Macco paint jobs? worth if for race car?

[Ham Sammich]

Anybody ever spring for the low dollar Macco paint job?

 

I'm thinking its cheaper, by the time I do all the work, I'd spend more for the materials (and the subsequent mess) than just letting those dudes throw down some fresh paint on the car.

 

I've never seen a Macco, low buck, paint job in person and I don't know anybody that's done it.

 

Edited May 3, 2017 by Ham Sammich

[Logdog]

Are you talking the Maaco paint jobs like the 300 buck special or the internet famous 50 buck Rustoleum roll on like you have pictured?

 

I have never had the 300 buck paint job but I have done a few Rustoleum jobs.  You can get really nice roll on finish but you spend in time what you save in money.  You can also get a passable 20 footer pretty easy.

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-0707-1962-ford-falcon-budget-paint-job/

 

 

[Team Infiniti]

As just reported,what do you have more of,  time or $$

In other forums visited there has been proper success/write ups with rolled on, thinned rustoleum, lots of wet sanding(in stages IIRC) a nice shiny, durable job is result.

[DEE DEE]

Oil base enamel takes a long time to dry And cure.  Go to Maaco

[Ray Franck]

I have a bud that ownes two MAACOS and I am sometimes surprised at how nice some stuff comes out..  His one shop in Chesapeake did a 50 Mercury that won good guys last year ..  I'll take him some quick jobs and he will paint them cheaper than I can buy the paint ..  Hey Bob how close are you to a maaco ?

[Ws6 Mike]

I've had good luck with the single stage urethane paint from summit racing:https://m.summitracing.com/parts/sum-up300. 

Have about $200 in that paintjob for both colors (car was originally blue), all I did for prep was scuff the entire car with 320 and spray it.  Didn't use any primer and it's held up great so far, even shines up when I take the time to spray wax it.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Ws6 Mike

[Ham Sammich]

7 hours ago, okkustom said:

I have a bud that ownes two MAACOS and I am sometimes surprised at how nice some stuff comes out..  His one shop in Chesapeake did a 50 Mercury that won good guys last year ..  I'll take him some quick jobs and he will paint them cheaper than I can buy the paint ..  Hey Bob how close are you to a maaco ?

 

550 miles round trip.  But could make a weekend of it have them spray it Friday morning, roll it into the trailer that evening, wine and dine the Mrs. , take in a show and come home the next day.  it's as close at it gets for me.  Was thinking the $300 special if we show up with the car sanded and masked.  from what I've read, that's the hot ticket.

 

The alternative is to talk a local shop owner into something like a $500 situation on a roll it in the booth taped and sanded and save the tow money.  But the cheapest thing I've had painted locally was a Subaru 360 and it was $3500

 

I just don't want to fall into the trap of doing it myself, hanging plastic everywhere, fans, the mess (I've done it)... I think best to toss a local body shop some "booth time" money for a day.  that or the make the tow to Macco in Billings Montana.  I want this to be a good looking car... at least for the first day.

 

Here's a mockup of the car.  wrong model a 370, not a 350, but the idea is sound.  I'd be relatively proud to roll this bright yellow non-Honda out of the trailer.  It takes 15 laps in penaltys, there is no way that we will make those laps back, but I know that going in, and chose the car because of the "chubby" factor. it makes me happy.

 

Look Fernando, it's NOT a Honda!

 

Edited May 3, 2017 by Ham Sammich

[Andrew D Johnson]

I think I had about $400 in supplies to paint Klaatu in 2014.

 

I had to buy the gun, the solvents the primer, the sanding equipment, the paint, the clear.......and it took weeks.

 

 

[thewheelerZ]

As much as this guy bugs me, this is probably a decent reference:

 

From what I understand too, all the money involved in a paint job goes towards trim removal and the finicky stuff.  Want less overspray on the door sills, easy, just give more money!  Race car should be a breeze, especially if you do some of the pre-work yourself.

[Ham Sammich]

Kind of reaffirms what I read elsewhere. If you do your own trim removal and masking, should be pretty tolerable. Especially for a race car. ?

[enginerd]

Having some experience with paint, that bright yellow/green color is very hard to achieve. If you were doing this with spray cans you will be on your 5th coat before you see a uniform color over the primer. I imagine that even good quality paint with spray equipment will take a couple coats, so if Maaco will guarantee a good even color at a fixed price (even if multiple coats are needed) that might be worth it.

 

On the other hand.... holy shoot 550 miles... TOWING.. that's gonna cost you more than the paint job without even considering the time investment.

 

If I were you I would take it to a close place that can paint it. Save yourself a lot of time and support a local business even if the cost is higher.

Edited May 3, 2017 by enginerd

[tommytipover]

Relating to my nickname, I have some race-related paint and body stories.  Some body guys don't like doing us favors or "cheap work" because in the end the final product doesn't end up looking like Foose and the racer bad mouths the bodyshop after the fact.  Find a local guy you can negotiate with.  Let him know that if he's proud of the final product you'll tell everyone around how great he is.  If not, you'll keep quiet.

[bysiklest]

I don't normally post much but do have experience with this exact question although not on my race car.  I had my Landcruiser painted by Macco. I read reviews and went and talked with the shop before making my decision. I wanted mostly a durable paint in the stock color and didn't care too much about orange peel or slight overspray.  I ended up doing the sanding and prep work myself.  I removed the bumpers, roof rack, mirrors, lights, etc.  I just had them do a layer of primer and 2 coats of paint and clear.  I think it was about $900 total since they did just the painting and sanding in between.  It turned out looking as good as most new cars do from the factory. Not show car by any means but no drips and had a glossy finish with a little orange peel and was about $1000 less than having them do all of the prep work.

 

I also understand that at most Maccos the guys that know what they are doing are the painters. Where the work gets cheap and results don't end up as good is mostly based on the prep guys.  I also know that results will vary depending on the shop and who paints it.  When I visited the shop to get a quote I talked directly to the guy who was going to paint it and felt he knew what he was doing.  

 

Now for race cars that I have painted or helped out with all have been sprayed with thinned out Rustoleum on a nice day outside.  Personally I don't want to invest any more money or time in them than that when I know the chances of having to bang out a door or replace a bumper is relatively high. Just pick a color(s) that you can get in both a gallon can and a spray can and touch it up whenever.

 

 

[Ham Sammich]

3 hours ago, enginerd said:

Having some experience with paint, that bright yellow/green color is very hard to achieve. If you were doing this with spray cans you will be on your 5th coat before you see a uniform color over the primer.

 

Yea, probably need some kind of a light colored sealer coat, the car is dark blue now...You probably couldn't ask for a worse scenario other than going from black to white. 

 

[enginerd]

20 minutes ago, Ham Sammich said:

Yea, probably need some kind of a light colored sealer coat, the car is dark blue now...You probably couldn't ask for a worse scenario other than going from black to white. 

Black to neon green/yellow would be worse than black to white!

 

So, basically, primers are very opaque. Really good at covering other colors... sealing stains... etc. And primers are always white (or light gray). So going from black to white just involves primer coat + white coat.

If you were doing neon green/yellow it would be a primer coat, then a coat of green/yellow, which wouldn't look right because that pigment isn't very opaque, you would see some white through it. Then another coat of green/yellow.... and then maybe another coat!

 

Orange is also bad... to do our car in orange (with spray paint) it was about 4 coats AFTER light gray primer before it looked right. If I had been doing blue it would have looked perfect after 2 coats. I'm sure the professional paints have better coverage than rustoleum spray cans, but be on the lookout for drips / runs because if I were painting it I would lay it on thick in a naive attempt to avoid multiple coats.

 

Have you thought about wrapping it? It literally just dawned on me that for such a difficult color you may be better off with a wrap. *shout out to series sponsor!*

Edited May 3, 2017 by enginerd

[Ham Sammich]

1 hour ago, enginerd said:

Have you thought about wrapping it? It literally just dawned on me that for such a difficult color you may be better off with a wrap. *shout out to series sponsor!*

 

I think I might suck at wraps if I did it myself.  We had a 2'x10' logo decal to put on the one car.  MAN, did we struggle with it, and it was one thing, not the whole car.  Wrap would be just as many miles to find a place as it would be to drive to MACCO.

 

I did just come back from a local body shop that a buddy owns.  If we mask it, prep it and drive down, he'll shoot it and bake it for $250 if we supply the paint and scuff and mask the car.  So I think that's the easiest solution. WHOOHOO!

 

Although he did scoff at the idea you could find $70 gallon a paint.  I said, "Summit"!!! 

Edited May 4, 2017 by Ham Sammich

[Ray Franck]

6 minutes ago, Ham Sammich said:

 

I think I might suck at wraps if I did it myself.  We had a 2'x10' logo decal to put on the one car.  MAN, did we struggle with it, and it was one thing, not the whole car.  Wrap would be just as many miles.

 

I did just come back from a local body shop that a buddy owns.  If we mask it, prep it and drive down, he'll shoot it and bake it for $250 if we supply the paint and scuff and mask the car.  So I think that's the easiest solution. WHOOHOO!

 Body shop buddy's are the best !!!

[TiredBirds]

On 5/2/2017 at 7:28 PM, Ham Sammich said:

Anybody ever spring for the low dollar Macco paint job?

 

I'm thinking its cheaper, by the time I do all the work, I'd spend more for the materials (and the subsequent mess) than just letting those dudes throw down some fresh paint on the car.

 

I've never seen a Macco, low buck, paint job in person and I don't know anybody that's done it.

 

Are you going to Chump that car? Man I hope not, although it'd be kick ass. Macco would be fine. You do have to do all the prep work or they charge you extra. Don't ever think you are going to roll out w/ a painted car for $299... My buddy has them shot cars for him, but he then goes back and "finishes" the work. He suggests a good wet sand, and high speed buff if you want it to lok really good. If you don't care, just slap the stickers on and go racing.

[Ham Sammich]

4 hours ago, TiredBirds said:

Are you going to Chump that car? Man I hope not, although it'd be kick ass. Macco would be fine. You do have to do all the prep work or they charge you extra. Don't ever think you are going to roll out w/ a painted car for $299... My buddy has them shot cars for him, but he then goes back and "finishes" the work. He suggests a good wet sand, and high speed buff if you want it to lok really good. If you don't care, just slap the stickers on and go racing.

 

It takes 15 penalty laps (no way well make that back). But, I know that going in. I just really like the car and it puts a smile on my face. ?

[enginerd]

2 minutes ago, Ham Sammich said:

It takes 15 penalty laps (no way well make that back). But, I know that going in. I just really like the car and it puts a smile on my face. ?

It's a purty car. I'd race it. Not like you guys were regulars on the podium with 0 lap car anyway :-P

[Ham Sammich]

1 hour ago, enginerd said:

It's a purty car. I'd race it. Not like you guys were regulars on the podium with 0 lap car anyway :-P

 

I just kinda had to find my place in all this.  Some guys tolerate wrenching just to maybe race the car.  I can't wait to build a car we may never get to race. I'd hope we get to run it. But the real fun is in the building of it.  I used to be more testy about the rules changes. But we have other places to play now. So I'll get to run my junk sooner or later, somewhere. ☺

Edited May 4, 2017 by Ham Sammich

[3G]

Ham, I think people are getting confused.  You show a picture of an old firebird but your talking about a paint job for your 350Z. 

[Ham Sammich]

1 hour ago, 3G said:

Ham, I think people are getting confused.  You show a picture of an old firebird but your talking about a paint job for your 350Z. 

 

The Firebird is an example of a low-buck paint job in action! 

[Cam Benty]

I paid for an Earl Shieb 99.95 special in 1984. Those miscreants painted over bird poop, bugs and decals. Needless to say it was a fine paint job. For 8 days. Then the paint turned into alligator hide.

 

I improved the finished product with a roller and semi gloss from my house project. It was not had to pick it out the track. My first race car was a learning curve.

[Doc]

A rattle can paint job is the way to go. Couple of buddies, couple of cans of paint, and a couple of cases of beer...DONE!!!