80 back from the cheap Maaco paint job…

[Tim Herald]

Picked the ‘92 up today from Maaco. This thing is my hunting rig, never gonna be a show piece but the silver paint had really oxidized and was rough. Had some rust patched up and needed a cheap paint job. Got a local quote for a liner type job and it was $9800. Nope.

So I got the 30% off coupon from Maaco a while back and decided to try it. Basically a shiny rust preventative in a color I wanted, didn’t expect it to be a fantastic paint job.

I went with their medium tier that has a 4 year warranty- their top only has 5 but was about double the price.

I ended up going with NATO green, and am pretty pleased with the color. It’s olive in the bright sun, and a nice drab military green in shade. I think with black trim and accents, it turned out pretty good.

It is a cheap paint job and there are some things not perfect. One of my front bumper corners, they didn’t bolt back and didn’t leave the screws for me, so I have to deal with that. The worst thing is that I drove 2.5 hours home and stupidly assumed they had left my license plate and frame in the back, and when I went to put it on, it was nowhere to be found. I called about 4pm and the guy I worked with had no clue but was checking with the paint and body guys. No one called back by 5, so I am hoping they find it and I can get them to FedEx it tomorrow. If not, it’s a major mess to get a replacement. This is a major mess up on their part.

I had removed the bumpers and grille, and hood squirters. Had them yank off the roof rack. They put in new OEM flare gaskets .

The rest I just let them tape off. Every extra thing with them costs, so it can add up fast, and again it’s a beater. I didn’t do door jams and all that. It’s an outside spray.

Will see how it holds up, but definitely would do it again for the money. It looks tons better.

I’ll post some photos below of before as well. I know some folks had asked me to post when I got it back. So…

 

[Tim Herald]

Couple more

 

[brooklynbenny]

looks great

 

[Tim Herald]

Before - but wet so looks better than it was.

 

[LongDuck]

Shiny! So, you gonna make us wait...? How much was it?

 

[Tim Herald]

Shiny! So, you gonna make us wait...? How much was it?

The paint job was just over $1500 including a $400 SUV up charge and $90 color change cost. I did their second tier paint package with 30% off. With the sanding the oxidized areas, dealing with roof rack and a few other things it was about $550, so total bill $2100.

 

[cts]

It looks great for what you paid. You definitely seem to have gotten your money's worth.

 

[pavell]

Agreed can’t beat that for the money

 

[COS80]

Great color, but too shiny. It'd be fantastic in matte.

 

[xeuxaz]

Awesome for that price!!

 

[Kernal]

Did the shop remove the fender flares and replace them for that price or did you do that? Same question for the door handles, grill, headlamps, tail lamps, side marker lamps, etc?

 

[Tim Herald]

Great color, but too shiny. It'd be fantastic in matte.

Agree but they don’t do matte

 

[Land Shark]

Looks fantastic for that price!!!

 

[COS80]

Agree but they don’t do matte

I know, just sayin'. It looks great.

 

[Brindleboxer]

Tim,

Glad it worked out for you and the color is a great choice. I was about to say have them also look for the rear wiper but I noticed it wasn't there in your pre paint pictures so...

Also, stickers on a less than week old paint job, dang someone wanted to represent really fast.

I am still working with my local shop as they will only honor the 30% for the materials and no labor. I also need to make time to remove a lot of exterior pieces before setting the appointment.

 

[Broski]

They have be around a long time !
When I was a kid I had them paint my first car.
I removed everything myself and sanded it.
The paint job came out really good.
If you spray cars every day you can’t help but get good at it.
Most of the money is in the prep, do that yourself and get a decent paint job for the money!
I just checked and there’s one a hr. From me

 

[bhsdriller]

How long did they have it for

 

[Tim Herald]

Tim,

Glad it worked out for you and the color is a great choice. I was about to say have them also look for the rear wiper but I noticed it wasn't there in your pre paint pictures so...

Also, stickers on a less than week old paint job, dang someone wanted to represent really fast.

I am still working with my local shop as they will only honor the 30% for the materials and no labor. I also need to make time to remove a lot of exterior pieces before setting the appointment.

I took rear wiper off. It’s back on.
And found license plate inside passenger side rear cargo side trim when I removed it to replace one of my back window louvers.

 

[Tim Herald]

How long did they have it for

Would have taken a week but had to wait on OEM flare gaskets. So it took about 2 weeks but literally half was waiting in the gaskets. I thought they would use generic and he recommended I order the OEM or they would be crap.

 

[jeremy j]

Looks great! Where are you guys getting these 30% off coupons??

I had Maaco paint a Mitsubishi Eclipse in the 90s. If I recall it was $300. It looked great but faded pretty fast. Maybe 2 years and it started looking almost flat. I must say that I did NOT take care of it though. Never waxed and parked it outside in the sun.

I might have to take my 80 for one of these. It was changed from OEM 6M1 to gold. I assume it was a maaco job because it is flaking and looking pretty rough. They didn't use OEM fender flare gaskets either. They did do all the door jams and everything. You can't really tell it was green unless you look. I'd love to go back to green and for $2500, it would be worth it.