the molding i hear you on... i was wondering how i was supposed to get it off without fucking up the paint around it. i guess i am semi-disappointed about that, but not enough to launch into a fit or rage about and make them repaint it... other places wanted $4000 plus to do the things you suggest, it wasn't worth that to me. i paid 1600 including some underlying bodywork that needed done... i'm not building a show car, and we'll see how it looks in two years, if i still have it. it looks good now, that's what i wanted, and what i paid for. on top of the '3 year gloss guarantee'... i haven't looked into it, nor do i think it's really worth a shit, but it's worth mentioning, i guess. not sure if maaco's always offered that, or how far it would go if i brought it back in 2.5 years; i kind of doubt they'd actually repaint the car if it was faded/cracking in 2.5 years, but whatever. it's there.

on to your other points. have you personally seen oem shocks go with sport springs? if so, how long did it take? i bought these struts damn near two years ago, they're going on the damn car. and from what little research i did other than listening to what everyone on the internet says, people have run oem struts/shocks with 60k plus miles on them with h&r sports and had no issues. mine are brand new. unless you can show me otherwise, there is no strong physical evidence that suggests these struts will blow with 1.5" less suspension travel. bilstein has marketed their product well, the internet even says you need them when you don't.

and why are you worried about how much i sell this car for? you trying to buy it? i'll sell it for whatever someone's willing to pay for it, or it won't sell. it's a pretty simple concept. and i don't know where you're looking, but the e36 m3's i've seen around here are going for upwards of 8-9k, even with 120k plus miles... 4-5k would net you a pos like this used to be, with faded paint and blown suspension plus a shitload of miles... if i do everything i plan on doing to this car, i'd want about 8-9k for it at least, and imo it would be worth it. but i don't plan on selling anytime soon.

i'll let you know when i need you to judge a car i've entered into a show, until then let me be happy with my maaco paint job!

 

If I were you I'd get rid of that car ASAP. It looks like they just painted over everything..

 

maaco ftl. u couldn't figure out how to get the moldings off w/out screwing up the paint...on the way TO the paint shop?
sry. door handles and moldings being sprayed just look like crap to me. and update your lighting. please?
another 95 e36M3 owner

 

not gonna happen. why the fuck would i have painted it to lose my ass on selling it? i already owe more than it's worth...

it's actually getting kind of humorous that you guys are so up in arms about this. i think it looks great... maybe i'm the only person that realizes that i wasn't expecting it to be perfect coming out of maaco... and if in 2-3 years i still have this then maybe i'll spring for it to get repainted properly... or i'll sell it for what i owe on it, which will still be a deal to someone. win-win, the way i see it.

ok, what the fuck are you talking about? i don't know shit about bodywork, but i figured out that taking the moldings off after it was painted over would likely fuck up the surrounding paint, that was kind of self-taught. did i mention this was AFTER it was painted? pretty sure i did... so then it only makes sense that this was NOT 'on the way to the paint shop' that i figured this out. i'll just simply NOT remove them, because it doesn't look that bad (and i've seen many an m3 with body color moldings btw) and if they flake up by themselves i'll take it back, wave the '3 year guarantee' in their face, and have them install new moldings AFTER they respray the car.

and door handles? what fucking color are they supposed to be???

i guess i'll just have to deal with people telling me my car doesn't look good, even though i think it does.

or maybe i'll get rid of it because they painted over the moldings. OMG!

and i just got the car back, so i haven't got a chance to install the depo headlights with orion v2 angel eyes and prolumen 50w hid kit i bought. i also opted for the 8000k bulbs, although after seeing some other blue lights on other cars (now that i'm paying attention), i don't think i like them so i'll probably end up with some 4-5000k bulbs eventually. i'll wait and see how they look.

what i think many of you fail to understand is that i've been disappointed with this car since the day after i bought it. maybe this just makes me used to disappointment, but even in that case, it's only relative to the person who's driving it. the only people who wouldn't think this car looks good are the people who know it's been painted at maaco, as their reputation precedes them. give me my money back, and my car exactly the way it was before i dropped it off and guess what, i would do the exact same thing (just probably specify not to paint the moldings). i just can't see the point of dropping 4k+ on making a 12 year old car look absolutely perfect, when 1600 can make it look just fine.

or i could fume and rage in their lobby for them to tell me to fuck off, as it's not written anywhere for them not to paint the moldings. that sounds like a great idea...

 

Dark Amethyst Pearl AKA Dark Ass Purple AKA Dope Ass Purple



Btw this car is ugly as fuck.... Jusayin



Its what I hope to go back to eventually on my hatch...

 

uh... a little late?

(scroll up)

maybe after i get better pics some people won't jump on the 'maaco sucks' bandwagon. i'm beginning to think i should conduct an experiment, and post up in eye candy with some better pics, NOT tell people it was painted at maaco, and see what comments i get. i would just have to make sure no one posting in this thread was allowed to spill the beans.

someone could write a psychology thesis about an empirical study like this...

 

I'm not up in arms man, I was giving my honest opinion. As is you could probably get pretty good money for it from someone as it looks very presentable. A year or two down the road that may not be the case..

edit: I'll admit much of my opinion is based off of know it was painted at maaco. If I didn't already know that I would just assumed that you had the car painted to your taste, w/ color matched mouldings etc.

 

ur right. maaco doesn't suck. its not like u told them to NOT paint ur moldings. im sry...but u do something like that to my car, u ARE going to give me some $ back to buy new moldings. or u will see me in court. thats y i FTL'd them.

"he molding i hear you on... i was wondering how i was supposed to get it off without fucking up the paint around it. i guess i am semi-disappointed about that, but not enough to launch into a fit or rage about and make them repaint it."
guess i took that to mean "yeah, i think it sucks that my molding looks like that but i couldn't figure out how to get it off w/out fucking up the paint so they could properly paint the car.
door handles = black. errrr...should = black. not hatin...just sayin. and as far as bulb color, go w/ 6k. it doens't have so much annoying honda blue in it. 4k bulbs are nearly perfectly white and tint free...holler at me if u need some help. and don't buy HID from someone for 100 shipped...i can get them for abt 50, 55 shipped w/ a lifetime on them.

 

ok, lol... i took it as like, 'your car's molding is painted, it sucks get rid of it'. i suppose i'm a bit defensive for the same reason, knowing it came out of maaco.

you guys have actually convinced me to give them a ring and see if something can be done. it looks good with the molding color-matched, but i now don't have the option of removing them at a later point if i wanted to without having the whole damn car repainted. i'm not expecting much, but i figure it's worth a try.

there is no way i'd have different color door handles. i don't think i've ever even seen any m3s like that...

and i already bought all the parts for the lighting, just need to put it on the car. i'll let you know if the bulbs annoy me and see if you can find me some new bulbs.

 

I don't think anyone is up in arms, I'm sure noone really gives a shit. I'm sure everyone is just commenting. I doubt anyone is jumping up in their computer chair with steam coming out of their ears

all everyone is saying is you did a shitty thing to a car that deserves better. it's an ///m car man, not a civic. I just went to check out an e30 m3 in yorktown monday. it had a maaco job, and now the clear is basically gone and the thing looks like dog shit. all i could think was "why the hell would someone do this to an m car?"

you bought shitty paint. there's a reason it costs 4k. want to cheap out? learn how to prep a car (you're on the internet man. there are a thousand diy's, videos on youtube, etc). and pay someone to just spray it. would have cost you sub 1k and looked way better.

bottom line, you get what you pay for. you paid 1400 for something that goes for 4k. granted "you didnt want to spend 4k" but you also didnt want to do any work. this will look like shit soon.