Don't expect to ever use that bumper on a good looking truck though. It'll look bad and bubbly. That's y I say powdercoat, you can matte over any scratches

 

I dunno, I painted my Dodge Dakota about 7 years ago, with RustOLeum black. It had a nice shine for the year and a half or so I owned it. I still see it around, not as shiny, but I'm betting he doesn't wax it twice a year like I did.

 

Yeah but that textured effect can be manipulated by how you apply it and if it can match that rippled stone guard effect that is on the lower edges of the panels and front stone guards on a lot of newer cars, I think it would look good.

For a ute that does work here it has to stand up to constant stone and rock hits, sticks, all manner of bugs and wildlife, crazy "touch" parkers and the occasional tree/ bollard
It's so bad and our roads are so bad that I don't want a new car again, and the idea of a pristine show car / Sunday special scares me ****eless.

 

I understand how that is, with that in mind though, rhino liner does hold in dust in the dips and such.

 

Thought about rhino liner on the bottom portion of my truck, because do a lot of offroading with bushes hanging over and scatched paint dont look pretty, but neither does the liner, thats commitment, dont know if its a pain to get off after you decide it was a horrible idea.

 

We call that "bush pinstriping" there are some temporary coatings available but most guys just use a good thick coat of wax to minimise the paint damage. The worst ones I find are blackberry bushes (an introduced pest species in our bush), their sharp spikes make an awful screech and dig through the clear coat into the base coats so they can't easily polish out.

 

Matthew, it is the worst! You have to take a wheel to it. And at that point, your probably going to go too deep in a few spots and weaken the body work, plus if it gets old it starts to chip off.

 

Here's a thought, prime it yourself and get all the bodywork out of the way. Then you can have someone shoot color on it. Should be much cheaper as all they'll need is a quick sealer coat then color.

Southern Polyurethane

Their epoxy primer is very stable and can survive outside for years. If it's not painted over in a week, you just need to scuff it and shoot a sealing coat over it before you paint. I would shoot a coat of the epoxy first, then do any bondo that's needed, then top with a coat of epoxy. Repair the rust hole first though. Also, fix any dents so you have an 1/8" or less of bondo. 1/4" MAX.

You'll need a good compressor and a decent HVLP gun but assuming you have a compressor, Eastwood has a good HVLP gun that requires only like 4cfm that's not too expensive. Primer is nice because it's hard to mess up and easy to sand off. Well, epoxy isn't that easy to sand off, but it's much better than rustolium...

SPI also has a forum where you can learn everything you want about priming and painting.

This BTW is my exact plan. I have a shop ready to shoot the top coat and I'm going to do the priming and bodywork. Unless I like the primer black look, then that's staying. BTW, their black epoxy has UV protection in it. It had been tested and lasted good for 5+ years before they added the UV. I plan on using that on everything, frame, under hood, axles, under panels, etc.

 

sweet dude thats awesome. i did not think about that route. however i live at the beach....im not sure i could actually paint it myself in any manner, thank god plastidip is removable or else half my front grill would be black from the darn wind!

 

MOST body shops will not touch your pre prepped body.

They want to ensure the work was done right, so their paint job turns out right.

Also, the prep and bodywork is 95% of the paint job. You could have the best paint job in the word, but if the prep and body work is not right, it will look like complete crap and it would be a complete waste of time and money

 

Amen. My new paint and body man stripped everything the previous guy had done to ensure it was right. And, he re-did many, many things. No one I talked to would accept someone else's work.

 

Wow, I know a couple shops by me that will do that. Of course when I talked to them I told them I was using epoxy primer, etc. It's not like I was asking them to spray over a rattle can paint job. Most body shops don't want restoration work. They want in and out. If nothing else Maaco should do it and if the prep is good the paint will look great. I know someone who did that and it looked great. He got the $250 special.

Now body shops may not want to warranty the paint if they don't do the prep, but that's a different issue.

Yes, prep is where it's at, 100% agree. I've done it before, so I'm confident in doing it again. However, if you find a shop to work with, and you get 90% of it and they start with a seal coat, then use some high build primer and block it out you don't have to worry as much.

Clear is the only part of a paint job I'm hesitant about. Every up to the base coat is easy to work with and easy to fix. The clear you have to get on thick enough to stay wet, but thin enough not to run or sag. So much to go wrong and so much work if you have to sand it off.

Here's a tip if anyone decides to do the prime and prep, once you have a consistent color base of primer; say you've sprayed your high build and have blocked it out without going through to the epoxy / bondo underneath, wipe it down with wax and grease remover to give it a shine and while it's still wet, look for flaws. I can't tell you how many times I thought I was ready for paint only to have my dreams crushed doing that...

EDIT: Here's my Chevelle. I did the metal work and paint work up to the base coat and had someone else spray the clear. I still have nightmares about all the sanding I did to that car... I hope it's ok that it's not a ford truck. You can see my 86 F150 in two of the pics. I rented a garage behind a used car dealer to do the work. It's going to be so nice to have my own garage to work in.

 

You lost me at paint...
Lmao. I can fix a hole or crack in sheet rock but that's about my limits

 

Then start saving and PAY someone to do it

If you can find a guy who works at a shop, but does stuff on the side, that would be your best and cheapest route. He does it everyday, so he is good at it and doing it at home he has no overhead so it keeps costs down.

When I do work, I charge $25 and hour. Body shops are about 50-75 and hour for restoration work

 

I know, that's the plan bud

And sweet chevelle