JohnnyCake

My SC is eight years old and is showing some age with various scratches, stone chips, etc. The finish is basically starting to look old and even with professional detailing no longer has the luster it once did.

Wondering whether anyone has had the entire car repainted? If so, I have some questions:

How much did it cost
How long did it take
How did it turn out -- did it look OEM
What did you learn afterwards that you wish you'd known before you started

Thanks!

bacardi11

iTrader: (1)

my car is 2002 Midnight Pine Pearl. I just had work done to my car. new front bumper without washers. hood done with harder in paint for chipping. touchup any were it was needed scratches ect.. car looks like new. cost me 5800 best money spent. i'm 71 an will have the car till I die. now I have a car that looks new. an you would never know any work was done.

SC4ME

i wanna get mine resprayed but im afraid i wont get a clean finish for a thousand bucks

hcstraub

Have you thought about getting it wrapped? You can get it wrapped for a lot less than a paint job, and it protects the original paint underneath if you decide to sell it.

SC4ME

i looked into it but i was quoted 2grand. maaco said for 900 i can get a base coat primer and a clear.

hcstraub

Make sure you bring your own masking tape, and plan to prep the car yourself. Ask them how much time they will work on your car prepping it for the paint job for that $900. It will be about 90 minutes. I am not trying to be a snob, but they do crap work for $900.

Solman

As the SCs get older, this gets to be a tough question. My 2010 SC had numerous problems when I bought it sight unseen from GALLO FORD in Texas. Being promised it was in prestige condition, it had hail damage, industrial fallout (whatever that is), and parking lot abuse, all of which were missed by the trucker who picked it up dirty. My insuranance company paid $8200 and I paid an additional $2k. On the other hand this paint job was done the right way. All body panels were removed from the car for painting and you would be hard pressed to determine that this car was ever repainted. On the other hand this car is worth $45k. When you pay $15-20k for an older SC, how much should you spend on new paint? I hate to see anyone cover the beautiful Lexus paint on our SCs, but at some point decisions need to be made. I would not ever want to hear that anyone's SC went to Maaco. I think I would rather have a SC showing its age rather than see your paint color on parts that should not have paint on them and parts missing that were misplaced. I speak from experience. I had a beautiful Honda Del Sol with extremely low mileage and after Maaco abused it, I couldn't stand to look at it anymore and sold it. PLEASE don't do that to an SC. I beg you! NO SC deserves it.

FLYCT

I had a 2005 Prius with industrial fallout. It was $8,500 for a quality paint job and that was 4 years ago.

Another time, I had my daughters car painted when she was in college by Maaco using their most expensive base coat, clear coat process. They did an absolute horrible job. It was embarrassing.

1 year later she got hit on the front bumper. She took it to Maaco to get repaired. The paint on the repair did not match even though they applied the original paint. They sprayed the fender 3 times and finally had to repaint the complete car for it to be one color which was off from factory color. Their excuse was they changed paint manufactures and could not get it to match.

Even after the repaint, it had overspray everywhere, varying levels of orange peel, sprayed over some chrome lettering, terrible masking lines.

No way would I bring an SC430 to them.

SC4ME

idk im 50/50 on it. First things first you cant argue on that price. the $3,000 factory finish includes a 5yr warranty!
i used to work at a shop that dealt with maaco and i noticed 1 out 3 cars would need to get sent back. im not sure why that is but maaco is a franchise which means their all different. whos to say a painter who used to work at a custom shop that specialized in lambo's got a job at a maaco. we dont know what experience they have but they guarantee their work so at least its not a scam. my brother had his car repaired and painted, he said the color didnt match the original and you can see where they blended it in, but i told him thats what you get for 300 bucks. the paint isnt peeling or chipping but he hit the car again so thats the end of that. i took my first car there to get repaired, it had quarter panel damage and honestly the car looked great when they were done, however they did lose my keys but they paid for a replacement. i totaled the car 2 months later but thats besides the point. so all in all i think its worth a shot, of course ill be there to watch them work, im gunna have the old paint stripped. unless i find a shop whos able to match their price and warranty.

Taysdad

You might be able to get the results you're looking for with an "ultra high end" detailer who does wet sanding and paint correction. There is one here in Cincinnati that does this type of work (only one). It take a VERY long time to do it right. It can cost a significant amount of money, but in the end you have flawless finish and retain the original paint job. I'll post a link to their website so you can see what is possible. I am linking an SC430 that had minor correction (not mine) done their because it's the most relevant. Go look through the gallery photos and see what has been accomplished on other vehicles to get the full effect. I was stunned with what they were able to do with my wife's Sequoia. I bet if you look, you could find someone similar in your area and get their opinion of what might be possible for your SC430. http://www.tssdetailing.com/scratch-chip-repair.html

Michael

OBP

Got quoted a wide range, all of which involves de-trimming the car and in some cases removal of body panels. - Small body shop - low volume - 4 or 5 person operation - $2500 and about a week. Large independent body shop - high volume operation ( work on a lot of MB vehicles) - 25 or so people - $4500 and also about a week. Toyota Certified repair facility that fixes Toyota and Lexus - "anything you want sir - we will make it perfect for you" $6500 and about a week.

What I am most afraid of is whether body panel removal involves removing the hard top as well - that could be serious $$ if not put back together exactly right.

But yes I am seriously thinking about getting most of the body panels repainted so I can enjoy the car for another 5-6 years.

Any further ideas appreciated.

NAmVet68

My son is a professional custom car & bike painter in Chicago. He always says: "You get what you pay for". He's re-done countless "Macco Special" paint jobs....it will just cost you more in the long run to get it done again properly.

If you want it to last, and have it done right, there's no substitute for taking it to someone who knows what they are doing and has a good reputation. Most good shops really don't advertize - its word of mouth. Go to a few local Car Shows or "Cruse nights", check out the paint jobs, and ask around.... you'll learn real fast who the good guys are in your neck of the woods.

Be aware - it won't be cheap, ...99% of a good paint job is the prep work - a good paint job takes TIME and is somewhat of an art.. no-way in hell do you want to take it to Maccco, or you will be paying twice.


That being said...I've had two cars that were involved in accidents that I took to a local Nissan/Toyota dealer to get fixed (David Maass). Their bodywork and paint were absolutely perfect, but they had a real fanatic running the place, and they were passionate about the work they did. Found them by asking around.....and their rates were very competitive. Sometimes you get lucky.....

bacardi11

iTrader: (1)

namvet
your so right you get what you pay for.
an to take a lexus to Maaco you need your head check out. this is a lexus 430sc guys.

SC43052

IMHO you won't get near the paint job a car of this quality deserves without spending at least $6K. Qualified labor is expensive today.

And even then, there is never a paint job as good as the factory paint. I would suggest you take the next step after detailing and look into a paint restorer who will professionally fill in chips, use paintless dent repair where possible and then buff with compound to bring back the original paint. This might be in the $1200-$1500 range but may achieve what you desire with the original paint intact.

MrMark

iTrader: (3)

Prep is the most important and also taking off all moldings and glass for the best results. I hate seeing tape marks and paint on moldings. A good paint job will cost you about $5 to $6k. For the SC it's also important to take off all trim on the top since there are a lot of creases and hidden areas that will need paint especially if you're doing a color change.