I have seen a bunch of folks bitch about overspray on Maaco paint jobs here on the board and would like to give everyone a small piece of advice.
First of all, I don't care how much you spend at Maaco, they don't do premium paint jobs. I have many friends who own paint shops and they wont touch a complete car repaint for less than a couple of grand even for me. (I've known a couple of people I'm referring to for over a decade.) This isnt necessarily because of the price of materials (paint) but because of the emmense amount of prep work that goes into painting a car. I know, I used to paint cars to pay my way thru college. 15 years ago, a total repaint was over $1000. Prep work varies from just a little resurfacing and smoothing to the extreme like my Vette where I had too many layers of paint on my car and had to strip it down to the gelcoat.(raw fiberglass)
I know everyone here wants their car to look the best it can when you get it repainted so here are a couple of proactive steps you can take when you get your car repainted.
1) If you don't want it painted, remove it.
This includes mudflaps, trim pieces, license plates, mirrors, antenna caps or anything else that is easily removed with a screwdriver or 10 mm socket. I also suggest driving the car to Maaco and taking out every bulb housing on the car. This includes the front sidemarkers, the bumper turn signals AND the taillights. Believe me, when they see you doing this, they won't be mad. They will be glad for the help and they will see that you care how your car turns out and will be more careful when painting the rest.
2) If you don't want your moldings painted, mask them off yourself.
Believe me, no one else is going to take the time it takes to do this time intensive job like you will. Get some quality wide masking tape and a razor knife and do it the right way.
3) Expect overspray. Overspray is a fact of life when painting a car inexpensively.
Some paint techs can't properly feather and fade paint correctly, they have to paint an entire panel. Some guys are just better than others, The better guys don't shoot paint at Maaco.
Don't get mad when they paint your wheel wells. It is impossible to paint fenders on a car properly without overspraying into the fender wells. Most inexpensive shops put a cover over the tire but don't mask the fender wells. Fender well masking is time intensive and you wont get this service from many good shops. Wait for a couple of months for your paint to dry properly then mask the painted part of the fender that WAS supposed to be painted and then paint the inside wheel well black yourself. This is an easy task and does WONDERS for the look of your car. (I'm gonna do this today myself.) Most detailing shops do this when they clean your car. They do this after a good pressure washing of the fender wells themselves, not the rest of the car. (A bit more about pressure washing later.
Also, they do not rub out your car at Maaco after they paint it. Rubbing out paint or wet sanding your car is an extra expense that makes your car look even more shiny. They quoted me $400 to rub out my paint. I will eventually do this myself. (This involves using 1200+ grit sandpaper or a suitable rubbing compound to do proper clearcoat evening/leveling and can lead to damage if not done correctly.)
Finally, WAIT FOR THE PAINT ON YOUR CAR TO PROPERLY DRY BEFORE POWER WASHING OR WAXING YOUR CAR. A newly painted car will scratch when you wax it.
This takes at least 30 days for a paint job to cure, even if they bake the car. Sixty days is a better measure. I NEVER, NEVER, EVER power wash unless it is an EMERGENCY. An emergency to me is if I hit an animal and have to get the blood off of the car before it dries.
The absolute worst thing you can do to any paint job new or old is to take it to a $1.75 car wash and blast your paint with a power washer. Most of those places have at least 2000 psi of water pressure coming out of those hoses which will rip the paint off your car. The chemicals that they call soap contain extremely corrosive chemicals that will take the bugs, wax, and clearcoat right off your car starting right at the smallest rock chip or imperfection in your paint. One $1.75 pressure wash does HUNDREDS of dollars in immediate damage to your car. The only good time TO power wash your car is if you are trying to remove all of the old wax from your car before rewaxing or getting a repaint.
Ive used a 3500 psi pressure washer to actually strip the paint off of a car I was painting. If you don't believe me that a pressure washer is bad for your car, aim that sucker at your hand at the car wash for 5 seconds. (really DO NOT do this.) The water pressure will not only clean your hand, it will rip all of the skin and a few layers of flesh off of it and you will be on the way to the emergency room for surgery. A pressure washer on raw flesh is one of the more painful experiences Ive had in my life. I accidentally pressure washed my foot while wearing sandals while I was power washing a boat. My foot hurt for a couple of hours after just a second of close contact with the pressure washer nozzle.
Anyways, that about covers it. If you have any more questions about Maaco, please ask. I'd be more than happy to answer them. This is a recent pic of my car that is a 9 month old Maaco paint job. I didn't wax my car for 3 months and it really still looks good other than a couple of questionable areas where someone keyed my car and it wasn't repaired correctly. (my fault really, I should have known better.) Notice that my mouldings including the area between my front and back windows is painted. That is because I told them to paint everyting on the car except for the windows and the tires. That gave them more time to spend on other more important things like correctly painting the fenders and the hood.
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Originally Posted by lostforawhile
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