I just couldn't stand it any longer! (painted my bronze trim)

[bamachem]

From the day that I bought this truck, I have intended on painting the bronze trim to black. Well, I finally got around to doing it!

Here it was in it's virgin state before I got my hands on it...



And here it was w/ the Sequoia Wheels and 255 BFG MT's.



It was OK, but that bronze crap just never looked right.



Getting started with the masking...





Covered in Plastic:







Starting to sand:







All wiped down and ready for some color!





Getting there...





Oh yeah...



Ahhhh, Much better!




That was Friday night, in the span of about 3-hours total time. I let it bake in the sun all day on Saturday, then I brought it back in the garage, wet-sanded it all back down w/ some 1000-grit, then I shot a very-thin final color coat.

I still have to order some new fender flare gaskets from the dealer. I can't believe how much better it looks as all-black rather than the factory two-tone. It also helps to have that tag surround to be body-matched as well.

That's the way the black 3rd Gen Limited should have come from the factory!

More pics to come of the final product!

[reggie 00]

Very Nice

[04 Rocko Taco]

Great work Andy!! Out of curiosity, what did you paint it with, were you using auto paint and a spray gun? I would have just rattle canned it, but it never would have looked that good!

[4x4mike]

Yeah, what did you use? That looks great.

[bamachem]

Sherwin Williams single-stage urethane enamel auto paint, used a HPLV gravity fed gun on a small compressor. Shot it at 40 psig with the feed and airflow turned WAY down so that it was almost like a heavy airbrush.

Thanks!

[DHC6twinotter]

Wow....that looks really nice!

[slosurfer]

Wow, I'm impressed!

[DHC6twinotter]

Andy, did you have to take any precautions to keep dust and dirt from falling in your wet paint?

This thread makes me want to paint my 4runner.

[bamachem]

Not really. I sprayed in the garage w/ the door shut USING A RESPIRATOR - don't do it w/o one. With that said, the air is perfectly still, so as long as you are careful, then you're fine. You have to make sure and wipe it down VERY well right before you spray or you'll have dust, etc on the surface as you spray. Urethane enamel dries to a good tack pretty quick, so it's easy to spray it, leave it in the garage overnight, then it's fine the next day. It will still need to cure in the sun a few days before it can even be washed, and it needs to cure at least two weeks before it should be buffed/waxed. It's been very warm down here (mid to upper 80s during the day and upper 60s fo lows, so the temps are perfect. It's warm enough for a quick set, but not so hot to make it miserable.

[04 Rocko Taco]

Well, a job well done Andy, it looks incredible!