Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

[Mighty Thor]

I know what you guys are going to say or thinking...

But I don't want to pay 8k to paint my whole Fiero. Besides I had my hood painted in a quality paint shop and it's now cracking and the base coat is fading. So the $330 paint quality for the hood only lasted 3 years.

Ok, I checked out Maaco and Earl Schieb and it seems like Maaco's Signature paint includes base, coating, and urethane. It's suppose to be their closest thing to factory paint. For Earl it's the Platinum Supreme or the Pearl Package.

So which of the two is best?

[TealV6]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

Maaco on an older Jeep. If you do some of the prep work (rust!) and then let them tape it and shot it.... I think you'll be fine. If you want to get it nice, buff it out afterwards.

[jrocstar]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

used maaco on my 74 amx did all the prep work myself and just had them spray it. they did a very good but didn't tape off my brand new american racing rims. so bring a little tape with you just in case.

[IICODECll]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

There is a Maaco by me which does all the cars in TV shows and movies shot in the New Jersey/New York area (real vintage stuff too). So my parents had a 1987 Corvette redone by them about 4 months ago. The paint job looks really good. Above other jobs I've seen done by them. Really shines nicely once it's polished off.

On the cheap side: The only thing I notice is that they didn't paint in the door jams, and there is something about the lights that don't sit right with me now when I look at the car. They also painted the car cap shut, so that had to be fixed. They also had to take it back 3 - 4 times to get a few scratches removed that happened while at the shop (...you really can't look at the car in detail until it's sitting safely in the driveway).

[badinfluenceRS]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

Despite what people may say...

Maaco does an excellent job IMO. If YOU do ALL the prepwork, yes all, I would even go as far to tape all the stuff you can.

Also, make sure to tell them specifically before they take the car TO NOT PAINT THE WHEELS/TIRES...

I've heard stories about wheels getting painted so make sure you tell them

But yea, my dad's friend got his car painted there and it lasted for years...he works for GM and he said it was better than the factory paint lol (but it was a mid 90's ****ty paint car)

[12secondv6]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

Maaco job here on my 91 merc topaz.

Paint was in horrible shape.... I had attempted to take care of lots of scratches with touch up paint it it was bad!

When I was ready to sell the car I got a $99 special.

I told them NO prep work.... no NOTHING, just $99 paint job.

They painted over the bumpers.... took 3-4 days.... but when it was completed it looked incredible!!!!

I sold the car a couple months later so I have no idea if it lasted..... but I would reccomend them for simple things

[merlinsrealm]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

Had a Maaco job on a 92 RS camaro. Bought it for about 1100.00 and needed a paint job. 400.00 dollars later I made 4000.00 on it............

[CHEVYINSIDE]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

i just dont like the paint they use . They take to cheapest stuff thay can find and use it .you get what you pay for when it comes to this stuff. Plus i took a truck to them once (work truck) and when i got it back there was overspay on the windows , you could see the where the da got stuck and and left marks in the base , wheels got painted and it took them 3 weeks .

[96camarolover]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

i just dont like the paint they use . They take to cheapest stuff thay can find and use it .you get what you pay for when it comes to this stuff. Plus i took a truck to them once (work truck) and when i got it back there was overspay on the windows , you could see the where the da got stuck and and left marks in the base , wheels got painted and it took them 3 weeks .

The maaco here uses sherwin williams paint so its not the cheapest by all means, But I had a 89 camaro painted bright *** viper red and the car was beautiful only thing is they didnt prep it very well and the paint started chipping as if it was spray paint so I think if you do the prep on the car you could get about a 350-400$ paintjob and will look great.

[Mike88]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

by "do all your own prepwork" do you mean everything? The paint on my car is starting to crack in a few places (for example the bumpers). I doubt just painting over these areas would cover the cracks. What do you have to do for that kind of thing? Also, I've got swirlmarks in the paint as the previous owner didn't care much for washing it carefully. Would I have to lightly sand the entire car down before I brought it to a place like Maaco to get a really nice job? My neighbour just painted his 95 Camaro with Urathane and it came it looking amazing btw. He paints cars at a Toyota dealership for a living, and he told me it cost him at least $2-3000 in all the prepwork and time. Although he did change the color of the car.

[96camarolover]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

by "do all your own prepwork" do you mean everything? The paint on my car is starting to crack in a few places (for example the bumpers). I doubt just painting over these areas would cover the cracks. What do you have to do for that kind of thing? Also, I've got swirlmarks in the paint as the previous owner didn't care much for washing it carefully. Would I have to lightly sand the entire car down before I brought it to a place like Maaco to get a really nice job? My neighbour just painted his 95 Camaro with Urathane and it came it looking amazing btw. He paints cars at a Toyota dealership for a living, and he told me it cost him at least $2-3000 in all the prepwork and time. Although he did change the color of the car.

Pretty much everything, Cuz the bumpers had cracks on my 89 and they just painted over it and the cracks still showed so yeah...

[CHEVYINSIDE]

Re: Has anybody ever used Maaco or Earl Schieb?

about the paint thing ,There are diffrent lines of paint products every manufacter has them . i prefer dupont cromaclear base clear , but a place like maaco will paint in a single stage and maybe one or 2 mils thick , where as if you brought it to a normal shop they would do 5 or 6. It makes a diffrence in how resistsnt it is to chipping and color coverage . like i daid it's that old adage (you get what you pay for)