hey all!
checking in again!! i made a few threads about fixing up my 07 dakota
i just picked up a new door- rear passenger . . payed 500 for it.. gonan get 100 backwhen i bring the old one in

so my truck is silver, and the door i bought is charcoal grey..
everyone is telling me ( all the shops) is that im gonna have to blend the door with the front door and the start of the box ...
I got a guy whos offering to paint the door for 250$ and saying it wont match up necessarily..

and i got a dent im getting out of my driver side quarter panel.

I really am intersted in getting this truck back into shape..
whats your best suggestions for the door and my paint ?

I have a friend who has a garage and is offereing to help paint the whole truck with his dad...

so maybe painting the full truck silver again? it would beeasier where i wouldnt have to paint you know under the hood, engine compartment, rocker panels - inside of doors..
PLEASE help
at first i wanted to paint the full truck black when i got it all touched up ( dents out and dings )

im gonna post some pics!
pretty much i want to know what i should do with the door - get it painted - or get them to blend it? or just wait a bit till i got the money and re paint he whole truck once i get the dent out!!
FIRE AWAY PLEASE

 

I could pickup a new box from a yard thats in great condition...for 1000..maybe abit cheaper...any one think i would bebetteroff doing that? ratherthen payinga bodyh shopto fixthat dent? get the box then re paintthewhole truck? how hard is it to take off a box and put a new one on??

 

If you really want a nice job I'd say to get the front door blended by a shop unless ur friend really knows what he's doin. Working at a shop I've painted cars without blending but only because the customer did not want it blended and you can really see a difference in color

 

I guess it could be cheaper if you were to do it yourself. Finding a bed the same color and replacing the old one. If you find one a diff color it'll be more expensive especially if you were to paint the whole truck. It's a lot of prep work and at the end it'll cost you a couple Gz. when it comes to body shops, its one of those you get what you pay for kind Of deals. Unless you know a connect that can hook it up.

 

Well I give you props on fixing your Dakota. I didn’t really want to spend that much money fixing my door and bed, so I went with an alternative. I have had it like this since 2010. (you can even see my Chrome Stacks in this Picture!)
IMG00320-20100609-1455.jpg


stacks.jpg

3" Leveling kit- 265/75R16 BFG Rugged Terrains- Custom Short Ram Intake- Flowmaster 40 w/ custom 3" stacks- Black housing headlights 6k HID- Custom HarleyDavidson Shifter

 

If you can find a new box congrats, I think I can see the license plate in the pic is Newfoundland, Canada. But the box would most likely be rusted up/rusting like mine, unless its from Out West or the US
I need to repair both rear wheel wells on mine, the Bedside and the Top of it in the bed aswell because of Rust. I already had to replace the Lower Rad Support because it rusted off.

 

IMO if I was to get the box painted (New box or completely repaint the truck), It would be ideal to just get the interior of the box done in Bed Liner, Cheaper and not much prep required, the its just the Sides and Front to paint.

 

Ya! I mentioned I can find a new BOX FAIRLY NEW NO RUST
for uinder a thousand, thats not including what it would costme in labor to take the box off the old machine and Put it on mine
thats what im asking, how much labor is it to take off a box andswitch it?
i would paint the WHOLE truck after - silver probaly again.
RATHER then pay for the body work AND pay to re paint the whole truck silver again.
so i wont have a mismatched door . .
SO how much work is it to take off a old box from a yard ( its in great condition, there is a chracoal grey one and a light blue one...
the blue one the yard will take it off for a 1000 bucks andhave it forme..
so!fire away again.
imgettinga quote on the DENT next weekfrom the guy whos gona paint thedoorfor 250..

 

If it was my truck, here's what I'd do:

• The bed isn't bad, a reasonably flat dent that should be easy to hammer back to close to the original shape. I'd smooth over the hammer marks and low areas (always leave it slightly low - high spots will always be seen) with some body fill and grind that down to very close to the final shape & then sand it to the final. Cover it with a reasonable primer and it's ready for paint.
• The door you already have but it's a different color, so there are various options of what can be done. You can go from just painting the outside when you repaint the truck, to stripping the door (remove all the guts) and doing the whole door the truck color.
• Finally I'd plan to paint it the original color - going from a light to dark will make it look odd on the inside and everytime you open something and you'll see the color comparison. You can get everything repainted, but the cost is big unless you can do the work yourself.
• I'd go around to a few body shops and see what kind of deal I could come up with for the final paint. For a cash payment, you can get some pretty good deals from one of the body repair techs where they'd do it on the side. You could even have them remove the old door, install & paint the new one on both sides, remove all the lights, etc., (to get the paint behind all these pieces without masking them off) all thrown in for one cash payment. Don't be afraid to shop around, ask questions, and negotiate - also, don't pay until you see the final product.

 

Fix the dent, hit up maaco for a complete paint job for about 450 on the cheap or 1000 for the better job.