Paint shop blues

[Electrophil]

Finally getting around to getting the 92 painted, and nobody will do it!

We don't do whole cars. We won't paint a car over 10 years old. We do insurance work only. The vehicle must be a repair job in order to fully paint.

The only one I've found so far that will paint the whole car is that Earl Shieb thingy. They said "Drop it off today, and you can pick it up tomorrow afternoon." 3 cars freshly painted on their lot and all 3 look like some kid with a spatula and a texture sponge painted them.

Is it just Vegas? I never dreamed this would happen.

[stallion]

hey,

earl scheib is really hit or miss. i've seen VERY nice paint jobs come out of earl scheib for the 500 dollars and under paint job, and very bad ones too. the trick is to prep the car really nice before you take it in, since alot of the labor is in the prep they'll try to rush it or what not. if you take a hour to look at the cars coming out of earl scheib, and the majority of they look shoddy, you should def. check out a earl scheib at a different county near you. my friend was looking to paint his ae86 and got a GREAT earl scheib job 20 miles away from him vs the one 2 blocks away. same goes for maaco. although i'd go with earl scheib over maaco just by the volume of complaints or whatever i see on the internet and from word of mouth. later.

[NapaBavarian]

The reason that a lot of them don't want to do cars over 10 years old is that they don't want to be bothered with lookey loos, dusch bags who go in and waste the shops time with an estimate, then berate the estimator for giving them a price of more than the car is worth or simply go away and never come back so many people who want an older car painted think that it should be cheap because the car is old, they have no understanding about all the prep work that goes into a quallity paint job. Insurance work is easy to get paid for, but cash customers can be real A-holes who have no idea why the shop can and rightfully does charge what they charge.

If you really want your car painted then find out what the going rate is and if you are willing to pay it then get in touch with the owner of a quallity shop and explain your situation, tell them that you have looked into several shops and like their work (best to actually look at a few shops first) and you have a car that is very rare and has some sentimental value that you'd like to have refinnished, if they resist offer to pay part in advance.

[davew833]

Wow! I've never heard of a body shop that won't paint a whole car at the request of the customer. Seems like they're turning down easy money!

I've had 3-4 cars painted at Earl Scheib and 3 painted at Maaco in the last 20 years or so, and proper prep really does make the difference, both in the quality of the paint job AND the cost. I just had an estimate done to get my '92 "claret" restored to the proper color at Maaco on their $249 Ambassador "special" that's always advertised. Well, with minor bodywork and prep, the estimate came back at about $800.00, most of the cost being prep work. This was about the same amount I paid them to paint a small 4-door sedan in similar condition about 6 years ago.

I quit going to Earl Scheib about 15 years ago when I could finally afford Maaco "quality". I'm pretty sure the first car I took to Scheib didn't even get WASHED before painting, as they painted over sticker residue, mud, and whatever else happened to be stuck to the car. Oh, they also painted over part of my windshield and my rear-view mirror glass, if I remember right. After that, I started prepping my own cars before painting. The ones I took to Earl Scheib pre-prepped seemed to turn out better, but the quality of the paint seemed only fair, and they didn't match factory colors at the time.

The Maaco shop I use (closest to my house) has been hit-or-miss, quality-wise. They've made a number of mistakes in the work they've done for me but generally are pretty good about going back and fixing it. They DON'T really like it if you prep the car though, especially if body work was involved, and they usually won't warranty any paint work done over bodywork they didn't do.

[Electrophil]

Wow. I never knew. In the last 25 years I've had one car painted and expected it to look bad. I never knew this would be such a pain in the rear.

I'm dwelling toward crossing over to the dark side. Go buy a compressor and paint gun, and do it myself. Honestly... the quality I saw over at Earl's I could easily match... it was truly that bad, and all 3 cars!!

I'm even scared to go back, cause I'd hate to show up when those owners do. There is definitely going to be gunshots ringing. I wish I had a camera on me.

[It's Just Eric]

You should look to see if any vocational schools in your area have an auto body course. If so, see if you can get them to paint your car. Odds are they will do it free / really cheap, and do the best job.Id bet a pretty penny they do better than maaco, and if they screw up...Who cares? it was free / really cheap. hell, even have them do the prep work too, itll be a good learning experiance
the only downside here is they may not be able to colormatch....But Im sure it couldnt hurt to ask

[Electrophil]

Originally Posted by It's Just Eric

You should look to see if any vocational schools in your area have an auto body course. If so, see if you can get them to paint your car. Odds are they will do it free / really cheap, and do the best job.Id bet a pretty penny they do better than maaco, and if they screw up...Who cares? it was free / really cheap. hell, even have them do the prep work too, itll be a good learning experiance
the only downside here is they may not be able to colormatch....But Im sure it couldnt hurt to ask

This was my first idea. I was going to donate 2k to the school shop that did it in the form of a prepaid account somewhere, since a publicly funded school is not allowed to make a profit.

There is actually a waiting list for this. The big one... Las Vegas Vocational on Mountain Vista, says they can pencil me in for the 2009 school year, but no guarantees. I must furnish all supplies, and no donations of any form will be accepted.
(I swear I'm not making that up.)

I think a Votech would do an outstanding job. I mean.... it's their grade, and they know some instructor will be inspecting their work.

[SilverSpear]

Originally Posted by Electrophil

Wow. I never knew. In the last 25 years I've had one car painted and expected it to look bad. I never knew this would be such a pain in the rear.

I'm dwelling toward crossing over to the dark side. Go buy a compressor and paint gun, and do it myself. Honestly... the quality I saw over at Earl's I could easily match... it was truly that bad, and all 3 cars!!

I'm even scared to go back, cause I'd hate to show up when those owners do. There is definitely going to be gunshots ringing. I wish I had a camera on me.

I can give you few hints if you plan to do it yourslef , I have been trying that on a piece of metal board, it turned out that I can do a better job than any paint shop I have been to

[lhopp77]

Robert--you live in the wrong Las Vegas. We have a couple shops here that do quality paint jobs. Pretty good for a small town where a "peace demonstration" consists of 17 kooks.

Lee

[Electrophil]

Originally Posted by SilverSpear

I can give you few hints if you plan to do it yourslef , I have been trying that on a piece of metal board, it turned out that I can do a better job than any paint shop I have been to

Hints would be great if I decide to dwell toward this abyss.

I think the comments made earlier about taking up to a year are probably dead on. Kind of a scary undertaking.

[dcarrb]

Originally Posted by Electrophil

We don't do whole cars. We won't paint a car over 10 years old. We do insurance work only. The vehicle must be a repair job in order to fully paint.

My mechanic recommended a local guy with an outstanding rep to wet sand and clearcoat my car, and that guy gave me the same business, saying that anything other than collision repair was too much of a PITA. Wouldn't even talk about a price.

A couple of weeks ago there was an article in the local paper about the many restored collectible cars in this region, in which the reluctant paintmeister was mentioned prominently. Oh, well...

dcb

Here ya go Robert... always glad to help


Q: Please give me a list of 20 GOOD web sites that provide useful
information on how to paint a car.

A: Here are 20 GOOD websites on HOW TO PAINT A CAR. Sites include
instructions, project photos, health and safety concerns, video and
book resources, government regulations, and forum discussions. I have
reviewed each site and provide a brief description under each link.


http://answers..com/answers/threadview?id=261274



Ohh.... can't resist... it is sort of on topic

A BLONDE, wanting to earn some money, decided to hire herself out as a handyman-type and started canvassing a wealthy neighborhood. She went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had any jobs for her to do.
"Well, you can paint my porch. How much will you charge?"
The blonde said "How about 50 dollars?"
The man agreed and told her that the paint and ladders that she might need were in the garage.
The man's wife, inside the house, heard the conversation and said to her husband, "Does she realize that the porch goes all the way around the house?"
The man replied, "She should. She was standing on the porch."
A short time later, the blonde came to the door to collect her money.
"You're finished already?" he asked.
"Yes," the blonde answered, "and I had paint left over, so I gave it two coats."
Impressed, the man reached in his pocket for the $50.
"And by the way," the blonde added, "that's not a Porch, it's a Ferrari."

[Electrophil]

Originally Posted by Bipa

Here ya go Robert... always glad to help


Q: Please give me a list of 20 GOOD web sites that provide useful
information on how to paint a car.

A: Here are 20 GOOD websites on HOW TO PAINT A CAR. Sites include
instructions, project photos, health and safety concerns, video and
book resources, government regulations, and forum discussions. I have
reviewed each site and provide a brief description under each link.


http://answers..com/answers/threadview?id=261274

"

Hijack: I didn't know you could do this. Amazing. Thanks!
(Your joke is old. That was variation# 188 on the porch joke. Get a new joke book.)


End of Hijack.

Originally Posted by Electrophil

Hijack: I didn't know you could do this. Amazing. Thanks!


End of Hijack.

What, ya didn't know a blond could paint a Ferrari?
(Hey... old jokes for old folks, eh? LOL.)

Actually, these guys look interesting, though probably expensive.
But they advertise that they do, among other things, "B!tchin' Paint Jobs"

I'd be curious to see how much they quote ya. Check out the web page!

Mountain West
5151 Procyon St. #101
Las Vegas, NV 89118
(702) 262-1300
(702) 262-1332

http://www.mountainwestcustom.com/

[Electrophil]

Originally Posted by Bipa

What, ya didn't know a blond could paint a Ferrari?
(Hey... old jokes for old folks, eh? LOL.)

Actually, these guys look interesting, though probably expensive.
But they advertise that they do, among other things, "B!tchin' Paint Jobs"

I'd be curious to see how much they quote ya. Check out the web page!

Mountain West
5151 Procyon St. #101
Las Vegas, NV 89118
(702) 262-1300
(702) 262-1332

http://www.mountainwestcustom.com/

Went there! Which is where I got the tip on where to take my car.

I pulled in, and some guy with a Frank Zappa face was out in the parking lot. I get out, and he said you coming in here? I said yeah, and the conversation basically went immediately to what I wanted and what was my budget.

Unfortunately, I didn't "qualify".

But.... He told me where to go with my measly $2,500.

He sent me... of all places, to a Maaco shop. I was kind of insulted. He said "Hold on, this guy does all of Shelby's work. Check him out."

We all know who Carroll Shelby is, so I bit. Ya never know.

This particular place is over close to Nellis AFB. I hadn't ventured out there.

I get there, and check out the jobs out in front and only one I could tell had been repainted, and it looked pretty bad. The rest around the front were either original paint or very well done... I couldn't tell. I go inside to investigate, and then things started going extremely well. I tell the girl I want their top service which was "signature", she has me fill out a form, and I wait for an estimator.

The owner, Bob Berlinger, comes out to estimate, and things went even better. He went over my car with a fine tooth comb. I mean every inch! Every other place that agreed to do a full paint just kinda turned their head to the side, and threw me a number. This guy was on his knees going around the car. He pointed out every single flaw and explained how they would fix them. I was really impressed.

He finishes, goes inside, and gets on the computer. and fires out an estimate for $2,728.40. I have a tendency to sometimes be a little blunt, and I... as tactfully as I could, pointed out the bad press Maaco has. I threw in a "now I'm not trying to offensive or anything, but...."

He said 3 words: "Come on back".

He gave me a complete tour of his shop, and the cars that were there. There were 12 cars in various degrees of completion there. Half were getting the top of the line. He took me to each car (OK, don't touch...) and explained where the car was in the process, and what was coming next.

Of those 6, two belonged to Carroll Shelby... One of those was a 68 GT500. (I'm not kidding here...) He said that Carroll told him it was worth $750,000 and there was just 3 others like that particular one in the world. The other was a 67 GT350, and both personally belonged to Carroll Shelby. He said they were both staying in the original color.

Both of them were stripped, no motors, no interiors... Just a shell on a pedestal. Which of course made me say a dumb joke - "Wow! Just think what it would be worth with a motor in it!!".

Another one in the shop in the sanding phase.... or whatever they call it when you block sand it after painting... was a 1963 Corvette. He said it belonged to a basketball player. It was also a frame off. He said once it's sanded like that, it has to sit for at least 2 days. He said this one will sit for 2 weeks as dictated by the owner, but that long is not really necessary.

Another was a Pepto Bismo pink Jeep cherokee that was being finished up. I can't think of a color more puke inducing than Pepto Bismo pink, but it actually looked good!

I'm sold! Now I know there is no way I'm going to get the quality that Carroll Shelby, or a pro basketball player, or Tom Cruise is getting. (yes, him too... not kidding... classic Thunderbird.) I'm also sure they are paying a lot more than $2,700 for those paintjobs.

But! According to this Bob Berlinger, he is the top grossing Maaco in the country. I would assume that naturally due to his clientele, so you know the quality of his employees are top notch. I'm assuming I'll end up with one of his rookies who are working their way up to work on the "cars of the stars", and that's fine. He'll be wanting to impress the boss, and won't be wanting any complaints.

I take it in Thursday morning. He said he will need it at least 10 business days, and to expect up to 15 in case there are problems. (I have rust on the driver's rear quarter panel he's fixing).

I can't believe I'm going to get a paint job at Maaco, and I'm actually looking forward to it. But if you had seen that shop, and the cars in it, you would be excited too. I keep forgetting how many rich people live here, and that they have classic cars needing full paintjobs.

I'm going to do before and after shots, and post them when it's completed.