Post your BLACK 3rd Gens

I see a lot of people using plasti to paint the grills. I'm just wondering what the advantage of using plasti instead of automotive paint is?

 

It peels off easily if you decide to go back to stock.

 

You can easily remove it.

 

for me, it was to test it to see if I really liked it. with dip you can just peel it right off and there's no
prep work really, seemed like a no brainer for this. All I did was wipe down what I was going
to spray with alcohol, gave if 4 or 5 quick sprays over the course of 30 min. and that was that. It's
been on there at least a month or so and has NO sign of wear or peeling. I'm sure come spring, I'll
just peel it all off regardless of condition and paint it right so it's permanent.

 

Updated black sport,, just got the cap Century ultra sport ,,love the fitment color match etc,, well worth the wait ,, out of money now so other than window visors from Avs she's done for this year already lol ,, exactly as I envisioned the result would be ,,, for now ,,

 

Just painting/dipping the bezel reduces the chrome enough to make the grille look smaller and in better proportion to the truck. Nice.

 

thx man.

when me and wifey stood back and looked after I was finished we were shocked at
how very little painting made it look so different. The plan was to stop at just the
bezel and I thought, what the hell, it's only dip, lets try the logo too. love it.

 

Any one here considering repainting their black Tacoma a flat black? I've seen some other trucks around my city with similar "flatness" and it looks pretty sweet. I'm think about doing it, but was wondering if anyone here has done it and if they have pictures. Are there any disadvantages to having it repainted to a flat black?

thanks!

 

Disadvantage: not as pretty

I don't seen any disadvantages, if thats what you like, then do it. Probably pricey.

 

**GASP** Geez, might as well buy a dull color if you're going to do that !

 

On the other side, an advantage would be harder to see scratches, I bet. I'm already starting to see quite a bit of surface scratches =(

 

Stop washing it

 

What's your wash routine ? Hand washing ? One bucket or two ? Grit guards ? Microfiber mitt, sponge ? You ever take it to a public car wash ?

 

Why not get it wrapped? It would cost a bit I'm sure but you could easily undo it if you wanted to.

 

I wash every weekend because of the dust rain here in Austin. I've taken it to a public wash twice, gonna have to start hand washing and invest in a really nice wax though.

 

I've just gone through the laser touch-free wash twice just to blast salt off. Too cold to be handwashing haha.

 

Yeah, never ever use the kind of public washes that use any equipment that touches your vehicle. The ones that are touch free are better but only use them when no hand washing is possible (long period of freezing temps and salt spray on your paint, for example). And yes, invest in two 5-gallon buckets with grit guards, a good microfiber wash mitt, and some good, waffle weave drying towels (or a chamois).

If you get really serious about maintaining your paint, then it's time to invest in a random orbital buffer, pads, polishes, the whole works.

Correct washing is more important to maintaining your paint than picking the polishes and waxes.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w09r6m6sRCA

He's long winded but pretty funny and very informative. I knew swirl marks were an issue with black paint so I did some research and found this. Turns out most of them are from the way you wash it. I've washed mine every weekend since xmas eve and it's hard to find surface scratches on mine. Everyone on this thread should be using a 2 bucket wash unless they don't care about the finish on their truck (and some don't).

 

I didn't on my '06, which was red. But this one cost a lot more and is black, so at least for now I care haha

2 bucket hand washing it is from now on. Thanks guys, once I paint my bumper next weekend I'll actually contribute to this thread with a pic

 

That is exactly why I posed the question... I took one trip to the mountains in WV and now my paint job is all F'd up... swirls, rock chips, etc... it seems like the clear coat can't handle the day-to-day life of a truck.