I have a 2001 LS430 UL and it has been banged up during its life. The previous owner had some work done after an accident and the paint work wasn't great. Honestly it doesn't look that bad to me but any time I have taken it in to the dealer they have commented on it. Regardless, I have a number of scratches on the car consistent with the age as well as some pretty good ones on the hood and trunk my wife did with an ice scraper (that was not a good day).

I know Maaco has a pretty poor reputation but they are running their Ambasador paint job for $249 right now - is it worth getting this done? My car is black so I would think that would make it a little easier. Any feedback would be appreciated - thanks.

 

Absolutely not. That paint job is a horrible decision. They don't even sand your car, they just scratch it, tape everything as fast as they can, and spray it. They hardly let it bake before they pull it out and give it back to you. To boot, the paint they use is atrocious. To pain a car that size well uses about $500 of paint alone. You get what you pay for.

 

You would be ruining the car with a Maaco paint job. A real quality paint job would run $2500-3000+ on an LS.

 

Respectfully, I'd say at the very high end of that or a good bit more for that car. Best of luck.

 

Volantis, Your right, I last had a car painted 25 years ago and it cost me $2000 for a quality paint job. I bet prices have gone up since then for any kind of quality paint work. Maybe we are at the point where it does not make economic sense to repaint a used car with high miles...

 

it's relatively easy to goto a paint shop and get an estimate for a paintjob. Call your local Lexus, Infiniti, Porsche, etc dealer and ask them where they have their cars painted or touched up. That should give an idea of which painters are best in the area. Also, most paint shops use the same software to do estimates. The cost of removal, repair, and assembly are standardized and most estimates will be about 10% of each other.

I'd expect that the cost would be around $1500-$2000 for the entire car.

 

Go to a quality paint shop that your lexus/toyota/honda dealer uses. I take mine to a honda body shop. They did some major work on my honda that was hit at slow speed, amazing paint job. They use DuPont urethane (epoxy) paint. I was so impressed that when I bought my LX and got aftermarket bumpers, I had them paint them to match. A good paint shop should be able to repaint your hood, front bumper, and blend in your front quarter panels. They'll probably remove the clear coat half way back on the front doors. Normally, a bumper repaint runs around ~$350, so the hood and front quarter panels might run 'ya $800 or so? All costs are tabulated for the insurance industry, so they'll likely charge by this.

 

General 98,

I must agree with the above posters. In fact, with all due respect, I'm a little surprised that you were even contemplating going to maaco to touch your car. This is not a car that should ever see the hands of a maaco employee. There are certain things that we can cut corners with in life; auto painting, especially on a car like this is not one of them.

If you have a limited budget, may I suggest first going to a reputable detailer to give the car a critical look. He may actually be able to make that 250 dollars go along way with serious polishing with a proper rotary buffer. 250 for a decent detail is way more beneficial to ANY car, unless the paint is already completely destroyed, then going to maaco and having them splash some krylon on your car. If you give your car to maaco, you can kiss any resale value of the car goodbye, because nobody in their right mid is going to buy a car with that paint job on it.

Keep in mind that 250 may seem expensive for an outer detail, but in reality, it is money well spent because a lot goes into a detail, and those who are the real deal, can charge into the quadruple digits. Be careful of inexpensive detailers too, they are the maaco equivalents and are real hacks! 250 should be about right, to get into the realm of a decent outer detail.

We cannot give you the best advice without seeing pictures of the car first. However, I'm confident that a real detailer would be able to tell you what he can and cant fix with your finish. This should be the first route to take before even contemplaitng a repaint, especially from a hack like maaco.

Check out autopia.org and you will see other cars there, with incredible before and after shots done by pro. You may be surprised at whats hiding under the surface of your car and what you can achieve with good products. Good luck!

 

Just to agree with and add a bit to what everyone has already said, there are about 27 colors of "black." If your car is not repainted with the pigment mix for Lexus (MY, Model) black, it will never look right. A quality body shop will also "age" the respray with pigment, so in the end you will never be able to tell where the respray starts and the original paint ends.

I can say with a lot of confidence that MAACO has one pot of black paint in the back.