robcarync
Sliders
- Location
- Raleigh, NC
As can be seen in my build thread, I let my Xterra get beat up pretty bad on the trails. Mostly due to my own stupidity and peer pressure. I smashed a fender, had a DIY snorkel hack job that didn't turn out great, smashed in my rear driver door, and decided to herculine my fenders, which started peeling, fading and looking like crap. I let my brother drive it off road and he backed into a tree, smashing up above my driver tail light and hatch. My clear coat was rotting away on the roof and behind the rear doors. It got to the point that my wife didn't like being seen in public with me!
Maaco near my parents house had their December holiday special for their $500 paint job (enamel paint plus a UV sealer) for $350. Lots of varying opinions on budget chains, but they are independently owned, and the Maaco in Cary, NC got great reviews online. I decided to go with a whole car paint job to the original color. I got a junk yard rear door, two junkyard fenders, and a new windshield wiper cowl/plastic trim since I had to trim mine for the snorkel. Now for the crappy bedliner. I spent hours with a pressure washer trying to peel as much herculiner off. I then tackled the rear fender arches and rocker panels with a dry wall scraper peeling every last bit of bed liner off. I sanded the bedliner areas a bit just to make sure nothing was left on. I removed my front bumper, rear plastic corner panels, and my roof rack to make it easy to mask and shoot. I was going to remove my sliders, but one of the welded nuts broke free inside the frame, and no way was I going to spend hours grinding and drilling to get the bottom of the rocker panels painted better.
I had a pretty bad dent above my rear driver tail light (think baseball bat right on the corner), and a small dent on the hatch near the glass (think right in the crease around the glass). I let Maaco take care of those.
The pricing break down was $350 for the paint with a UV sealer. This includes cleaning and sanding the entire vehicle, though probably not much more than quick scuff of the existing paint. There was a $60 dollars oversize vehicle fee. They charged me an extra $200 for additional prep work to strip the roof down to bare metal since the clear coat was so bad. No worries...it had to be done. The dent by the tail light and hatch area ended up being an extra $400, which I was OK with given how bad it was. They welded a rod to it to use a slide hammer, pulled the sheet metal out, and smoothed it out with body fill. Total bill ended up being $977 which is a bit of cash. Of course, without the bad dent I had, the paint job itself was $550, including stripping roof down to bare metal. Their overall shop rate was $44 at this location, which I felt was pretty reasonable.
Overall, I was impressed. They are masking and shooting, so they aren't taking off the doors/hood/hatch/fenders. They will take it all apart for you if you want to pay for it though! The awful dent above the tail light is gone, and the awkward dent in the crease by the glass is gone. I was impressed with how great it turned out. They did adjust my fenders some since the doors were rubbing on them some (junk yard fenders sat a little bit different). They did a good job of masking...all of my emblems were masked, so the plastidip Nissan logo remains! They didn't get the very bottom of my rocker panels due to my sliders...but I am not worried about that. Paint looks shiny and even. Obviously, only time will tell how it holds up, but it does have a 2 year warranty. If your paint is trashed from age, sun, or wheeling, it may not be a bad option to take your own bumpers off, do additional prep work yourself if you want, and spend the $450 or so for a paint job. I am a bit more conservative with my trail riding now, so I felt OK throwing the money at the body damage.
Maaco did crack my windshield though...OOPS. They are replacing it free of charge and didn't put up a fight, so I think this shop is very customer focused. So far, I am pleased.
No before photos of close up of the damage, but the after photos are attached below
Maaco near my parents house had their December holiday special for their $500 paint job (enamel paint plus a UV sealer) for $350. Lots of varying opinions on budget chains, but they are independently owned, and the Maaco in Cary, NC got great reviews online. I decided to go with a whole car paint job to the original color. I got a junk yard rear door, two junkyard fenders, and a new windshield wiper cowl/plastic trim since I had to trim mine for the snorkel. Now for the crappy bedliner. I spent hours with a pressure washer trying to peel as much herculiner off. I then tackled the rear fender arches and rocker panels with a dry wall scraper peeling every last bit of bed liner off. I sanded the bedliner areas a bit just to make sure nothing was left on. I removed my front bumper, rear plastic corner panels, and my roof rack to make it easy to mask and shoot. I was going to remove my sliders, but one of the welded nuts broke free inside the frame, and no way was I going to spend hours grinding and drilling to get the bottom of the rocker panels painted better.
I had a pretty bad dent above my rear driver tail light (think baseball bat right on the corner), and a small dent on the hatch near the glass (think right in the crease around the glass). I let Maaco take care of those.
The pricing break down was $350 for the paint with a UV sealer. This includes cleaning and sanding the entire vehicle, though probably not much more than quick scuff of the existing paint. There was a $60 dollars oversize vehicle fee. They charged me an extra $200 for additional prep work to strip the roof down to bare metal since the clear coat was so bad. No worries...it had to be done. The dent by the tail light and hatch area ended up being an extra $400, which I was OK with given how bad it was. They welded a rod to it to use a slide hammer, pulled the sheet metal out, and smoothed it out with body fill. Total bill ended up being $977 which is a bit of cash. Of course, without the bad dent I had, the paint job itself was $550, including stripping roof down to bare metal. Their overall shop rate was $44 at this location, which I felt was pretty reasonable.
Overall, I was impressed. They are masking and shooting, so they aren't taking off the doors/hood/hatch/fenders. They will take it all apart for you if you want to pay for it though! The awful dent above the tail light is gone, and the awkward dent in the crease by the glass is gone. I was impressed with how great it turned out. They did adjust my fenders some since the doors were rubbing on them some (junk yard fenders sat a little bit different). They did a good job of masking...all of my emblems were masked, so the plastidip Nissan logo remains! They didn't get the very bottom of my rocker panels due to my sliders...but I am not worried about that. Paint looks shiny and even. Obviously, only time will tell how it holds up, but it does have a 2 year warranty. If your paint is trashed from age, sun, or wheeling, it may not be a bad option to take your own bumpers off, do additional prep work yourself if you want, and spend the $450 or so for a paint job. I am a bit more conservative with my trail riding now, so I felt OK throwing the money at the body damage.
Maaco did crack my windshield though...OOPS. They are replacing it free of charge and didn't put up a fight, so I think this shop is very customer focused. So far, I am pleased.
No before photos of close up of the damage, but the after photos are attached below
