i have a ding on my door and was quoted from a place in ny called maaco paint(not sure if national company) if anyone from around here has ever used, or if they are nationwide and anyone has ever used them for anythng period i was wondering about the quality of their work. i want a ding fixed but have sundance gold which i assume to be difficult to match etc especially since mines an 01 and im sure the paint has fadded over the years.

anyone had any positive or negative feedback from this company/??

i know a girl who has a first gen cl and said they didnt do a good job for her, wondering if its a fluke or if they are just not that great?(for what its worth guy at store seemed pretty knowledgable and spotted work allegedly done on my bumper{paint} that i didnt notice)

 

I had my first car (1987 cuttlass supreme) painted by the shop down here in Orlando Fl and the body work was crap and it started to rust through less than a year after the paint job. Also there were alot of mistakes made with the paint job itself. i also know people at my work who have had the same type of experience that I have had with MAACO. Basicly with them you get what you pay for.

 

Every MAACO is diffrent. It just depends on what guy is working on your car that day. If your willing to take the chance you might get a decent job

Personally I wouldn't take any vehicle there that I cared about.

 

if it's a winter beater, that one thing, but I don't think I'd want a $900 "special" on an CL...

 

"Manager's Special" FTW.

 

Maaco describes their paint jobs accordingly, they even have one that is for "Just want a repaint so you can sell it in the next couple of months" I wouldn't trust that place with my winter beater!

 

Yes, I would do it...

































On a civic beater

 

I read on honda-tech that if you prep the car it would turn out a lot better and if you give them specific instructions then it will be a fair paint job... DOn't quote me on that though.... A macco paint job is like coilover you would buy on ebay... It does the job but you really don't know for how long

 

don't forget, you better tape the car yourself. they will def. give you the true special. painted windows, headlights, taillights, and wheels/tires.

 

My father had his 82 Mustang GT painted there and they painted everything, i.e. key locks, window trim, etc. He also had to paint the door jams and under the hood himself. Not worth it IMHO.

 

dont do it..i got my old acura legend painted there just to sell it as someone else said..it rusted through within a month before it sold..i made them redo the paint for free and got the car sold but i would never in a million years consider going back there to get my car worked on.

the reason their work is so horrible is cuz they literally do not prep the car.. they dont even sand it all down and prime it.. dont even consider maaco, save up and go someplace worthwhile

 

I work for a body shop and have seen what other day painters can do to a vehicle. If you are looking to sell the car and the paint is bad then go for it. If not, and you actually pay attention to your vehicle and care for it then I would advise against it. They mask moldings and trim instead of removing it. You get what you pay for though so do what you like. As for a shop when we write sheets we detrim everything, Jam everything off the vehicle.. IE paint fender edges while the fender is off the vehicle. then attaching the fender and spraying the exposed surface with the vehicle.. There is a reason estimates cost so much, because there is a lot of time to paint a vehicle the right way to ensure it is done right.

Maybe if the car was older or something but, from the day paint shops I have seen having your window moldings with overspray, orange peel over everything because they don't even buff after they paint.... but hey. pay the $400 and you get some new color heh... Sorry I just have seen so many cars after and people not happy. Our shop won't even garuntee any paintwork less we completly strip down the previous paint work on cases like that.

One other thing. My brother had a 89 Thunderbird. The paint was all ecthed through the clear coat and spotty. He paid $400 and sold the car right after. Looked good from far, far from good. Kind of like going to a bar and seeing some hot girl till you go up to introduce yourself

 

Had an old 94 Prelude painted there, did all the prep sanding and rust repair myself but it still looked/felt pretty bad, There were alot of runs, overspray on everything and since it's a spray it and ship it kinda place they don't bake or cure the paint once it's sprayed, so you can't even wash the car for like 2 weeks and forget about waxing it. They basically tell you that after like 6 months you can buff it out with compound and get it to feel smooth but the car got sold before then so who knows.

Find a trusted body shop and become buddies with one of the painters, These guys will sometimes do jobs "on the side" for alot less than the shop usually charges, just have to throw in a 30 pack.

 

lol...if you're willing to risk a 200 dollar paint job on a 30k dollar car you're nuts.

Real paint jobs can cost anywhere between 3k on up to 6k for OEM repaint.

 

Call some local paintless dent removal places. You'd be shocked what these guys can take out.

 

i had a 98 cl before and went to maaco. got the whole car painted black with the premium paint. 1 year later it started to bubble and crack. Found out that they dont use a chemical in the paint that properly hardens the paint to the primer( causing bubbles and cracks= you comming back to get another paint job)STAY AWAY FROM MAACO!!!!go to a body shop. anytime you repaint something again just remember it will never look as good or last as long as the original paint job.

 

thanks to everyone who posted. it appears they are crap and i heard about a specialty guy last night from a buddy who does old hot rods and lots of really good body and paint work.

just a kwik question though, it may have been how i posted the orginal comment/question but i was just having a door ding removed. i wont go to maaco but do they need to paint the entire car to get it to match the door or can they just blend the ding with the rest of the door and body?
it is a ding the size of a nickel i woould say, does that require an enitre paint job on the whole body or can just the door be fixed?

thanks again for the comments. i guess maaco is pretty whack, no wonder the guy was tryignto get me to schedlue somehting on the spot.. good looking out acurazine!

 

A ding the size of a nickel? Any good dent place should be able to take that out
easily as long at the paint isn't broken. I've seen whole cars with hail damage the size of golf balls dents removed and couldn't even tell. One little nickel sized dent will cost you less than $100 no repainting necessary (again as long as the paint surface wasn't broken).

Good Luck!

 

if you have a ding get a as seen on TV $20 ding king dent kit from checker's auto an enjoy the weekend
..why spend $200 when $20 sounds so much sweeter for a ding

 

No need for any paint work & cheap enough to get it done. Find a dent removal guy. Look in the phone book. There are chain places all over like dent wizard or dent king, or something along those lines.

 

Umm......That thing is pure junk & doesn't work. I've tried it, as have others.

 

If you really love your car and all you have is minor damage you'd take your car straight to an Acura dealership approved autobody garage. It's all about preping the car right and matching the paint by the numbers on the door jam on the driver's side.

When my 1st gen CL got rear ended they simply replaced the entire bumper cover, preped the living shit out of it and painted it directly to specs. They did such a great job on the bumper cover it almost looked better than the rest of the car. Whole job for just $300 and done in three days.

 

I wouldn't want a spot job but it depends on the ding. Is it a deep ding like someone took a sharp object and poked your door or is it a blunt dent? It may be possible to have the dent removed without needing to paint the car. But oftentimes it depends on exactly how blunt the dent is. A sharp dent will require pulling out, which means bondo, primer, and paint - no big deal really. Any autobody man that's worth his salt will paint the entire door. That way you make sure that entire panel is solid and flawless like it just rolled off of the manufacturers line.

 

I just want to share my own MAACO story. Those people fucking suck I don't care what level of paint job you pay for - whether it's the El' Cheapo or the El' Presidente. The only difference between El Cheapo and El Presidente is the CLEAR COAT they apply (El Presidente), which, in my opinion, is worthless as hell if the PAINT JOB sucked ass to begin with.

My mom had MAACO paint her daily beater about 15 years ago. That garbage faded and cracked like Geronimo's face. The clear coat chipped off like potato chips and the paint faded all the way down to the sorry ass, cheap ass primer.

 

Bottom line for the OP's question... no paint work should be necessary.

I have to also say that not all Acura dealers have good body shops. The ones by me contract this out to the lowest bidder & they are not the best of quality. 4 different dealers!

 

(Thread digging)

Her is the story on Maaco. The company was started back in 1972 and filled a need for cheap cheap paintjobs. They and Earl Scheib both have done cheapo paint jobs for years. Known for cracking, peeling, fading, and lots of overspray.
4 years ago Maaco decided to stay current with the times, it wants all its franchinees to become a certified collision center. They now stress collision and spot repair capabilities for newer cars. Currently, Maaco is working to certify all of its franchise centers in collision and spot paint repairs to late-model vehicles. About 200 out of the 600 centers were certified as of June 2007, and Maaco expects the project to be completed in early 2008.

Many Maacos still do the crapo paintjobs of yester-year, but some are doing great collision repairs and overall paint. How do I know so much about this? Im a manager/estimator at a Maaco here in Ft Worth. My shop does about 70% collision repair and much of it is for the insurance companys. We are a Geico inspectuion center as well. We stand behind out work and back up our warranty, not all shops do. Collision repair work is factory new looking when complete and carries with it a lifetime warranty. A cheap ambassabor paintjob dor $350 is just that. A cheap ass paintjob I woulnt really want on my car, but is good for a cheapo car that needs some color. It will fade in a few years but wont chip or peel off.
Out basecoat/clearcoat paintjobs start at $1500 and is sweet. My Acura's pearl paint was done a year ago at my shop and looks great.

Anyway, the moral... be careful of the shop you goto, MANY out there are bad, not just Maacos. But not all Maacos are bad.

Hope this helps.

Our website where you can see pictures and status of all the cars we work on.
http://www.mcautobody.com/

 

u get wat u pay for with maaco.. they have levels of paint jobs that range from cheap to high quallity.. but they still suck... so dont even waste your time..

 

you're a manager, of course they aren't going to fuck your car up. i've personally never seen a good job come out of maaco.

 

For a ding (if no paint is missing)......try "Dry Ice"! The dry ice will make the metal expand, thus popping out the dent. Pretty interesting, at first I didnt believe this shit, but actually tried it on the back of my trunk, and POP, took it right out.

 

My father actually owned 3 Maaco's in NJ (Paterson, West Paterson and in Saddle Brook) and I can tell you from first hand experience, You don't want to take a nice unit their. Because all the paint jobs are the same, from Basic paint job to a Supreme paint job, its all the same. Even though we had some very good body men. The quality of work was horrible. Its because that is Maaco's standard. The Franchise itself has a chart you suppose to work off, on how much material goes on what type of damage. So even if the bodymen wanted to be at their best it was kind of hard because of the limitation put on them by the HIGHER HIGHER ups. Like they would come in an audit your work, and be like well if you had this many cars this month, and this was what was wrong with them, how come you only have this much "MATERIAL" left, from our calculations you should have this much left.

If that answers your question

 

u just lay the dry ice on top of the ding? couldn't the metal also expand in the opposite direction and make the ding worse?

Another ding question - I have one on my door right where the crease-line is that kind of runs through the handle down the side of the car. It's like a quarter size, not too deep but right on that line. Any chance this can be taken out by a paintless dent repair place?

 

Wow thats crazy. I have never heard of that before. That does wound like a crappy place to get a car done. No wonder the have been restructuring the whole company to retool for collision repairs.

 

i had an old maxima painted there. as said before, it depends on whos painting you car and how hungover he is. i got my key holes painted and a little overspray on the windshield wipers free of charge but that was it. the only real negative i have is the clear coat, which was mixed in with the paint when sprayed (im pretty sure) was going away and pretty much gone in some arears after about 2 years but compared to what the OE paint looked like at the time i was very satisfied. i wouldnt take anything that i really cared about there. oh yeah get your CD out of your headunit, they seemed to have borrowed mine

 

you mean shrink the metal?

 

hey PM and let me know where in upstate you are. i Live in albany and my brother has a body shop and im sure we can help you out. We do quality work mostly BMW Merc. Infinity etc.

 

My bad 01s.......your correct. But either way, it does the job for little dents.

 

I'd avoid MAACO like the plague. A few years ago my dad took his '68 Mustang GT to one of their shops in Bergen County just for a little touch up (idk what the hell he was thinking) and within months the paint scaled, flaked and chipped away, making it look even worse than before. Don't go cheap on paint.

 

Uh Oh better get MAACO!
Doing body work on a car by randomly going to any body shop is just wrong! You have to ask family and friends who used somebody that they could recommend. As someone else stated it is the actual person who does the work no the company so lets say you walk into a Maaco shop in Wyoming they have the best bodyman in the world and the worst all in the same shop! Unfortunately where you are located I cannot recommend anyone. GL