I have a nice red truck, and I bought a canopy for it, but it is more of a burgundy color, and the clear coat is peeling off. I figured I'd buy some cans of spray paint and try it that way, and if it turns out bad, I'll get it professionally painted, but if it looks half way decent, I will keep it with the spray paint. I just dont know how to do this and I have a few questions.

1. I hear I need to put on a base coat, an SUV coat, and a clear coat, I know what a base and clear coat are, but what is a SUV coat? Is is colored?

2. Do I sand the canopy? How am I supposed to make the paint stick, do I sand the paint and make it rough? do I use primer? how do I do this?

3. And of course, am I missing any steps? If so, what are the? I might have more questions later on.





I tried to put a pic in, it does not look like it worked, here is the link:
http://gyazo.com/3179cffea6925408832c3d66a198b4a2

 

Hi Red Ford, I'm following this because I might be in the same place shortly, still shopping for a topper and likely have to repaint it. It's been ages since I did any fiberglassing and repainting and then it was just an old ski-do cowling so I wasn't very fussy.

All I recall doing after the repairs was some light sanding with fine grade paper to scuff the gel coat and then shot it with enamel in a rattle can. I think it was enamel. It was almost 40 years ago so I'm not sure. I didn't even use a clear coat after, the paint was flat black and I didn't want any sheen on it. It lasted good through the winter, stored over the summer, and into the next winter when it was sold.

You and I might be looking for something a little more detailed and professional on this project

I've never heard of this SUV coat either. I wonder if they meant an anti-UV coat ?

Maybe the bump will elicit some advice. I'll probably google some instructables too when and if I can find a topper to fit.

On that, in the picture you linked, is that a topper from an 04-08 F150 ?

I ask because I test fit one of those this week and yours looks similar. I found the bed measurements were very close, and I could have lived with them, but the cab height was a lot shorter and the cab brake/bed light kept the topper from sliding all the way forward because of it not lining up with the topper recess for it. Just wondering if that's what you have and if you found a solution. I passed on the one I was looking at because it seemed to get it to fit would have required raising the whole topper a good deal and I wasn't sure how secure it would be on the bed then without some work.

 

One way to "measure" the quality of a paint job is distance from the object. A 25' paint job looks great at 25', but at 2' not so good.

I've painted a motorcycle gas tank with paint cans and it looked flawless at 2'. But that's a small surface area with lots of curves. Canopies have large flat areas that will be extremely difficult to get right for a 50' paint job with cans.

Talk to a body shop or an auto paint store to see if they'll let you do the prep work and then let them shoot it. It's really expensive to have a body shop paint a canopy - I had a Raider that peeled just like this and I got an estimate of $700 from a body shop.

You might also contact the canopy maker as Leer has a lifetime warranty for this exact issue.

 

How you repaint anything the prep for a repaint depends on what the original finish is. Most covers I have seen are base coat /clear coat to match factory paint for that vehicle. If you are repainting b/c c/c you want to sand off the original c/c . you know you through the c/c when the material your sanding turns from white to the base coat color. Once you have all the c/c off and providing there is no body damage to repair you can paint over the base coat. skuff sand with a 400 to 600 grit wet sand till it is smooth and scratch free. If your going to do with a rattle can single stage paint ,that's fine. Buy more cans of paint then you think you will need , way more you can take it back later whats left. On the can will be a mix code and date stamp be sure all cans are dated the same. The reason for that is for color mix to all be from the same factory mix. I have seen two diff rattle cans with diff mix codes being a shade different. For paint prep before painting wash well with soap and water , dry , wipe it down with a paint prep cleaner grease and wax remover like prep sol. Do not use a laquer thinner to clean. Blow clean and to dry completely . Take full sweeps with your with your rattle can from one side to the other give the back stroke a 1/2 overlap and keep each pass wet . If done right it can look very good. If I were you and I have an air compressor at home go to a harbor fright (if one local ) and get a HVLP spray gun about 18.00 have bought the as low as 8.00 when on sale, go to your local auto paint supplier and get a single stage paint and reducer, also give them the paint code off your truck and they can mix this color to match it. they can tell you what you need and how to use, this is a lot cheaper then rattle cans, Watch a few you tube videos on how to use and set up the spray gun practice a little first. The HF spay gun as cheap as it is will do a very good job for the equivalence of painting 2 cars (the tip wares out ). It will spray better and get better atomization then a rattle can and its easier to keep a full wet coat when spraying. Just my 2 cents