Nice write-up. I'll keep this in mind for when mine starts to fade.






You should check for a nest under the hood.











edit- Just got my truck at the end of summer '08 and I completely forgot about pollen. My last vehicle was a yellow Ranger, so pollen wasn't visible. Crap.

 

When I repainted my rails on my bed last year I cleaned them very well and let them dry. Then masked the truck off with newspapaer and used BULLDOG to prep the plastic, then BUMPER BLACK paint to do the trim. It came out AWESOME and looks brand new to this day. The BULLDOG is a great prep for plastic and allows you to use ohter types of spray paints as well.

 

Gunna have to go paint mine white. Nice write up , thanks for the way to many more ideas

 

what is this Bulldog product you mentioned? you have a link to it by any chance? I really need to paint my bed caps as well.

 

I thought you had to sand the plastic for some reason. Do you not need to do this?

 

Since Raptorius didn't believe me about the clear coat, I'll show y'all why I suggested it. And for the record I did use Krylon Fusion for PLASTIC and the clear coat does not make the cowl shiny.

Here's what happens after sitting in the weather for a couple years.



Can you guess which side got the clear and which side didn't?

- NCSU

 

Bulldog is an Adhesion promoter that many body shops use to paint plastics. Then they can use any automotive two stage paint base to paint plastics. It is what is used on the color matched plastics to get it to stick. I imagine that (or something similar) is in the formulations that Krylon makes for plastics. It can be purchased in quarts or even gallons and can be mixed in with the base coat or sprayed on first to flash off before applying the base coat. It is available at any automotive paint shop supplier. And your choices of colors are limitless.

 

NCSU what type of clear did you get? I couldn't find a clear to adhere to plastic at the store today. I got some krylon fusion black for plastic, but couldn't find any clear.

 

I'll look around for the bottle tonight and let you know.

- NCSU

 

Your really not looking for clear that sticks to plastic. Your looking for clear thats compatible to the paint you had put on the plastic.

This is why Body shops use bulldog and then paint with the appropriate first stage color. Because they then can go back with a compatible Clear coat over that and it will stick. Not all base coats are compatible with all clear coats.


It appears NSCU got lucky and found one that is compatible so I would use that since its been tested.

Simply taking a clear off the shelf and not now if its compatible with Krylon Plastic paint is a carp shoot. However if Krylon made a specific clear to go over its plastic paint then fine. Otherwise your experimenting...

 

I'm pretty sure I used a Krylon clear, but I'm not 100% sure.

- NCSU

 

has anyone painted their stock fender flares (specifically the FX4 which are the same black plastic vs the painted ones) I have used back to black and the other expensive polish that last longer but still not to my satisfaction. Do the clips pop back on or are they going to break off if I take the fenders off? I would like to paint them the same time I do my cowl and brake rotors to get it all done in one day.

also great write up and I have bookmarked it for when I paint mine. The pictures make these projects 1000 times easier

 

I haven't painted mine mainly because of the two-tone paint job I've got. I think all black fender flares might look a little weird, so I don't know about the clips. If you're adventurous you could try taping them off...

Be advised, removing your cowl will be a little different than what's posted. Raptor's is a '98. If you have an issues with your shoot me a PM/email if you have any problems.

- NCSU

Edited to add:

This might be helpful for us 04-08 fellas (or ladies)...

 

Yes Krylon "Bull Dog" is an excellent prep for painting. I had used it for my chin spoiler (under bumper trim), but for my wiper cowl. I also did my wiper arms to complete the look.

 

I have a 2005 F150. The wiper cowl screen has a small rubber gasket (or weather stripping) at each end of the cowl running parallel with the side of the truck. Both of these have deteriorated and fallen off. Can I purchase just these small rubber pieces anywhere? There is about a 1/2 inch hole underneath them that rain water can easily run down into.

Thanks.