Paint Job...Opinions?

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Mr. STL

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Okay, so the title basically says it all.

By the end of this year i'm planning on getting a new paint job. Not a cheap $500 one. A real one from like Maaco or something like that.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I searched, but didn't come up with anything for entire car painting. My current color is a maroon red, the kind that RollinLS has...i'm sure most of you are familiar cause he's pretty popular around these forums. :cool:

I am just really tired of that color and it looks terrible. So many blemishes and imperfections that it would cost more to repair them all to make it look good again than just paint it a new color. So, basically I just want to know people's opinions...

If you want me to, i can post pictures of all that's wrong with the car's exterior, but i assure you it's nothing that can be removed with a good buffing and some scratchx.

I want to paint it black (if that matters at all). I've heard horror stories about the paint looking terrible, but i assume that's not from reputable places...

everyone that I talked to said that it's not a good idea to completely change colors and to just get the same color put on top of it again...and i just don't really like that color. I've always been a fan of black and i think the LS looks really really slick in black. I'm also planning on adding angel eyes sometime down the road and some new wheels...so i think black would complement that the best..

They all say that it's never going to look as good as the factory paint, which i can understand. But right now, the factory paint doesn't look all that amazing anyways..

So is it going to be REALLY bad? Or is it just not going to have that deep black shine like factory black cars? Or is it going to look like a factory paint job?

Even if you have not personally done this, feel free to comment cause I genuinely want some opinions of what people think and if it's a good idea. So just let me know!
 
Well really it all depends on how much money you want to spend! The amount of money you spend is going to go on how much of a prep job they do (what all they take off, how good they sand it, etc..), the quality of materials, and so on. You can get a paint job that looks as good as factory with the right amount of money. The key to changing the color of the car is taking off overlapping parts and painting underneath them so that it looks like a factory job. I like to take off everything that can be removed and that is where a shop is going to basically itemize you. They are going to have to paint all of the jams(door, trunk, hood), I would go as far as taking the carpet out of the trunk and painting inside the trunk and under neath the trunk lid and hood!!! That is just my opinion of a good job! But like I said it all depends on the amount of money you are willing to spend on how good your paint job will be. Maaco basically does "production shop" work! Basically they just do a high number of cheaper paint jobs and they achieve that bye not doing much prep and removing of parts. A "custom shop" will do all of the extensive prep work and parts removing, but therefore they do a lower amount of vehicles so their prices are more expensive. I hope you get an idea on what you want from my explanation! Good luck!!!
 
Remember there are three types of paint shops out there and they all specialize in different types of jobs.
1)"Collision shops" usually fix wrecks back to factory standards, alot of dealer shops are collision shops!!!
2)"Custom shops" do all of the custom paint jobs, color changes, custom body work etc...
3)"Production shop" Example-Maaco, Peach auto, etc.. They mainly do scuff and shoots where they tape off everything and scuff the car up and shoot it, minor body repair and cheap color changes!!
 
The fact that you said you are not wanting a 500 dollar paint job, and instead want something like maaco, makes me think you are in over your head.

You are either going to have to gradually strip the paint yourself and take it somewhere to be shot, or shell out big bucks for a nice job.
 
97SilverLSCcobra's explenation is dead on...Maaco is not that good. I plan on doing a paint job on mine when I do the LSE converstion but I will take mine to a custom body shop that I know of that do crazy jobs on lowriders imports stuff like that. People that know about custom paint & body work that you dont have to explain to on how good it should look.
 
97SilverLSCcobra said:
Yeah Andrizzle I was thinking the same thing thats why I stressed the points I did in my explanation! lol
Click to expand...

hey is that Huntsville, Alabama by any chance? i used to live in Decatur and Madison, and my cousin has a fastener business in Huntsville.
 
Mr. STL said:
If you want me to, i can post pictures of all that's wrong with the car's exterior, but i assure you it's nothing that can be removed with a good buffing and some scratchx.
Click to expand...

Pictures would be nice. I am a paint correction detailer. You'd be amazed at some of the defects that can be removed/diminished. The only thing is, the damages have to be in the clear coat only. I mean, you can touch up deeper scratches/paint chips rather easily too, but it is time consuming.

This is the last detail that I photographed. 2006 Impala SS. I turned this:

IMG_9265.jpg


IMG_9220-1.jpg


IMG_9240.jpg


Into this:

after 1 compounding step:
IMG_9242.jpg


50/50. left side corrected, right side untouched:
IMG_9246.jpg


Finals:
IMG_9285.jpg


IMG_9337.jpg


IMG_9455.jpg


IMG_9419.jpg
 
I was quoted $10K to repaint my (daughters) 2000 LS the same color.
 
WOW! That sounds like a lot. Is that what a paint job goes for or are they just crazy over priced?
 
I would imagine a decent paint job could be had for 5-6K. At least, that's what I would budget for.
 
1LoudLS said:
hey is that Huntsville, Alabama by any chance? i used to live in Decatur and Madison, and my cousin has a fastener business in Huntsville.
Click to expand...

Yeah that is Huntsville alabama!! What kind of fastener business? I am asking because I am currently trying to get the manifold bolts for my engine. I need to get all the original sizes and so on and have no clue on where to get them. Are you meaning fasteners like bolts and so on?
 
Well I just did a paint job on a '79 Chevrolet Silverado and it was for a good friend and I charged him $6,500. The body was pretty rough, no rust just dents. I did jams, underneath hood, engine bay, took doors apart and painted entire door(backside), plus I took the bed off and painted under it and the back of the cab. It was painted black so I had to do alot of body work on it. I could've gotten $10 grand out of that paint job if it was'nt for a friend. For what he had done and what he wanted done he was quoted over 10 grand. I just do alot of extra stuff when I do a paint job so that is why I have to charge what I do. I would'nt be making money for how slow of a process it is (waiting for material to dry before you can move to another step) if I charged what Maaco or Peach did for the stuff that I do!!!
 
that's the thing though. Maaco and peach don't do what you do. You get what you pay for.
 
Yeah I know Pektel it's just some people around here (where I live) don't get that very simple point. They see the commercial where they can get a paint job for $500 and think I shoul match that price! LMAO I always have to tell them that they are'nt getting a paint job for $500 not what I call a paint job anyways. They just don't have a clue about paint and body work to know the difference in a good paint job or a Maaco job! They just see some shiny paint on their car and don't care how smooth it is layed down on there!!! But oh well they get what they want and my customers get what they want!!! It is too hard to explain to someone that does'nt already know!!!
 
I have seen some good spot jobs come from Maaco but that is just a spot job on an original paint job, nothing custom!!!
 
KK is coming to Kc to do a few cars. I have a friend with a nice boat tail riveria. I told him KK's price to do the exterior [wich was a steal] and he laughed at me and said he could do it with the stuff from his work [oreilys]. Then I laughed at him.
 
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