Happy Hour discussion of Maaco

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  • July 9, 2013 at 10:51 am #974878
    DismalScientist
    Participant

    I have a frame at Maaco Merrifield that is going to be painted for $200.

    I think the car painting deal may be if you want a crappy paint job for $349, they’ll do it, but they’ll also do the job right for a higher price.

    July 9, 2013 at 11:42 am #974879
    jrenaut
    Participant

    I am happy to hear they are equal opportunity painters.

    July 9, 2013 at 12:23 pm #974881
    Tim Kelley
    Participant

    @DismalScientist 57271 wrote:

    I have a frame at Maaco Merrifield that is going to be painted for $200.

    Tell us more about this. I assume it’s a steel frame, but would they do aluminium? What’s the process involved?

    July 9, 2013 at 3:27 pm #974910
    DaveK
    Participant

    @Tim Kelley 57274 wrote:

    Tell us more about this. I assume it’s a steel frame, but would they do aluminium? What’s the process involved?

    What you get out of a Maaco paint job is all about what you give them to work with. They will do an awful job on the prep, so if you remove all the bits except for the frame and get it sanded very well, what you’ll get back will be passable. If you just give them a car and say “paint this”, it will be awful.

    July 9, 2013 at 3:31 pm #974911
    NicDiesel
    Participant

    Is there no one locally that does good powdercoating work? I’ll second what DaveK said – you need to do all of the prep work and make sure it’s sanded well. If not, don’t expect the paintjob to stick or last very long.

    July 9, 2013 at 3:46 pm #974914
    ShawnoftheDread
    Participant

    @NicDiesel 57305 wrote:

    Is there no one locally that does good powdercoating work? I’ll second what DaveK said – you need to do all of the prep work and make sure it’s sanded well. If not, don’t expect the paintjob to stick or last very long.

    Dismal considers powder coating to be too recent an innovation to be worthy of consideration.

    July 9, 2013 at 3:57 pm #974917
    DismalScientist
    Participant

    Maaco Merrifield came suggested by Jan at Bikenetic. The owner, Colm, is a cyclist.

    The frame in question is my Trek 620, made of Reynolds 531. It had some surface rust in spots. I stripped the frame of all components. Colm will sand the rust, use an etching primer, paint and clear coat the frame.

    I assume he will do aluminum and don’t know about carbon.

    There seem to be a number of powdercoaters out past Manassas.

    July 9, 2013 at 3:58 pm #974918
    DismalScientist
    Participant

    @ShawnoftheDread 57308 wrote:

    Dismal considers powder coating to be too recent an innovation to be worthy of consideration.

    I figure that if bicycle manufacturers still paint frames on high end bikes, it is still the “best” technology to use.

    July 9, 2013 at 6:04 pm #974931
    DaveK
    Participant

    @DismalScientist 57311 wrote:

    Maaco Merrifield came suggested by Jan at Bikenetic. The owner, Colm, is a cyclist.

    The frame in question is my Trek 620, made of Reynolds 531. It had some surface rust in spots. I stripped the frame of all components. Colm will sand the rust, put it in an acid bath, paint and clear coat the frame.

    I assume he will do aluminum and don’t know about carbon.

    There seem to be a number of powdercoaters out past Manassas.

    If he comes recommended by Jan and the guy is a cyclist then I would trust that, my experiences with Maaco is through friends and I don’t know him personally. This would be a great time to treat it with frame saver as well.

    July 10, 2013 at 5:17 pm #975082
    DismalScientist
    Participant

    Maaco is a franchise, so I would imagine quality varies by shop.

    The frame was “ready” today. It looked good to me, but Colm said it was light on paint on the underside of the downtube and that he would repaint that and I would get the frame back in a couple of days. I couldn’t tell the difference. I’ll post pictures when everything is done.

    July 10, 2013 at 7:28 pm #975096
    culimerc
    Participant

    I would imagine if you check out some motorcycling forums you could find a good painter and/or powder coater pretty easily.

    July 10, 2013 at 7:45 pm #975097
    GuyContinental
    Participant

    @culimerc 57507 wrote:

    I would imagine if you check out some motorcycling forums you could find a good painter and/or powder coater pretty easily.

    Orr just stick with the one stop informational shopping of Bike Arlington:

    2009 Email exchange with a local a powder coater

    “Hi Kevin,

    Road bike frames and hardtail mountain bike frames start at $155 and rigid forks are $50. This includes chemical stripping to prevent blasting damage, careful media blasting to clean the substrate and give it a nice anchor profile to maximize powder adhesion, masking (threads, bores, bosses, faces) for a smooth rebuild, powder of your choice, and a single color/coat application. Graphics, decals, multi-colors/coats, chrome preservation and other specialty services are additional and vary with the complexity of the job. Please note that most types of carbon fiber cannot be powder coated due to the oven curing temperature. Liquid painting of carbon forks to match the frame powder are $80-$140 depending on color.

    Turnaround times for on-hand colors (gloss black is stocked) are generally 1-3 days. For colors that need to be ordered, it takes 3-4 days to receive the powder, and 1-3 days for coating. We do not need your parts while the powder is on order. Turnaround can often be same day if we schedule the work. Turnaround for graphic work, liquid paint, and other specialty jobs can be longer and have to be estimated individually.

    Thanks!

    Len McCreary
    Figure Engineering, LLC
    9208 Venture Ct, Unit C-9
    Manassas Park VA 20111
    866-500-8484
    finishing@figurellc.com
    http://www.FigureEngineering.com
    “

    July 10, 2013 at 7:59 pm #975100
    TwoWheelsDC
    Participant

    @GuyContinental 57508 wrote:

    Orr just stick with the one stop informational shopping of Bike Arlington:

    2009 Email exchange with a local a powder coater

    Oh man…now you’ve got me thinking about eventually powdercoating my Bianchi commuter. I like the stock cream color, but the finish they used scratches incredibly easy and shows grease stains like crazy.

    July 10, 2013 at 8:31 pm #975101
    Tim Kelley
    Participant

    @GuyContinental 57508 wrote:

    Len McCreary
    Figure Engineering, LLC
    9208 Venture Ct, Unit C-9
    Manassas Park VA 20111
    866-500-8484
    finishing@figurellc.com
    http://www.FigureEngineering.com
    [/I]”

    Yeah, I believe that this guy has been discussed previously. I think the feedback was that he does good work, but can be a bit scattered so it helps to stay on top of him.

    July 10, 2013 at 9:17 pm #975102
    GuyContinental
    Participant

    @Tim Kelley 57512 wrote:

    Yeah, I believe that this guy has been discussed previously. I think the feedback was that he does good work, but can be a bit scattered so it helps to stay on top of him.

    Well, he does spend all day working with paint and heavy chemicals…

    FWIW, I did not end up using him (did the old rattle can) but he was pretty responsive… in 2009.

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