I'm looking to paint my 98 Ram 1500 flat black. I'd like to do a clear coat to protect the paint job, but don't want a gloss look. Has anyone had this done or even done it themselves?

I'd like some feedback on what it costs (at a shop professionally) or how it came out on do-it-yourself

Thanks

Dave

 

Paying someone to do it would be in the thousands of dollars.... probably more than the truck is worth......

There are a couple threads here, some still going.. of members that have painted their trucks themselves, either rattle can, real spray job, or, bedliner the whole truck.

 

I tried to find those threads-no luck. Am I a computer dummy??? Any ideas?

 

Here's one.

here's another.

and yet a third.

have a look thru those.

 

Thanks!!

 

I have my one 3000gt painted satin black with a single stage paint made by Kirker called "hot rod black". Owning a body shop, it still cost me over $2500 to paint my own car.

There are ways of doing it with a clear coat. Just use regular base black and then get a flattening agent for the clear. It would be cheaper to go with the single stage though. With the clear coat or single stage, there is no wet sanding or buffing allowed. It's a spray and pray type of deal.

Even an experienced painter can have problems spraying the color. It can easily look spotty or not lay out totally smooth.

I'll have to dig up some pics of my car.

 

I have had great luck with using the paints from the coatingstore .com....here's a link to their hot rod flat black kits
http://www.shop.thecoatingstore.com/...opcoat_c10.htm

I purchased their chameleon paint kit for my vette and when I screwed up the application by putting the clear on wrong they even sent me replacement paint at like half price to fix it (because they didnt mention appilcation flash time limits for the clear in their directions)... I believe its all in the prep work but a flat black should hide inperfections pretty well...
Just dont use black primer for many reasons...one is its not water or moistureproof ...so many people do body work and use primer to "seal" it.... In reality It doesnt seal a thing...

 

X2. It's more of a hassle than what it's worth, unless your trying for a "show car". If you want flat or satin black, the cheapest way is spray can.

 

How? did you have to pay someone else for all the labor?
Auto paints are one of those fields were the costs are all over the place and you arent necessarily paying for performance or quality related to those costs.... thier are a lot of paints out there that perform just as well for a fraction of the "rolex" type paints.... it becomes almost a bragging rights thing for some and others use the paint prices to justify higher labor markups... (kind of like the carpenter doubling the cost of supplies as labor cost rule)
This isnt always the case but more times than not in todays day and age were the same exact paints are sold as many different brands at many different prices...
I took my vette to a car show and A guy had a car painted with "high end" chameleon paint he paid around 900 a quart for.... he said he felt sick because mine seemed to have a better chameleon effect and looked great for the $380.00 I spent plus labor and prep supplies...

 

the flat black is a bitch to keep clean and protect...kinda foolish for a truck in my opinion unless its a show truck..