Patsum

I have myself a 1991 ls400 with two tone silver paint and there are scratches to the paint on a few places and rust spots and bubbling paint near wheel wells....

I have decided that I am going to try to personally fix all the rust spots by sanding them down and use some sort of filler then sand that down using finer and finer grit.... then they can prime and paint the car

then to MAACO I go for their $300 paint service...I have never used them before...I am getting the cheapest option paint with MIXED clear coat and paint..not separate clear coat.....I thought since I have silver that it wont be noticeable and the 20 year old paint cant be better than brand new paint even if it is cheap.

Anyone used MAACO for paint before?

What should I do after I sand down the rust spots...any filler I need to use since I am going down to bare metal? Any product I should use or advice with removing rust and prepping surface before I give them the car to paint?


Thanks all...

emarknot

have it repainted after your 3hundo paint job.
have some razor blades handy after the fact.....to scrape off all the overspray where you can.. get all new window trim,all new chrome pieces, blah blah blah.

if you want your 3hundo paint job to look good, prep the entire car, take off what you dont want painted, and then take it to them.
at that point, might as well paint it yourself with some rattle can. it will last as long and you will save yourself about $260! not only will it NOT last a year, but chances are, it will be garbage.

if you want a solid paint job, pay extra, lose the car for about a week...and call it done.

Patsum

Fair enough.
What would you expect to pay for a decent paint job? Or do you just not like anything MAACO does. They have tiers like $250,$350,$450,$750,$1000....

I bought this car for $1750 mechanically perfect.... cosmetically not. It is why I am hesitant to spend $600 on a paint job alone... College student here and I am not looking for Lexus quality LS430 type paint here. Heck my volvo had better paint than this does.

I am looking at sanding down to bare metal on the rust and bubbling spots and using evercoat brand filler on top of that and then finely sanding it down more and more till its the same and then getting it painted
Any other advice? I have never done any body work before

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

lol, decent paint alone for a car that size is well over $300....
it's going to look worse after, not better.

see all those cars on the road with random primer spots and uneven paint and the streaks, drops, overspray, mismatched panels, and generally crap work?
yeah those are either attempted DIYs from people who are too stupid/impatient to try and do it right, or maaco.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

well, since you have never done any body work before, and you are a college student on (I guess) limited funds (or you would have bought a better driver) go ahead and do your work and carry it to maaco or earl sheib for your painting. you are not building a classic or doing a restoration anyway.
this way you wont have much invested to walk away from, and consider it as one of lifes learning experiences..
good luck now and in the future, you sound like you would make a good politician....

lex2001

Patsum,

If you are going to all of the work of repairing the rust spots why not try spot painting yourself? If you don't have too many spots it's worth a try. I think you can find the paint code for your car on the drivers door. You can buy matching paint online for about $28 a can. Do the prep work you are planning,use a couple of coats of primer (sanding between each coat), and then a couple of thin coats of the paint. Take your time and see how it looks. If you don't like the look you can still get it painted somewhere else. The paint won't match exactly due to aging of the paint on the car but silver should be less noticeable than darker paints.

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

I would talk to Maaco to find out what it would cost for them to do some of this body work. With their tools + experience, they may be able to do it way faster and better than you could on your first try, and it may almost be included in the normal paint job price as long as there aren't any major dents.

Some of the advice here is probably good if you do this - like to remove things yourself to avoid overspray. It is a very labor intensive part of the job to do this - removing things and masking taping others. If Maaco is painting the whole car for $300, they can't afford to spend 5 hours doing this. But maybe you can. Ask them about it beforehand. Maybe the removal + masking by you would offset the minor body work by them. In general, when you're talking to them, negotiate.

I think everyone agrees that it will not look perfect, but it sounds like you know that. I think it's worth a try. Good luck with the project.

Hey, another option to consider ... When I was just out of college, working for the summer while in grad school, a friend from work helped + mentored me while I did ALL the prep work on my car. Sanded down to bare metal, bondo, several coats of primer, removed all the trim, etc. Then I bought the paint myself at a professional paint supply place and took it to a good paint shop where my friend knew some people. One of their junior painters sprayed it after close of business one day for $100. (We did 100% of prep and brought all the paint - the good stuff). Good experience, and turned out great. But I remember from doing the job with my friend mentoring me - there were LOTS of little things he taught me to do it right (and also, he had all of the air tools to make it fast and good). It would not have been as good if I did not have him leading me.

DonCorleone

iTrader: (6)

+1 see if your local community college doesn't have a autobody class

$300 maaco job is going to look terrible. We're talking painting very likely to see paint over dirt, on stuff that you don't want painted, seals, trim, exhausts, dings and dents, overspray on glass and interior, runs, orange peel and prob no colorsand. Quick scuff and spray, that's all. Cheap paint that will look dull within 6 months and will flake and chip. Now, don't get me wrong, there are some maaco's, earl schiebs, etc...with good paint guys (the head of the shop, not the 17 year olds working for min wage) and if you find a place that has one of those guys and they're not swamped, they might get you a good job at a cut rate price, but not for $300. My friend takes all his cars to a local place like that, he pays for the 2nd most expensive job @ $800ish, the only diff between that and their most expensive is wetsanding, I think. It's not terrible, paint looks good from 5 feet, some runs, some poor masking (paint on hoses and hood props) but has orange peel. The ones he had done a few years ago are now dull, some paint chipping, but I can't speak to his detailing habits and abilities either...

If you decide to cut out the rust and patch it, I'm assuming you're gonna use fiberglass, make sure you cut out all the rust, clean it well and coat it with paint or POR15 or something, front and back to keep it from returning/spreading. Body and paint work is an art to be mastered, I wish you luck!

MicahBerry

We bought a little Mazda for my daughter as her first car. It was repainted by Maaco. The records included their invoice, and it was about $350 or so. The paint job looks fine from about 30 feet away. When I get up close to the car, I see loads of overspray and where the painters didn't take the time to properly mask the car. Wheel wells, exhaust, transport tie down hooks, parts of the trim - every where I look.

In addition to its application, the quality of the paint is not all that great either. It will never shine after a nice wash and wax. But for my daughter's first car, it works well.

Don't expect them to paint your car perfectly - there will be issues with how it looks. If you're going to go to the trouble of sanding the rusty spots down, you could save some money, go to paintscratch.com and get a can of spray touch up paint and do it yourself.

If the car's paint is in truly terrible condition now, and you're on a very limited budget, then getting a Maaco paint job would probably be an improvement. There are many tutorials on Youtube regarding car painting. Check a few out before you drop the cash.

If you really want to do some research, ask for some references of individuals who have had similar work. Taking an hour and looking at some cars they have painted should help you decide if you want to go that route or not. What kind of experience does the person that will be painting your car have? Meet that person. Look at where they will be painting the car - Look to see if the area is dirty, because that dirt will be in your paint as well. I guess what I'm trying to impress on you is know what you're getting before you drop your car off for repainting.

For reference, I have some road rash on my lower bumper/air dam and the paint is flaking off (long story too, but for another time) on my two tone black 99. A body shop that has done excellent work for me before quoted $600 to remove the bumper, strip the old and properly repaint and clear. Based on past work they've done on previous cars of mine, it will look almost flawless when they're done. But that's just one body part painted...

DonCorleone

iTrader: (6)

Also... google $50 paint job. You do it with a roller, house paint and mineral spirits. Invest a lot of time but the cost of materials is low and you can do it over many many days (you lay down thin layers) and the paint is durable.

bauceLS400

iTrader: (2)

Hey if you are a college student, there plenty of automotive paint courses at the community colleges. You could learn and potentially paint your car for cheap. Plus its free paint booth rental for the students as well as equipment.

GR6RR

dont spend money and drive it the way it is...
you're a student on limited funds, get your edumacation, get a good career, and then get a brand new lexus with brand new paint at the same time, might as well get a brand new house too