I'm looking at painting my truck and I wanted done fairly cheap. I've come across a couple of paint kits on ebay that are pretty cheap, I'm just wondering which is the better way to go, I mean I still want it to look nice I just don't have a big budget for it. So the question is should I go with the Acrylic Enamel or the Acrylic Urethane? One other thing, can I paint the grill without it flaking off?, right now its just the gray plastic looking grill.

By the way I have a 1997 F150 extended cab 4x4.

 

I'm thinking urethane is better and newer. As far as painting plastic, plastic adhesion promoter will do it.

 

If you are ging to have a production shop (i.e. Maaco ec.) paint it they will supply the paint. Unless you are going to do it yourself. Nason by Dupont is a good inexpensive line of paint products. They may have a single stage Urethane as well as the Acrylic Enamel.

 

While acrylic enamel is what Maaco uses for its $299 paint job it's a 6-12 month product at best meaning it's great for low-life buy here pay here car dealers to spec or it's great for a bush hog.

Acrylic urethane is the next step up perse and depending on product it might look nice for 1-10 years it just all depends.

The real deal in the automotive aftermarket is polyurethane clears or single stages (SS has color and clear integrated).

If it mixes 8:1 it won't last long. 4:1 has a fair chance depending on resin quality and formulation but you won't find a quality acrylic polyurethane or true polyurethane until you reach 3:1 or less.

If you are on a budget I would suggest a reputable acryilc urethane,