Hey Talon, what kind of paint did you use on your truck? Don't worry, I am not going to paint mine the same as yours.
I just have really never painted with anything other than spray paint. I am wanting to the paint the 4Runner gray, but I am not sure which paint to use. I know that I don't want it to be Metallic.
Well, this was the first time i've ever painted a car as well....with something besides spray paint anyway
. I asked this question on the marlin board in my build up, and on there the general consensus I think was not to spend too much on paint, no more than $100. After that I just asked my dad, painted a couple of his cars when he was my age.
As far as how I did it:
Went to Andy's House of Color off east main extension (visalia, across from hardcore4x4), and picked a color from the military flats they had. So yes, my truck is painted, not just primered
. I was told this was the best place to go in town, for price and service. I got the paint itself for $83 I think, so I knew they didn't rip me off according to some other guys. They also walked me through what I had to do, nice guys. The urithane flats don't require a clear coat like other types, so you can leave it flat or clear it if you want. Also picked up the primer and other little things there, all together I think it came out to around $130, a lot less than I expected.
They do have some military greys, darks and lights I think if you want a flat chad. Another cool thing they said is they'll mix up a spray can with your color for touch ups, seeing that there's no clear to worry about.
Then came the sanding, most time consuming & difficult part I think. I tried to take the whole truck down to factory primer, & to stay away from going down to bare metal & taking away sealer. Some spots I couldn't help it, I think I found atleast one patch of bondo on every panel on the truck
, if not more. After getting it all down to where I wanted and did any bodywork, I wiped the whole thing down with denatured alcohol and shot the primer. I did 3 coats to start, then wet sanded everything with 400 grit to smoothe everything out. I wore it down in some spots, a couple on the cab and a bunch on the bed. So I lightly primed the cab again, and a good coat on the bed, then wet sand again. I let the primer dry for 24 hrs before I would sand, don't know if you have to wait this long, but I did just in case.
After that I finally got to see color
, and no more sanding
. Wiped the truck down with denatured alcohol again with a fine cloth that wouldn't leave any dust, strings, oil, etc. behind. Shot the color and let it dry. Did about 3 coats of the color all at once. I moved from one panel to another down the line, then started over after the last piece. If your base is smooth (fromt the wet sanding) then the top coat is smooth. Turned out better than I thought it would for my first time doing it.
The spray gun I used was from harbor frieght of all places, and actually worked really well, so well my dad got one after he was how well mine did. You can borrow my gun as well if you want when/if you go to do this. Worked great for the urithane. If you decied to do a clear i'd probably get a better gun though, my dad said even with a really good gun ( $$$$$ ), it can still be hard to do a good clear job. He got to use $400+ dollar guns when he did his.
Note that this was all based off using a flat urithane based paint. If you want to go another route this might not be the best way to do it.
Hope that helps a little, that's all I can think of right now and i'm sure I missed something. Try to make sense of my jumbled thoughts and let me know if you have any more questions
.
