Grand am GT side skirts on an Alero

[kwhauck]

Originally Posted by fisdad

I know. To each their own. I'm also one of the few that wants my headlight bezels painted body color. I'm just a freak i guess.

Body color bezels are hot! I loved mine.

[zman246]

Originally Posted by fisdad

Ah. That black belt line. Gotcha.

The black belt line is actually painted blue too but it does kind of stick out. I briefly considered trying to do something about it but couldn't think of anything that would work well. That much body filler would just crack off eventually and you're not supposed to use body filler on plastic anyways. The bumper repair stuff I normally use might work but its expensive and wouldn't fill that much space either...

[fisdad]

Originally Posted by kwhauck

Body color bezels are hot! I loved mine.

I agree. I like the look of the mid 2000's impalas with the body colorerd rear lights with circles left for the lamps only and the body color front bezels. I think that's just cool.

[Papa Rad17]

your second housing has proven a pain to break into. I'm trying not to tear them getting into them but with all new sealer crap its a pain. another good hour to hour and half I should have them ready to paint. then its just smooth sailing.

[fisdad]

Originally Posted by Papa Rad17

your second housing has proven a pain to break into. I'm trying not to tear them getting into them but with all new sealer crap its a pain. another good hour to hour and half I should have them ready to paint. then its just smooth sailing.

Woot for painted bezels! How are they coming along?

[Papa Rad17]

they need probably another 45min to get the other one open. then its just paint, silicone, clamp/let dry. I hope to have them out for you Monday.

[falloutboy]

ok stupid question from the guy on the other side of the pond.
what exactly do I see?
you got a before picture?

[03Sleepr]

Originally Posted by falloutboy

ok stupid question from the guy on the other side of the pond.
what exactly do I see?
you got a before picture?

he put door mouldings from a GAGT on it.

before (just some random black coupe from google)


after, look at the doors.

[zman246]

The large plastic ground effects piece on the fenders, door and quarter panel. It was faded out and hail damaged before the paint job so i never took before pictures.

[fisdad]

Was this a Maaco paint job? Not implying anything about quality... I actually think it looks good, but if so I was curious which level paint you chose.

[zman246]

Originally Posted by fisdad

Was this a Maaco paint job? Not implying anything about quality... I actually think it looks good, but if so I was curious which level paint you chose.

Not Maaco, I work at a body shop so I did the bodywork and sprayed the paint myself. Since this is just my cheap daily driver I painted it with an economy paint called Shop Line, which is made by PPG. The price was very low and not surprisingly so was the quality. The finished product looks very nice but the base coat was as thin as water and it took 4 coats for it to cover. The clear coat was ok but scratches easily. I wouldn't recommend it. I normally spray Dupont which is a lot higher quality. If you can afford it then use that. I don't know what Maaco sprays but I know its very cheap. They are also known for barely prepping cars at all which causes the paint to come off eventually. I don't recommend Maaco at all.

[Shiwnath]

Originally Posted by zman246

I don't know what Maaco sprays but I know its very cheap. They are also known for barely prepping cars at all which causes the paint to come off eventually. I don't recommend Maaco at all.

Maaco sucks ass up here in Canada too. Everything you say is true... after an accident in 2007, we had the car taken to Maaco and the paint flaked after a couple months... terrible quality... I'd never go there again.

[fisdad]

I'm not looking to have a lot of quality right now. I just want it all painted and freshened up until I can afford to have it done right after I've gotten some repairs and mods done.

[zman246]

Originally Posted by fisdad

I'm not looking to have a lot of quality right now. I just want it all painted and freshened up until I can afford to have it done right after I've gotten some repairs and mods done.

I'd recommend against that. Normally for a good basic repaint all a shop has to do sand the top layer of the clear coat so the paint sticks. If you get a Maaco paint job and want to repaint it later ALL of the Maaco paint will have to be sanded off. If you don't then the new paint job will only last as long as the Maaco paint job. Any prepwork problems that cause the maaco paint to come off will also take off the new paint. And sanding off all the Maaco paint and leaving the original paint on might cause waves in the new paint so if you want a really nice looking job you'd have to sand the whole car to bare metal. This will cost you a LOT more money than if you had just waited and done it right the first time.

[fisdad]

Hmm... Well a small body shop gave me an estimate of $1200 to repaint with 1 base and 2 clear. I was really hoping to go for the $500 Maaco special since I've been selling off my vintage video game collection to get money for the parts and paint. I can always sand the car myself if that's the problem with Maaco.

I just can't help but think that Maaco wouldn't be so big AND still in business everywhere if ALL of the paint jobs they did were aweful. I've heard the horror stories about Maaco, but I can't help but wonder, how many of those were the result of the $300 ambassador paint service on a car that was in pretty piss poor shape in the first place?

Not only is my car in pretty good shape, I was going to at least buy the middle paint package with the 3 year warranty. Maybe I can pay extra for more than the "economy prep" package that is standard with them?

[fisdad]

This makes me optimistic about this location.

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl...ed=0CE0Q4gkwAg

[zman246]

Sanding the car yourself is definitely an option if those shops allow it. You'd have to buy a sander and paper though and that would cut into your savings. You could take off mirrors and door handles and lights ect too, that would make the paint job last longer (the clear coat will eventually peel there if you don't) and Maaco sure isn't going to do it unless you pay more. Even making sure the car is very clean will help a lot. If you wax you're car you could use degreaser to take it off before you bring it to Maaco. Wax under paint will cause problems. Otherwise it pretty much comes down to how good of paint they spray and how much time they put into prepwork. The paint I used on my Alero was $600 for the base coat and 2 coats of clear and thats pretty darn cheap for that much paint. Maaco might be using single stage paint to get the price that low. You don't need clear coat on single stage but it usually fades faster and metallic colors have a tendency of looking funny.

We can figure out roughly how much time they're putting into these paint jobs. Around here Maaco charges $40/hour. We will minus $300 for paint. That leaves $200 / $40 per hour = 5 hours to sand, tape, and spray.

Every shop other than Maaco around by me charges $56/hour. For the body shop charging $1,200 we'll subtract $500 for paint leaving $700 / $56 per hour = 12.5 hours for the whole paint job.

At my shop a complete repaint starts at $3,500 and goes up from there. Minus $1000 for paint / $56 per hour = 44 hours. I'm not suggesting you go this route, I just want you to see the difference in time it takes to get a quality long lasting paint job.

[zman246]

Consider this too- I recently spent 8 hours of my day giving my wife's grand am one hell of a detail. I used Meguiar's 3 step paint cleaner, polish, and an extra expensive Meguiar's wax and you wouldn't believe the difference. The paint was dull and oxidized with swirls everywhere and it practically looks like a new car now. The black paint has a mirror finish again. Why not give that a try instead? Spend 40 bucks on some quality paint cleaner, polish, and wax and save the rest of that money for the better paint job?

[fisdad]

Originally Posted by zman246

Consider this too- I recently spent 8 hours of my day giving my wife's grand am one hell of a detail. I used Meguiar's 3 step paint cleaner, polish, and an extra expensive Meguiar's wax and you wouldn't believe the difference. The paint was dull and oxidized with swirls everywhere and it practically looks like a new car now. The black paint has a mirror finish again. Why not give that a try instead? Spend 40 bucks on some quality paint cleaner, polish, and wax and save the rest of that money for the better paint job?

I may try that, but I'm skeptical.. Few problems...

- I need to paint the body kit and grand am gt side moldings anyway.

- There are huge rock chips on my hood down to the metal which are deep.

- Long, deep scratches on my roof (2 feet long) and trunk lid (1 foot long) and a deep scratch on my drivers side quarter panel just above my rear bumper cover that is about 4 inches long and 3/16 wide down to the metal.

[AleroGLS_00/04]

Originally Posted by 03Sleepr

he put door mouldings from a GAGT on it.

before (just some random black coupe from google)


after, look at the doors.

They look very good on a dark color car! Not sure on a light colored one.