Maaco won't Paint
 

I brought my truck in for a professional paint job today for their special. I painted it with Hammerite 7 years ago. They want 2-3K to get the paint smooth then $2K for the premimum paint. Hammerite is not hard to sand, it's not hard like Raptor Liner which I'm thinking of doing that's colored matched to the originaal paint (PFA). The color isn't supposed to be on a 1500 although they are the same body as the 2500/3500.

"About HammeriteWe protect metal: our metal paints are specially formulated to form a tough barrier that resists knocks and scrapes,"
It's still more work to sand to get to the original paint. Why did you use that instead of automotive paint? Help me understand why you want to use Raptor Liner? You went to Macco to get it painted. You didn't say what paint either. Using bed liner and getting it painted at Maaco are at opposite ends of the spectrum. If you want Maaco to do it sand it down yourself, It will save them the time/labor to do it.

I actually thought this post was a joke .... I remember Maaco paint stores back in the 70's-80's .... UH OH, better get MAACO .... They would paint your rig for $50.

I honestly have not heard that name in over 30 years .... I'm surprised the company is still alive.

90% of paint work is labor prepping the surface for paint .... I would assume when a vehicle is painted with Hammerite .... it was marked off the list of ever being a nicely painted vehicle.
Now they want $2K to prep it .... I actually think it is too cheap.

To get any decent paint to lay down smooth and not show imperfections from the paint under it .... we are talking hours upon hours.

In fact, if I were a betting man .... I bet the $5K total is for cheap paint but way over priced .... They simply know they could not make that vehicle look nice after the previous paint job .... They want to scare you away with a high price to avoid future problems trying to please you with a job that is almost impossible.

Enjoy your truck, paint it a low gloss color and drive it ... the damage was done years ago and too late to turn back now.

Don't think I have seen a Maaco in a couple decades..... :) They were notorious for masking off the glass, and then just spraying it... 200 bucks, and off ya went. Not a 'high quality' paint job by any stretch of the imagination. These days though, 3 grand IS a cheap paintjob..... Things have gotten REALLY expensive.

Well the price was $3K to prep and another $2K to spray .... $5K total, while it is in the ball park .... it is not cheap for a cheap paint job.
But it is in the price range of .... We really wish you just take it down the street .... If you insist!!! we will put our signature cheap paint on it for $5K.

If you think Maaco is sketchy remember Earl Scheib? "I'll paint any car for $99.95"

OMG .... that is so funny that I actually forgot them .... seems they were fighting to be the lowest price to get business. :D

There was an Earle Scheib here back in the 70's. I never was sure which cars were in to be painted and whixh ones were done. Although to b fair, I knew a couple of guys who prepped the body and took it there to lay down color. Those actually came out decent. Still, my "Farmer Chic" paint jobs with a roller and brush look as good.

General way to look at a paint job is a good one will always cost you a lot. It'll either cost you a lot of time or a lot of money depending on how much you outsource. When we restored my dads Chevelle we did a ton of the prep work, had to outsource some of it because of time constraints. But even going to the body shop totally prepped, car was in pieces and primed, it was still $5000 to just spray it. That was 6 yrs ago. It was the factory red color, no metallic, but done as a modern base coat/clear coat. I want to say the paint alone was ~$2000.

Just for giggles I looked to see if any are around me and four of them showed up(one is fleet solutions). I remember the commercials also but haven't heard one in a long time. If you are looking for budget paint try this. I used it to paint this...

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/dodgefo...5237ae2492.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/dodgefo...0dd75744ae.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/dodgefo...71fb7c7982.jpg

Well the hood and fenders were painted, The rest was compounded and polished to match.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/dodgefo...7fd6c07e2b.jpg

Single stage no clear. I was tasked to bring it back to it's former glory. I think I succeeded! :D