Paint question

[deerefan]

I have a black 97 F150 and the paint on the hood and roof is oxidizing. I do not want to paint the whole truck as it does spend some time offroad (4x4). I thought about line x on the whole truck but the cost was too much. I want to paint the hood and roof only. I thought about sanding these areas, priming and painting them with a satin black to match the luster of the rest of the truck. I will be doing this work myself. Any thoughts or advice?

 

[timswi]

I have a black 97 F150 and the paint on the hood and roof is oxidizing. I do not want to paint the whole truck as it does spend some time offroad (4x4). I thought about line x on the whole truck but the cost was too much. I want to paint the hood and roof only. I thought about sanding these areas, priming and painting them with a satin black to match the luster of the rest of the truck. I will be doing this work myself. Any thoughts or advice?

Certainly doable...Prep is key..Have any pictures so that we can suggest the approach?

 

[mikehaugen]

before choosing to use satin black to match the rest of the truck, I would pulish a small part of the other parts of the truck to see what the color really is. It may be shiner than you think, unless it came from the factory as satin black- which I have never seen. You will never get paint to match well unless you buff what's there first.

 

[BIG DOOLEY]

I have a black 97 F150 and the paint on the hood and roof is oxidizing. I do not want to paint the whole truck as it does spend some time offroad (4x4). I thought about line x on the whole truck but the cost was too much. I want to paint the hood and roof only. I thought about sanding these areas, priming and painting them with a satin black to match the luster of the rest of the truck. I will be doing this work myself. Any thoughts or advice?

I repainted my 1998 K3500 2 summers back. Hood and drivers fender top was loosing the clear coat due to an earlier repair job. I was going to only repaint those panels.
Then I changed my mind and did the entire truck.
I did base coat clear coat because the truck is still 99% rust free.
My time and about $1000 including new grill, headlights, tail lights, turn sinals, and spray in bed liner.
I painted inside doors and behind dually fenders.
The cost for the extra paint was not bad considering the truck was still in good shape.
I plan on driving the truck for many more years.

You can save time and money and repaint your entire with a single stage paint.
this is what i did for my dads 1986 F-150
His hood and roof was badly faded and the hood was cracking.
after sanding down and priming the hood of his truck I sanded the rest of the truck and removed paint close to the original primer. I sprayed primer where i sanded thru and feathered it out.
Then taped the truck off and did the whole truck at once. 4 coats on the truck
1 Gallon of single stage (no clear) covered the truck with about 1/3 of a the gallon left over.

Single stage will oxidze faster because there is no clear.
But for a quick one paint job single stage paint is fast and inexpensive.
you can buy all the paint at once and have no worries about color match. and do panel by panel as you have time also.
8 years later this summer I just buffed out the paint on my dads 1986 and shined it up for him.
Its not perfect but nice for a woods beater.
Sanding and taping off is the time consuming part of the job. spraying only takes a short time.
might want to consider panel by panel as time permits if you really like the truck.
Tom

 

[JJZ 109]

Not sure about Line X cost, but at the suggestion of Diamondpilot I bought a Raptor kit for the bed of my truck last June. I sprayed a couple of pretty heavy coats into the entire bed of a 2012 F150 6 1/2' bed and still had almost an entire bottle left over. Not sure how far that would go on an entire truck, but would easily do your hood, roof and then some. 2 kits could had for about $240 including shipping. Of course once you have one kit, you might be able to buy just the bottles of material and save some $$ because you wouldn't need the spray gun.
So far it's proven to be pretty tough stuff for my use.

 

[dodge man]

I'd say unless you have some experience, or have the time and patience, you won't be happy with the results of any paint work you do. I'd say Big Dooley is the exception, he obviously took the time and did his truck up right and did a great job.

 

[ray66v]

Usually when a modern finish is oxidized, it turns white, and a short time later the topcoat starts to peel. If you are at, or near that point, keep in mind that nothing you put on top of that finish will stop the underlying finish from peeling off. Therefore, any paint that is damaged, should be removed. This is a judgement call that usually requires experience.

If the old finish is just dull, and you want to paint over it, you can theoretically DA it with 320 grit, or hand sand it with 500 grit. and spray on 2 nice medium wet coats of Sherwin Williams Automotive S57 black urethane epoxy sealer, with flex agent in it. That will produce a nice satin black that holds up very well.

This is the least expensive, and easiest way I know of, to get there, with a professional product. But it is not inexpensive. It applies very easily, and can be hand sanded, and re-coated if necessary. If you follow the mixing instructions, the flex agent adds a nice satin gloss to the product. Without it, you just get mat black.

You do not want to spray it dry, you want it wet. Unless your shop is cool inside, I would use US4 or US5 reducer, to allow it to stay wet long enough to apply both sides of the hood. (US3 is considered a "medium" temperature reducer.) Do not go by the temperature ranges on the cans for this application. Spray the second coat after the first coat has flashed from a wet to a satin sheen.

I have done this many times over the years, even on commercial vehicles it has held up well.

This product does require the use of a proper protective breathing device, and clothing.

If you don't have a Sherwin Williams Automotive paint store near you, NAPA sells Martin Senior PB4204, (which is the exact same stuff, only the numbers are different), and I am sure there are similar products in PPG or DuPont.

If you just want cheap, there is always satin Rustoleum, :laughing:

 

[Soundguy]

i painted my 98 dodge when it got that way.

sande dit all down.. primed it.. painted it.

it was a work truck.. I didn't do any feathering.. I painted entire panels. IE.. entire hood.. and top to a seam, entire door panels.. etc.

I went with a gloss paint like the truck had.

it was better than oxidized paint.. don't care if it didn't match perfectly to the slightly worn paint on the rest.

 

[BIG DOOLEY]

I'd say unless you have some experience, or have the time and patience, you won't be happy with the results of any paint work you do. I'd say Big Dooley is the exception, he obviously took the time and did his truck up right and did a great job.

Thanks for the compliment.
Growing up i worked in a neighbors bodyshop and learned alot.

 

[deerefan]

i painted my 98 dodge when it got that way.

sande dit all down.. primed it.. painted it.

it was a work truck.. I didn't do any feathering.. I painted entire panels. IE.. entire hood.. and top to a seam, entire door panels.. etc.

I went with a gloss paint like the truck had.

it was better than oxidized paint.. don't care if it didn't match perfectly to the slightly worn paint on the rest.

This is how I approach this truck. I ride pastures in it and have branches rub the sides on occassion. The truck is mechanicaly sound and worth putting a few hundred in to a paint job. I have a garge/shop to spray in but no booth. I like ray66's advice and am looking into these products now with NAPA.

 

[deerefan]

Thanks for the compliment.
Growing up i worked in a neighbors bodyshop and learned alot.

That is exactly how I learned mechanic work. Started sweeping floors in the shop and a couple years later was working as a level 1 mechanic. Kept my mouth shut and ears open- amazing now looking back the stuff I learned.

 

[Soundguy]

This is how I approach this truck. I ride pastures in it and have branches rub the sides on occassion. The truck is mechanicaly sound and worth putting a few hundred in to a paint job. I have a garge/shop to spray in but no booth. I like ray66's advice and am looking into these products now with NAPA.

some plastic sheeting and some pvc pipe or 2x4 makes a great temp spray booth..

 

[super55]

To do the hood and roof of your truck yourself it is definitely doable. First thing to do is go to a store that specializes with automotive paints. They can find and blend the model color for your year vehicle and some have computers where they can take a paint chip and match the color. Doing a rattle can job over large panels like that are very difficult to get good results without streaking. Get the original finish scuffed up real good and lay your primer down than start the wet sanding. Priming is where paying attention to detail pays off. While the pros can often blend and lay multiple coats to fix an imperfection with the paint I never have had any luck with it. I always got either runs or orange peel from laying too many wet coats too fast.

I would recommend going with a single stage acrylic enamel with a wet look hardener over using a basecoat clearcloat. Unless your truck has an immaculate finish it won't likely be noticeable plus it is much easier to work with and doesn't require wheeling and buffing to get a factory finish. My experience with clear coat is you really need to know what your doing with it to get desired results; Lay too thick get runs, too thin it leaves overspray resulting in a ton of buffing and if the paint has any oil on it you'll get fisheyes.

My advice would be 1. Watch youtube vids on auto painting 2. Go to a pro-shop to get paint/primer such as Napa. The guys should know what paints and how much you'll need, if they don't go to another store. 3. Use right tools. A good air compressor with a cheap inline moisture filter and a unclogged spray gun are critical. Practice on some scrap sheet metal before you start to make sure you have the gun calibrated correctly and keep an eye on the hose so as not to drag on your prepped/painted areas.

If the results turn out good you'll be looking for other things to paint trust me:thumbsup:

 

[ray66v]

To do the hood and roof of your truck yourself it is definitely doable. First thing to do is go to a store that specializes with automotive paints. They can find and blend the model color for your year vehicle and some have computers where they can take a paint chip and match the color. Doing a rattle can job over large panels like that are very difficult to get good results without streaking. Get the original finish scuffed up real good and lay your primer down than start the wet sanding. Priming is where paying attention to detail pays off. While the pros can often blend and lay multiple coats to fix an imperfection with the paint I never have had any luck with it. I always got either runs or orange peel from laying too many wet coats too fast.

I would recommend going with a single stage acrylic enamel with a wet look hardener over using a basecoat clearcloat. Unless your truck has an immaculate finish it won't likely be noticeable plus it is much easier to work with and doesn't require wheeling and buffing to get a factory finish. My experience with clear coat is you really need to know what your doing with it to get desired results; Lay too thick get runs, too thin it leaves overspray resulting in a ton of buffing and if the paint has any oil on it you'll get fisheyes.

My advice would be 1. Watch youtube vids on auto painting 2. Go to a pro-shop to get paint/primer such as Napa. The guys should know what paints and how much you'll need, if they don't go to another store. 3. Use right tools. A good air compressor with a cheap inline moisture filter and a unclogged spray gun are critical. Practice on some scrap sheet metal before you start to make sure you have the gun calibrated correctly and keep an eye on the hose so as not to drag on your prepped/painted areas.

If the results turn out good you'll be looking for other things to paint trust me:thumbsup:

Keep in mind that you only have to prime the areas that you have repaired. Anywhere the existing finish is sound, and free of defects, it only needs to be cleaned and scuff sanded.

 

[Soundguy]

. First thing to do is go to a store that specializes with automotive paints. They can find and blend the model color for your year vehicle and some have computers where they can take a paint chip and match the color. Doing a rattle can job over large panels like that are very difficult to get good results without streaking. I would recommend going with a single stage acrylic enamel with a wet look hardener over using a basecoat clearcloat. Unless your truck has an immaculate finish it won't likely be noticeable plus it is much easier to work with and doesn't require wheeling and buffing to get a factory finish. :

I agree.. i did this on all 3 trucks I painted. I had carquest match my factory paint via door code, then mix it up in nason synthetic enamil, single stage.

worked awesome.

 

[joe t]

Camo paint job with extra cans of spray paint you have laying around always looks sharp.