If you can do the body work yourself then you should be in good shape. I would look at some of their work though before I take it to them. Like I said before, every one of them is owned by different people. They're franchised out just like McDonalds and a lot of other restaurants.

 

If you have significant chips in the paint make sure you fill them (just touch-up with paint) before sanding and prepping. If you don't, they'll just shoot over them so you will still see them, as voids, in the paint. When mine was done the shop stripped the hood down to bare metal before re spraying it.

I do agree with SupplySgt though, each shop is going to be different so look at their work prior.

 

No.

Do it right.

 

This^^

 

This is why I said to check their work. I've seen people around here that charge way up there and don't do any better of a paint job than anyone else. How much you spend on a paint job is in no way an indication of what kind of results you're going to get. The guys that will probably do my 73 don't charge nearly as much but their work is better than half the shops around here. I don't care if it's Maaco or some big fancy shop with all the nice stuff or even some big name, if you don't check their work you're potentially wasting your money.

 

Maybe you could check some of the smaller shops in your area and get some quote's for the work you want done. You could get some of the worst area's done first and save parts that aren't as bad for later.

 

It has always been my experience that privately owned "mom & pop" type places do better work (here anyway) They have to worry about their reputation far more than a franchise. I also like supporting local business. I have a place down the road from me that does all my body work. He's a drunk and I have to remind him what I need done but it's always perfect lol Don't go Maaco!

 

Yea I'll check and see if there are any mom and pop shops like that around me. Does anyone here live in North Carolina and know of any?

 

Here's the problem with MAACO.

They advertise cheap paint jobs, and then people go in and want to pay that price. That price is just for them to pull your car into the paint booth, and spray it.

If you want the work done correctly, the car needs to be sanded down first, body filler and bondo and such needs to be applied to trouble areas. You need to cut out rust, or grind it down to bare metal where the rust no longer is. Then you need to sand and smooth everything out again. Then you have to tape off the whole car so you don't get proper overspray. THEN you can prime/paint/clear. Then after the car is painted, they will need to wetsand and fix the imperfections.

MAACO can do this, if you PAY for it. Getting it done correctly is the expensive part of a paint job. Not only that, but the higher priced paint shops and paint jobs, are typically using an OEM Spec paint as well.

Paint jobs are expensive, only because they are so labor intensive.

This is no different than going to an AAMCO to get your transmission fixed, or a jiffy lube to get your oil changed. They are large corporations that sell people the right to open a shop with their products and name on the building. That means, you are usually getting some subpar parts and supplies from large manufacturers to keep costs down.

How the shop is run can be different between each one, but the quality of parts used are typically the same.

 

Mom and Pop shops arnt always the best ive seen a few get good rep than start to cut corners so they can pocket more money and sence there rep was so good no one says anything