Fellow Scions,
Having seen the thread regarding Maaco I would like to add my experience.
During my restoration of my 80LE I checked with many body shops regarding
painting. After hearing price quotes of upwards of $1,200-$2,000 I decided to
check out Maaco. Fully aware that Maaco is barely one step above Earl Scheib I
received a reasonable quote (less than $500) for painting and some minor body
repair.
I towed the car over to the shop sans everything on the exterior and interior,
except for the steering wheel. I had primered the entire car myself and they
also primered the areas where they had done some body work. They shot the car
on a Thursday and I looked at it on Friday and was grossly disappointed.
Moving the car around in the shop they had nicked the paint and the finish was
just not acceptable. I talked to the shop manager and he agreed that they had
damaged the paint and would shoot the car again. He also suggested that if I
wanted, I could come to the shop on Saturday and wet sand the car. Needless to
say I was there when they opened up on Saturday. He handed me a handful of
some fine grit wet sandpaper, a bucket of water, and a 5 minute class on wet
sanding a car. Three hours later the car felt like glass.
They shot the car on Monday and the difference in appearance was like night and
day. The finish was flawless, it looked at least three times as thick and the
color was even deeper.
When I do my next car (when I find my GT) I will definitely talk/work with a
shop owner who will allow me to wet sand a car between shootings. Shooting a
car is not that expensive. The taping, sanding, removing of bumpers, door
handles etc. is where the cost increases. Needless to say bodywork in general
is extremely expensive. I have found to replace a fender is more cost
effective than trying to repair it, and you don't end up with bondo.
As was previously stated Maaco shops are franchised outfits, there are good
ones and bad ones. The standard paint job at Maaco costs less than $200, if
you can talk the shop owner into shooting your car twice for $300-400 I can
guarantee you will not be disappointed with the results, assuming the body is
sound, and you do a little prep work.
I have no interest in Maaco yada, yada, yada, yada,.....................
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>From Bill Schleusner
Texas Instruments Incorporated
b-schleusner@ti.com
972-917-6920
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