Bodywork and Paint
 

Hey guys!

I'm thinking about getting my car repainted after the winter season, maybe in time for my bday in Feb :) It needs some bodywork done as well, mostly small dings. I went to Maaco and they quoted me at $2k. Does anyone know a good place to go that does better work than Maaco for about the same or less?

Thanks!

Rob

Everyone does better work than Maaco.

That's not totally true. Maaco supposedly sucks simply because they skimp on prep work. If you do the prep yourself, then just have them spray, as long as the guy working the gun isn't a total wasteoid, you'll get a decent result.

Really you just have to treat it like you're paying them for use of their paint booth and equipment and do 90% of the work yourself. The problem is, if you look at it that way, suddenly it's not such an awesome deal. :lol:

Then again, I've never used Maaco, I'm just repeating what I've heard.

I've heard their painter is decent right now, better get in there before he finds a job elsewhere that pays more!!!
And if you do the prep yourself you could probably be out of there for less than a G for 2 stage.

Thanks for the tips. I wish I knew how to do the prep work :/

Hey Rob! Hope you get it worked out.

Hey, long time no see! Yeah my exterior is in need of some love.

BTW, what springs/struts combo are you running and how difficult was it to get everything aligned on the wagon?

Crucial Springs with Koni inserts. Installation was tedious and time consuming, but straight forward. Alignments have always been easy until recently because now my camber bolts have seized.

Ok cool. The alignment is the biggest thing I've been worrying about for replacing my struts.

So I think I'll take the advice and skip Maaco. I'll do some more research but if anyone wants to give advice on a specific place I'd appreciate it.

I was quoted in the $1200 range for just a spray at Silver City auto body in carson, they did decent work on my civic. If the price was right I would use them again. You could swing by if you are in the area and get a quote including bodywork, I drive by there everyday and haven't seen very much work lately so you may be able to work the price down some if he needs the business. Seems to be a good locally owned (father/son) operation. You might be able to get a much better job than Maaco for around what you are looking to spend...

Thanks, I appreciate that!

You could try Gilson auto body, they are a little pricey but they do amazing work. Another good shop is concours, I have a buddy that works there with his dad and they do pretty good work as well.

Oh yeah, I read a review on Concours. Thanks, I'll check it out.

I actually might be getting it repainted sooner than I planned. I'll let everyone know who I went with and write a little review.

Concours is very spendy but they fixed my wifes car and it actually looked better than new.

Gilson's did a half-ass job on my SVX, and charged me $1000 more than we agreed upon without contacting me beforehand. I think they just assumed that since it was an insurance claim they could just jack up the price... never mind that I was paying any overages out of pocket to keep the insurance company from totaling the car.

With the exception of that one sand damage claim, I always go to Shaber Ave. Autobody. They're pricey, but Bruce is more detail oriented than I am and has never let me down. I've sent a bunch of other people his way, and only Cody came back unsatisfied.

Yea concours painted my whole read fender. It looks perfect. The do amazing work. I'm thinking of taking my 08 scoop to them for a repaint

I got quote from Concours today. Only $10.3k if I keep it the same color :eek:

See what I mean.

Is sounds like they have too much business. That's the sort of price you'd expect to pay if the car was sideswiped and needed repair... not just a prep and repaint. WTF?

Sometimes you can get better deals in the Summer when the body shops aren't busy fixing all the cars that crash in the winter time. Greg Street told me they'd paint my car "at cost" one winter, but told me to wait until summer when they're labor costs less due to less demand for body work. They ended up withdrawing the deal when I called the next Summer, so maybe they were just trying to get rid of me...so take it with a grain of salt.

Ahh, good advice, thanks.

WRXRallyBlue, Any more on this? It's time to respray my roof, or work on other plans. When I removed all of my graphics I had a piece peal some paint off the roof as it was dusk and a bit cool, great adhesion conditions.

Anyway, thinking after I recoil from the 90k service and picking up some summer wheels I need to do something with it - either a WRB respray or some vinyl work (~$2-300 for a vinyl roof is likely way cheaper than a respray.

Considering the WRB is apparently very hard to match, I'm thinking vinyl is the way to go for now, but would like to know how you came out.

Unfortunately nothing has happened and the cost has stalled my plans. It is just way too much money to consider right now :(

I wouldn't mind maybe getting my front bumper, hood scoop and spoiler all repainted to like a darker WRB color. not a color match attempt but something that won't stand out.. hmm

That's exactly what I was thinking for my roof - leave everything including hatch and wing OE blue, but the roof a few shades darker. Not black or something else that would stand out at first glance, but not finicky about exact color match either.

Thinking my original plan of covering the roof with some vinyl is going to win out though, if I don't like it I can respray it, but at least I get the bare spot covered and get the car whole again.