I Went To Maaco For A Paint and Body Work Estimate Today. 

"Denver Is Stuck In The 90s" (denver80222) 01/26/2016 at 22:39 • Filed to: None

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They quoted me $1100 to do a full respray and $1200 to fix the various scrapes, dents and that one rust hole in the bed that the Previous Owner left me so graciously with. I plan on doing the paint work last, I still have alot of mechanical work to do on Veronica. But I have a dilemma now; do I pay the $1200 to fix the dents in the bed and on the hood or do I take the gamble and try to find a junkyard bed and hood for $200-$300?

GeorgeyBoy > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 22:41

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DO NOT GO TO MAACO!

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > GeorgeyBoy 01/26/2016 at 22:41

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why

GeorgeyBoy > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 22:42

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https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid…

Aie > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 22:43

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I’m new here.

Pictures of Veronica please? Thanks

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Aie 01/26/2016 at 22:46

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Here’s a recent pic. Shes a RWD 1993 Ranger with the 4.0 V6 putting out 160hp/225 lb ft, she has the 5 speed manual, a 3.55 LSD and she only weighs 3025 lbs at the curb

Spaceball-Two > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 22:47

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Buddy I would just take those funds and sit on them. Everyone wants to keep their first car forever but you should be more forward thinking. You won't get out of it what you put in it. Focus on school and keep her running right and leave it at that.

Rico > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 22:47

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They definitely don’t rank highin my book for respray. Do they still do the tiers? If so get the highest one with the highest warranty.

My real suggestion would be to go to a professional body shop. That way you can get perfect, even paint with proper prep, proper care for overspray, perfectly polished with no hazing or cloudy spots.

How bad is the paint really? Maybe it would be worth it to spend $300-500 on a full interior/exterior detail with a coating instead?

Aie > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 22:51

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Not bad. That is worthy of restoring.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 22:55

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I know she’s your baby and all, but at the end of the day it’s a 1993 Ranger. Is it really worth putting $2k plus into a 23 year old truck?

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 01/26/2016 at 22:57

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Honestly, yeah. Its a BOF truck. if maintained correctly, there is no reason it couldnt run forever

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 22:58

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Exactly. Put that $2k towards getting it as mechanically sound as possible, not painting a work vehicle.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 01/26/2016 at 22:59

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Its lasted 22.5 years and it looks this good, I dont want it to be perfect, but I want it to look this good or better in another 22.5 years. Paint restoration is body maintenance

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 23:02

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You do you, but there’s better ways to spend $2300 imo.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 23:12

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I got a similar estimate on my P71, with the thought that I'd replace the front bumper and trunk myself. I'd ask them to itemize the repairs for you, since in my case I may as well just let them do the repairs with the prices being so close.

AM3R shamefully returns > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 23:22

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Before you get it repainted (plz don’t do maaco) at least give it a very aggressive polish and a full detail, I’ve seen 70's cars completely brought back to life after a good detail. If you do it yourself, the only major cost will be the polisher (griots garage makes a fantastic orbital polished for like $120). If it works, you save a grand. If it doesn’t, send the polisher back and you’re out a few hours time.

Honestly though dude, I understand how much you love the truck, but it's not really a smart move financially. Save the restoration til you graduate and get a better job.

shop-teacher > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 23:39

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You’ve clearly never seen a Maaco paint job. If you had, you wouldn’t be considering trusting a vehicle you love to them. You’d be better off taking 11 hundos and wiping your ass with them.

Biggus Dickus (RevsBro) > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/26/2016 at 23:54

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I’m part of the “dents give character crowd” on old vehicles.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > shop-teacher 01/27/2016 at 00:00

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I’m pretty sure the M3 was done by Maaco at a couple points.

Let’s just say orange peel and improperly prepped surfaces and obvious proof of just taping over the badges.

LOOK AT THIS SHIT DENVER. You do not want that.

jkm7680 > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/27/2016 at 00:07

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Spend it on whatever makes you happy, you worked for that money and should spend it as you see fit.

I on the other hand don't think like that, I'm always looking for the next purchase rather than putting it into the old.

LtotheG > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/27/2016 at 00:09

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A decent paint job requires a lot of prep work to ensure flat and even paint adhesion. MAACO and Earl Schwab type of places do the bear minimum, often one pass rough sanding with a DA, and the end result is a cloudy paint job that cracks and chips in 2-3 years.

smobgirl > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/27/2016 at 00:20

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I had my hail damage fixed at this little body shop out in Lakewood - they do good work and they seem really like nice folks. No idea how their prices compare though.

Frank Grimes > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/27/2016 at 00:49

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get an autobody textbook like $30

this is jammed packed with all the info you would need.

Fix all the body work you can. And do as much of the work you can remove all the things you dont want painted and mask as much as you can yourself and have maaco just do only the paint spraying.

PRIFIT!!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/27/2016 at 00:55

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You get what you pay for. Let’s think about this for a minute.

20 hours x $50/hour (because fewer hours than that and they are cutting HUGE corners, and that’s a pretty low end shop rate) = $1000 (And this is my bare minimum estimate)

General shop supplies (wipes, cheese cloth, sand paper, wax & grease remover, scotch bright pads, etc.) = $100 (again, bare minimum to do it right)

Primer, paint, clear coat = $300 (minimum, based on my cost on super cheap Omni paint last time I painted a car about 5 years ago)

So, [uncomfortably] bare minimum of $1400.

At that price the shop can’t possibly pay their guys more than $10-15/hour and still make a profit. Unless they cut corners. This is about the starting wage for an apprentice technician at many larger dealers, or Seattle’s new minimum wage, or a McDonald’s burger flipper. Do you really want one of them painting your beloved Veronica? These are the guys that failed out of or were at the bottom of their tech school class. Good accomplished, experienced painters get $15-25/hour depending on a bunch of different factors, and master painters with a lot of experience and excellent reputations demand quote a lot more. Oh, and if I’m not mistaken you have metallic paint, which requires a good gun with the correct tip for the particulate, and perfect technique. Otherwise the paint will have a “tiger-stripe” or mottled appearance due to inconsistent metallic particulate application.

Body and paint work is one of the easiest things to get into and also one of the easiest things to screw up. I see fucked up paint jobs on a weekly basis from cut rate shops who really did nothing more than make the body go mostly the same way again and slap some color on it.

If you have Maaco do this, it might be shiny for a couple of months, but that’s about it. It WILL peel somewhere and dramatically lose its luster in the next three years. Maaco is where shitty insurance companies go to save themselves a few dollars and screw their customers. Maaco is where unscrupulous flippers go to polish their turds. If you want your truck to look good in another 25 years, maintain your factory paint and/or PAY someone up do it right.

Rant/novel over. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > smobgirl 01/27/2016 at 00:59

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Whats the shop?

smobgirl > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/27/2016 at 09:40

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Ramsey Auto Body - they're on Brentwood just south of Colfax.

MM54 > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/27/2016 at 19:43

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A bad paint job looks 10x worse than an old, worn out paint job. I’d set up a tent in a field and spray my car myself before I went to somewhere like maaco.

George McNally > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 01/31/2016 at 09:25

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That’s a nice truck. Ever consider doing the body work yourself and instead of painting it......buy a kit from dipyourcar.com?

Probably save some money and have fun learning some new skills.

I’m thinking about buying a sprayer from them and playing around with my son’s 2004 Sentra. I own it and he doesn’t care what it looks like as long as it gets him to work and college.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 07/21/2016 at 22:47

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Like buying a junkyard 5.o HO