there are some spider cracks on the rear bumper under that light and some bubles on the quarter but that's most likely due to rust formation. anyone know how much it would be to touch that up after repairing it?

[danronian]

The spider cracks are most likely due to flexing of the bumper plastic which cracked the hard paint, the same thing happened when I put a new bumper on my chevelle but luckly the bumper covered it. The spider cracks will have to be sanded down through all layers of paint or will always come back, I also made that mistake(oh well). If you took it back to Maaco, did the prep and taping and had it just ready for them to spray it probably would be less then $200.

[meohmy01]

that's cool. i will just grind down through previous body filler with my air tools and fill it up. id weld in a new pannel but im not good with that shit.

[SiR]

My car had the gray paint you have now. I had it painted over 4 years ago. Since i didnt car about painting the underside of the panels like under the hood, I just painted the outershell black. You can't really tell unless your making you car for shows. Save some money that way, dark grey and black is close enough for me. It cost me $1200 with also taking car of little rust on the bottom trunk latch and the passanger side lower windsheild.

[xbi0s]

I always kinda laughed at Maaco but saw some of their work and it wasnt that bad....

Sounds like my paint job :)

[hondaaccord_86]

Well, sorting out my choices, I'm going to stick with MAACO. There isn't one close to me, but I found one about 20mins away but the drive isn't that bad. If I get the rubber painted, should I sand it a little? prime if myself? just leave it? Plus, what kind of preparation would I have to do? If I remove the tails, I'm going to have to drive there... so should I just prep in the parking lot? err... yea. Thanks everyone!
-ed

[Grant2k]

haha, 20 minutes isn't near you? i have to drive at least 15 to go anywhere.

i would prep everything possible at home, and leave the least for the parking lot. cover the lights and windows i guess in the parking lot. i've heard of people doing it.

[danronian]

I would take out the lights and anything you can in the parking lot. If it werent for the dirt that came out from things that I should have taken off, my Maaco paint job would be dirt free. Yeah I wish 20 mintues was far for me, it takes me that long to drive to school!

[buzzbomber88lx]

Black is the hardest color to paint a car because it shows all of the dents and everything. Usually it doesnt turn out that good. I'll give props if it turns out good. good luck!

[StonedCold]

Maaco sucks, they wont prep the car unless you pay them like a normal body shop. Most of the guys are sub par body guys who are working their way up in the corporate ladder. They spend no time prepping the car because time = money and prepping = lots of time. If you can prep it and mask it, then they can spray it, and overspray it, and even use cheap paint. You even have to ask them to do any of the above, they do it on their own :D

[meohmy01]

well that is why it is so cheap. i think everyone knows that. they will tape the car off and won't do the best job but for the money you can't beat it. not unless you know a body man. as far as im concerned a daily driven 3 gee is not worth a 3000 dollar paint job. (just in my opinion don't hate me)

[hondaaccord_86]

Hey guys, I'm back with more questions. :lol
Which paint package do you guys recommend? I stopped by and got a quote for the Superior Package, which is the middle package. The total with prep, and painted mirrors and moldings (the rubber part that goes around the car), and under the hood, trunk and a little part of the inside of the door, would be $714 bucks. I could most likely get it for $700 if I pay cash. Good price? Plus, would the paint look thick afterwards? Its kind of hard to explain but I just want to make sure that the job looks good up close and not just far away.
-ed

[StonedCold]

We arent psychic. Ask to see the other peoples cars. Maaco is a franchise and varies from store to store, not ever painter paints the same. Ask to see some of their completed cars, figure out the warranty and then see whats up..we arent much help at this point.

[meohmy01]

well when i got mine done i got the value prep package (i didn't trust them so i prepped everything first) with the uv stuff and it was 540 dollars because they had to paint the wing separate. i did black so there are a couple inperfections that show through but since i did the body work that's my fault. they just painted my mirrors and modings but i think they were painted the body color stock. the only thing that they didn't paint (this confuses me because parts of it were repaired and primed) were the factory gorund effects. the paint was very deep and looked almost factory. i didn't do the door jams or anything since it was black before and i just had it redone. im not sure how shiny it is now since i haven't been able to keep it clean since it has been a rough winter. i should be able to bring it back to life.

[HondaBoy]

ah, the delima of paint. lol. ok well my advise is dont skimp on the paint job!!! i know peeps that did that and it wasnt worth a shit. i ahve seen more problems with macco. they realy dont do good prep work. and their finish isnt good either. many times they wont take things like the black trim and those rock gaurds in front of the doors off. they will just paint right over and not anything under it!!! and more than enough people told me of their problems with overspray of paint on windows, headlights and tails lights, and even their expensive wheels. i gotta say, uhuh. dont get macco. they suck ass. if u can talk those other places down to around $1500. that should get u a nice paint job. actually more than nice. hope u can get a good deal and nice new looking paint.

[meohmy01]

like i've been saying. do all of the prep work yourself and just have them spray it. if you maintain the paint regularly it should last a resonable amount of time. you can't expect to pay 500 bucks for a paint job and then expect them to take hours preping the vehicle. time is money.

[buzzbomber88lx]

i suggest painting it yourself. go to oriellys and buy a hvlp paint gun. go on ebay and buy the paint(really cheap) and buy primer, reducer, and hardener. You probably already have an air compressor. Get some tape, sandpaper, crap like that. and maybe buy some clearcoat. if you do it right and take your time it will look way good. and you can tell everyone you did it and you have braggin rights bro. my bro painted his 84 capri orange and it looks really good. it was done with a devilbiss gun, paint off of ebay, primer, hardener, and reducer from napa. He painted it himself for like a total of $100. not bad. he didnt clearcoat it though but it still looks damn good!
-Ryan

[meohmy01]

what does the hardener and reducer do? im considering painting my 3 gee myself. if i can find that pewter color i like so much

[danronian]

I agree and disagree, Maaco is about more jobs the more money and time is money, but they also need to keep a name and satisfy their customers, for instance if you dont try to bid them real far down, and they screw the job up, they probably will fix it. And dont pay for the prep, I paid over $200 for them to prep it and they didnt even hit the car with a piece of sand paper since they figured I did enough sanding on it, and if you want to make black look good, just block sand forever. First clean the car with degrease and stuff, scuff it pretty good, strip the cracked paint, block sand, spray a primer guide coat and block sand some more and it will look very straight and not wavey. Also about them painting over things, they told me straight up, "if you dont want it painted or oversprayed, take it off, because we either paint it or tape over it." So dont trust them to take off anything because they wont. If its not getting painted take it off because anything that is there will just trap dust and dirt that will get on the paint. Also about the paint types, talk to them about the quality of paint, the one i went to used a type of DuPont paint that a expensive body shop in town used to fix new cars. And dont get the integrated clear, get the full clear and base coat, it will fade the least. As HondaBoy said, I also tried to go to high priced places for my chevelle before going to Maaco and even through a friend the cheapest price I could get for a high quality job was $800 if I did everything myself and just took it there at the end of the day and they just sprayed it so it would be out of the place by morning, I would go with Maaco again.

[hondaaccord_86]

well... since my car is gray, should i just sand down to the primer? this will mean that i would have to sand down the entire car, which isn't a problem but just want to make my "paint job experience" is easy as possible.

[danronian]

Well first talk to the shop that you are going to take it to and see what they recommend. Since you are going to get it primed then painted it wont matter if the color underneath is different. Just make sure you block sand alot, it will make it look like a really good job if you do. 2nd thoroghly search the car for any cracked paint(sun damage mainly), if there is any sand them completely out or they will come through the new paint in about a month. After that you just want all the paint edges to be un-noticable and you should be fine. Just to make sure you dont forget any steps, you should go to a book store and buy a book on car painting, this step really helped me out for my body work on the chevelle. It also allows you to understand the painting process much more easily. For a at most $20 investment it will pay itself off for sure.