Painting a fiberglass topper

Hey guys, I was just wondering if any of you have tried tackling this one on your own? I bought a white topper over summer and would like to color match it to my silver Tacoma. I'm just wondering if I should take it to a body shop or attempt to paint it myself

 

It can be done as a (advanced) DIY project. However, it may prove just as economical to have a professional do it (by the time you factor in costs for materials and tools).

The first issue is figuring out what kind of finish your canopy has. In recent years most color-matched finishes are done with automotive paint. For these finishes a basic body shop will do. In some cases (including basic colors like white and black) the coloring may be fiberglass-specific or embedded within the fiberglass. In these cases you may need to treat it more like a fiberglass boat refinishing than an automotive job.

 

I have an old fiberglass white pickup cap that got faded badly from sitting behind my garage on sawhorses. I bought a roll of painters tape and taped off the windows (with paper covering the glass) and 3 cans of semi-gloss white rust-oleum (don't use krylon or discount cans, they run too much). Cost <$20 and took an hour to tape/paint 2 coats (minus drying time in between). Looks great, was nicely matched.

Bottom line: if you don't care that much about a perfect match, rattle can will do the job well enough on the cheap. Otherwise Enolia Gaia always knows what he is talking about so listen to him.

 

Can you use Line-X on fiberglass? I'm going to be doing the same repainting on my camper shell this Christmas.

 

Save your money if your rattle caning it, it won't last long in the sun, maybe if you go to a shop and ask if they would shoot it for you if you prep it, that would be the way to go if you short on $$$.

 

I took mine to Maaco. The looked at the paint code on my truck and painted it to match for $200 cash money. Of course, you can still see a few blemishes here and there because the shell was not new but I still think $200 was a good price for what I got

 

I was wondering if there was a place I could purchase a primed fiberglass topper. My 2010 tacoma is Pyrite Mica with lime green accents and pinstripes. I think it would look sharp to have it painted lime green as I am sure that nobody sells one in that color.

 

Not a bad price for paint job with matched auto paint. Nice.

Yeah probably from a cap dealer. Look at the ARE (or another cap company) website for a dealer locator and type your zip.

But be prepared to shell out the dough...new caps are really expensive or can get expensive very quickly.

 

I had mine rhino lined. Turned out really nice. they can color match too

 

If your asking, then you should probably take it to the body shop. I've bought two used canopies over the last 10 years. One white, color matched to dark blue. One black, color matched to silver (current Taco). Both were painted at Maaco. Not saying there good or bad. Like dealerships, there's good painters too. Had good luck both times. Prep and paint on both rigs cost me 225.00 to 250.00. Worth it for me.

good luck.

 

Ask your buddies if they have a buddy who paints. I did and got a guy to paint mine for $200 (I bought supplies ~$150).