Retired dude

Greetings all! I'm a recently retired Systems Analyst (old guy) so I'm not really looking to jazz up my Tacoma, just want to make it more functional. For fun I like to renovate houses and my 2008 4 door Tacoma is my work truck. Being that, it does take a beating at times and when my kids borrow my truck it tends to come back with new scratches or small dings. After 10 years those scratches and dings add up. I love that truck but I don't want to spend a couple grand on a descent paint job just for it to get scratched up. What I'm going to do (and why I'm here) is paint the truck with Raptor bed liner.

The truck is Indigo Blue so I'm staying with that color but in a flat finish with no metal flake so I don't have to paint the door jambs. I am interested in hearing stories from other members that have taken on this project, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Interested in how far you went to remove parts; lights, grill, mirrors, and how much material you used, and how you feel about how it turned out. Did you lose any friends over it, family disown you, wife refuse to be seen in it, stuff like that. Thanks.

 

Welcome and thank you for that intro...

I just read it aloud to my wife and she thought it was cute! lol

We love pics and stories so you have filled those requirements.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the TW

 

Well, I painted my truck a couple of weeks ago and am pretty happy about it...for the most part. For the paint color I wanted a flat matte finish. When i picked out the paint to mix with the tintable bedliner I mistakenly picked a glossy paint. So with a rough finish, each bump reflects its own ray of sunlight. So when the sun hits it, its like a thousand points of lights. It looks like a fairy glitter-dragon threw up all over my truck. Its my glitter mobile! My wife loves it. I'm getting used to it. People flash their lights at me when the sun is bearing down on it. The auto paint store where I bought the paint likes it. The owner brought all his employees to see it. It did turn out pretty cool. It is unique. I also blacked out the grill.

 

What product did you use and how many gallons? Do you have any tips on applying? Is this rolled or sprayed?

 

I used the 6 liter kit of the Raptor sprayable bedliner from Amazon. It came with a nice spray gun that included an air pressure regulator. I wanted a finer texture so I shot it at 60psi. I got the tintable version and picked up the paint from the auto paint store. Raptor sells paint tint packets but it is a lot cheaper to go to the paint store and get the 24 ounces of paint in any color you want. I bought 40 ounces of paint (cost me about $60) and 10 one liter bottles of Raptor, but I only needed 6 bottles. Didn't do the bed. You will want the "no binder" version of the paint you choose. I used 4 ounces of paint for each 1 liter of the Raptor liner.

Here are a couple of tips for you I learned from watching many videos and my experience. Watch some videos on youtube. The videos said sand with 150 grit sandpaper. The Raptor directions said use 80 grit so that's what I did. Once you start that you are committed...no turning back. I took off the headlights, taillights, fog lights, and grill before sanding. Take your time. You don't want any shiny spots. Wash it and then wipe it down with wax and grease remover. Then mask. A good job masking will make the difference between a mediocre result and a stellar result. My wife offered to help and I said nope, I got this.

The Raptor directions and many videos suggest adding the 8 ounces of hardener and your paint tint (4 ounces) to the bottle and shake for 2 minutes. The problem with that is that there is hardly any room left in the bottle to really shake it. This is where my wife helped quite a bit. I bought several cheap 48 ounce mixing containers and some clear dixie type cups and marked where 4 and 8 ounces where on the cups. We emptied the Raptor bottle into the 48 ounce container, added the 4 ounces of paint and stirred well with a paint stick. Then we added the 8 ounces of hardener to the almost empty bottle and shook it real well (to get all of the product) and added that to the mixture and stirred some more. Pour that back into the rapto bottle and attach the spray gun. While I sprayed that bottle, my wife was mixing the next batch. That worked well for us. Clean your gun after every other bottle. Take a moment and practice on some cardboard. Distance and air pressure will determine the texture. I shot one medium coat at about 24 inches. Waited 45 minutes and did another lighter coat from the same distance. Waited 45 minutes and did a light coat from about 3 to 4 feet. That eliminates any "tiger striping" you might have created. Wait no more than 30 minutes and remove the masking. Takes 5 days to completely cure and don't let it get wet during those 5 days.

Also and this is important. For any rubber or plastic pieces like bumpers, get a spray can of adhesive promoter. Amazon sells that as well. Also spray areas where it was difficult to sand well like around door handles and edges.

Painting with this bed liner is pretty forgiving. Much easier than painting a vehicle. I walked into my quarter panel and got that crap all over my shirt. Another light coat in that area fixed it and you cannot tell it ever happened. Has it been paint I would've had to wait till it dried, then sanded, and shoot it again. Here are the products I used. People have asked how much weight it added. Less than 17 pounds. It is very tough. No more scratches! Hope this helps.

Custom Shop U-Pol Raptor Tintable Urethane Spray-On Truck Bed Liner Kit w/Free Custom Coat Spray Gun with Regulator, 6 Liters

This is overkill, you don't need this many...
Yesland 12 Pack Paint Mix Cups with Lids and 50 Sticks - 64 Oz Graduated Paint Mixing Cups

Any good automotive paint store for paint with no binders... (whatever that is).

 

Where I live it is becoming difficult to find body shops that are fully staffed to even give you a timely turn around. Some are 3 month waiting list.