Are Maaco paint jobs, total crap?
- Thread starter Tim Herald
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #22
Did you do all the prep?
I just removed the bumpers and they did most of the job.
- Thread starter
- #24
Very helpfulTim,
I actually just got the same coupon sent to me and went to a local shop that I have heard people had good experiences but like others have said I do not expect them to do miracles. I plan to prep as much as possible (e.g., remove bumpers. lights, grill, door trim, etc.).
Main goal is to get it presentable again and on a slightly lesser level to preempt a fine from my HoA. The clear coat is basically gone over much of the hood and the DS fender. Side note, I will never willingly choose a home with an HoA as they can be good or plain tyrants depending on mood and personality.
The quote they provided was roughly $3200 with the discount. To note, the 30% discount only applies to the paint package and not any labor or add on charges.
What I asked for that increased the price:
1. I chose the top line package and required the paint to match the Toyota paint code not a generic maroon.
2. They are doing the R&R on the flares. Current color combo is the maroon over the charcoal. They will also get new weatherstrip for them and heck, if they break them the have to fix it.
3. They are also removing the luggage strips on the roof and treating a couple small areas of surface rust.
4. Back and forth about removing the rear deflector as they do not weld and not sure if I want the holes filled with body filler or not.
5. Also requested they pull the windshield and paint around the inner jams and then reinstall.
6. If I do not get to removing all the current emblems then the quote covers that as well. I did not however have them quote to replace as I have "ideas" for replacement and/or alternatives.
It will also cost me another $300 to have a couple door dings and a small dent near the rear passenger taillight to be removed via PDR for a mobile vendor.
Understandably you travelling 2.5 hours will not allow you to safely do some of the prep but it is surprisingly easy to get a lot of the prep items off in a matter of an hour in the parking lot. Easy things would be: wipers, grill, squirters on the hood, front bumper, headlight surround and maybe pull some of the window trim but not sure (haven't done that yet). You could take off the rear deflector, grill, hood squirters, running boards, and the window trim and drive without impacting safety. Of course this is MO so it all up to you.If you decide to go the Maaco route, post up and let us know your experience.
How much
Just under $2,500. I pulled the flairs off and they painted and reinstalled all of them which I was a nice perk.
Thank you!
IMHO what could/should be done before any paint job:
IME it is worth the effort to have all the glass pulled before taking the vehicle to be painted, ie: set up an appt with an independent glass installer, preferably in the same city as the paint shop, have him remove at least the windshield, rear hatch glass, and quarter windows which are all known to develop rust under the gasket. Use new gaskets when reinstalling the glass.
IMHO also remove all the belt moldings and reinstall new moldings yourself. Same for the antenna (or delete the antenna).
Ditto with the door handles, IME most shops leave the doors handles installed which means the gasket for the handles is painted over so if you ever
have to replace a door handle in the future you have to cut/tear the paint around the handle and it will look like sheit.
Remove all lights/lamps, grill, and emblems of course.
Remove roof rack and strips, reattach if you want. Key purpose is to address any rust hiding underneath.
Remove running boards if you have them (paint separately if reinstalled)
Remove bumpers (front and rear components), ask shop to paint everything separately.
Remove rearview (side) mirrors.
Roof drip rail molding: IMHO remove them using TWO people at least as they are almost 10 FEET long and very thin stamped metal, so they will bend like a pretzel if you try to remove them yourself and if they kink (which it will) it may not reattach correctly when you go to reinstall it. Also, the inside (top) aspect of the drip rail has a layer of seam sealer (to seal the roof panel to the body) which often needs to be refreshed due to age/shrink cracking, if really bad it may need to be removed ie if rust has started under the seam sealer.
Definitely remove the Hatch dust/wind deflector and the mounts before the paint job, rust is notorious to start under those mounts. When reinstalling the deflector you can leave out the original (aftermarket) thin sheet of open cell foam that was placed between the mount and the body purely as a cosmetic gap filler IMO but ends up acting like a sponge soaking up water (rain, dew, etc). Or, replace that thin foam sheet with something like a hand cut sheet of ~1/32" (solid) rubber (or 3M double sided tape) if the gap bothers you.
Remove the fender flares and consider also removing the cowl panel and asking the shop to paint that separately with the fender flares. The wiper arms (front and rear) need to come off either way so at that point it's only a few screws to remove cowl panel which is known to rust on the underside. Painting it separately makes for a cleaner look in an area that you will notice everytime you walk up to the vehicle (same for the drip rail). Remove the rear wiper arm also, and if you wanted to go further remove the hatch lock assembly, might as well if you've gone this far.
And if the door openings are painted, remove the latch thingy for the door lock/latch. Consider also removing the door lock mechanism or at least pull/loosen those screws and replace them later with new.
If a doing a body color change, removing the hood, doors, hatch, and liftgate would be the preferred option IMHO and if you had Joe Rogan's money
remove the complete interior including the sill plates. And for the best look (body color change), remove the engine and everything in the engine bay and paint that also (probably cost a bit more than a MAACO job). Be sure to inspect the seam sealer on underside edge of the hood, known for rust (same as the lower doors behind the weatherstripping)
Order all rubber gaskets and weatherstrips ahead of time (doors, hood, rear hatch/tailgate, glass) before the job. IME, even on a Southern vehicle that's never seen salt, rust can be found under the large weatherstrip (on the pinch weld, similar to what can happen under the quarter panel gasket) that encircles the entire rear body opening (hatch/tailgate) so don't forget checking under that (and ordering a new one).
FWIW
IME it is worth the effort to have all the glass pulled before taking the vehicle to be painted, ie: set up an appt with an independent glass installer, preferably in the same city as the paint shop, have him remove at least the windshield, rear hatch glass, and quarter windows which are all known to develop rust under the gasket. Use new gaskets when reinstalling the glass.
IMHO also remove all the belt moldings and reinstall new moldings yourself. Same for the antenna (or delete the antenna).
Ditto with the door handles, IME most shops leave the doors handles installed which means the gasket for the handles is painted over so if you ever
have to replace a door handle in the future you have to cut/tear the paint around the handle and it will look like sheit.
Remove all lights/lamps, grill, and emblems of course.
Remove roof rack and strips, reattach if you want. Key purpose is to address any rust hiding underneath.
Remove running boards if you have them (paint separately if reinstalled)
Remove bumpers (front and rear components), ask shop to paint everything separately.
Remove rearview (side) mirrors.
Roof drip rail molding: IMHO remove them using TWO people at least as they are almost 10 FEET long and very thin stamped metal, so they will bend like a pretzel if you try to remove them yourself and if they kink (which it will) it may not reattach correctly when you go to reinstall it. Also, the inside (top) aspect of the drip rail has a layer of seam sealer (to seal the roof panel to the body) which often needs to be refreshed due to age/shrink cracking, if really bad it may need to be removed ie if rust has started under the seam sealer.
Definitely remove the Hatch dust/wind deflector and the mounts before the paint job, rust is notorious to start under those mounts. When reinstalling the deflector you can leave out the original (aftermarket) thin sheet of open cell foam that was placed between the mount and the body purely as a cosmetic gap filler IMO but ends up acting like a sponge soaking up water (rain, dew, etc). Or, replace that thin foam sheet with something like a hand cut sheet of ~1/32" (solid) rubber (or 3M double sided tape) if the gap bothers you.
Remove the fender flares and consider also removing the cowl panel and asking the shop to paint that separately with the fender flares. The wiper arms (front and rear) need to come off either way so at that point it's only a few screws to remove cowl panel which is known to rust on the underside. Painting it separately makes for a cleaner look in an area that you will notice everytime you walk up to the vehicle (same for the drip rail). Remove the rear wiper arm also, and if you wanted to go further remove the hatch lock assembly, might as well if you've gone this far.
And if the door openings are painted, remove the latch thingy for the door lock/latch. Consider also removing the door lock mechanism or at least pull/loosen those screws and replace them later with new.
If a doing a body color change, removing the hood, doors, hatch, and liftgate would be the preferred option IMHO and if you had Joe Rogan's money
remove the complete interior including the sill plates. And for the best look (body color change), remove the engine and everything in the engine bay and paint that also (probably cost a bit more than a MAACO job). Be sure to inspect the seam sealer on underside edge of the hood, known for rust (same as the lower doors behind the weatherstripping)
Order all rubber gaskets and weatherstrips ahead of time (doors, hood, rear hatch/tailgate, glass) before the job. IME, even on a Southern vehicle that's never seen salt, rust can be found under the large weatherstrip (on the pinch weld, similar to what can happen under the quarter panel gasket) that encircles the entire rear body opening (hatch/tailgate) so don't forget checking under that (and ordering a new one).
FWIW
Last edited:
I got a full respray in 2014 for $2300, and then had the hood repainted about a year ago for $800. Both times I did their top level two stage paint. Zero complaints. Here’s how it looks freshly washed after 12 years, tons of bushwhacking and average care.
Original paint
Fresh
Current status, still looks great from 20’ just battling some small clear coat failure in spots
Original paint
Fresh
Current status, still looks great from 20’ just battling some small clear coat failure in spots
- Thread starter
- #30
Looks great
- Thread starter
- #31
Well you guys sold me. Called and made an apt for next Wednesday. The shop closest to me gets really good reviews. I am going to take off all parts I can and rent a u-haul auto transporter and tow it up and leave it. I will likely go with their top tier 2 stage as mine is outside all the time. Right now my plan is to go with Porsche Black Olive 2A7. Have seen some pics of old defenders done in that color and it looks great with black accents.
COS80
SILVER Star
Superb color choice! That'll look amazing.
This is what I've ALWAYS heard about them for 25 years.
It was either "I got my kid's rust bucket painted pink for $99!" when they used to do that crap but the car was only $500 or if you wanted a half decent job you could pull all your trim and everything in your own garage, spend the 100 hours and do all the prep and drive it over there and let them spray it and actually get pretty much a real paint job for a deep discount but you were doing the heavy lifting.
98% of painting anything is the prep and you get what you pay for.
The paint job usually comes out decent but I have always been dissapointed by the longevity of the paint jobs.
It's a crap shoot...my buddys corolla started peeling after 6 yrs in CA heat.
MAACO and other shops offering quickie/cheapo paint jobs have to cut costs somewhere and the big ticket items are the amount and quality of the materials (primer, paint, clear coat, Hardeners, UV and Flexibility additives, --- ) and labor obviously. Cheap materials can run under $1000, top shelf materials can run well over $5000 (not including labor).
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
I've spent over 1000.00 to paint a f250 chassis with Dupont croma base coat clear coat.
- Thread starter
- #38
Well I dropped her off today. Holding my breath. They couldn’t color match the two colors I had picked, something about the Porsche color was a complex paint build. So I had to pick something from their samples which is a crap shoot looking at a 4” rectangle. I wanted to make sure it didn’t come out bright “grass” green so went with something I felt had more olive and gray tone. I guess we shall see.
Going from their mid level paint to the top was going to increase the price by about $1300 (which basically doubled the actual paint job cost as the mid level is the only one they were doing the 30% off in). So since this is a beater and probably doesn’t even deserve a paint job, I opted for the mid level though I went there intending on the upper level. It had a 4year warranty and the top was 5 years.
For reference it was $1200 +$90 for total color change- plus $400 for an SUV. So with the discount on the paint job it was $1330.
I opted for a few other things (namely cutting out a big rust area under left rear bumper cap and welding in a patch) , snorkel, roof rack, wiper squirters, fender flares removal and replacement (new flare gaskets) as major rain got me yesterday and I didn’t get all the stuff I planned off the truck. I took off the front bumper, grille, wipers, emblems, and some trim. You can easily go there and run up a big bill.
My truck is two tone silver and dark gray. There is a pretty good seam where they meet, and they wanted about $600 to sand all that away. I’ll live with the line (again a beater). If I had of had top tier done and everything I would have chosen to do- it would have been $6800 for a cut rate paint job. No thanks. Like someone said above- this is a change in color, glossy rust protectant, not a restoration.
I really hope the color comes out somewhat close to the rendering below, but who knows. I’ll report back hopefully the end of next week, good or bad.
Going from their mid level paint to the top was going to increase the price by about $1300 (which basically doubled the actual paint job cost as the mid level is the only one they were doing the 30% off in). So since this is a beater and probably doesn’t even deserve a paint job, I opted for the mid level though I went there intending on the upper level. It had a 4year warranty and the top was 5 years.
For reference it was $1200 +$90 for total color change- plus $400 for an SUV. So with the discount on the paint job it was $1330.
I opted for a few other things (namely cutting out a big rust area under left rear bumper cap and welding in a patch) , snorkel, roof rack, wiper squirters, fender flares removal and replacement (new flare gaskets) as major rain got me yesterday and I didn’t get all the stuff I planned off the truck. I took off the front bumper, grille, wipers, emblems, and some trim. You can easily go there and run up a big bill.
My truck is two tone silver and dark gray. There is a pretty good seam where they meet, and they wanted about $600 to sand all that away. I’ll live with the line (again a beater). If I had of had top tier done and everything I would have chosen to do- it would have been $6800 for a cut rate paint job. No thanks. Like someone said above- this is a change in color, glossy rust protectant, not a restoration.
I really hope the color comes out somewhat close to the rendering below, but who knows. I’ll report back hopefully the end of next week, good or bad.
COS80
SILVER Star
Good luck! Waiting on bodywork is always unnerving (at best).
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
Looking forward to the results.