Have you considered looking for a replacement bed from the same year/color truck.

 

I'm inclined to agree. I'd be especially cautious. It would be extremely easy to paint the area, then wet sand and shoot a thin ccoat over the rest. You'd think you got a new metla up paint job, pay for a metal up paint job, but unless something happens and you have to feather edge some new damage later...... Only then you might realize that you have 2 layers of paint.

 

Man, that seems like a lot of money just to repaint an old dodge truck. Just get them to fix the spot and paint to match. Your truck is not going to be worth more whether or not they just fix it or paint your whole truck.

I'd rather save the $3000 and put that towards my next new vehicle rather than throw it away on an old dodge dakota.

 

i think painting it a pale pink with some metal flake would suit it well.

 

good point here. If it were a newer car that was worth something, blending is about he worst fix. But an older vehicle that isn't worth as much it is safe to blend and be on your way. Up to you in the end though.. you have to drive it.

 

Well, it is NOT my daily driver... It's a truck that I am modding for show purposes. I plan on supercharging it, and plan on taking the engine completely apart and having it cleaned, parts replaced with better parts, and such.

I've already dumped about 6k into it... and I have no intentions of giving it up... no matter what someone offers.

All the complements that I get from driving it around, and the roar of the engine, the 5 speed... it truly is rewarding after my work week to take it out on a Sunday and go to the ice cream parlor and sit on the talegate and dream on... it's a blast to drive too... knowing all of the power and potential it has. It's my dream truck, and I plan on keeping it that way for my kids. I want to give it to my kids and say, "It's something that's been passed down from family member to family member and now down to you." I love that truck more than I could love any girl... and that IS NO lie. I feel as if it is the only thing that I've got from my childhood. My Dad driving me down to Florida, to school, going to my senior prom... OMG the memories..

 

If you are planning on using it as a show vehicle, then stop right now and think about the future of the vehicle. 3 or 4 years down the road, do you see custom paint in the works? Custom paint is one of the most important parts of any show vehicle, because its what catches peoples eyes and makes them want to take a closer look. Would you rather repaint it back to a factory color, that nobody would notice that it had even been repainted, or would you rather do something fun with it? Something that gets noticed?
And just so you know I'm not blowing smoke out of my ***, this is what I decided to do several years ago, after I got some bad hail damage and insurance company cut me a check for $3500 for it (in the end I ended up spending about $7500 for the paint job, but that was also custom painting a lot of other pieces to match, new hood, installing new windshield, new rear window, etc. but doesn't include the extra money I spent lifting it, new tires, new wheels, new gears, new suspension components, yada yada. It spent about 3 months in the body shop.
Here it is before, after a buddy and me spent a few days working on pounding out some of the hail damage, sanding and primering some parts of the body that needed repair:


Then after a few weeks at the body shop, tearing completely everything off of it and out of it so it could actually be a real good color change:


After all that time prepping, only took him one day to spray it, half a day to do the flames and after that dried, another two or three days wet sanding it, clear coating it, and wet sanding it again:


And finally, a few months later, after everything else really caught up and got wrapped up:

 

That looks SWEEEEET!

Well, I kinda like the bright red, as it is an attention grabber... but I have no clue what would look good on it... without overdoing it. By all means I am NO artist.

Maybe if I got some high-res pictures of my truck, do you guys think you can dress it up and give me some ideas?

 

im sure we can dress it up with some pretty flowers like a previous guy's red truck was once dressed up like.

 

Honestly if you can find a body shop that specializes in custom paint,a nd give them a vague idea of what you would like, they can take it from there. When I took it in I gave him a vague idea of where I wanted the flames to start and end, and I knew that was the color I wanted (its off the Nissan Maxima, just FYI) and he helped pick the color for the flames. He also did a lot of things I wouldn't have thought to do like painting the tailgate handle, painting the grill portion to match the flames, etc. Of course if you do a color change you can multiply the cost of the repaint by 2-3 (at least if they do it right, i.e. non-maaco job) typically because of all the extra work that has to go into it (repainting door james, painting areas under the hood, painting between the bed and the cab, painting underneath the gas cap, all the little nooks and crannys you never think of til its all torn apart). Hell, maybe you can find yourself a nice paint shop that'll let you do part of the work yourself and save on the final bill plus get some body work experience.

 

Blending is standard practice in the automotive paint business. Done right, it is a perfectly good repair technique, unlike hammering Imron clear over chromabase. I hope you never ask for warranty help from Dupont when you can't follow label directions. If you ever had to strip a vehicle you just painted, you might be more prudent about following protocall.

 

I have done it before.. and many freinds have too with no problems. Imron is compatable with chromabase. Blending is standard procedure.. but it is not proper and right. When I got rearended, I insisted the body shop NOT blend. I wouldnt drive a go kart with a blended paint job. That is asking for trouble.

 

Thats funny, when there is a scratch or dent at the factory (which happens alot) do you think they repaint the entire vehicle? No, they blend. There is a better than average chance that you could be driving a truck with a blended paint job as we speak.

 

BTW,
If it's just a small scratch that happens in final assembly at the factory, instead of taking the vehicle off the line and all the way back to the paint booth, slowing up the line. Then they are likely to just bring one of teh painters up with some sand paper and paint cans, where he will feather edge the spot, prime and paint it with a rattle can on the line to get it out the door on time....... If you dont think it happens, then your crazy, because I've seen it happen on $300K boats, on a daily "2-3 times a day" basis.
There is no way anyone will ever know. It is undetcable and it will last just as long as the rest of the paint.

 

Pound the dent out yourself, wait for whenever you plan on restoring this truck and then fix it all up. Why waste $3000 fixing it now when it'll most likely just happen again sometime in the future.