The paint has succumbed to the AZ sun.

[dcmeigs]

Hello all,

My black 1991 MTX Plus needs a repaint.

I talked to the folks at Maaco paint. That was a trip. So much of their brain bandwidth appears to be devoted to understanding their complicated pricing structure, it's hard to imagine there is much left available for any actual car painting. I might ought to look elsewhere.

I'm looking for a recommendation for a local Phoenix area painter or independent paint shop. I'd most like to find a moonlighter with a paint booth; somebody who takes a little pride in their work and doesn't need me to pay for the corporate advertising campaign.

If you know someone who has done well for you, I'd like to hear about it.

Thanks

Dave

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

Dont have any recommendations, I'm just glad to see someone posting in this forum again....begining to think we shut down.

Tom and I saw a neat paint shop over by the place we dynoed his buggy....there were 5 guys of mexican persuasion working on a mustang in a rental building. They made it look really nice. Tom do you remember that? It was a blue stang that they were sanding down. You always seem to have the connections for the cheap cheap labor.

 

[Shoaz]

Yeah, it's been awfully quiet around here.

They're not necessarily cheap, but you could contact Chris Soehren at Elite Automotive Finishes (480-644-0060). He's a regular at our NASA events, highly recommended by many others, and we're from the same town in SoDak (i.e., he's a good guy).

They definitely do good work.

 

[Off Road SHO]

Mike,

I don't remeber the name of the shop but it did close down or got bought out and dismembered.

Another option to finding a good painter is to walk the aisles at the Saturday night car show at the Pavillions. A lot of those guys do their own painting.

Paint is expensive to buy, expensive to apply, and expensive to dispose of properly.

You could always learn how to do it yourself and just go for it. Black is the easiest color to shoot. There is only one shade of black, but 379 shades of white. YMMV.

Tom

 

[Shoaz]

You could always learn how to do it yourself and just go for it. Black is the easiest color to shoot. There is only one shade of black, but 379 shades of white. YMMV.

Tom

Just painting the fender on the Pumpkin one time myself paid for the paint gun and a bunch of the other sundries needed to do it. It's certainly an option to consider.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

Only input I have is when I got a car painted at macco, my interior and engine bay came back covered with the exterior paint color, and it didn't take long for the paint to start chipping away (bad prep work). They also took it upon themselves to paint over all the work I did under the car (this included a chrome rear end cover and all my nice colored suspension components) with a crappy black paint that flaked off fairly fast.

 

[SHOmethewayhome]

i wouldn't take it to maaco, unless you're willing to pay for the most expensive service, and plan on doing ALL the prep work yourself. i've been in the same dept since i bought my sun scorched car last may, you just gotta figure on spending about double what the car is worth for a worthwhile paint job. or plan on doing a TON of the work yourself.

the expensive part of a paint job isn't laying down the paint itself, it's all the before and after prep and finish work. i'm still on the fence for even painting my car. Eric, Tom, Mike and jesse have all seen the paint on my car, it's totally rocked. right now i find myself in the position of deciding if i wanna put any more time/money into a car that i dont even really drive anymore. the last time i drove the car anywhere was the end of june. if things i got cooking work out i'll have a place to store the taurus till the spring and be able to do all the prep work myself, and possibly actually try and paint it myself. i can do what little body work the car requires, and i'm lucky enough that there is no rust repair to speak of, and the door jams/engine bay do not require painting.

a new passenger front fender, and a plus wing, a small can of filler, and a lot of sanding and priming later, it should be very little to take it to a place and have them just shoot the car for me, and then color sand and buff the car.

i've looked a couple times on craigslist for guys that advertise their work fairly cheap, and a couple looked somewhat promising, but the whole set up seemed shady when it came time.

 

[dcmeigs]

Thanks for all the comments. Good to hear from you guys again.

I found a guy today on CL that's interested in doing it at a very fair price. I need to go by and look at his booth and see what kind of work he does. I think he is moonlighting.

I wouldn't mind doing the paint myself but I don't have access to a booth and wouldn't want to try it without one. That, and I'm really not that good a painter. Oh, I paint OK but I usually rush the prep work too much. That and I'm too picky.

I helped a buddy paint the deck of his boat in Urethane last month and that was the most difficult job I can imagine, dancing around that deck 10 feet in the air trying not to step in or drip sweat on your work. I'd much rather do a car!

Dave

 

[ChuckD]

After the kids decided to put the beast into a tree a few weeks ago, it reminded of a time at Toms last year with the golf cart, oh back on topic. I am going to attempt this process myself. I do have access to a paint booth at the base. If you feel gung ** I can check on the availability of it and can get it and give you a hand.