Time to paint the ranger!

[militarydave]

sup dudes!

Well my Blue 89 XTL standard cab / long bed is now due for a paint job. I'm starting to see a few rust marks on the hood, the sun has eaten the clearcoat on the hood, roof, and bed rails. I want to get it repainted at like a Maaco, or an Earl Scheib, but was wondering if anyone here was gone that route?

Would the basic paint package be worth it? I'm looking to spend anywhere from the $350 - $500 range.

I appreciate any tips/advice/suggestions.

-dave

 

[ElleShooTiger]

If you
A) strip all the lights, trim, chrome, bumpers, grill, etc off the body AND
B) sand down the worn paint, fix the rust, and do any minor bodywork yourself AND
C) slip the painter a $50 or something
you might get a decent paint job there.

The low cost is due to the fact that they just mask everything and do little prepwork, but then throwing a coat of paint on a dirty truck doesnt exactly do wonders for longetivity.

Their paint or painters arent "bad", its just that you're not paying for the prep work than a normal shop would do. If you prep the truck yourself, you can get a pretty decent paint job there. A good paint job is 90% preparation!

 

[ceejkay]

~~^~~
AGREED. I had a buddy take his yota to one about 8 yrs ago now and it still looks fantastic. Prep and remove anything you dont want paint on. We took the painter our own pant and clear too followed by a 50$ gift cert for outback. but we also wanted it painted a special way.10 coats of clear. only reason for it is because this truck sees mud and sand every weekend, and a good wet sand buff every year.

 

[02RangerXLT]

Strip it down and paint it yourself!

 

[militarydave]

Well really i just need the hood and roofline painted since the clearcoat is faded and the paint is starting to rust/chip.

I'll see if I can take them a stripped down/masked/prepped ready to sand/primer/paint truck on a flat bed and if they can hook it up with a military discount.

thanks fellas!

 

[ElleShooTiger]

Well really i just need the hood and roofline painted since the clearcoat is faded and the paint is starting to rust/chip.

I'll see if I can take them a stripped down/masked/prepped ready to sand/primer/paint truck on a flat bed and if they can hook it up with a military discount.

thanks fellas!

You really only need to leave your lights on to be street-legal, just take them off in their parking lot Or have somebody drive behind you.