That's the quote I received this morning when I stopped by on a whim.
The $630.00 for body work was what I expected, the body's a little beat up. What really got me was the Remarks section of the estimate which stated that single stage paint services are non OEM, orange peel & imperfections will show.
If you're charging an extra $440.00 for the Prep Plus and stripping the hood and trunk, then I think you can guarantee a crisp looking paint job out the door.
Anyone have recommendations for the S.F. Bay Area. I'm going to remove the trim, bumpers, grill and then sand it. Looking for some one to spray a coat of Orient Red on my 240D. Thanks

Otto
79 240D 4spd

The problem with those paint jobs is the prep work and the brand of paint used. I would strip the car completly and do all the prep work yourself and let them paint it.

Dupont is a very good brand of paint, IMO. It lasted 13 years in the hot Fl sun before it started looking bad.

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1985 300TD Turbo Euro-wagon
1979 280CE 225,200 miles
1985 300D Turbo 264,000 miles
1976 240D 190,000 miles
1979 300TD 220,000

GONE but not forgotten
1976 300D 195,300 miles
1983 300D Turbo 175,000 miles

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...e485-1-2-1.jpg

You expect perfection for $1070? I'd expect cheap paint, half-ass body work, overspray, and no durability. If you're going for cheap, then I'd say do the prep work yourself too.

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

What do you expect for that price, I have a quote from a real body shop for over $2000 to fix some paint chips that you can't even see from 20 feet away. Plan on spending about $5000 for a decent paint job.

Well, I'm a little naive when it comes to paint jobs. This is the first car I've ever thought about repainting. Diesel Giant has a good page on prep work.

You just have to decide what quality you are looking for, how much you want to spend, and how much prep you are willing to do yourself.

The paint Maaco and similar places use is junk. Follow the diesel giant prep work how-to and spend the money you save on having a place that uses good paint spray the car. Last summer I got a quote of $1000 for just paint and spray work from a place that does quite a bit of work on Mercedes.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

The thing with Maaco is that they are franchises. The quality of work from each location will be different. If you luck out, you can find a location that has hired some experienced bodymen (rare, but they're there, just ask alabassi). If you do the prepwork bodywork yourself and just leave them something to paint, you can save some money and end up with a decent job. I know of a 190SL that won a Concours competition and was painted at Maaco. The owner did all of the prep work, supplied the paint they wanted to Maaco, only ended up spending a few hundred dollars, and ended up with a competition winning car.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

I agree with everything said here about expecting to pay $5000 or more for a decent job - but for a car that has a maximum of five to ten (at the high end) years left of life before the rust and/or other reliability issues put it in the junkyard anyway... can a person really afford to spend $5000 in PAINT for a car with that lifespan?

I think the question I'd be interested in answering is if this Maaco job lasts... oh, idk, six or seven years. Even if, on a good car done right at the high price, this would be pathetic - that's all the paint HAS to last anyway. I'm normally a "fix-it-right-at-any-cost" person.. but I have to say, I think I'd cheap out on the paint too if I had mine done. It really needs it now but I've got other things I need to fix first.

If it was my basement show-car or a garage queen? I'd definitely run, not walk, from Maaco and other sub-$5000 jobs.

But for a daily driver that's only got to look good for 5-7-10 more years? At this point, the price starts to be prohibitive to fix things properly.

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

If you're only going to keep it for 5-10 years and let it decay, it probably doesn't matter anyway; you just want it to look decent until it dies.

If you are actually going to maintain it for the next 10 years, you are going to spend many times the cost of a $5000 paint job on other items anyway, you might as well do the paint correctly too.

On a purely economic basis, we would all get rid of our cars today.

I like h-townbenzoboys story about the guy bringing his own paint to the shop after doing the prep. My neighbor had two cars done at the Maaco I went to, one of them a 300SD which looks pretty good. I'll run this idea by the manager at Maaco and if he's not willing to do it, I'll find someone who is.

Otto
240D 4spd

Otto

I see you are in the Bay area. If your car has been in CA all its life then rust should not be a problem but check the underside for cracks and other problems before you invest in a topside paint job. Make sure the suspension mounts and running gear (as well as drive line of course) are in good shape and up to the job of running for several more years before you jump into that cosmetic paint job.

My two cents worth.

Dupont, like every other paint manufacturer has different qualities of paint.

Shop around, find a small local body shop that does good work.

This was a PPG Deltron Paint job, I paid around 2,000 bucks. Local body shop, small business. I went by there and checked on him every other day, followed the steps as he did all the prep work.

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91 350SD
14 F150 Eco
19 Fusion Hybrid
11 GT500

a rule of thumb for services like that (mechanics included): good, fast, and cheap, pick two

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'81 300D - swapped to a 617.951 turbo motor with a 150 amp alt.

Most of my paint jobs cost less than $100. (Sometimes $50.)
I live very close to a wholesale paint supplier with many choices of paint to choose from, they have closeouts on clears, and a clearance table with wrong mixes & customer didn't pick up & returns & mix mistakes. Pretty nice high quality paint for pennies on the dollar.
Plus I do my own work.

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"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration...
don't Fail Us Now"