Paintjob time - any advice?, Getting a Maaco job Options

[GriffGirl]

Okay, so here's the deal– my hood is badly faded and the bumper has mad rock chips. Someone opened up a Maaco not too far from me and is having a special on their "Supreme" Paint Service, so I'm going to take advantage of it and have my car painted. I'm keeping it silver, but am changing the silver from Alpine Silver (Maaco calls it Silver Metallic) to a silver that's a tad darker and has more metallic flake in it. I can't remember the name of the color.

I know there are things to be aware of, such as removing whatever I want removed and not taped off, etc. I figure a moderately sh1tty paint job will look better than the way my paint looks now. The guy @ Maaco warned me that with a single-stage paint, there's a greater chance of flaws. When I asked "like what" he said there could be some orange peel, even some dirt. DIRT!? WTF? I'm not expecting a $2k paint job for what I'm paying here, but dirt!?

Lastly, I have a crack in my bumper. Maaco wants $180 to repair it. If I had the $180 to repair it I'd just replace the whole bumper. (anyone in the PNW have a bumper for me! ) So I'll repair it myself. I know it won't be top notch, but I can do the best I can with whatever guidance you 6GCers might have to offer me! Current photo of the crack can be taken/posted if that would help.

What prep work can I do myself? What things can I do before hand to get the most out of the Maaco job? What can I do once I get the car back from being painted, to "help it along" and make it look as good as possible?

[rj8807]

dont go to maaco.

EDIT: let me refrase that so i dont affend. The maaco had horrible service, and equally horrible outcome on the car.

-many things promised on the estimate, were not done.
-overspray in the most unacceptable places
-body work that we told to leave alone specifically (and they agreed on), was done anyway and was charged to the bill.
-called me saying that there was a "dent" in the fender I gave them so they could replace the bad one. Cost me extra $75 to fix


As for (in detail) untouched work:
-hood, and sidemirros were SPRAYED OVER as in, never even prepped. Still many chips and imperfections in paint that were there before the work was done
-roof was to be stripped and redone, but that never happend. When i recieved the car, the dents and ripples still remained on the roof. It was WRITTEN on the estimate that they would fix it. Then they say we can redo it, for $900.


Over spray spots:
-constantly on the exterior window trim
-on AC condensor and elsewhere behind front bumper (so behind the bumper almost looks color matched. yea, its that much)
-On the rear passenger side WINDOW. ON THE FREAKING WINDOW. It looks like glitter. Litterally. That never came up.

So just for the record, I am aware that the Maaco i went to was obviously total Sh!t and the Maaco near your area may be a decent place. I'm just sharing my experience.

The only reason why i didn't get all that fixed is because I got the car for $800, in perfect running condish, and it still (somehow) looks 10x better then what the car looked like when i got it.


/rant

This post has been edited by rj8807: Jun 17, 2009 - 8:13 PM