I had a dented fender on a Jeep fixed and painted by Maaco and it actually came out good. The first time, the paint was a little off and with no hassle, they finally computer matched it and got it perfect and that held up for over 5 yrs. I can not bust their ***** on not getting the paint right the first time, because on another visit to another shop that was the dealer shop, it took them about 5 times to get it right. I knew some of the guys that worked at the Maaco and actually did bodywork with them in HS bodywork and painting class, so I knew they knew their stuff. I would not trust Maaco to do a paint job for me, unless I really knew the people there. If you spend more there, you can get a better paint job for a little more....the 300 dollar job is a 300 dollar job.....probably light sanding and priming then paint. If you pay more, they will take it down prime paint and clear and can do a good job, if they have a good painter. Depending on where you live, you should be able to get a quality paint job, starting at 1k, that would be with a car that has no dents or dings already. I know it cost me 250 to get a 3-4" scratch fixed and painted at a good shop, using good ppg paint and clear, with minimal time spent on prep work.........to bad the factory paint will be dead before that fender is.

Anyoe ever try to get there factory paint touched up and get a good amount of clearcoat done to it.....I was thinking of trying that.

 

you should only wax like twice a year, 4 times at most. i detail cars for a living, and on black, of course its gonna screw it up. but swirl marks should still come out.

 

Anyone in SoCal? Check out my sig below, i'm not kidding!

 

any such thing as pearl black? or a black with blue mixture in pearls or color changing?

 

screw it up how?...dude...swirl marks dont go away...the only reason i started waxing a lot is because of the swirl marks...any suggestions?

 

oh....turtle wax..i only use on very special occasions...other than that i use like the thick liquid wax stuff...

 

I want to repaint mine. There's a lot of chips and such which show up very quickly on a black car. Plus I've hit a few (too many) rocks on the road which have torn up my front lip. Oh well. Kit shortly, I hope

 

No, no, no. Do NOT use turtle wax either. The swirl marks can go away though. Once you get a decent wax job, it should last a couple months. And most likely the swirls are from either a drive thru wash (please dont tell me you use them) or the towel/car is not clean completely when used to dry or when waxing. You just have to use the right cut compound with a buffer to take the marks out. pm me if you want more info.

 

I'm also a DIY'er... prepping and painting isnt exactly hard, it's the CLEARCOAT that really makes or breaks your paintjob.

 

mine's silver.....sticking with it