Painting that doesn't suck; repainting a truck cap

I finally found a used cap for my F150. Only downside is that the truck is forest green and the cap is bright red.

I figured I could scuff and shoot it myself by buying a quart of the appropriate Ford forest green. I own a cheap set of Harbor Frieght paint guns and very little paint knowledge. It doesn't need to look perfect, just look like the right color. The only time I have done this was a re-paint on an aluminum boat, but that was 20 years ago and I had a lot of help.

The cap is aluminum and has some peeling clearcoat. That means lots of sanding and possibly some places will get down to bare aluminum.

Do I:

• sand (maybe to aluminum in some places), then prime and paint? Should I acid-treat the bare spots first?
• Use a stripper on the top (where most of the peeling is) and then prime and paint?
• What paint brand/system/type should I use? I look at the dizzying array of enamels, urethanes, and epoxies and get a little confused. Emphasis should be on getting a good-appearing (better than fair but not excellent) finish that is easy to apply for someone with little or no technique. Durability should be considered, too. I don't want it to turn to chalk in a year, and I don't want it to chip everytime I drag a branch across it in the woods.

I will give up pretty for durable and user-friendly. The truck itself has a so-so repaint on it anyway.

Here is the cap in question:

Leave it...the kids will go ape E36 M3 eight months from now.

My hair isn't that white yet, RX

I can't offer any painting tips, but I respect the fact that you (correctly) referred to it as a Cap, and not a Topper.

What about using bedliner coating if you want a durable and easy maintenance covering? Color selection is limited, but black goes with most anything....

The quart covers about 35 square feet for 2 coats according to the directions, but seemed to cover less for a project we just finished for my dad's Tacoma. But it was a covered bed extender made of plywood... first coat soaked in a bit. Goes on easy and great with a foam roller.

I'd just use aircraft grade stripper to get the old stuff off, then just lightly hit up the aluminum with 0000 steel wool then rinse and dry off. If not going with truck bedliner, Krylon Fusion comes in various colors. Spray it on, then spray on clearcoat. Did about 4 light coats for the paint, and 3 for the clearcoat. After dried, waxed it twice with spray on Turtle Wax.

Thats all I've done for the mirror mounting plates on my FR-S and after nearly 4 years still very good condition....car is garage kept though.

I thought about bedliner, but I want to match colors. A pro bedliner shop can match color, but I'll likely pay $1500 for a $250 cap on a $4000 truck.

I may be mistaken, but I was going to try to capitalize on the fact that the factory finish is already professionally bonded to the aluminum. Getting paint to bond to paint is easier than getting it to bond to aluminum... unless modern paint tech has solved that hurdle.

Any thoughts on what flavor paint?

Curtis, what did you end up doing?

I have aquired (traded for) a really nice fiberglass Leer cap to fit my F250. The problem is is that that cap is dark blue and the truck is white. Normally, I wouldn't care too much but the truck already has a dark green tail gate.

White roll on bedliner? Rattle can? Pony up the money to have it painted (cheaply!)?

I was quoted really big numbers to have it painted.

My solution was to sell the truck 

Someone offered me exactly what I paid for it three years ago and then I found a Mazda B4000 to replace it.  If I had gone on to paint it, I was going to do enamel or urethane.  The enamel seemed to be easier/simpler from the description the guy at the paint store suggested.  I also considered going cheap and getting a gallon of Rust Oleum, but I knew they couldn't color match it exactly and I didn't really want white, black, municipal yellow, handicap blue, or forest green.

You may not find an exact match in color, but I've used Petit poly paint, thinned 15% with a foam brush.  One quart and a few coats should do it.

Black may look better with a green truck.

White will deflect heat.

Sand away with abandon and before you paint spray this stuff on any bare metal. You can spray the whole cap with it if you want, but it aint cheap.

Under your theory that paint should stick to paint better than bare metal, I would use an 80 grit to get the bulk of your old paint and/or clear coat off. Then I would switch to  220 grit to get rid of the big sanding scratches you just made. Next,  I would shoot the self etch primer on the bare spots, let dry for a day and then shoot the whole cap with a color coat. The 220 grit is rough enough that it will provide a good mechanical lock to the old paint and primer. The fact that the paint is fresh and scuffed means that it will merge well with another layer of the same stuff. So in essence you are using the first coat of color as a high fill and a primer for more paint.

Let the paint dry to the point where it can be sanded. Then sand with 320 and 500 or 600 grit. Then shoot your final on top of that. Assuming that you are doing a single stage.

Golden rule of sanding if you like level paint: Always use a block, fingers should never touch the back of the paper

Your cheap guns will work just fine.

stanger_missle said:

Curtis, what did you end up doing?

I have aquired (traded for) a really nice fiberglass Leer cap to fit my F250. The problem is is that that cap is dark blue and the truck is white. Normally, I wouldn't care too much but the truck already has a dark green tail gate.

White roll on bedliner? Rattle can? Pony up the money to have it painted (cheaply!)?

I'd rattle-can/Maaco the tailgate white. Seriously.

Just swa the "Sold the Truck" solution! Ignore post.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Yeah, I think that is what I will ultimately end up doing. The bumper side of the tail gate is in pretty good shape but the bed side is kinda beat up. I'll probably spray the inside with bed liner in a can just to make it look better.

It will certainly be cheaper than another tail gate 

Find a local tech school that has an auto body class and see if they need any projects.  that is how I got mine painted for cost of materials. 

stanger_missle said:

Curtis, what did you end up doing?

I have aquired (traded for) a really nice fiberglass Leer cap to fit my F250. The problem is is that that cap is dark blue and the truck is white. Normally, I wouldn't care too much but the truck already has a dark green tail gate.

White roll on bedliner? Rattle can? Pony up the money to have it painted (cheaply!)?

We just vinyl-wrapped the new tailgate on my FIL's F150. Cheap white vinyl from Amazon matches the Ford paint almost perfectly, like seriously you can't tell from more than 2 feet away. Total cost? About $40 and a few hours of work.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

Hmm, I never thought about a vinyl wrap. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks Tom!