Anyone had their tailgate re-painted?

So my tailgate is scratched up enough that I would like to get it re-painted. Some of the scratches are pretty deep, and I tried touching up the scratches with factory colored paint, but it does not match perfectly.

Has anyone had their tailgate re-painted by a shop, and if so how much did they charge you? Or does anyone have any bright ideas on how to blend my touch-ups in with the rest of the paint?

Thanks for the help!

 

Can you take the tailgate off? How handy are you? Repainting a tailgate should be a piece of cake.

I'd yank it off, use some degreaser and totally wipe it down then rough it up with some 400 or so sandpaper (the entire side you want to paint).

The in the areas that have deep scratches (depending on how deep) I'd either use some sandable primer or if they are really deep some spot putty and a spatula type thing to fill in the areas.

Wait till dry and hard then sand smooth, I'd rough sand then wet sand (it's easy to see bumps and ripples in your work when wet sanding).

Wipe off the area and wipe again with degreaser (no fingerprints).

Try to spray it in a garage or area that there is minimal dust floating around, then spray with long smooth strokes overlapping about a 1/3 each time.

I'd see how much a can of paint can cover and purchase accordingly. Don't wait to long in one area when spraying, and let go of the nozzle when you are past the edge of the tailgate.

Now wait for it to dry, if there are some "overspray" spots don't worry about it, wait for it to totally dry like a few days then hit it with a good wax and buffer, the overspray will come right off and the entire tailgate will look good as new.

If you have any other ?'s drop me a line I've repainted all sorts of bikes, helmets & car parts.
Best of luck,

 

i didn't have any really big scratches like you, but i did have a pretty big dent in my tailgate and it peeled the paint back. i had it fixed at a body shop for $300. kind of expensive, but i had a big dent pulled out, filled where the dent may not have all the way pulled out/creases, and then totally repainted. yours might be cheaper because you only have deep scratches to fill and then just prime and paint.

 

Thanks for the help. Before I read your post, I did decide I was going to try to re-paint the whole thing myself. I found a website that sells factory colored paint in spray cans, so I ordered some of that and then a clearcoat paint as well.

I also have new TOYOTA decal on the way so hopefully this tailgate will look brand new if I can get by without screwing it up!!!

 

im currently in the same boat, where did you find factory matching spray paint?

 

No problem on the help. Just a note on paint with clear coat. If you have never experienced that type of painting before don't freak out by the paint being flat like a flat black type thing. The paint gets it's true color and gloss by the clear coat. So paint = flat, clear = gloss.

Brian in Everett, WA

 

x2

 

You can purchase color matched paint in a spray can at any Napa store.

 

cool thanks srq taco

 

Hey,
Take some before and after pics so we can all see.

 

www.paintscratch.com

Great website that has all the factory colors for basically any vehicle. Just look up your factory paint code on the door jam. I got mine in a spray can for $24.95.

I'll let everyone know how it turns out!

 

totally doing this. ive had a tailgate in my garage for almost a year i needed to repaint and ive decided this is my route.

 

a quick question, I have to do my entire tailgate all the way around because its a totally different color, I got it for free from another guy on tw and how many cans do u think i would need?

 

Probably get 2 to be safe. FYI though, I don't know how much of a perfectionist you are, but I wasn't exactly happy with the way the rattle can job turned out. It had streaks when the light hit it at certain angles, ect. It might be worth your money to have a shop spray it, if you want it to look perfect.

I got lucky...about a month after I repainted my tailgate, I got rear-ended so I got a new tailgate and professional paint job anyway

 

Rattle can paint jobs........................waste of money, looks like shit and doesn't last, the reason it cost about $350 a panel to get a professional job is the material cost is high, some paint is $50 a pint, + primer+ activator's,reducers and so on. You get what you pay for IMHO.

 

then its to the shop i go. yeah im not a perfectionist but i dont want it to look like crap either. thanks for the input.

 

I had my tailgate professionally repainted after the tire shop left the jack handle up and left a deep rusty gouge in my tailgate. I think it was about 450 or so (tire shop paid for it). I remember looking at the estimate, it seemed like a large part of expense was the emblems. I don't think that would be an issue for you...

 

Not necessarily...

If you do good prep work, prime, paint, and clear. The rattle can paint may not look as good as a pro job, but will last a long while.

I mean its a tailgate on a truck...so what if its not perfect. If you scratched up your tailgate once, then you will probably fuck it up again.

No way in hell I would pay $400 to get a tailgate fixed that will just get screwed up again because I use the truck as a truck.

 

If your carefull it won't get scratched up, if its a work truck then those things are expected. Mine is a grocery getter and thats about it.