Does anyone have any knowledge of paint jobs?

1. can you get a decent job done for less than $800?
2. what sort of prepping (buffing/primering) usually needs be done?
3. any knowledge of maaco in general?

THANKS!

 

A $800 paint job at Maaco is worth it with a few conditions. First of all I recommend you take off whatever you can from the car that will not be painted (trim, lights, mud flaps, fender ligners, and whatever else you can take off). Why??? Because at Maaco they just tape up the stuff and paint the rest of the car. Don't get me wrong, they paint good but their prep work is not that great.

I highly recommend that you wet sand the whole car with 400 grit sandpaper, then 600 grit then finer so that the paint sticks well to the body and so that the finish comes out smooth.

For $800, you should get a close to factory paint job from Maaco, but like I said before, do your own prep work!

Let us know if you need any more help.
Oh, and some before and after pics of the car would be great too!

 

Awesome...thats just what i needed. I'll definatly make sure I have before and after pics uploaded. I am shooting for the paint job in July towards the end so it may not be for a while. One question - since I am new to this: What is wetsand?

Thanks Guys

 

You buy the real fine grit wet/dry sandpaper (400-600) and you sand the car while you constantly rinse the sandpaper out in a bucket of water. Then you have to clean the car real good before painting. You will feel how smooth the surface becomes when wet sanding. I just did my front spoiler with two coats of primer, followed by two coats of yellow followed by two coats of clear coat. I wet sanded between every coat. I dry sanded it with heavier paper before the first coat of primer to get all the nicks and scratches out.

 

OK so here's what I got so far:
1. wash car
2. wet sand it w/ 400-600 paper
3. primer it (or will Maaco usually do this?)
4. have it painted after removing items not being painted.

questions:
1. will the wetsanding remove the entire clear coat? how deep do I need to go?
2. the car has some light fading on the roof and scratches through the clearcoat, but not through the base paint on the hood - do I need to take the whole clear coat off before bringing it in for paint?
3. what about the bumper? do i sand this as well, or do something else since its plastic?

Once I know this stuff I should be good to go! Thanks for the quick replies - giving me something to do at work! ahah

 

I'm not a pro at this by any means, but all I think you want to do is get the surface smooth and brake the glaze on the car before taking it to Maaco. You will not be doing the primering. You are just getting the car ready to paint, not actually doing the painting.

 

Awesome, I will upload before and after pics in July.

Thanks for all your help guys! My 850 and I appreciate it!

 

Wet sand is actually sanding it when it is wet. Keep some water in a spray bottle and spray and sand. First use 400 grit and if you want to get it even smoother, go with the 600. Most people just do 400 but for a volvo i would want the best.

Basically you are taking off the finish of the car so thatthe new paintsticks well to the car while painting. Wet sand everything that is going to be painted. Whatever you dont want painted, take it off like i said and you dont need to wetsand those. Once youre done wetsanding wash the car thouroughly to get all the dust off and wipe with a microfibre cloth to get all the dust off. Make sure to take the fender ligners off because they will just cover the wheels and spray. this will get paint on the ligners which looks nasty after.

Unless you are doing actual body work, you dont need to primer the car. Wet sanding is enough.

I have done 2 of my own cars this way and have helped my frined do a few cars as well. You save tons of money and get a nice looking car the way you want it look.

Let us know if you need more help.

 

And to answer your question of how deep to sand, sand it until it starts looking faded. One panel on the car should take about 10 minutes to do im guessing. Good luck post pics of the progress. Im pretty sure it will help others as well.