my truck needs some body work. i got some rust on the cab corner thats getting pretty bad and my bed needs patched and my rollpan could use some work as well as my tailgate. im probably going to go ahead and fill in one of the body lines as well. my question is can i sand it down, do the body work, and then repaint it? like just the places that i was working? like tape it all off and do squares? will you be able to see a difference where the old paint and new paint are since the old paint is 16 yrs old?

paint isnt cheap and my truck isnt small.. how much is black going for now? about how much would i be looking at for black for my whole ext cab flareside? just a rough estimate for materials.

if its going to be ridiculous and if i cant paint it in patches and not be able to tell the difference then i may just primer it all gray and leave it like that..

 

You can paint the refinished spots up but you will need to be able to blend the paint into the existing paint so you cant tell whats what, which takes some skill. (Im not saying you cant do it, that was just the best way to say it)

As for cost, I have no idea.

 

i understand what your saying. kind of lol. except for the blending part which i have no idea how you would do that. i would love to just paint the whole thing again but i almost guarentee thats going to be way too much and i really dont think im going to like my truck primer gray...

 

Yes the paint has to be blended, even if it's only one panel. Even then, it takes some real skill to blend into an older paint job. I don't think a painter would even attempt it on 16 yr old paint. It sounds like you want to do a portion of the cab, the sides of the bed, tailgate and rollpan, which is about half the truck. The most expensive part of getting something painted is the body work. Doing it for the sake of paint cost would not save very much in the grand scheme of things.

I got my ford painted at maaco with urethane. The paint job was right at $700 after tax and what not, and it looks beautiful. It was done over a weekend. It's not flawless, but honestly any paint job less than $3000 today is going to have flaws. I have a very scrutinous eye when it comes to this and it's really a great job especially for the money. I did all the body work myself and saved big time. I'm not saying all maacos are great, I've seen some crappy paint jobs, but if you check out stuff in the lot and examine their work, you can get an good picture of how good or bad their work is. It's an affordable option for getting the truck painted right.

 

Well i was planning on doing all the body work myself. All i would need is for someone to paint it. I might try and call maaco one day and a few other places and see what they have to say. Its cracking and peeling in a few places. What kind of truck did you have painted? Short wheel base? Long stepside? What?

 

it would be much easier to just sand it, do the body work, and then paint the entire thing. it doesnt cost much if you do it the redneck way. which is the way i do EVERYTHING. lol. my 86 k10, i sanded and painted flat black for under $100. which includes a new air sander, about 9 or 10 rattle cans, and sandpaper. i did about 2 or 3 coats, and that was it. it looks nice, and didnt cost an arm or a leg. i didnt really have to tape anything off. because i dont have a drivers side window, and i just rolled down my passenger window. i stopped halfway through the windshield cowl, and about 3 inches from the back window. i mean its a 25 year old $500 truck. im not going to spend a few hundred bucks to paint it. i wouldnt do the same to any 16 year old truck either. just my opinion though.

 

have any pics of your rattlecan job? i was thinking about that but right now my truck is in pretty good shape and until then id like to keep it that way. im not downing the redneck way but for now i wanna try and do somehting a little bit nicer. id like to see some pics though!

 

if you can operate a rattle can, you can use a spray gun, just a little basic chemistry and playing with flow rates and fan/pressure settings . try on junk panel or cardboard first! as far as material,. my truck is similar, supercab , short box style side, im doing my truck i have so far used 2 quarts of color, and into my third. i had so far covered, my rh fender, inside and out, tailgate, and the inside/outside of the doors , my 3rd quart will cover, my roof, hood and left fender and supercab

 

The Poor Mans Paint Job

Looks like a PDF at the beginning or the article. Google similar articles, I think Car Craft or Hot Rod painted an old Falcon and put the how-to on the web. Plus there a bunch of similar articles out there.

Roller Method - Car Painting

 

the rustoleum, thing is a imo a waste. if you ahve that little skill fine. but even with that, you can still spray rustoleum thnned out. the point is, you DO get a better finish sprayed

 

we do have an air compressor with the spray guns that we never did use and im sure i could find someone with a garage to let me use it. my only thing is i know that automotive paint is expensive! would rustoleum thinned out and sprayed look decent?

 

For about $80, you can buy a gallon of black auto paint..

 

depends on whats available by you, auto paint can be cheaper, duplicolor makes sprayable avaible in parts stores, and so does summit. a typical gallon of a lower line color is roughly 150 , and yes you can spray rustlouem, thinned out, i have done tons of small stuff that way (and frames and engine compartments )

 

Tractor supply sells tractor paint, about $40 gallon.

 

150 a gallon? I thought it was more than that. Would a gallon be enough to paint my truck? Sidewinder where did you see paint for 80?