painting. ??

[Frankenstang65]

I'm in total agreement with what has been said so far, I've worked in a body shop for the last two years and have seen a lot cars with maaco (and other similar companies) paint jobs on them looking to have them re-done. As has been said, the real problem lies in the prep work. The painters there are pretty good at laying on even coats with no runs, but that outside finish only lasts for so long when exposed to the elements. Maaco doesn't spend a lot of time sanding down the old finish and getting everything really clean. Two years later you have a paint job that is begining to develop blisters and bubbles here and there and I have even seen peeling in several cases.

I took my car down to bare metal (my old paint job was a maaco...it was cracking all over the place, and brittle enough to chip off with a putty knife)before I painted it. This may not be necessary if your car has a decent finish right now...just make sure that it is clean and well sanded before you drop it off...this will add some life. If you have any serious body work to be done (like rust related repairs) I'd take it to a different body shop to have that part of it done. Some of these econo paint places tend to hurry though those types of repairs, not good. Hope that helps.