First, let me preface this by saying that I have painted a few bikes, but nothing as large as a truck. My truck is a budget build. No way I can afford to have someone paint it so I tackled it myself. And learned a LOT.


A lot of the things I learned, I read about first, but for me sometimes it takes hands on reality to make things sink in...so I will give my take on those in the hopes of maybe helping someone else not be so hard-headed as I tend to be.


1. Prep work is paramount. I've read that. You've read that and seasoned body men know it to be true. But once you shoot that shiny new coat of paint, the true meaning of that statement becomes blaringly obvious...
I prepped and prepped and prepped, sanding, guide coating, more and more until I thought I had a perfect surface. And then I did more after I shot the first coat of paint on there because there were things I still missed.
Don't get me wrong it is still not perfect, but I thought it was before I shot paint...haha


2. Follow mixing directions to a "T". You may have to experiment a little (in my case it was adding the right amount of hardener and reducer to get it to dry evenly and give the right "sheen" to my satin black. But I ended up painting the truck three times to learn this lesson.


3. Paint test panels first, be exact in your mixing and write it down. Don't guess at it... Sounds simple, I know and I'd read it a hundred times but, like I said, I was hard-headed and eager to shoot my paint, to see that new shine complimenting all the hard work I have put in. Learning to do your own bodywork and paint takes a LOT of patience and some point YOU have to decide what is passable and what isn't. If it isn't do it again and chalk it up to learning.


4. Clean, clean and then clean some more. Don't miss a step at this point. Clean the truck PERFECT before you paint or it wont last and then you will have to do this whole thing again. I had a handprint under the paint on my tailgate that was put there after I had done my final painting. I wore latex gloves after that.


5. Make sure your gun is clean. If there is any issue with your gun during painting. STOP. Take the gun apart. Clean it. Retest on a test panel and go back to painting.
My gun got clogged a little the first time I painted because I didn't properly strain the paint (yes.. I know, another little thing I glossed over). It ended up dry spraying and spitting and I had to let a fender dry and repaint it.


6. When painting a truck (and I guess this would go for a car) and you don't have a shop, etc., paint one section at a time while others are masked off. I shot a satin black, one stage paint. Meaning that what I shot, was what I got. You can't wet sand and buff anything out and this proved a challenge for me.
In the end, I ended up masking the cab off and painting the bed, hood and front fenders. Then I masked off the front and bed and painted the cab. Yes, it takes a LOT more time to do this, but if you only want to do it once, this is the way I found to do it.


7. Decide what is "good enough". It is never going to be perfect if you are not a professional. This is a hard one for me to accept. But after three rounds of paint, I had to accept this fact. Now my wife thinks I am crazy when I say its not perfect and my buddies can't see the flaws that I see, but I can see them and I have made peace with them.


Hope this helps someone but if you're as hard-headed as I am it probably won't. This has been, and continues to be, a journey for me.

 

If it looks as good in person as it does in the pictures, you did well.
Posting your "learning experience" for others to read will, hopefully, help others learn and avoid your mistakes.
When it comes to paint and body work, I've always felt what you get out of it is only equal to what you put into it.
I'm sure your "work experience" will benefit many others, nice job and nice write-up .

 

Thanks Mike! I am finally happy with it. It has been a PITA sanding it back down and redoing it and if I had it to do again, I think I could get it right the first time now.

 

Great write up and I echo everything you stated. Prep is def paramount and can never do enough of it. If I never sand down another vehicle, I'd be ok with that..lol
Paint looks great and truck looks great. I'm the same way with mine, minor imperfections after painting and my buds look at me like I'm crazy. At some point, especially on a budget build, your right in your statement when you say enough is enough..lol
Great job jeff...

 

Outstanding work! The only other thing I have painted is a boat trailer. My truck turned out pretty well, but I will likely be redoing it before too long.

 

Thanks guys. Definitely learned a lot. Much of it was a lesson in patience. Haha!

 

How does your paint seem to be holding up? This stuff is supposed to be super tough once it cures. Did you use their hardener?

 

I used the hardener and it is holding up very, very well. It needs weeks to fully cure though. The only reason I may rework mine a little is because of some dry spray spots that were my fault. A cut and buff might do it though.

 

That's the good thing about gloss. You can cut and buff.
I am going to wait about two weeks to a month before I do my door signs I think.
As far as maintenance for the satin black, its just dawn dish soap and clean any scuffs with Windex. They make polish for it too that I may try. I can still touch up with a rattle bomb, but if the sheen doesn't match I feel confident enough to scuff and shoot a panel pretty easily now.

 

I have found that the spray bombs are an exact match for the canned paint. Makes touch up easy!