Paint Suggestions

[backwoodsboy]

Finally getting around to re-painting the '97. Currently the truck has some sort of digi-flame bull**** going on with blue, purple and pink inflicted on it by the previous owner.
I've got it narrowed down to two color possibilities. In either situation both the fender flares and from the '97 body line down will be bed-liner black. Once I get my bumpers front and rear finished they will both be either powder-coated black or bed-lined. I know I'm going to catch some grief for using bed-liner on the truck, but it is a truck and spends as much time on logging roads as it does on pavement. I'd rather use bed-liner and not be repainting the rocker panels and flares every 6 months.
Option #1: Vermillion Red PPG code 4217
Option #2: Sunset Orange PPG code 5677
Either one will see a healthy dose of metallic to really make it pop in the light.
I've attached images of the two color choices, as well as what the truck currently looks like.

 

[backwoodsboy]

That is the best picture I have of the truck as it currently sits. I will try and take some better ones tomorrow, but the basic run-down is: blue fading to a dark purple with pink red and black 'digital flames' mixed in.
Not sure what kind of drugs the previous owner was on when he decided on the paint job, but they must be legit.

 

[KBMKVIII]

The red would make it stand out in the crowd for sure.

 

[backwoodsboy]

I'm leaning towards the red as well. Every truck I've owned has been red, and this one was red originally...discovered that as I was sanding my way through at least 4 half-assed paintjobs that had been applied over-top of the factory paint.

Surprised more people haven't chimed in on this. Doesn't everyone like telling people how to spend their money?

 

[backwoodsboy]

Red it is.
Body work is done. Just have to finish tearing the headlights/grill/front bumper/hood/bed off and it is getting rolled into the paint booth to start spraying.
Pic of its final voyage before paint....just to show how ghey it was.

 

[Diesel_Brad]

What color is the interior?

Changing the color from the original base is Expensive

 

[PSD715]

Red it is.
Body work is done. Just have to finish tearing the headlights/grill/front bumper/hood/bed off and it is getting rolled into the paint booth to start spraying.
Pic of its final voyage before paint....just to show how ghey it was.

Woww. & somebody probably worked hard coming up with that :doh:

Definitely gonna be a huge improvement :thumbup:

 

[ToMang07]

I would have voted red....but pretty much ANYTHING would look better..... wow. LOL

 

[backwoodsboy]

What color is the interior?

Changing the color from the original base is Expensive

Interior is grey.
As best I can tell from peeling back layer upon layer of paint is that the truck was originally red. From there it was given a Maaco 'spray and pray' of white. Then repainted white a second time with the 'digital flames' and clear over-top by somewhere more competent than Maaco.

Woww. & somebody probably worked hard coming up with that :doh:

Definitely gonna be a huge improvement :thumbup:

The guy I bought the truck from was really proud of the paint job. Apparently cost him close to $4k. You should have seen the look on his face when I offered him $2k less than he was asking because I was going to have to respray it. Other than the fact that it sucks, it actually wasn't a bad paint job. Whoever did it knew what they were doing.

 

[PSD715]

The guy I bought the truck from was really proud of the paint job. Apparently cost him close to $4k. You should have seen the look on his face when I offered him $2k less than he was asking because I was going to have to respray it. Other than the fact that it sucks, it actually wasn't a bad paint job. Whoever did it knew what they were doing.

Woww. He must have really liked that chit.
I wonder if he came up with the idea

 

[Diesel_Brad]

Interior is grey.
As best I can tell from peeling back layer upon layer of paint is that the truck was originally red. From there it was given a Maaco 'spray and pray' of white. Then repainted white a second time with the 'digital flames' and clear over-top by somewhere more competent than Maaco.



.

So the door jams are sprayed to match? They removed the door panels and trim? That is not to typical of Macco prep work

 

[backwoodsboy]

So the door jams are sprayed to match? They removed the door panels and trim? That is not to typical of Macco prep work

Door panels were removed and the jams/underhood were painted white the third time it was painted. Basically under the "digi-flame' there were two seperate white paint jobs. The more recent being well done with all of the jams painted. Underneath that there was another white job, which was more of an off-white really, overtop of the factory red. The first white spray was a Maaco type job without the jams or underhood painted.
Once I realized how many times the truck had been sprayed previously, I decided to take the majority of the truck down to bare metal. The areas around the window seals, mirrors and door handles had begun to bubble due to shoddy prep work so I figured it would be best to start with a fresh slate.

 

[backwoodsboy]

Progress is being made... Hopefully get some primer laid down tomorrow.

 

[backwoodsboy]

Paint is done.
Letting it sit overnight in the booth with the heaters blasting, then I'll start the process of trying to figure out which bolt and which nut goes in which hole.
Just a few more pictures of the pink and purple digi-flames in all of their glory :flipa:

 

[backwoodsboy]

Almost done...

 

[Diesel_Brad]

All that work and you painted the plastic air rams between the bumper and stone shield?!?:doh:

 

[backwoodsboy]

There was a ton over purple over-spray on the air ram from the previous paint job. I forgot about it until after I had sprayed the black, and had red loaded in the gun. In hindsight it would have been better black, but that's always 20/20. Once my winch bumper is finished and installed it won't be visible anyways.
Overall really happy with how it turned out, as I've never sprayed a vehicle before.

 

[CoastalF350]

Looks alot better!

 

[Diesel_Brad]

I glad to see you removed the rest of the trim. It looks like the truck WAS ORIGINALLY white after all

 

[backwoodsboy]

I glad to see you removed the rest of the trim. It looks like the truck WAS ORIGINALLY white after all

I did my best.
Like I said, I've never painted a vehicle before, so it was a learning curve to say the least. Trying to figure out what should be removed, what should stay on, and what would look best which color was hard. I ended up spraying the entire tailgate with bed-liner. It was creased fairly bad, and to compound things it was a flimsy aftermarket replacement instead of OEM metal. I did my best to straiten it and fill the rest, but at the end of the day wasn't happy with it so decided to bed-line it (to minimize visibility of the crease) and find a OEM tailgate as money allows, which will then be sprayed to match the rest of the truck.

I FUBARed and managed to scratch a few areas re-assembling the truck. I guess 36hrs in a heated paint booth wasn't enough to harden the paint, so I ended up with a couple scratches around the headlight bezels, door jams, etc.
It isn't a show quality paint job by any means, but that wasn't my goal in the beginning. Truck will continue to serve DD duties, as well as deliver firewood, haul my equipment trailer, bomb up and down logging roads and otherwise serve its purpose of paying my way through college. At least I won't be getting anymore funky looks when I pull up to a jobsite in a purple and pink OBS.

Honestly, I'm beginning to think the truck was in a fairly substantial wreck at some point. Portions of the truck were definitely red originally, while other portions appear to have been white. Front quarter panels, core support and drivers side door had red while the rest of the truck was white.