MAACO vs me

Any questions about tools or supplies. Post your compressor/gun questions here.



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PostPosted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 1:27 pm
Afternoon all,

My wife wants her badly faded and pealing clear coat corolla painted so she get some money out of it when she sells it. The car runs great and everything works, its just ugly as heck.
I checked MAACO and they tell me 750.00 for their bare bones choice. Reviews are not terrible for what you pay for I guess. But for 750 bucks, I figured I could learn and how much worse could I be than them. Don't answer that. I want to try to learn and she will let me.
My compressor will do 7cfm at 30 psi continuously. Will it be possible to paint her car without throwing money away and be able to do a decent job? Will a HVLP gun work for me given the size of this car? Any tips or how tos on how to go about this?

Thanks

Sid

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 6:00 pm
You'll never run an HVLP gun with that compressor.

This hobby is never cost effective if your goal is to paint one car. If more painting is in your future then spend the money on the right set of tools and feel good about amortizing the expense over the next 5-10 projects you do.

One car...MAACO wins that bet.



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PostPosted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 1:53 am
I mean i can spray decently with my 2.2 cfm 2.5gallon compressor. And most of my equipment is sub par. Ive done hoods, trunks, fenders, etc. just never the rear 1/4s and roof.

What corolla is it? A gen 8? If it is dont even bother painting it people dont want to pay jack for them. I installed 2400$ worth of parts on mine and got offered 300.

Anyway i paint outside in a 50$ pop up tent with no light or air flow its been 76-95 degrees F the last 5 days i painted. And it hasnt been too bad.

If i didnt mess up the prep and mixing my paint with the wrong fluid it probably would have went better. My old eastwood gun only requires 6.5 cfm i think.

Its probably going too cost atleast 750 to really get set up decently. A pint of omni mbc is like 45 bucks and i think that can only do like a hood bumper and fender maybe.

Coveralls, respirator, gloves, air reg/filter, masking equipment, tape, sander, bondo, etc. itll add up quick. But its a neat skill to have.

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PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:24 am
You paint with a pancake style compressor? What guns do you have that operate off of 2.5cfm?



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PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:49 am
orangejuiced86 wrote:You paint with a pancake style compressor? What guns do you have that operate off of 2.5cfm?


Its more like dual hot dogs, Senco pc0968 or something like that.

I just have an older model of an eastwood gun. I mean stuff isn't great but it aint to shabby. Obviously i'm not doing 20K ferrari paint jobs but it aint have bad for corolla, older beat up bimmer, etc. Beats rattle cans and the paints have lasted quite awhile on stuff ive done.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/73 ... 85d92b.jpg


I mean these are some of my practice panels, the robins egg blue one (BMW LSB) turned out pretty good upclose, and thats after sitting for 2-3 years outside in the rain. Being thrown around. Painted over dirt lol

Its nothing to write home about but if you want to do it as a hobby more then trying to save 10 cents getting your car resprayed its doable. There's probably a bigger learning curve with a set up like mine then if you had really good stuff to support it. I run out of air fast and stop in the middle of a panel for 30 seconds to let the compressor catch up.

I do mess up a lot though and end up having to respray the whole panel. I mix paint out of chinese food soup containers lol


Image


I do agree with the other guy though. Maaco is probably the way to go, its going to cost more then 750 to set up even what i have. More like 2K atleast.


EDIT: whats even funnier is my spray booth :D

Image

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PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 8:08 am
The long and short answer to the OP's question: Oh, Oh better get Maaco! :wink:
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 10:35 am
Not worth the headache imo. plus, if you let the wife choose maaco and it turns out like crap she won't be mad at you. but if you do it and it turns out bad. well, we all know the answer to that :knockout:
1969 CAMARO SS X66 work in progress

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 12:55 pm
I just saw a a commercial for Maaco with their $299 Special (usually $499). A little early in the year as I usually see this ad around the holidays. Not sure how much bodywork your Corolla needs but you may be able to get a little better price than $750. Regardess, I would got to Maaco.



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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 2:01 pm
Paint it yourself. Get a conventional or RP spraygun (I have a Finishline fl3 with the no. 1 cap), buy some decent primer and basecoat on ebay cheap, get some ********** clear, and go to it! If the wife doesn't like it, too bad! You're selling it anyway!



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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 6:50 pm
You could do this entire thing with the summit or the Duplicolor paint set up.

But like mentioned above, don't expect to buy it and have good results your first time.

I think you'll be having some choice words and will be saying 'should have gone to Macco.."


If you still like to learn - buy a fender and try the process and see how it goes.

You've got to be not only good at spraying base, but clear and prepping and masking...

A poor masking job - will make any paint job look like hell.

If you have overspray on items, people buying the car will think WRECKED! Even if the title is clean or carfax..
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