2nd Gen Face Lift

Hello Everyone,

I am new to Tacoma World and posting on the forums. I have enjoyed looking through Mods & Tutorials, so I thought that I would give it a shot at my own post. So I decided that I want to make my Tacoma look different, but not too far from stock; the first thing I decided when looking at the truck was how faded the front end plastic looks. There are options out there to repaint the black plastic, but I decided to take it a step further.

1. Take Symbol out and sanded the entire surface with an abrasive pad. Cleaned it with Duplicolor wax and grease remover. Sprayed 2 medium coats of primer and 1 coat of heavy primer. With the Duplicor Factory Paint to Match paint, applied 3 coats of the color base coat. Then applied 4 coats of Duplicolor Factory Clear Coat UV Protectant. I did this same formula for primer, paint and clear on the grille surround later.

2. I removed the Upper Grille assembly, lower front bumper, and fog light housings and had them professionally sprayed with bed liner. When I received the components back, I still wasn't satisfied with the end result. So I took it one step further.

3. I separated the plastic chrome grille surround from the newly bed liner inner grille, and painted with the same formula in step 1.

4. Apply buffing compound to allow it to make it shine like factory paint- a little more.



After reassembly, I am pretty happy with the end result. I think that if the paint doesn't hold on the grille surround, I will take it to a body shop to have it professionally done and matched the color precisely. The only thing is, I believe since mine is a 2012, the color that I purchased for the paint matches a more current body style- and I had a few minor errors but hard to see in my opinion. Overall, not bad for the price I paid for paint!

**Bed Liner was applied by BED LINER VETERANS in Gilbert, AZ**. Great prices, fair and high quality work!

 

Bed Liner Veterans kicks ass, always great work at great prices.

 

Looks good.... I Have contemplated painting mine, but feel with the chrome rear bumper, that keeping the lettering and grille chrome fair more appropriately. Maybe one day I'll make the change. I have the Bull bar and Side steps powder coated texture black so would like to eventually match everything.

 

Yeah I totally agree! I'll be getting rid of the chrome rear bumper. As I mentioned in my original post, I prefer to keep the truck looking as close to stock as possible. That being said, I don't know if I want to paint the rear bumper to match, or if I want to have bed liner applied over the chrome. If I do though, Bed Liner Veterans suggested not to keep the bumper step pad, as there might be fitment issues.

 

Action is a little stiff, will need to do some work on it to smooth it out but I love the short barrel. Just need to wait another 5-8 months for the can!!