Worth Repainting?

I know it is ultimately up to me, and there are a lot of variables at play, but would you repaint this truck? I have spent a lot on it over the years, but a paint job is a huge expense and seems to be an emotional investment. This is not my daily driver and I barely put miles on it any more, my other big fear is the longevity of the frame.

Quick specs:
1996 V6 LX Tacoma
Mechanically in great shape
139,000 miles
4x4
4.56 front and rear final drives
Eibach/5100s up front, 6 leaf pack in back
Bed was Line-X'd years ago

Photos taken today:
Looks good from afar

The hood is no doubt the worst part of the whole truck

Drivers side frame

Passengers side frame

 

The frame and skids are definitely worth repainting. That looks like surface rust only, and the right paint will help you keep it that way. The body is purely your call. I'm budgeting to get mine repainted a few years down the line, but I can live with a faded hood for a long while without it bothering me too much.

 

Under carriage is totally fine. Low miles! Would just paint the hood, buff out the rest. Or you can drive it to Mexico and 1wk later and 700 dollars done.

 

frame looks fine, could use a little love if you wanted to put the effort in

hood is ruff those rust spots need to be treated before they rot through, how is the top of the cab
comes down to, if you want to spend the money
but it's TW, your going to spend the money

 

Frame looks fine. If you’re planning on keeping it yes repaint it. If you’re worried about the frame, have the frame fluid film sprayed.
As for the paint on the body, is the hood your only trouble spot?

 

The patina look is in. I'd use the money I spend on paint to keep it in good mechanical shape. A good paint job will cost $4000+ and a cheap one looks worse than what you have.

I had some peeling paint on the 1st 6" or so of my hood. I sanded it down, taped everything else off and painted it myself with white FlexSeal. I'd to the same to that one in black if it were mine. I didn't even try to make the colors match, but it stopped the peeling and prevents rust. Very utilitarian.

 

You Could try vinyl. Wrap it yourself for a couple hundred bucks and if it sucks just peel it off.

 

Live near a vocational school? Have the school paint the truck.

 

Just clean and paint any rusty spots, I wouldn't worry about the looks of the paint. The Tacoma is what we like to see, fresh paint or not

 

Sand it youself. Read up on the special primer needed for raw steel. Then bring the truck to a latin/spanish body shop and act poor. Thats what I did and it works wonders. They like a working gringo. If you diont have any spanish guys around than buy the stuff to do it yourself. I got a two stage sprayer on Amazon and painted a Jeep TJ in my garage You dont have to worry bout the bed so the rest is easy.

 

There are a couple small blisters on the roof, the hidden spot I didn't grab a photo if is that the original dealer installed fender flares have worn rings through the paint on all four corners where the rubber meets the body. I really need to take them off again and see if rust has formed. Here is an photo of one spot:

 

Really nice truck I’ll give another vote that it looks pretty darn good. You could spend that 4ish grand and have it be spotless sure, but it looks like a clean original old truck and anyone who sees it and knows, knows. Could easily spend a little time either fixing that hood up or start looking for any parts/scrap trucks around with the same colour hood. Might just get lucky. My own truck is in similar shape except that the box is slightly different colour than the cab, not the original box and the paint just doesn’t quite match up despite being the same colour. I don’t know, it’s character. I also like the idea of not being scared of someone rubbing up against my truck and scuffing it because it’s got brand new paint.. but that’s just me. I want to be able to use it and not sweat the small stuff

 

definitely

 

That frame can be cleaned up with some brushing and a good coat of rustoleum rust reformer. Should be fine for the area we live in. I'd suggest you decide what the truck is worth to you, add $5k for a paint job and then price for comparison on facebook market place. Believe you will be fairly surprised. I don't think you would lose a dime on the investment of a good paint job.

 

Yeah the frame is really top priority, I need to nip it in the bud before it moves past that light surface rust.

I'll quote around some places to see what they say.

 

Mixed emotions painting mine. Painted my truck and helped spray buddy's truck. Love it now but I will never do it again. Either lower your expectations or expect twice as much labor as you anticipate if you're not a professional body person.

 

Love that blue.

 

I recently repainted my hood and cab due to failing clearcoat and rock chips like yours. It's a great learning experience if you want to do this yourself, but the amount of work and the end result made me realize why body shops charge what they do for a quality paint job. Keep in mind if you only paint some panels but not others it will NOT match - trust me. I would say the DIY route cost me about $300 of materials at O'Reilly and I would value the end result at being Maaco level quality which for a first attempt at painting isn't terrible. I'm going to have it redone professionally and expect to spend around 8-10k for a quality color change with panel disassembly and all that. As long as the car doesn't get totaled for spontaneously combust I'm not planning on replacing it so to me it's worth it.
What's this car worth to you?