Why Everyone HATES Cheap Maaco Paint Jobs... BUT Shouldn't! 

Does anyone else get tired of the "next time we'll show you what you thought you were going to see in this video" bullshit?

“One of my more supportive friends” 😂😂😂

If you buy their top of the line paint and do ALL your own prep it can come out great. If you use middle of the road paint and do ALL your own paint it comes out decent. If you just drive up and pay them the interior will be painted along with the exterior. I have had MAACO paint on my car for over 10 years (prepped myself, mid-quality paint) and I get compliments on it every time I drive that car. It was a great value.

goal is 500 HP for $5,000... So let's start with a paint job. Lolll. I've heard red makes the cars go fast

I paint everything flat brown so the rust doesn't show.

Wtf why did you title the video "why we shouldnt hate maaco" and you didn't use them!!

I have done exactly this when I was young and had no money. Do all the prep work and taping yourself. Spend the time! That is what costs money to have the pros do it. Then have someone with the right equipt just spray it. I gave them my car with all the sanding done, trim removed, lights taken out, plates removed, then after painting, put it all back together and it looked great.

Clickbait...no Maaco paint job review...

Paint it Dominos blue and red.

Just a few things about Maaco and apparently other cheap paint shops. Im speaking with 20 years of painting experience and i did work at Maaco for quite a few years. The "clear coat in the paint" they are selling you is bs. You either have single stage paint or or base coat clear coat paint ( with the exception of tri stage paints wich are also base clear. If you added clear to the paint it would make it so transparent you would need 50 coats to cover anything. They also try to sell you other things that you can pay for and never really get, like uv protection. Macco on average paints 8 to 10 cars a day, and that is the reason they can offer the cheap paint jobs. They make money off the volume of jobs instead of the individual job. Also most paint jobs being good or bad does come down to the preparation. If you leave imperfections you will still see them after its painted, only they will be shiny imperfections. Removing simple things such as headlights, tail lights, marker lights, window trims and mirrors will result in a better paint job. Its usually the over or under masking that people are unhappy with and not having those items to mask off will eliminate that issue. Would i take my car to Maaco? No but i have my own shop and can do it better for the same cost. If i did have a cheap car that may only last a few years and i wanted it to look better Maaco is a good choice for that, just dont buy the snake oil.

It's amazing how many people have become professional bodyman and painters by just watching videos here lol!!

I had my 1986 Mercedes SEC painted at Maaco in Crest Hil, Illinois. Total cost was $1200 and I was completely satisfied.

Great video, I used to work at Maaco, I was the tape guy taping 8 cars a day, if I would see a bad sand job I would send it back, it’s a good thing you sanded yours down, on cheep Jobs they barely sand and don’t get the clear coat off, it will start pealing in one year

“One of my more supportive friends.” Lmao Sam you are gold

I worked at MAACO and I was YELLED AT FOR DOING A GOOD JOB!!! (Scotch bright scratches is what they do for prep....)

I took my car to maaco like 10 years ago,paid $1000 to paint the whole car and it came out great,I think it all depends on the shop you go to

Obsidian black.

You should paint it white with blue and red stripes and a hint of black. Maybe add a a lit delivery sign that says samcrac

As someone who's restored their car and painted it themselves. PLEASE DONT Just take it to macco PLEASE , unless u have a entire paint booth at home you won't get a great paint job

I have used Econo for years now.. I prep my own cars, and remove as much trim as possible. I have always been happy with the results, and have never had a car that looked like it was cheaply painted. The few times I have had flaws in the paint work, they have always fixed the issues.

Prep work is 90% of paint work.

did macco do a decent job painting my accord? yah. does the paint still look ok a few years later? yeah. are my alloy wheels slightly green tinted now? yeah.

DUDE... YOU DIDNT EVEN PAINT THE CAR IN THIS VIDEO?! I’m not even going to waste my time watching your next video.

I agree that the results from franchise shops can be all over the map. I had a Fiat 124 painted at One-Day paint and body. It was a nice 8 foot paint job and stayed that way for 5 years or so.

Let me tell you something about Maaco... My old man was an operations manager for Maaco from 78 til 82 at corporate headquarters in King Of Prussia Pa. And opened most of the Maaco shops in the NE USA. We owned shop in Philly for years after that and one thing he always taught franchise owners and even our own crew is that no matter how much a customer spends on the paint service (Ambassador, Congressional, Presidential, and Supreme), ALWAYS GIVE THE CAR A SUPREME. Because, we were painting 30-35 cars a week and standardizing the paint line process saved time, even though we were doing more to the car, we could do it much faster... Plus no matter what, customers liked to tell others about where they got it done... No one ever knew we did that and every customer went away with the best we could do... #OldYorkRdAndTiogaMaaco

Should keep the color close to the original (as much as possible given the budget). I think that adds to the sleeper-ness of the car....

i had a maaco done years ago and they did good. was very happy

1:40 you did ask for the whole package!!! Lol interior painted included!!! Lol 😂 👍🏼

Paint it Dominos colors!

If you’re doing prep and body work why not just spray it yourself. The prep is the hard part.

I've had really good paint jobs from Maaco. The cheap single stage paint (no clearcoat) is pretty good and can even be buffed out pretty nice. Of course the $1500 base/clear is much nicer if you can afford that. The equivalent base/clear at a private body shop would be maybe $3000. Body work is always extra as it should be.

Man I wish I would've known about Maaco before I started patching my paint job

Prepping the car with 80grit calls for " Flat Gunmetal Grey"

Wow, the shade on Rob at the end. Funny!

I got a Maaco ad for this lol lol

I highly suggest using a white paint. Not only does it help with keeping a vehicle cool in the hot summer months but it also does a very good job of hiding any imperfections you might have missed as well as the everyday dirt and dust you would get with a family drive vehicle. If you would like proof of this fact try going up to your local FedEx delivery truck next time and take a closer look at his truck and you will find more dust dirt and debris than you could imagine... and yes I'm speaking from experience.

LMAO! I like how you called Rob out at the end. I'm subscribed to both of you guys so its fun when you are poking a little fun at each other.

Go with the same color. Color changes on the cheap don't work out well. Nobody wants to see different colored door jambs or under hood/trunk color differences. My local Maaco is awesome. Their spot painting service using base/clear usually matches very well. Even without a cut/buff many people would not realize the parts were repainted on the cheap. Full paint service, they do a decent job for what you pay. Had a Chevy Tahoe done 6 months ago. It was a Nasty old City of Chicago police car, had uneven edges on the paint. Dents, dings. and one of the rockers was quite rusty. For $900 they prepped it, filled all the dings, did some body work, sealed, and painted it using Urathane paint and "integrated" clearcoat. I got compliments consistently on how good it looked. The guy I sold it to didn't even know it had a respray. Any other shop would have been $5000+

3:11 Who ever did the polishing of the door and fender needs to quit his job. This looks horrible with all the swirls.

The paint Maaco uses on the cheap paint jobs chaulks out after about a year in the sun.

Pearl white. The jag would look awesome

Still needs a good cut and buff to get rid of the orange peel and you need to do good prep work for dark colors. Also taping off everything yourself is needed, but remember you get what you pay for. Also some Maaco’s have better workers than other franchises.

Thank you for sharing. I may be able to buy my dream car this year and will actually drive it which means the paint will see some miles.

Your channel is by far one of the best on youtube. No BS and very helpful content.

storm gray with a bit of dark metallic flake would suit this car and make it look a bit more modern

Just try to do it yourself!!! Just need to have a nice compressor to handle the continuous flow. You evenly spray without back & forth actions, but uniform movements all the way across. You're a very good dyi'er if you ask me. You have the room, and even the shade to do it too. Keep it in the shade for at least a week after you do it for better results. You can give it maybe 3 passes/same with the clear. With intervals of up to 30 mins in between. This works best for me. The paint supplies would be around 100 bucks for the good paint/clear coat. You should experiment on smaller panels or even wood panels as practice. I usually primer the hood a bit more(there's primers for that too) to have heat resistance on the paint ;) I think you can do well Sam. Even remove the trim before paint for a much better inside out look. I've seen what you can do, and do believe you have it in you to tackle this! Cheers

I'm happy with my Maaco paint from a year ago, I had damage from a car wash and my car was 10 years old.

I sold a motorcycle to a guy who worked at Maaco, he told me never ever go to Maaco lmao.

I think the bright, grabber blue kind of color thats on the new Jaguars.

Sam your content has been skyrocketing. It consistently gets better with each video and you have become one of my favorite RU-vidrs. Keep up the great work 🤘🏼

In 1996 I had a 1968 Ford bronco ( before they were the rage ) and I prepped and took mine to Macco for a OEM factory color respray. This was in Bellevue , Wa .... and the guys there were so enthused about painting it, they did an AWESOME job. For 350 bucks in 1996.... I spent a lot of time sanding the tops of the fenders ... I totally agree....

A co worker has had three vehicles painted at our local Maaco and paid around $1,500 each ( two trucks and a suv) and they sanded it down to the metal and resprayed the entire vehicle along with a 4 year warranty.

"A supportive friend rob feretti" 😂

It's a nice car and can repaint it the same color. It don't outdate it.

Always great content, thanks for sharing.

Imagine going to your favorite pizza restaurant. Ha. Zing!

I remember Macao use to have a $99.00 special.

Paint the jaaaaaag white with a red and blue rectangle consisting 3 dots

I can't even paint a car myself for 400 dollars including the supplies, etc. I have painted about 10 cars in enamel the last 25 years and shops were trying to sell me the two stage urethanes. My enamel jobs always turned out acceptable, but needed polishing. Last year I went for the two stage urethane and the paint is much easier to spray and the clear turns out awesome.

The main thing is the orange peel but wet sand, compound, then sealing with a buffer can make it much better

I had a car that the previous owner had taken to Earl scheib to be painted. About 10' away it looked good. You get close and you could see 80 grit scratches through the silver basecoat😂 on the drivers side rear quarter panel Ans passenger door. It was silver which shows everything. Also one day I went to wash my car as it was dirty and there was a spot on the front bumper that no matter how I scrubbed the dirt didn't disappear, I looked closer and realised that the dirt was under the clearcoat😂😂😂

man, the amount of buffer trails/holograms in that fiesta paint though...

Thank you for the recommendation. I have a 1966 Ford F 100 that I am considering painting. Nice sets of options & recommendations.

Dude you're working on a budget it's okay. you're trying to teach people that there is an option if you don't have the money to go for an expensive paint job that you can prep it thank you for being a realist. I appreciate that you keep it real even for those that don't have crazy money to make things happen.

Lmao “one of my more supportive friends, Rob ferreti” haha

11:08 "Especially on an older jags" Mah dude, that is an Aston Martin...

Hey Sam, back about two years ago, Ford came out with the most beautiful blue you'd ever want to see, they used it on the Taurus and the 500, it was deep midnight blue but metallic, when it hit the sunlight, it was the bomb. I think it would look great on your Jag, check it out and if you're ever on the space coast, come check us out in Titusville.

My dad always took each panel off for full body resprays. Doors. Fenders. Bumper covers but back then they didn't really have them. Trunk. Hood. Lights too. Those panels were painted separately off body.

*****UPDATE***** The D car is being made into a cube with kind donations from Papa John's, Round Table, Mountain Mike's, at Little Caesars. Donations are being taken for Pizza to put in car while said car is set Ablaze then made into a cube then boxed with one of their logos on the side love the Box. Personally we do not think it will be delivered to their office within 30 minutes. 🤣😂🤣😂

“Old Man Tan” otherwise known as Champagne. Will make the Jag rather stealth!

Thank you for this video. Now I know not to go straight to Maaco for the paint job. Time to shop around and see who will understand my cheap car situation. And I can do the prep.

I think you should paint it red. Hope it is not too late. Only a year and 3 months

Ford grabber blue/ Volvo polestar blue.

British racing green looks nice especially on vintage Jags *Shows Aston Martin*... :D

My friend crashed into my Civic hatch with his mustang a few years ago, didn’t go thru insurance or anything so replaced some panels and took it to Maaco. $400 cash out the door for me a full respray of the same color white. And I was very happy with it for the first few days...until I popped my hood, and noticed the entire engine bay/engine/turbo kit/ everything under the hood was painted white. My entire custom turbo kit was now even more custom becuase the turbo/bov,piping,valve cover, everything was custom white.

Macos not the only one, a local auto body guy who has been around for ever painted my friends Toyota pick up white for a cable tv job. Truck had been red before. Paint job lasted less than 2 years with white comming off in sheets. Truck eventually returned to red which coencided with his departure from CTV sub contracting Lol! Perfect!

Considering how much space you have there, and how cheap it is to set up the initial paint needs for a cheap paint booth, i would probably throw caution in to the wind and paint the car myself.

"looks good especially on classic jaguars" shows picture of an Aston martin

Greenville South Carolina , owned and operated by the most honest and customer oriented owner ive ever worked for , maacos are definitely not where you want a show car painted, but if you need a great quick shiny car there great

What about Earl Schieb? Got one in late 80s. When I complained of overspray on wheels, windshield, paint runs and other Small Details, said what do you expect for $99.95?

My vote is for flat black from a spray can, lift, winch and a light bar.

I recall a late 60s Jaguar in South America with a deep dark burgundy color.

I did the prep work on a Saturn for my daughter and then took it to Maaco came out excellent

Hello Sam, liking these videos... I've an STR myself that will be going in for paint this week. In talking with the company doing the paint/body work they had some concern about the removal of rear spoiler. As I saw you take yours off (in fast forward) made me want to ask you the process you went through to do so and any tips/suggestions you may have for me before I attempt to remove it myself? PS the blue looks pipe

I want it to look like it's not stock color. So how about Pearl white? I mean like that really super white! Or mabye Metallic bronze :P Metallic grey.

bright red

I read an article once that said if you use a budget paint place you can do the prep . Plus you can remove all the lights , tape the glass and chrome and have it towed to the paint shop,

I had a car painted by Maaco. It cost me about a thousand bucks for the entire vehicle. I was not expecting great results, but I was pleasantly surprised. While it wasn't perfect by any means, it was pretty good. A little bit of orange peel (that was easily polished out) and one small run, but they matched the factory color perfectly and the car looked brand new when they were done. No overspray in unwanted areas either. Overall I was really happy with the end result and I didn't have any defects 2 years later (when I sold the car).

You can paint half a bumper. It's called "burning." It's difficult to learn, but takes practice. When I painted, I got really good at it. You couldn't even tell it had been done. It only lasted about 2 years though. Only draw back. It would fade and you could see where it was "burned in"

The jag might look good with a metallic turquoise.. it’s kinda similar to the color the 50’s Chevys came in and even some early 80’s Ford/Lincoln’s.. Overall that classic Bluish-Green.

I just had my 05 300C sprayed by Maaco and they did a wonderful job on it. Of course I spent close to 4k, but it doesn't look like the paint job on the BMW

I've had a number of cars painted by Maaco over the years with good results. But that said, I bring them a car that is in the closest condition I can make it to how it was painted at the factory: totally stripped. anything I wouldn't want oversprayed is removed prior to arrival at the paint booth. Any truthful Maaco manager can tell you that they have to paint 8 cars a day to make a profit, so what you're really looking for is the skill and experience of the guy with the spray gun. If you didn't pay for body prep, you don't get it. If you don't pay for two-stage paint, you don't get it.

You can paint IT in a space gray color

No way “doing the prep your self” voids the warranty. They have to be full of crap. For one they don’t do any prep any ways and second I would’ve just told them I didn’t do any prep, that’s just how the car is.

I work as an auto detailer and over the last year or so I have seen Econo explode in popularity. The sweet spot most of our customers go for is about 500 bucks and that gets them quite a bit. They do proper prepwork and minor fillings and they use good quality paint and a coat of clear. Its not a showroom finish by any means but after you get the the bits of orange peel off and give it a good polishing they really come up great for the price. I'm so familiar with their work at this point I can immediately spot their cars. I recommend them. Only fault I can give them is the orange peel can be an issue depending on your local one. You generally will have to compound and polish your vehicle afterwards but the amount depends on the skills of your local guys. Ours don't need much, Just a few small spots. You can do it yourself or just find a local detailer to do the touch ups. Irregardless you can't really argue the quality for the price. As for possible colors, I'd try a nice Aqua or Royal Blue. Its interesting enough to look at but it won't immediately give it away that you supped up the engine.

When I paid $1250 for my paint job at Macco on my already painted 350z it turned out Awesome

80 grit? I can already imagine what it is going to look like in the end.

lol...ok 1 wait a couple years after the sun bakes the clear right off.2 rubber parts need to have a flex agent added to the paint or it will start cracking all over..maaco dont do flex on the rubber parts.. the base is always enamel at maaco. the clear coat if you pay the extra for the clear is the only urethane part .....we are a 4 generation auto body family.. if you want to clean up a junk car to sell it to an easy mark(not nice but ok) maaco is a way to go quick cheap easy....in even a few months you will start to see what is called pull back or shrinking and every sanding scratch will start to show the paint will not hold up to the sun so in a year or 2 you will start to see what is called checking and blistering in 3 or 4 years the clear if you got it will be peeling back off...if you do not get the clear the sun will kill that paint dull as heck in 2 years this will not really buff or rub back off when you do buff it the paint will soak up the rubbing compound and turn milky white a few weeks later and it just gets worse and worse as time passes on....sorry but that is the truth... god help you if you let them do any body work at all... good prep work will help a bit but only so much.

If I want anything done right , I do it myself , if I don’t know how to do it , there is always you tube . I prepped, painted my son’s Honda Civic came out really good .

I got my 1994 suburban repainted august 2021 at maaco St. Louis area. They did a GREAT job.