painted skid plate, question

I am almost done with painting my skid plate but need some advice/insight. I went a little overboard and it took a long time because I had to do all the painting on the weekends when no one was in the management office at my condo. But basically I:

1.) painted it with a base of Krylon Rust Tough
2.) painted the applicable section with the silver streak mica paint I got from ebay
3.) painted glossy clear coat on the silver to make it shine
4.) masked off section with blue painters tape
5.) printed stickers of elongated TRD logo, measured, and placed on top of tape (the logo was "heightened" per sockmonkey's recommendation {thanks} in the name of perspective)
6.) cut out around stickers
7.) painted entire skid plate again with rubberized undercoat spray
8.) removed stickers and tape mask

I think it came out pretty awesome. The rubberized undercoat is a perfect shade of flat flat black. Here are some pictures of it:


So the advice is needed because as awesome as the undercoat paint looks, it is kind of thick and that means there's a very slight "lip" along the letters where the black is cut and the silver below it. It is kind of hard to explain and even hard to show (the last picture was the best I could do), but it is easy to feel it. I am worried that time/wind/weather may peel away the black from the silver below it, but am reluctant to paint clear coat on it because I don't want it to be glossy. It is awesome how black it is and how flat it is. All along I had told myself that if it doesn't come out good or if it gets screwed up it wouldn't be a big deal, I'd just paint it all black, but now I kind of like it too much to give up that easy.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to how to "seal" the section where the black is painted over the silver and there is an edge? I have thought about using a matte clear coat, but don't know what effect that will have on the flatness of the black. Any other ingenious ideas from this always informational forum? Your thoughts...

I just re-read this and it sounds pretty ridiculous, but hopefully someone will understand what I am trying to say in a pretty unintelligible way...

DISCLAIMER: I understand that this goes on the bottom of the truck and that it's purpose is to get hit/scratched/beat up. And also that it probably won't be noticed and to some will seem like a waste of time and energy. With that said, it has not cost much money and has consumed quite a bit of time. If I wasn't doing this I would have been spending more money and time on other mods and both of those things are tough to come by currently.

 

I won't be able to offer any advice, but I sure like the end results.

 

You know if it was me I would probably leave it as is. You might run the risk of changing the "flatness" with any kind of clear, and you sound as if you really like the look right now. I think it looks great by the way.

 

You should be ok. Wind won't peel that. As long as the paint sticks well to the skid, you should have no problems.

Oh and remember whan you used to paint the skid with "rubberized undercoat spray"...if this is the same stuff that goes underneath the truck...think about that for a second and realize that for something to go under the truck and endure a lot of the road grime, rocks etc...it's gotta be pretty tough stuff.

Kind Regards,
Ryan

 

All I have to offer is that it looks freakin awesome. So what about a little imperfection. I painted mine black and would love to do the lettering as well. My only concern is that my paint is NOT thick enough. I already have nicks on the skid plate and I can see the silver poking through. So Rhino lining was going to be my next option. I just don't know if I can still ask a TRD decal to that.

All in all man... It looks sharp. 10!

 

Hey that came out great!!! Good job!!

 

Oh another option is to get a Vinyl decal made and just paint the whole thing black, and paste the vinyl on top.

Kind Regards,
Ryan

 

I think it looks awesome...now I just want to see it on your truck. I bet it'd look good on any color but especially a blacked-out silver streak...ship it west and I'll show you what I mean.

 

looks great! me likey

 

X2. Thats what I did on mine.

 

All those positive responses have settled it. I am not going to risk messing it up since I like it so much as it is and if it does end up peeling, who cares, I'll paint the whole thing black. It is currently in the bed of my truck because I used some matte clear coat on the side that doesn't show as a test, but once that dries, I think I'm going to go ahead and put it on there tomorrow. Pictures to follow...

 

Lets see that bad boy mounted

 

Agreed. Awesome work man...that looks fantastic!

 

Looks great.......lets see it on the truck!

 

great ! something else i will have to try

looks great!

 

Thanks for all the positive remarks, I am really happy how it turned out. We'll see how long it lasts. Hopefully a long time, but if not then I guess it's just doing it's job...

Here it is on the truck (sorry about the bad photographer and camera, but I think you get the idea):

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Luckily it hides the crappy job I did on the bottom of the bumper vinyl, but it sounds like that might come off anyway. When it does, I will get another one and do a better job because I like the look.

After seeing these pictures, I really need to do something with the grille...

Thanks for looking.

 

Nice! Any quartering pics? (I know...picky)

 

WOW bro...that looks BA I definitely like it...congrats...

 

Thanks, but unfortunately I don't really know what "quartering pics" are. But chances are good that I don't have any quartering pics. I can try to take one if you let me know what that is...

Hey, thanks. I appreciate it.