1997 Ram 1500 extended cab Laramie, 5.2L gas 5 spd. She's been coming along nicely since I made the purchase. Complete engine rebuild 65k miles ago(prior to purchase). Still many things on my list. She sounds great and runs like a scaled dog. Decided to go badge less and work on some custom paint, self done.

 

Nice ride. Good shape too. no visible rust that I can see, though, the paint looks faded??? Where ya at? I see the ohio state license plate, but, that does NOT look like a rust-belt truck.

 

I'm in Saint Augustine, FL. So technically worse than the rust belt. I'm 1/4 mile from the beach. She's in good shape body wise. One dent in the very rear driver side on the bottom of the bed. No rust other than some surface rust in the bed, soon to be rhino lined or something similar. The paint is faded. I'm working on possibly trying some polishing compound. The big fixes are the whole front end really, springs, shocks, bushings, ball joints. She's loosy goosy. I won't take her on the highway. There is the disintegrated dash. Had a carpet cover. I'm working on some options. I am originally from Cincinnati, Oh. Hence the Ohio State plate!

 

Ok, that explains a lot.

You have a really good base to start from there at least. Some rubbing compound, or maybe even just some wax, would likely bring the paint back some. Is the clearcoat still there? Or has that all been baked off?

 

So I have recently discovered that a previous owner sprayed a matt finish over the original paint. They used the same color as the original, but in a matt finish. They sprayed it over the original paint with little to no prep work other than removing the clear coat. So the original paint is still under it. I have had some success with a polishing compound and polisher. I believe I'll have slot more success if I can remove the matt finish. I think chemicals might or will remove the matt finish and the original paint underneath. On my test area I started with a 3000 grit wet sand, then multiple applications of polishing compound and then a wax and buff. I'll upload a pic where the difference can be seen between a before after. I have an old school polisher that uses bonnets. I have microfiber bonnets and a lambs wool like or synthetic bonnets. I can seem to find a definitive answer on which one to start with and which one to finish with. Should I start with a 1000 grit wet sand or not at all? Any help, tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Chemicals don't discriminate, so, yeah, they will remove ALL the paint.... Not just the stuff you want to get rid of. Start with the 1000 grit wet sand, bear in mind, doing the whole truck is gonna be a LOT of work.

 

That's what I was thinking, going to 1000. I started the side of the hood I did with 3000. Yeah it will be a project. But I'm ok with half a hood hear and there and so on. In-between needing to re do the front end. The body project is much cheaper. Especially a panel here and there. I discovered Working on cars/truck helps my PTSD alot. And my daughter likes to help. This project has been making me miss my '73 Charger quite a bit. Thanks for the advice. I'll keep posting pics as it moves along.

 

How old is your daughter?? I love it when my kids take an interest in my projects. All mine are grown and gone now though......

 

Since it basically has two coats and possibly what's left of the clear between them you may be better of just clearing over what you have. I have wet sanded a whole truck to then buff it to a mirror finish. That is a lot of work but this is only removing a small amount of the top layer of paint. You will have to know how much to remove to get down to the original paint. This will be very hard to tell since they are they same color.1000 girt is fine and good for wet sanding(done by hand) before buffing. You will need something more aggressive to remove more material and removing it by hand is an EXTREME amount of work. If the paint is not uniform and has imperfections you may be better off sanding it down and respraying it. Keep in mind if you are using a powered DA or buffer/sander will cut down on the labor but what happens if you remove to much and get down the the primer?

 

I almost think it would be less work to just bite the bullet, and go for the re-paint....