Is maaco paint defected?

[showcar]

I hear it's either expired or wattered down. Anyone hear about this? I refer people who don't wanna spend money to a particular one for strict mask and shoots but I don't wanna refer anyone else if this is the case with their paints. I was always under the impression that it was their prepping that made it a bad place. Any comments would be appreciated.

[jimmo4life]

I don't think that's accurate. Maybe someone got confused with them advertising being waterborne. Granted they haven't exactly built a name for themselves on quality, but each one is owned and operated independently so quality varies. As for expired and watered down products I would highly doubt it.

[showcar]

Thanks!

yeah, I see the quality differences from shop to shop. The one I refer people to is a good one. They use Omni Au. They are just mask and shoots so if there's no mouldings or anything it doesn't leave much for them to mess up on, and we know they haven't found a short cut to laying it down yet. They are forced to do that part right. hahahaha

I just figured they are a franchise so they get their paint for really cheap, but not neccesarily old paint.

[jimmo4life]

They no doubt get a good discount on their paint, but if they used unreliable products it would just cost them more money in problems.

[showcar]

I'm thinking that person told me this cause he wants me to refer him to customers.

Sounded pretty convincing too.

[jimmy3fan]

I used to be a painter at a Maaco a few years ago. When I started there, we sprayed Dupont Nason and Chroma base. After about a year they switched to PPG Omni and Delton. I painted my truck with Omni B/C C/C two years ago and have not had any problem yet.

[showcar]

I used to be a painter at a Maaco a few years ago. When I started there, we sprayed Dupont Nason and Chroma base. After about a year they switched to PPG Omni and Delton. I painted my truck with Omni B/C C/C two years ago and have not had any problem yet.

nice! That's good to know, and just to clarify, I think guys that start off painting at maaco end up being very good painters. Repitition.

[All Dry]

I hear it's either expired or wattered down. Anyone hear about this? I refer people who don't wanna spend money to a particular one for strict mask and shoots but I don't wanna refer anyone else if this is the case with their paints. I was always under the impression that it was their prepping that made it a bad place. Any comments would be appreciated.

Im not sure,Where would it have defected to? Russia or something? Mike

[Len]

nice! That's good to know, and just to clarify, I think guys that start off painting at maaco end up being very good painters. Repitition.

I don't know about that. :confused:

Doing a job fast and doing a job well are two very different approaches. While many of the steps are the same there's a big difference in what is needed to accomplish either of these two outcomes.

I've had over a hundred people working in my shops over the years and there have been many good and many not-so-good bodymen and painters. Most of the ones that managed to stay with me for a long time where not the production types but the people that paid attention to details and didn't rush the work. The man that now works with me has never done body or paint work, he worked in a supermarket for 34 years before he retired and came to my shop. He learned by paying close attention to detail and now, after 4 years, produces some of the best I've ever seen. It's been my experience that someone who is accustom to turning out work using a minimum amount of time may not necessarily produce a high quality result.

[showcar]

Im not sure,Where would it have defected to? Russia or something? Mike

hbahahahaha

[showcar]

I don't know about that. :confused:

Doing a job fast and doing a job well are two very different approaches. While many of the steps are the same there's a big difference in what is needed to accomplish either of these two outcomes.

I've had over a hundred people working in my shops over the years and there have been many good and many not-so-good bodymen and painters. Most of the ones that managed to stay with me for a long time where not the production types but the people that paid attention to details and didn't rush the work. The man that now works with me has never done body or paint work, he worked in a supermarket for 34 years before he retired and came to my shop. He learned by paying close attention to detail and now, after 4 years, produces some of the best I've ever seen. It's been my experience that someone who is accustom to turning out work using a minimum amount of time may not necessarily produce a high quality result.

different animals for production to resto. I'm refering to things like being able to do blends in tight quarters and color matching. I guess I'm thinking that cause the best painter I've ever worked with came from a maaco some 12 years prior and this guy can lay it down like it's already been sanded and polished. This guy will do a huge rv (2 stage) and do custom stuff to em too and when you see it finished your jaw drops. I think he makes over $150k. He's always showing off his work to me at the car shows I see him at. The guy is a true pro.

[jimmo4life]

I can see what you mean about them becoming good sprayers anyhow, they seem to move a lot of vehicles and a lot of them from what I understand are operated assembly line style...Painter doesn't stop. Being a good sprayer & painter are two different things though

I do know a former maaco manager & another bodyman who told me many horror storys about the way they fixed cars. Panel matched like crazy and wouldn't fix structural damage if they could get away with it. The manager is clueless, The bodyman has moved on to a better shop and is now a very good by the books tech. He did tell me that the manager regularly instructed him to say take a vehicle that got creamed in the back,,,,throw a bumper on it and adjust the door gaps & out the door with bent rails.... That sort of thing.....Luckly, that particular Maaco went out of business.

[showcar]

Yeah, I hear what you are saying and with the way you guys discuss detailed stuff it's just a sign that there is a MAJOR difference.

yeah, I think it depends on management. The two I work with do the frame repairs. What I saw what was wrong was they don't use adhesion promoter for plastic and they rattle can small baremetal spots, but even good production shops do that. Well, some of them. they use low grits to for prepping but it's not really noticible.

One time the manager had to do a re do and he was pretty pissed about it. So he just mudded it and apparently layed it on to thick. A few weeks later it looked as if a coin was under the filler pushing itself out. It was funny to see his face when that came in for the third time. I never seen hack work like that

[rigidude]

They painted one of my pickups about 8 years ago. I think it was enamel. Not sure tho'. But it's held up sitting for the past 4 years in one spot suffering all the elements as I dont use it anymore , and still looks ok. I gotta note that I light sanded the entire body of original factory paint before I took it to them. For all I know, the paint would have been peeling off in sheets if I had'nt done that. But's that's not fair to say.

[Len]

They painted one of my pickups about 8 years ago. I think it was enamel. Not sure tho'. But it's held up sitting for the past 4 years in one spot suffering all the elements as I dont use it anymore , and still looks ok. I gotta note that I light sanded the entire body of original factory paint before I took it to them. For all I know, the paint would have been peeling off in sheets if I had'nt done that. But's that's not fair to say.

Like the quality produced by most body shops there is probably some quality differences between the different Maaco franchises. When we were doing a lot more production work we repainted several Maaco jobs that the customers weren't happy with. These repaints were all needed because the cars had lost their gloss after about 6 months.