ThE OfFiCiaL I'm PaInTin my Own TRuK! WhAt? Thread :crazy:

[Southern Pride]

Yes, I know what you're thinking....Crazy...Oh? I must of forgotten to mention I haven't painted a vehicle before. Just my rocker panels a couple years ago with spray paint (did a good job though) and my interior pieces, along with miscellaneous things throughout my life.

Here's the deal. I don't/won't have $3,000 for a paint job and I REALLY don't care to hand my truck over to some ass holes who want to charge me that to do a half ass job. So I'm taking the bull by the horns here. My buddy is the one who got me on board with this. He is pretty knowledgeable about painting "in general" but like me he has limited experience physically painting. We are both going to be painting each of our trucks. His first. We have access to pro paint guns, pro hi speed sander, and the paint of our choice obviously...I have not picked one yet but I just know I want it like the stock black for these trucks and a good quality paint obviously. I want that deep gloss black look. I had satin black on my mind but decided against it in the long run.

Anyway, we have access to the tools. We plan on building a paint booth for our trucks. We have a bunch of sheet metal and junk fenders to practice on, along with my buddy's brother's jeep. That will be the first real vehicle we do. I figure after countless hours of practice perfecting our technique we should be able to figure this thing out. Painting a vehicle can only get so complicated and we're prepared to invest ALOT of time and effort preparing before anything happens with our trucks.

I thought I would start this thread so you guys can say wtf! and then after that, hopefully give any insight or opinions you may have on our endeavor. As I said we will be doing a ton of practicing starting Saturday, so I will update with pictures of our fenders we do then. Until then, lose your minds and let me know how crazy I am for doing this haha In the long run this may not go down who knows but were going to do everything in our power to make it happen and do it right. I know Dragit you are a pro painter so I'd love to hear from you also if you see this. I'll have some pics in here on Saturday of some of the things we do. Who knows, maybe somebody can stumble upon this and learn from my picz and the constant q's and a's that come about? I hope so.

Griffin

 

[jdyates]

$3,000? Mine costed $800 without bedliner and my uncle got his GMT800 painted for $1000 WITH bedliner.

 

[Horns]

First of all I would like to say that I applaud you for taking on the challenge. It's something you know many people think about actually doing time and time again, and sometimes they get really excited about it and amped up and really close to doing it but in the end they just give up and have someone else do it or just leave it alone.

Hell, I'm one of those guys myself. I've been thinking about doing mine myself for a while, and I don't expect it to be perfect since I don't have the experience but I think it'll be good enough for now.

The funny part about that is that I'm an EPA certified painter and I can honestly say that I lay paint atleast once a week. But that's because I own a fabrication shop where we're using high enamel paint on parts expected to get scratched and banged up. There's a lot more prep work and fine detailing when it comes to painting a car.

Anyways, it should be fun and a good learning experience. I bet you'll be glad you did it when it's all said and done.

 

[Southern Pride]

Damn right. Just the sort of backing I need. I may end up falling into that category of leaving it alone but I'm going to do everything in my power to get it done. Plus we get to practice painting a freaking jeep first. I realize mine is not going to be near perfect either but honestly very rarely do you find someone who does have a perfect paint job.

jdyates, where in the hell did you go for a $800 paint job? Maaco?

 

[96twodoor]

Good luck man , as long as you take your time with prep amd use quality products should come out nice .

 

[Swaggerwagon]

just rattle can it

 

[Devs93]

Spend lots of time prepping if you skimp on the prep work then your bending yourself over lol Do you have a acces to a buffer? You will need it for afterwards. Just becareful when you colorsand after paint so that you dont go through the clear sanding or burn through with a buffer. Also since you going back to black you will need to spend some extra time on paint work since its gonna show every lil imperfection. As far as paints go Dupont Chromobase is good if you have an Orielly's carries some good brands but you will prob have to ask them becuase everywere is diff in stock due to paint contracts. Diamont is good pint and ppg is awsome too. Oh the deep look your talking about..........You can drive down the rd look at my hood and not even the rd becuase everything ahead is so clear in it lol......Also one last thing Im not trying to discourage but have you tried buffing and polishing your truck? If not you may try it first becuase You maybe surprised on what it can do plus its a lot easeier and cheaper than a paint job. I really need to buff my Denali it looks kinda hazy and cloudy but it will look nice n deep after its buffed.

 

[BURBAN GUY]

Spend lots of time prepping if you skimp on the prep work then your bending yourself over lol Do you have a acces to a buffer? You will need it for afterwards. Just becareful when you colorsand after paint so that you dont go through the clear sanding or burn through with a buffer. Also since you going back to black you will need to spend some extra time on paint work since its gonna show every lil imperfection. As far as paints go Dupont Chromobase is good if you have an Orielly's carries some good brands but you will prob have to ask them becuase everywere is diff in stock due to paint contracts. Diamont is good pint and ppg is awsome too. Oh the deep look your talking about..........You can drive down the rd look at my hood and not even the rd becuase everything ahead is so clear in it lol......Also one last thing Im not trying to discourage but have you tried buffing and polishing your truck? If not you may try it first becuase You maybe surprised on what it can do plus its a lot easeier and cheaper than a paint job. I really need to buff my Denali it looks kinda hazy and cloudy but it will look nice n deep after its buffed.

Can't say it enough prep, prep , prep that is the key!!

 

[gmcyukondriver]

I got mine painted for $1300. My nextdoor neighbor used to do bodywork and paint. (I heard he used to own a Bug with 5 layers of pearl, so it looked a different color every time you saw it.) So he referred me to a friend. He did a good job, but it's got some slight orange peel. Devs, how tough is it to colorsand? He had to cut and buff a spot where someone keyed my door, and now it looks like a mirror, I'd love to have the whole truck look like that, but I'm not sure I have the money to pay someone else to do it, it takes a lot of time. Sorry, don't mean to threadjack.

You gonna pull, or leave the side trim?

 

[Devs93]

how long has it been painted the older it is the harder it is