Paint Job Questions

[TriumphGT6]

I have a 1973 GT6 and I am going to do all of the body work and priming this Spring.

I was wondering what experiences have you guys had with Maaco? I know they do cheap, usually crappy paint jobs because of their prep work.

I would like to know that if you were to do everything right up to the paint, how long would a Maaco job last?

I like stuff to last as long as possible, and need to know if a Maaco job can have longevity. Otherwise, I am also looking into having my Uncle's friend (owns a restoration shop) take a look at it. I think he could do it for less than a thousand, and use high end paint.

I need to save money here, because I need to spend some on the rechroming of the bumpers and getting the frame sandblasted(want the whole car to be fresh, even though the frame is mostly rustfree or surface rust).

Any Suggestions,
GT6

 

[Bugeye58]

GT6, I think your best course of action would be to take it to your uncle's friend first, for an honest assesment of just what it will take.
For a decent, and durable job, I would stay away from any of the "volume" shops, such as Maaco.
Remember too, that any paint job is only as good as the prep work behind it, so if you are doing it yourself, make sure that any material used will be compatibile with the topcoat.
Jeff

 

[frankenstang57]

Funny you should mention that... https://www.britishcarforum.com/ubbthread...p;page=0#142202

This was a friend of mine's car. The Maaco by him shot the paint. Not too bad of a job. But then again, some Maacos just suck out loud. I guess it's hit or miss. BTW, he lives in the Ann Arbor area...

 

[Keoke]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/savewave.gif
HI ---GT6, Go with your Uncles friend.---Fwiw---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif

 

[Bruce Bowker]

[ QUOTE ]
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/savewave.gif
HI ---GT6, Go with your Uncles friend.---Fwiw---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

2 votes for your uncle's friend. Paint is too important to skimp.

Bruce

 

[Geo Hahn]

I had a Fiat Spider painted at Maaco. I stripped everything off the car and the results looked decent... but they did such a poor job of masking that they managed to get paint all over the convertible window. They then tried to clean the window with lacquer thinner. In the end they bought me a new top which cost more than the paint job. Instead of 'Thanks Call Again' it was more like 'Get lost and don't come around here anymore'.

They may be okay for a 'driver' but since you're rechroming and painting the frame you are obviously hoping for a result much nicer than that. The paint on my TR3 cost much more than the car itself (granted the car purchase was 25 years ago) nevertheless I have never regretted for a moment putting that dough into a good respray.

 

[shorn]

I had Maaco paint my 1981 GMC truck, when it got into a fender bender. The first time they got debris into the paint and voluntarily redid the whole job. This second time actually looked pretty good, for awhile. After about 3 years, water spotting showed up in the red paint and it started peeling in a few spots. I know the prep work is limited, and I suspect the paint quality and quanity is too. That being said, I got EXACTLY what I paid for--an inexpensive paint job. I have no problems with them what-so-ever. One is not paying for a show quality or even very good quality paint job and shouldn't expect one. They offer a service to brighten up an older car for a few years. But I sure wouldn't put it on my LBC.

 

[RomanH]

I would avoid Maaco like the plague!
Had a local shop paint my car when I was in college. They broke the windshield wipers and a couple of other things and tried to tell me that I brought the car in that way!
It took some arguing and time but they finally paid for the repairs.
The paint job on the other hand looked ok.. for several months when it faded out! Must use real cheap paint.
All in all a very bad experience which I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonod.gif

 

[JamesWilson]

One aspect not mentioned is that if an inferior job is done you then have all the cost and hassle of that AND still have to suffer the full cost (and more if things need fixing- like overspray on rubber, etc.) of doing it right, as it ought to have been done first.

Trying to do things quick and dirty or on the cheap CAN get the car on the road faster, but you may not be very happy with it for very long; and end up spending more too.

 

[TriumphGT6]

I will see if Gary can do the paint. His shop restores old american cars, but he does do the occasional Jaguar or Aston Martin. It looks like it will be him doing it.

He did a stupendous paint job on my Dad's '63 Vette (Redo of original color) back in 1985. We see the new owner occasionally and the same paint still looks great.

I trust him, so it looks like he's going to get the go ahead. I agree with the spend for better now, and spend less overall ideology. My mom's ex-husband uses Maaco to paint cars he sells on his used car lot, and I didn't know that, I thought the cars just had poorly aged original paint jobs.

Thanks for the input,
GT6

PS. I'll post pics when its done this spring.

 

[Cain]

There are a few LBCs in the local car club that had their cars painted at MAACO. I thought they looked really good and was shocked when they told me where they were painted. Of course, as others have stated, the car owners did the prep work themselves and did not change the color of the paint which is important due to the jambs.

I just went through this earlier this year. The cheapest quote I got was $2200 for my TR6. I decided to paint it myself. First I did all the body work which took a couple of months working off and on. Then I built a paint booth in my garage and sprayed the car with base coat/clear coat. I had never done anything like this before, but I'm very satisfied with how it turned out. I got a lot of help from the local auto paint shop.

Spraying the car was the easiest part. However, color sanding afterwards is a JOB. It took me about eight days of hand sanding to get the paint flat. (Probably wouldn't have been as bad if I hadn't painted when it was 95F in July with high humidity. This caused some serious orange peel.)

I decided not to go the MAACO route because I wanted the jambs painted and I changed the car color from yellow to red. (Didn't want a red car with yellow jambs for some reason.)

In retrospect, I'd do it again if I had to. I think that MAACO will only put on three coats of paint and one coat of clear for a bc/cc job. One coat of clear is not enough for colorsanding. For my own job, I could put as many coats on as needed. Plus, after my first experience, I could do it better the next time.

 

[71tr]

Cain,
I'm planning to paint my TR6 myself as well. Similar to you I've already done all the painstaking prep and bodywork. You mention that you could do it better next time. What would you do differently, what did you learn painting the car yourself.

 

[CaptDon01]

Years ago, (1978), I was fixing up a 1947 Chevy truck. I set aside some money to paint it, (all they had to do was shoot it, no windows, trim, or masking, just shoot the color. No body shop was interested in the job. So I took the money and bought a compressor and a good gun. I made up my own spray booth in the garage and painted it myself. It's not rocket science, and if you follow the manufactures steps, you'll get a nice paint job with the satisfaction that you did it yourself. Besides, I still have the equipment so when the time comes to restore my TR3B, guess who will paint her?

Don

 

[R6MGS]

I have a friend who got his MGTD painted a MAACO, it's been about 5 years and it still looks great! It has won many awards and such, I believe he did the body work him self....I went around to bodyshops this year to do the tops of the fenders on the B LE...the cheapest was $600 at MAACO so I also decided to do it myself...turned out very good, took a bit of work but it was worth it, plus now I have some experience and will be able to do better next time....BTW my best davice is to put on many coats of paint, the only blemish in my paint job is a sand through spot where there wasn't enough paint....next time i will put on 5-6+ thin coats.

Zack

 

[Cain]

71TR,

Two major things come to mind.

1. Spray the jambs (door jambs, under bonnet, and under boot) then put everything back together for the overall spray job. I took the doors, bonnet, and boot off of the car and sprayed them off the car and then sprayed the car without those items on it. I then put those items back on the car when the paint job was complete. Needless to say I've got chips in the fresh paint near the door, boot, and bonnet seams.

2. Spray at least four coats of clear coat. This may not be necessary if you have the perfect set up - like an air conditioned booth, high quality spray equipment, and (most of all) experience. But, if this is your first attempt at a spray job, you'll likely have orange peel to sand out. As mentioned in my earlier post, I had quite a bit of orange peel because I sprayed the paint in high himidity. Originally, I only sprayed two coats of clear - as per the paint jobbers recommendation. I started color sanding and quickly released that I needed more clear because I was afraid of sanding through the clear coat due to the orange peel. I ended up resanding the entire car with 600 grit and spraying on two more coats of clear. Note that you don't want to put on too many coats of clear (like eight or nine) because it may begin to laminate and peel off in a few months.

 

[71tr]

good info Cain, thanks. I have the body completely apart so spraying the innards and then the wings off the car will be my route. I'm considering going with a single stage system and no clar coat. Given this, do you still suggest ample layers to provide for color sanding?

 

[Cain]

71tr,

I've only done the one paint job and I used bc/cc. I don't know anything about painting without clear coat. But, I would assume that the same holds true. Somebody else may want to chime in that has experience with that type of paint system.

 

[Bugeye58]

Cain, more than likely, the orange peel was in the base coat, not the clear. Usual causes of orange peel are incorrect pressure at the gun, incorrect adjustment of the gun, or laying down too thick of a coat at once.
Some BC/CC paints require color sanding of the base before applying the clear, others let you shoot clear directly over the base coat.
"Cutting in" of the jambs, fender edges, etc., allow you to paint the car at once, using the same settings for the entire vehicle, rather than doing it piecemeal, and having minor variations in conditions show up in the finished job. Another advantage is that painting the inner surfaces of fenders, for instance, will help you get the feel for the proper distances and travel speeds. If you get a run on the inner fender, it's better than having it on the outer side of the door.
A more common problem with shooting in high humidity, is that of "blushing." A combination of high humidity, and the wrong temperature rated reducer, will allow the volatiles in the paint to evaporate at the wrong rate, resulting in a bizarre color change. I saw a friend shoot some wheels black, and the next day they looked almost grey, they had blushed so bad.
71TR, when you buy the paint, make sure to get all of the product information booklets that are available for the product. They are a goldmine of information regarding temperatures, mix ratios, film thickness, etc. Ask the paint guy any questions you need answered. They are the product representatives, and should be glad to help.
Several thin coats, with the proper flash time between coats, will produce a fine finish, with minimum sanding and buffing required.
Make sure that all of your air hoses are oil free. Don't use the hose that you have been running the impact wrench with . If necessary, buy a new air hose and only use it for painting.
Use a filter at the gun, to trap anything that may be lurking in the line or hose.
Use an approved mask, or better yet, a respirator. Some of the newer paints can kill you if inhaled. One good Isocyanate headache will make a believer out of you on this one. Trust me!
Prior to shooting the color, make sure to use a tack cloth on the entire surface. This will pick up the dust that you can't see until it shows up in the finished product.
I'm letting this go too long, but I think you get the general idea.
Painting is no big deal, if you take your time, and try to do it right. I know I always try to time things so that when I'm finished, I just want to clean the guns, and go to bed. That lessens the chances of me trying to do that last little bit that results in screwing everything up!
Jeff

 

[Stewart]

My B was painted at a macco type place and the paint faded badly after a few years and began flaking off over the years. I had a Honda motorcycle done at Macco and the paint work was ok but by no means great. When I did my restoration I did a vast majority of body work and the car was stripped and the body was taken down to metal. I took it to a local body shop and the total cost was 2500 dollars with quality materials and paint and it should last for quite a few years. Outside of California it should be cheaper.

 

[TriumphGT6]

The reason that I am going to go with my Uncle's friend is that he has been spraying cars and motorcycles since the 1960's. I have painted a car before (1998 Camry) and it still looks great. I think I overdid it on the number of each type of coat, (no problems, runs, inconsistencies of color, etc.) but better the paint be thicker for sanding than thinner. I used paint purchased at Finishmasters (Referred by Toyota) and my mom loves the paint job, which was a full repaint of Cashmere Beige. I also added rustproofing on the bottom of the car at that time (Toyota didn't), because it was rustless, but I don't trust it to stay good without rustproofing.

I was looking at repainting the Triumph myself, but for what Gary wants to do a pro job for me (he has won awards for his paint jobs, and he has done good by us on my dad's vette), which is done at cost as a favor. Thanks for the help though.

GT6