maaco paint job - 2000 mountaineer

[dpappyp]

I had the two-tone forest green and tan combo that I didn't care for at all, so I went to maaco. I got the presidential package with all door jambs, under hood, etc. for $1094. I saved a few bucks by taking off all the door panels myself. I also de-badged, took off the rear wiper, took off the pinstripes, took off the rear bumper plastic parts, and took off the weatherstripping from the rear hatch and rear hatch window. I spray painted black everything else myself; rear bumper plastic parts, wheels (including sanding down to get rid of the plastic coating they had) and center caps, grille, and rear mercury emblem. FYI, the rear bumper plastic cover is a pita getting off. Why did I drop a grand on a 10 year old car? Because I had already invested so much time and money into this thing with the headers, intake, exhaust, audio, etc. that I had already come to the conclusion that I had to keep this thing for awhile to make it somewhat worth it. So, I thought I might as well go one extra step and make it a color I actually like. One other thing, I took care of any rust that I came across myself, I didn't worry too much about doing a great job since it was either on the bumper (easily replaceable), covered by the running boards, or on the under lip of the doors (don't see it unless you look for it). The before picture in the link isn't my exact mounty, but a mounty with the same color scheme as I had:

 

[Paraphoe]

I really like that. The knock on Maaco is that it doesn't last, so only time will tell on this one if it holds up. Fingers crossed for ya...

 

[sean99]

Prep is a big part of a good paint job. Taking off those parts will help the paint last longer. Maaco isn't known for good prep. You need to strip down your explorer, wash it, wax and grease remover, and scotchbrite the hell out of it, paying close attention around weatherstriping. Wet sanding the orange peel off makes for a better finish too. Knocking the shine off everything thats being painted makes all the difference. The explorer before and after looks great!

 

[mic98xlt]

I too really like it! The color is sweet and the black accent sets it off just right!

 

[FordFTW]

Looks great!

 

[explorerguy89]

very sweet color

 

[Lqbball07]

Very Nice...Congrats on your "new" ride

 

[dpappyp]

Thanks everyone. Yea before I got it painted I was thinking about blacking out the rest of the trim pieces, but wasn't 100% sure until I picked it up and saw how it looked with the stock silver wheels, just awful. That very same day I had the wheels off, sanded, and painted. They looked like throw-away wheels you'd put on a car when it was getting painted.

Yea I know you can't expect the world with maaco and that the paint will probably only last a few years before another spray might be in line, but I'm Ok with that. Overall they did a good job, but didn't do a perfect tape job around the windows and such. There's some orange on the window molding, nothing you would notice unless you got up close, like a millimeter here there kind of thing, so no big deal. I asked them about prepping (sanding) the car myself if I would save any more money and they said no and they would need to sand themselves anyway for the warranty, so I decided just to leave that to them. The finish ended up I would say the same as the factory was, give or take, with that little factory orange peel. I could definitely tell they sanded it though, with the interior covered in a fine dust.

If you do go the maaco route go to all the ones in your area for an estimate. The first I went to in south Milwaukee was dirty and in rough shape with a $1800 estimate, as he was typing it up I was just thinking he was wasting his time. The one I ended up to was a little farther away in the suburbs, but clean and the employees didn't look like they were straight from a shelter. And $500 less to boot (remember I got the extra off taking off the panels and under hood insulation myself and I took care of rust myself).

For taking off rust I started out with a DA sander but it just wasn't cutting it, so worked well was an angle grinder with the sanding attachment and 50 or 60 grit (don't remember) sand paper.

 

[BigRondo]

Looks really good. I gotta say that I like the new color!