KEYED Tailgate!!

I had my truck for a few months and some lovely person came through our neighborhood keying vehicles. Anyways, what would you all suggest I do to fix this. I am sick of looking at it!! I don't know much about body work or how to go about fixing this. I tried the touchup pin, but it was keyed to the metal. Yes to the metal??? Any suggestions would be helpful.
I would prefer not to take it to a body shop and spend $500 bucks on my insurance deductible.

 

Updyke did it...

 

You may be able to take it to a shop, not toyota, and get it fixed for a couple hundred. 500 seems too high. That sounds like the stealership price.

 

Omg....Luckily i've never been a victim of the key....but i've always wanted to hunt down and castrate the ones who do it.

Do you happen to have an air compressor? I repainted and clear coated parts on my ranger back in the day with a basic compressor and gun. I got a quart of paint and a quart of clear for like $140..but the color red it was, was more expensive than some colors. I built a small paint booth out of plastic to keep dust away and had a fan blowing on the area to settle overspray...It turned out good. You could sand down the remaining clear and add some POR15 over the scratch and then base then clear over the whole tailgate. Need the right temperature weather for the paint (or close to). I would check with a local supplier to see what the lowest quantity of paint in your factory color you could get for how much...with the clear.

Just an idea. Also if you do not have the equipment, I would see if you could prep the tailgate yourself, buy the paint yourself, and see what a bodyshop would charge you just to re-spray it. That would be the cheapest route.

-Attached a pic of my bedcover job from when I was like 18.

 

$500 is my deductible not sure what the actual cost would be. I will check around with some reliable body shops. Looking at this daily is driving me crazy. Thanks

 

Believe me I could have castrated just about anyone around me at the time I noticed it!!

Wow sounds like more time than I have, but that is great info for future projects and to create a paint area. Basically it would probably be cheaper an easier to have a professional do it or I might waste $300 or so if I F it up lol. Thanks for your help and maybe that would be great help to someone with the tools already handy. I also do not have a compressor or any paint guns, etc.

Just read the do it yourself at the bottom of what your wrote. Good idea on prepping and buying paint to have them respray. I didn't think about that. I am pretty handy so I probably could prep it and have them spray it and clear coat it for me.

 

Also, how many factory coats of paint are on our trucks and how many coats of clear coat??

 

not many at all. i think i read somewhere it is only like 1 layer of clear coat. i could be wrong but i know both are pretty thin

 

Should I buy some spot putty to fill in the scratch then sand it afterwards to smooth it out then have them spray the basecoat and clearcoat??

 

Does anyone know for just the tailgate being sprayed if I should buy a pint or quart of basecoat as well as the clearcoat??

 

No doubt, You can read some stuff on google about how you need to sand it for prep etc.. its pretty easy on a small area as long as you get the right grit paper. this way the painter will have minimal prep work = minimal time = minimal money. I'm not really sure about the factory coats, I sprayed my stuff with about 3 - 4 of each. If you prime it, use dark primer for dark color, light primer for light color. Normally the factory paint is the toughest paintjob you can get for the most part. Some companies actually dip the chassis in primer and bake the paint onto the vehicle. (not sure about toyota's process).

The main things with repair like this is that you want to sand the clearcoat off of any surfaces to be re-clearcoated. You want to leave as much stock basecoat and primer on the part as you can. Any areas of bare metal should be primed with an acid-etching primer like POR15 or other recommended acid-primer. The acid actually etches into the metal structure to form a good foundation for the base coat.

The base coat is actually the easier part to get right as it is usually a flat color that dries quite fast. it can be sanded to make nice and smooth before clearcoat. The clear is the hard part and the icing on the cake. The better the conditions for clear to dry the more durable in the end. This is definitely the part better left to a professional shop.. The other coats can be re-done, added to, or modified easier. I'd say the prep-work is the most expensive part the shop is going to charge you for, as it is the most timely... It takes minutes to spray the paint and the rest of the time it just sits there and dries... I would hold this to a shop if they try and give you a bogus estimate of time to simply spray your gate. Should be quite cheap Imo.

-edit, Also a Quart, or maybe it was a pint? I dunno small can I think it was a pint...Covered my tailgate, roll pan, and front airdam, so you would probably need 1/2 pint if they offer it, You could also consult a shop as they might charge you less to clearcoat, being that they have tons of it. I think the clear I bought with the hardener was like $50

 

Ok Thank you and I will take it to a body shop soon and see what they are charging to do the entire thing and I will see how much just to spray it for me and I will post this and see what everyones opinion is on the cost. The paint and clearcoat like you said looks like it will run around $150.

 

Hey man,
Sorry to hear about the keyed tailgate. A shop should charge no more than like $250 to do that. It's a very easy straight forward job for a pro. As for the amount of product you will need and how to go about doing it; I would take 600 wet paper and scuff down the whole tailgate. You will need to feather out the scratches. This is done easiest with a DA sander and just work it out until there is no more scratch or little ledge from the scratch. Shoot your base after you have used a good degreaser and tack cloth to get anything from sanding off it. Apply the base in thin coats until coverage is obtained. Be sure to let the proper amount of flash time between coats. you should cover in about 2 coats over the same color. Let the paint dry for a few hours then spray your clear on. Here is where it gets tricky. Shooting clear is almost an art form. The gun must be set up properly for it to atomize right. It will say in the spec sheet for whatever base and clear you get how to set up the gun and how to spray it. Make sure your coats are medium wet and overlapping 50%. The trick to clear is to keep a wet edge. Depending on your hardener used, you can wet sand with some 1500-2500 then buff out after a day or so of drying. I hope i'm not confusing you.
You will spray about 7-12oz of each product. Most places don't sell paint by the oz. A pint of each will be good. The paint will also reduce as well. So you need to get a reducer. I spray paint that is a 1:1 ratio. So if I pour 4oz of paint, I mix 4oz of reducer and end up with 8oz of sprayable product. Some clears can reduce also.

 

Wow I would def screw that all up LOL... I have never sprayed a vehicle and dont plan on messing my new one up. I will check w shops around town and see how close to that $250 they are. Thanks for the write up and detailed instructions on how to spray if I ever get brave enough.

 

No problem man. They will only have about $75 in materials if that doing it. It's because they can mix their own paint into exact amounts of what they need.

 

And they buy in bulk too which should make it cheap. And have sweet SATA guns and stuff. And sometimes a controlled humidity environment. for the win.

 

What do you think prep time would be 1hr at most?? Maybe 20 min in paint time?

 

Sanding you are looking around 30-45 min. So an hr total after some cleanup. Painting with mixing the paint and matching it would be an hour or so. Then a few down hrs for drying time. Then about 1 hr for clear then let it dry.

 

Just a suggestion; look locally for a dent and chip repair guy. They have mobile service and will come to your house, work etc. These are the guys that do the small repairs for the dealerships. It is amazing what they can fix at a lot less money than a body shop. My brother works at a body shop and referred me to a mobile dent guy to fix a dent and paint on my daughter's jeep when his shop was too busy to squeeze in a family (free) repair right away. Worth a shot.

 

I like that option!! Ill see what is around town or nearby. Thanks for everyones input