Hey so I hate to say it..I have no choice but to take my car to Maaco to get painted. Im gonna try to prep it this weekend, and I just wanted to know what kind of sand paper and primer i should use, and if those are really the only steps involved..Just sand and spray?

 

Is maaco your only choice? They suck! Prep depends on what condition it is in now. If its just a scratch and shoot then get yourself some 400 wet/dry paper and go out side with a water hose and sand it.

 

DO NOT prep the car yourself and have them paint it. if something goes wrong, they WILL blame it in YOUR prep work. and will not fix it. unless of course you pay them too...

 

Hmm really? I thought I pretty much had to prep it if I wanted to see half way decent results?..I heard they dont prep it or anything and thats why it was so cheap...

 

One of the major things that go wrong with their paint workis thier lack of prep work. The next thing being a poor quality of paint that they use.
They will leave the mirrors on and paint the black plastic spacer that is under them. They may leave you lights and plates on and tape them. They will have heavy paint build up on the windsheild molding and the door glass moldings. Most likely even have paint on those parts.
And they don't all stand behind their own work. I have an aunt that got her car painted at one of the "production" shops and it had a warenty. When she went to get the fade and the peeling paint taken care of they would only do itat a pro-rated cost. These franchised shops need to make a certain amount of money every day to keep the name. That is usualy a large amount so that is why they do it fast and poorly. And they don't like to do redo's for free.

 

Wow alright lol, that pretty much sucks..I guess I need to learn how to paint the car myself...

 

pretty much, that or take it to a GOOD place

 

If you paint yourself dont cheap out on the paint

 

How much does a place like Maaco cost? (We aints gots no nifty places like dat here in Syracuse...)
I had my car repainted by a guy I work with, in his barn. I did all the prep work myself, I just pray my pathetic bodywork holds!. His job is OK, some dust and runs, but the car is white so its very forgiving. After parts and labor I payed him about 700 bucks.

 

i checked them out once for giggles. their BEST work woulda cost me 1300 bucks..