I come humbly....

Back when I bought a truck I couldn't afford a beloved Taco so I had to settle on a used Colorado But with 2 years of college left and unable to afford payments on a new truck due to that I'm going to keep the Colorado and hopefully be one of the first people in line down here for a 3rd gen.

Now because the Colorado isn't thought of very fondly anywhere this is the best place I could find to ask for help.

My truck looks like this but in white.


I'd love to paint the chrome to color match like this.


Would this be something that could easily be done? (I only ask here because you guys were smart enough to buy a real truck to begin with AND mods harder then this are done all over the boards)

 

The wheels in that second pic aren't white. That's just glare.

 

the chrome will need to be stripped completely down to bare metal...once that's accomplished then primer paint and clear can be laid down...

its not hard to do just very time consuming and highly corrosive and toxic chemicals will be used to remove the chrome...

my suggestion is find a local shop that can remove chrome and also paints....that way if you have to go that route it will be a little cheaper cause its done all at the same shop...

or put up your chrome stuff on the colorado forums either for trade or for sell...that way you maybe able to trade someone who wants chrome and you maybe able to score some color matched items as well...

good luck and keep us posted...

 

Give him a break. He will have a tacoma soon enough.

 

Wow I totally forgot to say that I didn't mean the wheels I was meaning the grill and bumper.

 

Scuff it up real good, quality primer, and some good paint, think you would be OK. Just talking out my ass here, so might want to wait for a autobody guy to speak up.

Welcome to the boards, nothing wrong with wanting to hang out with the cool kids.

 

A lot of people have painted their chrome grills on here. Pretty much what dorkman said, scuff it up and try to remove as much of the chrome as you can, a good coat of primer (let it dry thoroughly), and several light, thin coats of paint. Throw some gloss on there in the end and you should be ok to go. Let it dry for at least a week or two if not more before throwing some wax on it.

I haven't done it myself but I have a spare chromie I want to do a satoshi conversion on... so I will end up doing it eventually

 

Sanding (or media blasting), quality primer, and paint is all that is needed.

 

Also, if it does begin to peal or bubble/ect... just take it off and redo it. It's a pretty small peice and not to much work.... so not a lot to lose either way. I'm not sure what they cost to get new, but you can probably pick up another old chromie from the junk yards fairly cheap if you do royally mess it up

 

leave it alone. if/when you get the truck of your dreams, you will need to sell the chevy. painting the front may hurt the resale. what you think looks good, isnt universal.

kudos to keeping the truck until you can afford a new one!!!

 

try to get a single stage paint(if anyone makes it) so u dont have to mess with clear, one less headache

 

Sand it. Adhesion Promoter. Primer. Color Matched Paint (find it premixed). Clear Coat. Use a paint gun. Make sure to tape off everything good with blue masking tape. Read about using a spray gun.

 

There's no shame in starting with what you can afford. A majority of us have been there

 

'
yup. my previous truck was a 1996 chevy S10 with the ZR-2 package. your truck makes it look ancient..

 

No matter how much paint you put on it, it will never be a Taco. Save the money for something that wont get stuck in the first flood

 

Exactly, especially when you're doing it to pay for your education. You don't HAVE to own a Toyota to be a member of this forum. Good luck.

 

There was a flood here a few months ago, and well I missed 3 days of work being flooded in.......

The reason I want it to look less like a cheap work truck is that I've had it looked at as a trade in for a Taco before and max offer was $4,500 and it's an 04 so I'm thinking in 2 years that is only going to go down so why not make it look like something I'm SOMEWHAT proud of rather then something I make sure no one sees me around before I get in.

 

If those parts are chromed plastic, just sand it down, prime it and paint it. If they're metal I might not do it. All black would look pretty bitchin though.

 

barrrrrrfffffffffff