Hi everyone. I got a silver truck that has so many scratches and pits in the paint it looks terrible up close. Some scratches are down to the metal, but are not rusting since I patched it with touch-up paint (doesn't match). Just for everyones information, I do not offroad or abuse my truck. The scratches are NOT my fault. 75% of them were already there when we got the car in 11/07. The exterior of the truck was not well taken care of. The other 25% is from various vandalism incidents involving people from high school when I was still there (including a nose to tail scratch on the passenger side from a key) and possibly (I hope not) even the scout troop I was with because they would always like to fool around with setting the car alarm off, standing around it blocking me from leaving meetings and events, banging on doors and windows as I am trying to start up the car and leave and even rocking the whole truck causing me to hit the window (and i had my seatbelt on) over the last 2.5 years. I could account for a couple of down-to-metal scratches from them, but I am not going to start pointing fingers saying that it was actually them because of the shear number of scratches on the truck and also because I am not the kind of person to start trouble over small things like that. If they broke a window or mirror or left a huge dent it would be a different story, but scratches? No. The frame has little rust on it because the truck was a NYC car, but I am painting the frame, brake/fuel lines and other rusting parts with engine enamel for added salt protection for the winter. I would even wash the undercarriage with the wand when I wash the truck.
Now my big questions: Is it possible to repaint the truck a different color (maybe gloss navy blue or even gloss jet black OR maybe even sand it down to the metal and put clear coat like a Delorean????) without too much trouble (as cheap as possible) while eliminating the scratches? What about car spray cans? How much sanding would I have to do? How long would I have to park the truck for? I already know I would have to cover windows, handles, lights, tires, etc, but would I have to remove any body panels or even the doors for painting? THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE YOU GUYS CAN GIVE.

BD

 

PREP WORK PREP WORK PREP WORK..... thats the best part of the pj....

 

Black is the LEAST forgiving color.... if you want to go black (or any color really, but black shows more) your PREP work will have to be SPOT ON.

if you plan to spray, know that painting is a very expensive skill to teach yourself... unless you have access to sh*t material or left overs and can practive painting dumpsters and scrap metal....

good lord painting is a big project. you have to spray all of the jams, inside the hood and hatch, inside the doors.... basicaly everwhere you will see.... EVER. unless you dont mind having a ___ color truck with silver on the inside of EVERYTHING that opens, moves, swings, or can be seen....

for wet sanding you will get more of a smooth even finish if you use a guide coat. after priming, dust the whole paintable surface with black spray paint from a distance so it leaves a light speckeling of black dots over all of your primer. then wet sand all of the back spots off. do this until your fingers bleed and the sand paper hangs up on your finger tip bones....

deep scartches may show as creases/folds/dents once the paint is removed. do you know how to mix, apply, and smooth bondo if it is needed?

DIY paint is a HUGE undertaking..... HUGE! unless...

you go this method
FTW

 

.... and I thought it was easy because I was looking at http://monsterguide.net/how-to-paint-a-car . Also no black. You are right. What about navy blue (like the stock navy blue on the Blazer or Jimmy)? Also great tips. Thank you.

 

wait... so you're a college kid... do you have a proper paint booth, enclosed area, semi enclosed area, area you can semi enclose, or access to one of those for painting?

do you have a gun and air compressor? do you have the tools for stripping paint?

are you savy at masking/prep work?

Do you have the time to do this kind of work?

Have you priced out what Metalic Indigo paint cost's per quart? Clear? Primer? Sandpaper? A gun? GOOD LORD it's expensive....

Not to mention once you load it up, you are litterally spraying out dollar bills... and you cant get close and go heavy to save the dollar bills, because it will look like crap... and you can't stay too far back and take your time, because you will blow dollar bills into the surrounding air....

I hate to say it, but call up an Earl Scheib, or MAACO and price out a multi-coat base coat/clear coat paint job (bottom of the line).
then call what ever auto parts/auto paint store you plan to get your paint from. Compare the price of JUST the sprayable material to the cost of a full (if cheap) paint job.

Then take it somewhere and get it done

I have spray painted my sister's rapist van white. i have spray painted matte black racing stripes on a 96 sunfire. I have done the mindless prep work on a number of my father's paint projects (to include my driver's door) Beyone OTHER people's cars, i would not try to paint a vehicle. I would hate every mistake i made, and would dread every dollar converted into a paint cloud....

just my

 

if I were you.... I'd sand the thing down and rhino liner it. then u'll never get scratches....

 

I don't know about that.... Using a spray gun for painting houses, I nailed that down in about 15 minutes, and I can airbrush, well did some airbrushing in high school.... but I painted houses one summer, and that spray gun was my best friend.... the ladders hated me though...

I imagine that its similar to doing a car, and I had a douche of a boss breathing down my neck, saying that if I streaked anything he would have my ****...

 

You mean like this?


http://forums.motivemag.com/zerothread?id=3818597

 

I have little experience painting vehicles (parts actually, never a whole vehicle) and none with a proper paint gun so I have nothing to contribute to the DIY portion that hasnt been covered already.
For the cheap part, from what I understand something like the blue your describing is one that would require some intricate mixing and would be more expensive than a more basic color like white or black. Since your a first timer I would suggest white. Obviously being the opposite of black it's going to be better for hiding flaws beneath the paint and imperfections in the paint job itself.
I dont think silver would be that bad either as far as hiding imperfections and it would also match the door jams, under the hood etc. Having all those parts mismatched I would imagine must kill the resale as well as looking terrible. Unless of course you were planning on gutting the engine bay and painting everything in there too which guessing you were not.

 

Any dark color is going to be hard to hide imperfections like scratches and dents. It shows everything. Go with a light color if you dont plan of filling the dents/scratches.
Honestly though the paint alone is probably going to be ~$300. The prep work is going to take you several hours alone, if not an entire day. If you get lucky and find someone willing to paint the truck for cheap or for a discounted rate you might get away spending under $1000 lol. It's not something I'd recommend doing yourself if you have no experience painting. I don't think you'll be happy with the result (I know I wouldn't be if I did my own). Especially if you're planning on clearcoating it.
I've always liked the idea of undercoating/bedlining and entire truck though, so that definitely is an idea. If you're insistant on doing it yourself you NEED an enclosed space to do it in. It's not something you can do in your driveway. Keep in mind any dust or debris is going to stick to the car which is why a paint booth is prferable.