Several people have asked how I painted my running boards, so here is the process along with the pictures I took along the way. My truck is a 2007 FX4 and it is Dark Shadow Gray in color. The paint is Krylon Fusion Black Satin.

The running boards are the factory polished tubular running boards which came with the truck. I do not think the same process will work for the chrome running boards, but I have not tried it myself.

Factory Running Boards



I considered painting the boards on the truck, but I did not want to have to cover the entire sides with tape and paper, so I decided it would be easier to remove them. Each one is held on by four 10mm bolts. After removing the bolts, the gray/black plastic covers on each bracket can be removed using a pair of plyers.

Board and plastic covers removed



I removed the caps from each end of the board using a philips screwdriver. I taped the plastic step, because I am not sure the paint will hold up to the heavy foot traffic getting in and out. I made the mistake of taping to close to the polished board and in some areas, when I removed the tape a small edge of the paint came off with it. I recommend taping up higher onto the black plastic to avoid the problem I experienced. A little bit of black over spray on the plastic will be far less noticable then the silver showing from the board itself. (I used a thin brush and the same paint to touch up the areas on mine)

I used a Red Scotch Pad to scuff up the board from side to side the long way. The first coat of paint was Krylon Sandable Primer. I did not want to take a chance of the paint peeling and this was a fairly simple step in the process. I did not paint the bottom of the boards because they cannot be seen. It was easy to paint just the top, front and back with the boards sitting on a couple of 2x2s I had in my garage.



I painted the boards with three coats of Krylon Fusion Satin Black. Since I did not want them to be too shiny, I did not apply any clear coats.



After finishing the boards, I removed the tape and replaced the end caps. I did not paint the end caps, but I decided to paint the plastic bracket covers since they were starting to look a little gray. I scuffed the plastic with the Red Scotch Pad and painted them with two quick coats. After they dried, I pushed them back into place and installed the boards back onto the truck.



I think it was a good change and it helped me keep the black and DSG theme going on the truck. The total cost was less then $20 and about 3-4 hours of my time. I painted my Ovals and F150 Badges at the same time and there is another thread explaining the process for them.

Here is what they look like on the truck




KR-Texas

 

Looks good! Simple and effective.

 

Very very nice looking truck!

 

Nice write up ima be doing this very soon. =)

 

Just stumbled upon this thread and was wondering how they were holding up? I want to do this but im up in BC Canada and im not sure how good they will hold up after salt from the winter starts to eat away at them? Also would it be best to paint the entire step bar so they dont start to chip and flake away little by little?

 

It looks great but I also have a concern with the paint chipping. The rocky surfaces and gravel of the roads in the Oregon Cascades makes me wonder. I think the only way it would survive would be to use a bed liner composite. To bad, it really looks great.

 

I did this method to mine as well...only been a couple weeks but holding up great....I do the occasional offroading and do a lot of camping hunting towards the end of summer so time will tell..

I did the same method thanks to KR for posting was a huge help....I also primed mine and did 3 coats of krylon satin black

 

Looks Great another good thread along with the other one you posted of the badges

 

Very nice little write up!! nice and simple.. good pics!

 

Very nice write-up. Should help quite a few people.

If you ever take your truck to the self-serve for a quick hose-down then I recommend you remove the steps before painting. This comes from experience. I tried painting mine originally with the steps on and taped them off. The same thing happened to me---I removed the tape and the paint peeled off with it.

When I retried it I peeled the step pads up just enough to slide tape in around all sides of it. This time the paint held up much better and didn't pull off with the tape. After several trips to the self-serve, however, it started chipping off really bad. I think it's because the border of the paint is right along the edge of the step pad. Best bet is always to remove the step pads, but be careful doing it.

 

I have had them painted for almost 2 months and they are holding up pretty good. I have two chips on the passenger side from rocks and they both are getting scuffed up from peoples shoes. The scuffs are not noticable because the boards are black, but I might have to repaint where the rocks have chipped them. The chips have not gotten any bigger after several washings because I do not take my truck to the power wash unless it really needs it. I wash it in my driveway with just a hose and a cloth.

If I blackout another truck in the future, I would do it again because it really helps with the theme of the truck.

KR-Texas

 

The Toyo MTs tend to grab large rocks off of the long driveway to my lakehouse. This is how the chips appeared within two weeks of painting them. So far, it has not chipped again and I have heard rocks hitting the boards a couple of times.



They would hold up better with the bed liner material, but I am not sure how much they would charge you to prep and paint them. At some point, it would be cheaper to buy black boards...

KR-Texas

 

Im going to tackle this tomorrow.

 

Bulldog paint adhesion promotor.

Fish

 

Ya I know this is an old thread but I am going to tackle this soon and was wondering...If I do the adhesion promotor that would go on after the primer right?

Oh and K.R. do you have a link to the thread you paints your badges and emblems?