So ive been looking around Sacramento for a decent place to get my Duster painted. I got it painted with single stage paint in 2002 for about $750 from what I thought was a respectable place. Well its now 2006 and the paint has been faded and oxidized for about 2-3 years now. So now im interested in two stage clear coat paint. The car is my daily driver and im a college student, so im on a budget and dont need a ridiculously good paint job.

Ive always heard about how Maaco is terrible. I guess its independantly owened, so its hard to say if the overall company is bad, or if a few bad apples have ruined it for the rest. A couple guys at my work have been telling me that Maaco does a good job on their premium paint jobs. For about $700 I can get a clear coat job that looks great. But they tell me that they dont really prep the car at all. Which ive looked up and it seems to be true.

Then I heard of Earl Scheib, which seems to have just about the same prices as Maaco. Does anyone know which of the two is better? Earl Scheib has a 6 year warranty on their clear coat job, which is very appealing. Its just hard to figure out which place is good or not. I mean you can drive there and look at the freshly painted cars, and they all look great. But its not like they have cars on display that they painted 5 years ago.

So what would be the best deal? Maaco's clear coat job or Earl Scheib? What if I did the prep work myself? I had to sand and fill the gutter over the drivers side with gutter sealer to keep the water from leaking into my car. Thats about the only prep work ive ever done. Would it be best to just take the car down to bare metal and then take it to them? I know that you kind of get what you pay for, but any kind of info or opinions would be appreciated.

Bingo. That said, I have nothing against low budget paint jobs.

You can get reasonable results from paint shops like that if you do a lot of the prep work yourself. Remove any and all chrome trim, bumpers, door handles, marker lights, grille, etc and most importantly, make sure it is as spotlessly clean as possible. I would not recommend sanding it down to bare metal, but it wouldn't hurt to go over the entire car with a extra-fine wet paper or steel wool, and point out any problem areas that you are concerned about to the painter - write a note or a mark of some sort directly on the spot(s) with a Sharpie pen.

I didn't know Earl Scheib was still in business! Maaco is big around here. I've seen some pretty decent Maaco jobs. The Maaco shops around here have some veteran guys spraying, though, as a lot of the smaller shops have gone under and gone to work for 'chain-store' shops like Maaco.

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Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Fords.

'64 Valiant 100 '66 Dodge A100

Let me start this by saying I work for Maaco. I take care of fleets in the Denver area. We do offer different paint qualities. All centers set their own prices so you will want to take the car to the shop for an accurate estimate. The more work you do your self the better the outcome. De-trim the car yourself. Take the windshield and back glass out if practicle. Maaco does nice body work, but make sure you and the estimator are on the same page when talking about how nice a job you want. I am pretty sure the shops in CA are all using Sherwin Williams paint (as we are). Great product. Let me know if I can help.
Slanted66

Let me start this by saying I work for Maaco. I take care of fleets in the Denver area. We do offer different paint qualities. All centers set their own prices so you will want to take the car to the shop for an accurate estimate. The more work you do your self the better the outcome. De-trim the car yourself. Take the windshield and back glass out if practicle. Maaco does nice body work, but make sure you and the estimator are on the same page when talking about how nice a job you want. I am pretty sure the shops in CA are all using Sherwin Williams paint (as we are). Great product. Let me know if I can help.
Slanted66

Allow me to make a suggestion for an alternative. How about painting the car yourself? Better yet, how about painting the car yourself for $75? Better still, how about painting the car yourself for $75 with a foam roller?

Seriously! Check out this link. Git to readin', boy!

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/sho ... art=1&vc=1

great link, this is just the kind of thing I need for my Duster! Definitely seems the way to go for a budget builder (mostly cuz it means more budget for the fun stuff like mo power!)...

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'72 Duster /6 auto
'77 4 door Volare /6 2 barrel auto {sold }

I've been following this thread and the original since the get-go (6 months ago, plus?). Even though the "creator" has a big-block Charger, it's slanter creativity at its best! I'm convinced, and plan to use this method in the next year. Even if it doesn't work, I have one of those cars whereby anything will be an improvement!

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vm

The foam roller Charger story has been making the rounds for quite a while now - may have reached "Legend" status by now. It was posted on my board almost a year ago. Don't bother trying to find the paint brand (Tremclad) he uses in the US, as it is basically the Canadian version of Rustoleum - A fact that is disclosed very deep into that thread.

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Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Fords.

'64 Valiant 100 '66 Dodge A100

Rollered Rustoleum works. I followed the Moparts thread, adapted to my own situation, and now enjoy the results.
No, it's not as good as "real" car paint, properly applied.
Yes, it looks better than some of the bargain paint chain jobs I've seen.
Yes, it was a lot of work - on my own schedule, at home, when I felt like working on it.
Color matching is an issue. I did a color change from the original chalky off-white, to "Gloss White". Now, I can match it at any Walmart.



I suppose I could have waited until I saved enough money for a basecoat/clearcoat job, even if I had buy guns to spray it at home. I'd still be waiting.

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"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO

Looks good, slantvaliant! I still have a lot of body work to do on my Dart, but this was my plan as well. My local Home Depot store doesn't carry Industrial Rustoleum in safety green, however, so I'd have to mail order it.

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'68 Dodge Dart 4dr Sedan