Paint Shop Recommendations?

[AustinChurch]

I'm planning on painting and replacing my windows after the first of the year.  I live in southern Louisiana so I'd like the chosen facility to be within a few hours flight of my location for convenience.  So far I've spoken with Tejas (very expensvie), AOG, and Mena Aircraft painting, but before I commit to anyone, I'd like to hear some recommendations from the peanut gallery.  I have tried the "search" function and came up with very little. 

Thanks!!!

[fantom]

Hawk in Tampa has been around for over 20 years and has painted a bunch of Mooney's including mine about a year ago. Joe is a first class, stand up, owner, who is also a painter. I talked to the 3 shops you mentioned plus a lot of others, and am very happy I went with Hawk. Give Joe a call.

http://www.hawkaircraftpainting.com/

[bgpilot1]

I have a list of every paint shop in the US which I can share with you.  PM me your email.

I've had experiences with all the shops in Mena, AR.  AOG has a good reputation.  Crider is ok as well.  There are also a couple of reputable shops in Alabama and Mississippi.  I've heard good things about a shop in Houston, MS.

My best advice - typically you get what you pay for!  Labor is cheaper in some places and the results are probably in line...

Barry

[flight2000]

I used R&B Aircraft in Topeka, KS for my paint job.  Very good shop and reasonable.  All of the gorry details (pics) are on my website.

http://www.67m20e.com/paint_job.htm

http://www.rbaircrafttopeka.com/index.html

Their website is really basic, but that's not what they are good at.

Brian

[1964-M20E]

Hey I’m down here at Lakefront.  We will have to get together some time.  Where do you keep your plane?

[roundout]

Tejas in San Marcos, TX. 

[AustinChurch]

Thanks for the replies everyone!  I really appreciate the first hand experiences from y'all.  This is going to be tough narrowing it down but I have a little time to do it. 

[AustinChurch]

Quote: 1964-M20E

Hey I’m down here at Lakefront.  We will have to get together some time.  Where do you keep your plane?

[flyntgr1]

A

Edited July 25, 2017 by flyntgr1

[lwikle]

1+tejas

 

[Ron McBride]

I would recommend a shop as close as possible, so that you can visit often to check on them.  My paint shop was 2 hours away and without a plane, it was challenging to check on them.  When I picked up the plane, they shorted me stainless steel screws and had damaged the pitot static system, and basicly told me that since I took the plane and signed that all was done,  Tuff Crap.   This was in So Cal.

Ron

[jetdriven]

My hangar neighbor has a 2.5 year old Tejas job and it's bubbling off all over. They blamed him flying over the gulf on his coast guard auxiliary missions.  The salt air made the paint fail. Of course this is bunk but they fact is his 182 16k paint job needs to be done again and they screwed him on it. It's not the Tejas of 5 years ago.. they've been sold and it's not a place to go  

mena sand the airplane rivets and all. The other shop looks like it was dipped and Hung to dry.  Use hawk. They're proven. 

Edited May 4, 2017 by jetdriven

[jkhirsch]

1 hour ago, jetdriven said:

My hangar neighbor has a 2.5 year old Tejas job and it's bubbling off all over. They blamed him flying over the gulf on his coast guard auxiliary missions.  The salt air made the paint fail. Of course this is bunk but they fact is his 182 16k paint job needs to be done again and they screwed him on it. It's not the Tejas of 5 years ago.. they've been sold and it's not a place to go  

Wow

[KSMooniac]

A local buddy has had multiple failures with his Tejas job on a 441 as well.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

[Bryan]

+1 for the Mena, AR shop: http://www.menaaircraftpainting.com/

[jkhirsch]

Just for information, I am based about 300 feet away from Hawk, he paints a lot of planes over there and they all come out looking good. I've inspected several of them close up, and I'm no kind of paint expert but if I was getting mine painted he would be who I would use. I realize it wouldn't be the most convenient from Louisiana but the sacrifice of convenience is worth a lack of frustration to me.

[gsxrpilot]

I'm based at San Marcos. I wouldn't use Tejas.

[RLCarter]

Tiny air bubbles that show up after the fact are generally due to the new paint being waxed or sealed before the paint has cured. Waxing new paint seals it up and won't allow the solvents to vent off, I generally wait 3 or 4 months before I wax new paint to avoid "Solvent Popping". A good paint job starts at the prep, if the shop doesn't take the time to prep correctly it my look good for a while but won't last

[Hector]

Just for information, I am based about 300 feet away from Hawk, he paints a lot of planes over there and they all come out looking good. I've inspected several of them close up, and I'm no kind of paint expert but if I was getting mine painted he would be who I would use. I realize it wouldn't be the most convenient from Louisiana but the sacrifice of convenience is worth a lack of frustration to me.

Hawk has a good reputation and has done lots of Mooneys. When I paint mine he will be on the top of my list. That being said, I do my own touch ups using an airbrush and it looks darn good. Key is to get an expert to match your paint perfectly. Also, my touch ups are fairly small areas. You would not want to paint a whole wing using an airbrush

[82Mike]

My plane is at Hawk right now.  Joe is so busy that it takes awhile to get through all the jobs, but his work is second to none.  My buddy just had a flight school 172 done at Hawk with new interior done at KVDF and the plane looks brand new.  I think the thing that is so good about Joe is he does the work he is very hands on.  I will post pictures next week when I get her back.