Bound and determined

[Jeff Mason]

My daughter has it stuck in her mind to paint her XJ. It's got the 'normal' clearcoat peel, and a few areas of cracking paint. She's not afraid of getting it dinged, etc. afterwards, but I guess she cannot stand the fact that the paint is 'ugly'. :shrug:

oh, we also replaced the front fender with a red one, so since the rest of the XJ is blue, she's not liking that. :D

I'm trying to explain that the $$ she might spend at Maaco could be better served with a locker install, etc., and that without a decent amount of prep the paint may not stay, and certainly all the defects will show through, but she's not budging.

I'm tempted to buy about 20 cans of paint at Home Depot and start spraying, but it would probably be the 'wrong' color.

I've read the past threads on Maaco and results, any 'new' thoughts on that approach?

(Oh yeah, we have no time and limited space to do much, if any prep work ourselves.)

[supremebeholder]

You can't beat the cost effectiveness of rattle can in a wheeling application. And it is so easy to reapply a light coat when you need to touch up an area.

Here?s my Scout just after painting a few years ago. I didn?t do much prep at all other than washing it well and paying a little extra attention to a few problem spots. I?ve had to touch up scratches a few times and while it never looks perfect, it looks good enough for me.

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh121/supremebeholder/52.jpg

[OlBlueCJ7]

If you take it to Maaco, you pretty much HAVE to do all the prep work yourself. Once you've invested all that time in removing trim & accessories, sanded & prepped everything, you might as well go ahead & paint it yourself.

I have a Maaco job that's about 7 years old on my CJ7, and it's really starting to show it's age. Chips, flaking on edges, etc.

[Steve]

...without a decent amount of prep the paint may not stay, and certainly all the defects will show through, but she's not budging.

You're spot on. Without significant prep work (and I do mean significant since you say the clearcoat is peeling) it won't last and it'll look like crap.

I've read the past threads on Maaco and results, any 'new' thoughts on that approach?

(Oh yeah, we have no time and limited space to do much, if any prep work ourselves.)

If you don't do the prep work yourselves, you'll either pay a bunch more than Maaco's advertised el-cheapo price or you'll waste your $$$. You can get a pretty decent finish with spray cans, but again, if you don't prep it don't bother.

You could wash it, scuff it down everywhere with green Scotch-Brite pads and paint it with spray cans. It won't last for years but it might be better than what it looks like now.

[mtntj]

The prep isn't as bad you as you may think air compressor, da sander, drive way. Have her help then top it off with a rattle can, maybe she will not be so happy and willing to dent-n-sratch. Just my 2 cents.

[SteveH - Colo Springs]

The Maaco paint jobs I have seen have such soft paint, that after one wheeling trip it will look terrible. A buddy had his VW van painted there and you could easily scratch the paint with your fingernail a few weeks after it was painted. It looked nice at 30', but had tons of orange peel. I'd try to find almost anyone to do a side job than use Maaco's paint.

[jeepn4evr]

xwhatever on maaco. My dad & I had our 70 Ford 2WD pickup done there. We didn't want a show car job & knew we wouldn't get one, just make it one color instead of the 4 or 5 it was. Did all the prep work, even primer I think (this was like 6 or 7 years ago). We even herculined the bed (not recommended on a PU bed as it all sctrached off) over the rails. We took it back to them like 3 times. We had them do inside the doors & they shut the doors on the wet paint 2 different times. Then they oversprayed the yellow onto the herculined bed rails & the tailgate (tailgate was off so they could get color in opeining & everywhere on tailgate). To fix they overspray they sprayed black on the herculiner. After a few months it looked good going about 30 mph or faster, but once it stopped & you got close it was horrible. Good from far, far from good. Not sure what we payed as my dad's business paid for it since we were using the truck alot for the business & painted it business colors. Kinda thought they would have done at least a decent job, I coulda done a better job in my driveway. By the way we did all the prep work in our driveway, think we got lucky we didn't have a windy day when doing primer.

If I had to do it over & couldn't afford a better shop tham Maaco I would save my money until I could or find someone to help me with it.

[Jeff Mason]

Well, trying to reason with an 18yo daughter doesn't always work too well. She did go ahead and get Maaco to paint the cherokee. She knew going in that the quality may not be 100%, but she saved her money and wanted something that didn't have clearcoat peel all over it and generally looked like crap. She did get an upgraded urethane paint, and it seems to pretty 'hard'. Overall, she got exactly what she expected, and is happy.

Can't say I am extremely thrilled with the color, but I am not an 18yo female. It definitely is easy to spot, so wave or honk when you see her (CO4x4 sticker to be added soon!)

http://gallery.trailseeker.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=34546&g2_serialNumber=2

PS- jpeg compressions screws the color a little bit, it's not really pink except in direct bright sunlight. Looks more purplish in low light (honest!)

[Steve]

Overall, she got exactly what she expected, and is happy.

And in the end that's all that really matters. :thumbsup:

[Budman]

Yup.

[SUPERGILDO43]

how much did she end up payin?

[Jeff Mason]

She paid for it, so I never asked to see the bill. I believe it was probably close to $700, with the upgraded paint, and the prep work they did to remove cracks in the paint on the hood, all the clearcoat peeling, and a couple of other dings, etc. Seemed like more than I would spend, but I kinda like the rattlecan approach...

[DADA_JEEP]

that looks very pink. my daughter would love it

[JR4X]

It looks fine now and prolly will for a couple years. Long as she is happy with it I say hooray for her:thumbsup: I had a car painted by maaco and the colorado sun cooked and oxidised the paint in less than two years. It was the 300 dollar cheapo job though no upgrade.

[Panda]

it cost almost 900.
and for the record i was extremely happy with it until i noticed some screw ups.. paint drips, scratches that were obviously made when the paint was still wet.. then again it will eventually get scratched wheelin and what not.
they also took all my change that was in a cup holder.. well they left me with pennies and nickels. assholes.

[sweater]

It definitely is easy to spot, so pull waaaaaaaay to the side of the road like you would if Saul was comin' at you and pray you don't get hit

Fixed that for ya.

:flipoff2:

Welcome to the boards, Amanda. :D

- mike

[Panda]

hahaha.

thanks.