Next door neighbor does a side business of buying cars and flipping them. Basic bodywork, sands down, reprimes and entire respray. His last 2 cars have been good work. We're talking 1 footer paint jobs, and his last one was a metallic flake that looked pretty awesome.

We're working out a deal where he'd spray the X entirely another color after I did the basics and he'd help do prep. Includes door jambs and nooks/cranny's. Is there anything to look out for if I go forward with this?

Prep ideas
Items of concern
Windshield trim area?

My current paint is that Forest Green with grey cladding. Paint isn't bad for a 2002 model, but the hood has clearcoat peeling, and I noticed the roof has very very thin spots of paint. Luckily she has zero rust, so that's easy. Only 1 dent as well. I'm just looking for a nice way to freshen the X up without breaking the bank.


BTW, the color I'm after is the Purple Harley Davidson color that the F-250's got from 2000-2004 time frame. Call me weird, but I love purple trucks.

TIA

 

prep, prep, prep, I've painted two of my own trucks and actual spraying is about 10% of the quality, another 10% is quality of materials, 80% is how well you prep it.

If your going to do a full color change the correct way to do it is to remove all the doors, windshield, fenders, hood, quarter windows and then sand, sand, sand.

The idea of a color change would boggle my mind at the point in my life as i don't have time to do the work and don't have $7+ grand for my paint guy to do it.

I know the color your talking about, its a beauty!

 

Yeah I would be pulling the doors, hood, and windshield for the actual spray. leave rear glass on though because I'm scared it wouldn't go back on. probably replace windshield with Superduty version while it's out...but that's a $500 bill alone


want to sand it down, not necessarily to metal and completely re-prime. couple coats of purple, maybe a metal flake to it, then clearcoat. I'm not expecting show quality, just something that I'd be proud of driving that would look nice when shined up

 

It is all in the prep work. When I did paint and body we removed all lights, door seals, door handles, etc. Bumpers even came off because it is easier to paint them on a set of saw horses then when it is on the car. All the small parts, like body color handles, got hung from the ceiling of the booth so we could get an even spray all around.

After the spray is done, then it all comes down the the wetsanding and buffing to determine how flawless you want the job to be.

 

Just curious...what kind of money is he looking to charge you to repaint the truck?

I've been toying with the idea of repainting the old girl but I was originally planning a single stage flat black.

When I started doing the logistics and seeing how much would be involved in a color swap I had a new appreciation for the money people charge.

Just thinking about the amount of sanding on the Ex makes me shudder

 

He's basically doing it for the cost of materials + some beer money. Price isn't set yet until I give him the go ahead to buy the paint, then I'll have an exact price (or round-abouts). The spraying is the easy part. Sanding is going to be the real bear.

 

Been painting (on and off) for a while, any imperfections you think you can see while in prep and during primer will be magnified 20-X once you throw some gloss on the object.
I recently lost patience with my bumpers (I did the work initially) and took them to a pro with a booth. Even the trained eye would not have been able to discern the difference at about 6-7 feet, but inside four feet .

A botched color change will detract more in resale value than a faded, chipped OEM paint job, IMNSHO.

Good luck, hope it turns out nice.

 

I've had it for sale for 2 months. But it can't pass safety at moment so no buyers

I really don't want to sell though. Been trying to get orders to New York, this X would be perfect truck for out there...especially with all the snow they just got. On flip side I don't need 3 cars

Thx for the warning though. That's my biggest hold-up at moment. I'm scared of a crap job

 

DO NOT PAINT IT!!!

 

What he said.

 

On a completely serious note. Ask anyone on here, if they saw LivingLarges truck on CL with a full paint change that was anything but 100% and he was asking what he deserves out of it, and then you saw mine with the OEM paint in great shape and all you wanted was an Excursion no matter the motor, the driveline, the anything. Would anyone here pick his over mine? No. If he were to spend all that money on his truck and then put a $700 Maaco paintjob on it I would be leery to buy it if it were just a random CL find. Stewart and LivingLarge himself would say "Stay away". Look at mine though. Some stuff has been messed with, but after all is said and done my truck is clean and original. You can tell how it was cared for a lot better.

 

Ok, I somewhat understand what drugs your on now nothing like my heart meds I guess

I would never buy a repainted car period and have always said if my EX ever needed paint or body repair I would no longer own it.

My previous EX had a ding ok a ding ding on the rear quarter. I drove her with that until she was sold, I just don't like fillers or repaint. Just my .02

 

If you meant me I didn't mean anything bad by that, I was just saying that if it's been repainted even somewhat well that if takes away from the whole thing. My Blazer looked great (for a $1000 truck) and when I started sanding it down I hit 2 inches of Bondo... seriously. Thankfully it was a $1000 truck and I was already doing body work, but how do you think I would feel if I was looking at an X that had been repainted. What are you hiding there man?

 

Yeah I agree with that.

 

^^^ X 2 on that ^^^^

I had one area left front fender over the wheel arch, took it a place for PDR (paintless dent removal) all original.