I just purchased a 2000 F350 Dually. The truck is Black with a Tan sticker down the side to give it a two tone look. Want to fix the oxidation and repaint with the stock black color and remove the sticker to make it monotone. This is a working truck, I want the job to look good and last, but dont want to get raped. Any recommendations and suggestions on what I might need to pay, body on truck is perfect.

 

I know I'll probably get slammed for this, but try on of the big volume auto body shops. When I was in Chula Juana I took my new-to-me work van to the local Earl Scheib and discussed various options. The van had peeling paint and just before I bought it a fork lift driver drove into the sliding door, hard enough to dent it pretty bad but not hard enough to wreck the mechanism. The van also had a lot of pimples where guys had slid stuff in from the side door and it banged into the panel on the opposite side.

We agreed on a budget of around $600 and they would do the best they could with that. They did a great job with the panels, not perfect, but quite good. They sanded down the existing paint where needed and feathered the peeling areas. Then they did a typical cheap mask and shoot with no trim removal. The price did not include a clear coat. In short, it was a good solid 50/50 paint job.


The paint held up quite nicely for several years before it started to show some oxidizing. I didn't wax it regularly, just took it through a car wash every couple of months. About four years later some more of the original paint started to peel, but that was up on the roof. (Dodge never did seem to figure out how to make paint stick.) I sold the van about 7 years after the original job and when I peeled the company graphics off the paint underneath was still all nice and shiny, no surprise. I think a good compounding would have brought most of the body back.


Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. It's a work truck, and unless your work is body or painting, I think it just needs to look presentable to your customers. Invest the extra thousand or two that a high end join would cost in tools to make you more productive instead.

 

I'm starting to lean towards that as I have gotten some crazy quoted from $3500 to $8000. I want a good paint job that is going to last at least 5 years. One issue is the stickers down the side from the factory, That needs to come off, the body is perfect, just needs sanding. Here is a pick of the truck with the camper

on it.


I can drive if for awhile as is, but the sealer on the roof gutters is really cracking from the sun, and there is some slight oxidation starting on the hood, for a factory paint, it held up really well. I just bought the whole setup and the truck has only 88,000 miles. So I want to get it ready for the need 10 years of awesome service.