Repainting questions

So I need to repaint the hood, roof, tailgate and fixing some scratches, and I was wondering how much paint I should get and how much clear coat I should get. ( paint color is radiant red )

 

I would get a gallon and paint the whole truck. Matching old red paint is almost impossible. You will end up spending money and time, and still have a truck that looks like hell.

 

so I would just sand down the clear coat and most of the other paint and respray?

 

Basically, yes. If you have never done it, it would be nice get help. Prep is 90% of a good paint job. There are many tricks. Fisheyes and other defects can be avoided by using a good prep solvent to remove silicones and wax. never touch the cleaned surface with bare hands. Wear disposable gloves. Even with a repaint, I would prime it. It really depends on how proffesional you want to go. It cost about the same to do a crappy job as a great job. The difference is in the detail work. You can do a pretty nice job in a driveway, but a booth is nice if you can rent one. If you are outside, paint in the morning as soon as the temperature is right. There will be less wind and dust.

 

I’m not sure but your paint might actually be single stage, which means it doesn’t have a clear coat. Is there any metalic flake in your paint or is it a solid red? If it’s a solid color most likely it is single stage. Atleast with Toyotas.

 

Doesn't seem to have any flakes in the paint but ill find out and see if it is the single stage. Thank you for the help

 

Unless you are intent on spending alot of time learning ALOT about automotive painting, you may be better off just paying someone.

I say that as a person who advocates learning to do pretty much everything else yourself. Automotive painting is a F-ing task (and art).








With that said, if you are intent on learning it is very rewarding (except for when you F it up and consequently become well versed in drywall repairs)

 

I use to paint aircraft and that was enough of a huge pain in the balls. Stripping it down to bare metal with paint stripper (shit eats at your skin like acid) scotch brite the bare aluminum lightly. Tack rag the aluminum by hand, 3 coats of primer, sand the primer lightly by hand, tack rag the primer, then comes the paint. And make sure you have a clean room to paint. If there is any kind of dust or bugs or hair that are on the surface when the paint hits it, congratulations you get to start all over again. I would leave a truck paint job to a professional body shop. Painting planes was enough of a huge pain in the ass and we mostly just used 2 colors, white or ag cat yellow.

 

Krylon rattle can it