Painting - Northern CA

[ramrat]

My 240sx needs a new paint job (black).

Anyone had any good experience with a shop in Northern CA - Bay area (Marin/Napa area?)

I was thinking of taking it to Miracle or Earl Scheib but I don't believe it would turn out the way I like it to.

Thanks for your help

[flyfishz]

our 89/91 went to paint in concord on Friday at percission painting CAR is getting a full color change to BMW Toledo Blue

4 coats of color 5 coats of clear supposed to be done Friday

[silkk]

maaco of palo alto does paint jobs for $200-500 but i'm not sure about the outcome of it.

[flyfishz]

I am pretty sure it is illeagal to let Maaco paint a 240

the are supposed to stick to screwing up Hondas

[Chingon]

if it's anything like the local maco's than it's crap. They charge extra for door jambs and won't sand the finish (which means you get a sandy feel in the paint) + it's like 3 coats total and they don't do any prep body work or base coat.

[180fan]

earl scheib sucks too. might actually want to save up for a decent paint job lol

[SilviaS14KA24DE]

DON'T DO MACCO! My friends car's previous owner went there to paint it black. Turns out a lot f overspray that looks like it's still dirty, even when it's clean! Do not go there! They are lazy in taping and covering stuff. Their paint jobs suck ***.

[Dattebayo]

well if you prep your job for them it wont suck so much, will it.Also the lower-end service paint jobs from maaco do suck becuse you are using inferior paint w/ no clearcoat.

You can get the best paint w/clearcoat from maaco for $650 and have it look good if YOU sand and prep it, kids. (its like stock paint) also do you really need door jams painted for a drift car? I might just keep mine primer because. you are a show queen...

[SilviaS14KA24DE]

well, thast true. But most of us don't want to prep (cause we don't know how and/or are probably not good at it). I mean, Maaco offers to do the paint job at this price, which also includes prepping. They say good quality from their job.

think about it. so your saying that in order to get a good job from them, you have to prep the car yourself? They offer quality service, which includes the prepping. C'mon now, if they say they do it with quality, you'd expect it. You wouldn't need to prep your car for them. After all, thats why most people bring their cars into pro shops to get painted.

[ramrat]

Thanks for all of the posts!

From what I gather so far is to either do my own sanding and pay $700+ at miracle (they seem to have another paint job for $1,600) . then I have to deal with overspray (unless I taped and masked it myself). Or bring to a regular shop.

I believe the stories about the two shops as I know some one with an suv that had a Scheib paint job and had GOBS of overspray on tires and rims and the paint was not smooth at all - they however did sand the paint job (and trim) --> I am looking at a much better quality than this just thought the higher price ones would turn out nice.

I do like the route that flyfishz took. flyfishz how much did your paint job cost? My car is originally black and will be black again

[SilviaS14KA24DE]

sounds good

[flyfishz]

I am getting the equivilant of a new BMW repaint... should look pretty good. Quoted price was $5800.

But I got it done for free. I traded a few hours of consulting time for the paint job. This for a full color change, so all interior pieces,tail lights side markers , windows and trim have been removed not masked.

This is my son's car so I figured I would just hook em up with new paint. The car will be in Vegas in August for the 240sx convention

Should look pretty good

[180fan]

I asked my family's body shop owner how much it'd run to do a full car paint job, he said normally those cost 5-6k since they take off body panels, windows and put new seals/weatherstripping on the windows and paint basically everything.

[ramrat]

wow, I never imagined painting a car could be so much. I can't see spending that much on this car where the blue book is around $3K to $4K (convertible).

Can't imagine it would be that much just to paint a few pannels (since there is no top to paint)

What can I expect out of a 1K - 1.5K paint job. 1K is really about all I have money for and it needs a paint job this summer.

Is my only choice Miracle?

How much trouble could I get into if I purchased my own sprayer and tried to paint it myself?

I have another car that will eventually need painting (71 firebird formula)

Thanks for all the help!

[gounc14]

Wow Flyfishz how would you like to do some consulting for the shops in my area

[SilviaS14KA24DE]

we need paint shops to advertise on nico, so maybe we can get membership discounts!

[flyfishz]

If all I had was 1500 to spend on paint... I would go to small custom shop and talk to the owner. Drop 15 100s on the counter and look him in the eye and say... " I need a quality paint job. what I I don't need is a reciept" big shop won't work. Gotta go to a small custom guy that is not too busy