While its true that Macco doesn't do the greatest work. Yes a great paint job is hugely based on the prep work. With that said cheap paints do not mean a bad paint job. It has a lot to do with prep, cleanliness of the booth/gun/air supply, and if the surface is prepped correctly between each layer of base. Also if you are planning on painting black I would not suggest doing the body work yourself unless you have do it before. Black is not a color that is forgiving of flaws at all!

You can make "cheap" paint look great. Every paint job I do regradless of how flat the clear lays, I always hit it with 1000, 1200/1500, 2000, 3000 grit sandpapers. Then a good compound and polish. And I stick with PPG and Dupont paints...not cheap stuff by any means.

 

Macco here in Georgia painted a friend of mines Dodge Intrepid. He didn't want to spend a whole lot on the job, but went for the upgrade for a total bill of $1,200.00.

It looked pretty good when it first came out of the shop, but kind of had a dull look to it. Well two years later the roof looks like crap and the whole car is a lot duller.

My Silverado was painted by a local Chevy dealer. It was a simple base coat / clear coat. This paint was applied 12 years ago and still looks like it did after it was painted. Naturally there are some dings and small scratches on it now, but the paint is in great condition. I will add that the truck is garage kept as well as the rest of my fleet.

Total cost of the job>>>$2,400.00

So the bottom line is you get what you pay for.

 

Absolutely. If you take care of you paint to begin with it will last a very long time.

 

I'm going to go slightly off the topic of paint here for a second and address something that really caught my eye in your post.... rust. Now I don't know how bad it is or where it's at, but hear me out.

My first monte had some ridiculous rust in one spot right above the gas tank cover. I did some pretty crazy stupid things to get rid of the rust (circ saw-ing the entire piece of rust out ). I cut out all of the rust in that area, used liquid metal as a base, chicken wire in between that and a layer of bondo, sanded the living crap out of it, added another layer or two of bondo, sanded, etc etc, primed 2x and painted a few coats.

Problem 1: IT ALWAYS CAME BACK. I cut the stuff out of the car and it still came back. It looked fantastic until 5 months later when the northern climate got to it. The area I had worked on started bubbling up through the paint. It looked like the car had acne on it, is the best way to describe it. So I had to sand everything down, remove the paint, and re-do everything again.

Problem 2: It came back again. This time there was rust that was spreading. I'm certain I had cut it all out previously, but after it bubbled up the first time, it seemed to have created more rust (?!). Or maybe the car was just crappy.

Problem 3: The paint matched well - very well, I still have pics if ya like - but in the right light, of course, you could tell it had body work. And I got rid of that old monte before the bubbles could come back again.

Point is, I don't know how big your money tree is, but seriously think twice about bondo. ESPECIALLY SINCE YOUR MONTE IS BLACK. That will forever be noticeable to you and if you're getting a pro paint job... don't do it with any sign of rust cause it will spread and God forbid you come across the same problem I did, after you spend a G on paint.

If you can afford it, screw bondo and get a new panel where the rust is. It will save you so much trouble later.

 

Okay, so how do you find a good paint shop? I was planning on going to Maaco and getting the best they have, but it sounds like that's not the best idea. Where do I look? I have about $2,000 to spend. I'm getting my white '07 Monte painted red.

 

2000 will get you a decent paint job at a body shop. Just ask around, your family, friends, neighbors, SOMEONE you know has to have had body work done and they will be the best source to find good shops in your area. Also, online reviews will give you an idea on how satisfied customers were. Dont walk in and say, "hey ive got 2000 to spend". Tell them what you want and get an estimate first. Then decide whether its too much or not. If you dont need any body work done, just prepwork and paint, you shouldnt have a hard time finding someone to do the job for under 2000. BTW, in your other post you asked if you should have under the hood and decklid painted as well. The answer is yes, you want all the jambs painted to match the exterior or the job will look terrible.

 

Sorry to bring up my very OLD post, Anyway im gonna go and get it painted in may, The Car club i belong to has a few guys who do this kinda thing so im looking at 1000 bucks!! Of course il be doing alot of labour with them ( minus the painting)

For the small rust issue, its so minimal that i should not worry, How ever im going to go with a new piece of metal on the one spot just to be safe!

Im going to get it painted like big E's car. Il for sure post pics after!


Thanks for all your help!