I painted it myself in the driveway. Its been raining the past 2 days, so I can't get much of a better pic, but I think it looks fantastic... only one minor paint drip. You can click the image above to open a larger version!

 

Damn! That looks good for a driveway paintjob. Good job

 

Nice.......

 

How much did it cost you for paint? And how long did it take you. We need a DIY paint thread

 

Looks GREAT! I can't wait to get to the point of doing things to my truck cuz I WANT to, not cuz i HAVE to, if ya get my flow

 

Looks good.....Texas Longhorn orange (almost)....

I would like to see a DIY paint thread also. I am going to repaint mine, but cannot decide whether to attempt to climb the learning curve on the Ram or the Jag. Sanded pass side bed rail and pulled bow out of bulkhead last night, ready to fill and prime for now. (I kow I will have to stock up on p[lenty of sandpaper...)

 

Just around $100 for paint and sand paper.

Painting is the quick thing... its prep that takes a while. The nice thign about prep however is that you can do it over a long period. I did it over the course of about a month, one panel at a time.

The other trick is to paint it at the very beginning of very end of the season... or winter if your down south. 50-60 degrees if your drying out doors, as any less than that and your going to get paint drips. its much much more forgiving that way. You want it to dry slowly, and then even if you do get a paint drip it evens itself out. Paint when its 75-85 out and its darn near impossible to make it look good!

I used a random orbital sander and took it below the clear coat. 120 is fine. took about 12 sanding pads. I repaired and primed any rust areas. I then taped it all off, which takes quite a while mind you. I took off the tailgate and the hood to paint those seperately.That allows you to easily paint around the bends.

I'd say it took me maybe 12 hours sanding/repairing, 5 hours masking/taping off, and maybe 6 hours of painting? It may have been a little faster if I painted all at once, but taped off the hood and lifted it to get the gap so I didn't get any overspray, and then painted the hood last by taking it off (its hard as all get out to reach...) I also removed stuff like the taillights, the cab light, all the trim seals, all the badging, etc.

The trick for novices is to do a lot of really thin coats. When you get a lot of experience you learn how to do thicker coats, but if you do a lot of thin coats, even a beginner can get a good paint job. I'd say I did about 9 really thin coats?

I know thats a lot of time, and its probably worth it for most people just to prep it yourself and then take it to maaco, but It ends up being a much better paint job.

I've painted a few cars like this and every time it gets a little bit nicer! haha... My first one was a mess, I just tried covering it in paint, and you've got to carefully strategize and paint intelligently, picking up the skill as you go.

I could probably do more of a DIY at some point. I've done enough paint jobs like this to show, and I'm going to have to paint my fiero too.

I call the paint color "Bengals orange" during football season (although its a tad light for Bengals), and "Syracuse orange" during basketball season (I'm an SU alum). Then it can also be Ohio Northern University orange (also an ONU grad) when I go up to homecoming? haha! and of course its "just orange" when I'm not feeling the team spirit (although I have a small bengals logo and a small Syracuse logo on the rear window)

When the weather improves later this week I'll get some better pics. the back looks really cool too because I did a two tone up along the taillights.

 

Actually, heres a pic of the back. Maybe too flashy for some people but I'm kinda one of those obnoxious people. This is before I painted the hood though, which is why the hood is still black... And the transformers logo is because I race a transformers edition camaro, so I was having fun playing off of that. The badging will go back on, I just havent gotten there yet.

 

Did you clear coat it as well? What brand paint did you use? I am thinking of using PPG and considering black pearl or metallic. Not sure though.

 

nice nice nice.. buttt the bengals psshhh!!! hahaha just kidding. better than zman and the jets hahahah again just kidding