The paint on my truck has had it... clearcoat peeling off, paint peeling off, looks pretty bad. This old truck isn't worth spending a lot of money on a nice paint job in its current state, too many dings and dents and scratches. I've got one big dent by the rear bumper and a little bit of rust on the bottom of my doors.

I don't really care about fixing those, but I'm curious as to what the best way to prep them so I can paint over them is.

Here are a few pictures.






And now on to some questions... I've never painted a vehicle before. Like I said, I don't want to spend a bunch of money on this. I drive a tractor trailer now and am home for 5 days so I'd like to find a method of painting the truck that I can accomplish during my hometime... i.e. applying paint with a roller and wet sanding it over several days probably won't work.

I'd like to paint it white. I don't mind purchasing a decent dual action sander as I've heard that's probably the best thing to sand it down with. I'll probably spray the paint on with a cheap harbor freight HVLP gun. Other than that, I know very little and am just looking for any tips or tricks. I'm not at all concerned with it looking like a great paint job... as long as it looks halfway decent going down the road I really could care less. Thanks for any help!

 

I believe you use a product called POR15 to prep rust for painting. If you can somehow get a bug and dust free environment, a shade tree machanic can do a respectable job of automotive painting if he uses good automotive paint you buy at your local parts store. Not the rattle can stuff, but multipart paint with accelerator, hardener etc. If you are doing this in an enclosed space, you must use a good gas mask. The fumes from the chemical reaction will knock you out in a heartbeat and cause serious problems. All you need for a spray booth is something built using a platic sheeting like you use for vapor barrier or drop cloth.

Just read the instructions for the paint - gun pressure etc, and how long to leave between coats. The hard work that will make a difference is your prep. A paint job will accentuate flaws not cover them.

So, go slow and use multiple light coats.

 

Perhaps you can get local Maaco to paint for you for cheap.
By the time you get compressor, spray gun, masking tape/paper, sandpaper and other needed materials you'll be looking at $1500+ easy.
You'd have to sand down entire truck for repaint. Using D/A is ok for flat areas, do not dig in with it, keep it flat when using it. If you're planning on fixing dents youll need to pull them out as much as possible with stud welder or hammer them out from the backside if you can access backside. You need to use good quality primer as well, unless you want your new paint job to flake off sooner than later.

 

Im lucky to have a black truck, entire roof, hood and pillar above the SLT badge is ace hardware rattle can

 

the rattle can clear coat is garbage. i put some on a repair and within 6 months it was bleached out and peeling like 13 year old oem paint

 

if you plan on rattle can I recommend like a flat black or something not glossy... if you go with auto paint, it takes quite a bit of work, and these days I haven't really seen a cheap paint... I've used paint that's about 300-500 per gallon. With the cost of paint and primer and wax n grease remover and thinner and everything else, you will probably want it to turn out nice, especially with how much work it takes just to get done with prepping. After you primer sand down with a min of 400 grit paper and look for all sand scratches and fill with a scratch putty and primer again then you can paint. if you plan on pulling that dent out by the back bumper remember that the metal is stretched. if you bang it out there's a way to shrink it. get heat block cream or chaulk and circle the dent area with it. then fire up a torch and get it red hot then cool it quick with ice or a wet cold rag. You may have to bang it out/shrink/ bang it out/shrink/etc. Once the dent isn't as deep wire brush it and add bondo. Sand down starting at 36 grit and then when you get it close switch to 220 primer will cover most all 220 grit sand scratches.thats when you go over it with the scratch putty and switch to 400 grit. good luck if you go for it.

 

What is cheap, $200, $300? If you go too cheap you might as well just leave it alone.

 

When my trucks peeled like yours the shop told me it was the primer's fault.
Very common Chrysler problem from '92-'97.
They chemically removed removed everything down to bare metal before painting.


These guys did a pretty good job painting my '82 Toyota, took them three tries but they only charged me for one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Scheib