Your paint will be wet til it's not no matter what method of application you use. Spraying outside is far from ideal, but I still think it's preferable to a brush and roller.

 

I did my highboy with rustoleum. Rolling it on with high density foam brushes. Turned out good for what I paid for it. For my crew cab project I'll be looking to an actual paint job. But the rustoleum route is a good route if you're on a budget and not looking to win first place at the car show, but will still turn heads on the street. People think my paint job cost 1000's haha.

 

Impressive

 

Thanks you!

 

So my dad bought an air compressor yesterday, so I got a da sander now. I'm thinking in going to cover everything in the garage, then shoot it in there. I really want it to come out decent. I know it won't be perfect but it will definitely look better than before.

 

Good deal. DAs are perfectly safe...you'd have to be a bit of retarded to build up enough heat to warp your sheetmetal with one. They're designed for this kind of work. Keep it flat and you'll be fine. There will be some squiggly scratches when you're done sanding, that's normal. Take it to 400 gr, seal it, and use some high-build (sometimes called high fill) primer and block from there before paint....it'll look fantastic.

 

Before you touch your truck, get an old hood or a couple of doors, & practice everything on those.

Use proper safety equipment!! Eye, & hearing protection, proper respirator.



Try wet sanding with a block & 220 & 360 paper & see what happens when you do that. Try priming & blocking the primer. Try blocking the primer with a guide coat. Try sanding with the DA. Learn what happens when the DA pukes oil & how too prevent it.

Experiment doing dent repair with bondo on those panels. Learn to use bondo & glazing putty. Sand bondo with 36 & 80 grit dry on a long board & see what happens. Put some dents in those junk panels & figure out how to work them out with a hammer & dolly.

Get a 4 1/2" electric grinder & grind on some rust & metal.

Block sand until your arms feel like they are going to fall off & your fingerprints are sanded off.

Try rolling paint on, then try spraying real paint thru a good gun, & see the difference. When you spray a panel, move real fast & see what happens to the paint. Go real slow so you run the paint off the panel & learn how to correct it. (hint, if you have a huge run on a panel, it is possible to clean the whole panel with a rag soaked in thinner before the paint sets & start over).

Try spraying the metallic grey you want to use with a big panel horizontal & see if you can spray it without getting tiger stripes. Try spraying outside, try spraying in the garage. See if there is a difference.

Use a tack cloth before you spray, & then see what happens if you don't use a tack cloth. get a drop of a product like Armor All on you panel & spray over that. See what happens & figure out how to correct it.

Use proper safety equipment!!

Try every tip you get here & everywhere else online on those scrap panels before you even think of touching your truck. Screw up on junk, not your good truck!! Practice, practice, practice on those junk panels. Then paint a few small projects with the paint you want to use on your truck. Paint the refrigerator in the garage, the lawn tractor, the washing machine you are throwing out.

When you have some experience & confidence, then start to tackle your truck.

 

Getting professional results painting a vehicle 1st time out will be a tough deal. I understand that anything is usually better than what we start with and the satisfaction of doing something yourself and learning a new thing is good.But,with that said,body work and painting is a task that takes years of experience to perfect. Years to instantly perceive or anticipate a problem and remedy it on the spot. So,it is virtually impossible to give a THOROUGH answer to "how do I paint my truck".It is absolutely no different than asking a carpenter"how do I build a house?" or "how do I start a successful company?".Volumes are needed!! Do we never try to paint our own rigs? Of,course not!! That's how we learn along with the pride of doing it yourself! So, go for it and enjoy the end result.

 

Great advice, thank you. I think I might paint it satin charcoal instead, because I've heard it's much easier to spray, especially from a beginner. And yes, I know for a fact that it won't be perfect, and it will probably have many mistakes, but it's a learning process. I'll definitely enjoy the end result, and it will look way better than it does now