Hard Top Paint

[Billy Toppless]

anyone know the best way to paint the hardtop?

i was gonna sand it down then hit it with some fiberglass boat paint

i was told this works the best, is that true?

or should i use regular car paint?

 

[crazyhorse85]

YA KNOW YOU COULD LOOK INTO HAVING IT SPRAYED WITH BEDLINER,RHINOLINER OR LINE-X.IT'S JUST ANOTHER OPPSITION...HAD MINE DONE HERE AT OUR BODYSHOP...LOOKS GOOD AND VERY TOUGH...AND REALLY DOESN'T ADD MUCH MORE WEIGHT...ONLY 'BOUT 1/2 THICK BUT REALLY TOUGH....I'VE SEEN A COUPLE F-150'S AND A 90 BRONCO WHERE ALMOST THE WHOLE TRUCK WAS SPRAYED ON THE BODY...JUST A THOUGHT..... >-

 

[Broncobill78]

The *best* option for painting the top is going to be bringing it to a body shop and having it sprayed.. Unless you have experience doing body & paint work then it's going to be VERY hard to get it to come out looking as good as it did originally. If you *are* going to do it yourself don't sand it because you'll remove the texturing, use 3M scuff pads. Clean it w/metal prep when you're done, use a quality paint, a top quality gun and make sure the compressor you use has both oil & water filtration. Don't paint it outdoors, either rent a spray booth or sweep out & wet-down your garage (to minimize dust) & cover everything with plastic. Lacquer is a more forgiving paint to work with but you have to apply it in thin coats and it will need to be buffed out when you're done. Enamel goes on thicker and is more more difficult to work with (more likely to drip, run or sag) but when it's on that's it all you have to do is wait for it to dry.

If you've never done it before & don't have the equipment then you'll almost definately spend more just buying the supplies than you will paying a local shop to do a professional job. There's a Maaco right here in town for goodness sake, clean & scuff it yourself & they'll probably do it for $75-$100. Regardless of who you go with you'll be better off having it done rather than trying to do it yourself. Before I painted my first truck I bought a $100 winter-rat and some cheap unclaimed paint from PPG & practiced for a couple months. Considering you say you want to keep the thing long-term I really doubt you want to mickey-mouse the cap & ***** it up. On the other hand there IS another cap down at Snake rd that you could pickup and practice on if your heart is set on doing it yourself.

 

[Billy Toppless]

The *best* option for painting the top is going to be bringing it to a body shop and having it sprayed.. Unless you have experience doing body & paint work then it's going to be VERY hard to get it to come out looking as good as it did originally. If you *are* going to do it yourself don't sand it because you'll remove the texturing, use 3M scuff pads. Clean it w/metal prep when you're done, use a quality paint, a top quality gun and make sure the compressor you use has both oil & water filtration. Don't paint it outdoors, either rent a spray booth or sweep out & wet-down your garage (to minimize dust) & cover everything with plastic. Lacquer is a more forgiving paint to work with but you have to apply it in thin coats and it will need to be buffed out when you're done. Enamel goes on thicker and is more more difficult to work with (more likely to drip, run or sag) but when it's on that's it all you have to do is wait for it to dry.
If you've never done it before & don't have the equipment then you'll almost definately spend more just buying the supplies than you will paying a local shop to do a professional job. There's a Maaco right here in town for goodness sake, clean & scuff it yourself & they'll probably do it for $75-$100. Regardless of who you go with you'll be better off having it done rather than trying to do it yourself. Before I painted my first truck I bought a $100 winter-rat and some cheap unclaimed paint from PPG & practiced for a couple months. Considering you say you want to keep the thing long-term I really doubt you want to mickey-mouse the cap & ***** it up. On the other hand there IS another cap down at Snake rd that you could pickup and practice on if your heart is set on doing it yourself.

well i wasnt gonna sand sand it

more like with steel wool

just to get the old paint off

then use the fiberglass boat paint on it

cuz i figure the tops gotta be off anyway to fix that rust cuz im taking it to Stuart Auto Body so im gonna spray it down then when the truck comes back im getting a roof rack

i found a real nice one for about 300 bucks

my dad kinda knows how to paint but i got a buddy who has had 4 year of auto body at the local high school and isnt to bad with body work

im kinda a hard headed do it yourself-er lol

 

[Broncobill78]

im kinda a hard headed do it yourself-er lol

Steel wool is a bad idea. Trust me, 3M makes those scuff pads for a *reason*. I spent 4 yrs of high school & 3 yrs of college working in a Ford dealership bodyshop. But hey, I'm in touch with the need to learn your lessons on your own, just because my kids are teenagers doesn't mean I don't remember what it was like way back in the day when we used to share the earth with the mammoths & dinasours. When it's all said & done it'll probably be an *expensive* lesson but it's only a cap and we've already seen how easy they are to replace /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> Knock yourself out & gimme a shout if/when you want to go & grab that other one.

 

[Broncobill78]

Billy,

I wasn't joking, give some thought to picking up that other cap we saw. You can use it as a practice/replacement top. We can set it up on some sawhorses then scuff it & prep it. Won't be hard to spray it but we'll need a decent gun. If you're interested in learning body/paint work it's a great way to start. By using a second cap you haven't lost anything if it comes out *****'d and even if it *does* we can scuff down the blems and fix it. Either that or keep the second cap in reserve and do the work on your existing cap. If it comes out nice then we can chop the second cap like I'm planning to do w/the other one we picked up and then paint it to match and you'll have summer & winter caps for your truck. Kick it around. However it goes it really helps to have a spare to practice on. I painted the ****** out of that winter rat I bought as a practice car and it really paid off. Unfortunately $hit just doesn't rust out down here so $100 cars are harder to find but they're out there for anyone willing to shake the bushes.

 

[Billy Toppless]

Billy,
I wasn't joking, give some thought to picking up that other cap we saw. You can use it as a practice/replacement top. We can set it up on some sawhorses then scuff it & prep it. Won't be hard to spray it but we'll need a decent gun. If you're interested in learning body/paint work it's a great way to start. By using a second cap you haven't lost anything if it comes out *****'d and even if it *does* we can scuff down the blems and fix it. Either that or keep the second cap in reserve and do the work on your existing cap. If it comes out nice then we can chop the second cap like I'm planning to do w/the other one we picked up and then paint it to match and you'll have summer & winter caps for your truck. Kick it around. However it goes it really helps to have a spare to practice on. I painted the ****** out of that winter rat I bought as a practice car and it really paid off. Unfortunately $hit just doesn't rust out down here so $100 cars are harder to find but they're out there for anyone willing to shake the bushes.

yea i geuss ill put some thought it to

i have two paint guns but they need some cleaning

but brand new ones are like 50 bucks at home depot

maybe ill take it to a shop cuz its gotta come off anyway but i do know a couple people who can paint really good

my nabor, the one we passed leaving the boneyard with the 1969 C10 painted that whole car in his backyard 3 years ago and its fu$ckin beautiful still

maybe grabing that top and making a summer top like what ur gonna do is a good idea but people in this area steel ****, so idk how comterble i am with that idea cuz this is my daily driver and i keep some costly stuff in there

ill talk it over with my dad and ill get a price from the guys who are gonna do my rust and see how much they'll charge

im ether gonna keep it white or go black for two reason the black and red combo i really love and no one down here has a black cap and i like doing **** that no one eles has

 

[Broncobill78]

/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> nothing wrong with keeping your $hit unique, that's what sets guys apart /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> Gimme a shout via PM, got a question for ya.

 

[89eddie89]

What do you all think about just repainting the hood of my car...??

Since the sun is forever beating on it, the paint is fading and its beginning to look worse and worse.

Do you think it would look good if I just got the hood repainted?? Leaving the rest of the body the way it is.. (with stratches, etc...)

 

[Broncobill78]

It'll work to a limited degree. A good bodyshop can do wonders matching new paint to faded adjoining panels but they aren't wizards. Depending on your skill level you may want to consider doing a lot of your own prep-work and having someone like Maaco shoot the truck for you. If the body is in good shape & really doesn't need any significant work done to it then you can save a bundle by removing all the lights & trim yourself and sanding it down with 3M scuffpads. I've done this a number of times and been *very* happy with the results. Depending on where you live there may be a number of outfits that offer this sort of paintwork. CA, TX, NM, AZ & FL seem to be big areas for it since there's so many sundamaged cars/trucks that are in otherwise excellent condition. Not as easy to find them up North & in the mid-west but they do exist if you look. Another route might be to find a local community college that offers nighttime adult-education classes, they usually have a bodywork class that will give you a chance to meet twice a wk at the school and have an instructor walk you through it. Again, if you have no major bodywork that needs repairing this is a *excellent* way to prep your truck for a $279 Maaco paintjob and learn quite a bit in the process.

To get back to the original question, take it down to some local shops and ask them. More often than not they'll actually be honest with you about what they can & can't do and just how good they'll be able to make it look. Another quick thought, if the hood is in rough shape due to sun-damage then you may want to consider having the cap painted as well because I can almost guarantee that it's in *worse* shape but once you start down that road it's a pretty short trip to just having the whole damn truck shot /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[89eddie89]

Yeah I am most likely going to take it to maacos, I got one a few miles up the street. Just thought I would come here first for advice.

Thanks