Hilux4Life

Eventually I want to get a paintjob for my hilux. I was going to remove every trim piece, bumbers, lights, ect myself. What I am looking for is a 100% stock looking paint job, I dont want any overspray or paint lines, so I will probably remove the front and rear windows as well. I was just curious how much have you guys paid for a paint job in the past? I am not looking for a macco job or something like that. I know each macco is different, but I have seen paintjobs from my local macco and I honestly dont know how they can charge for any of their work. Every paint job I have seen from them has paint runs everywhere.

MaK92-4RnR

I got a quote to paint my 67 mustang a few weeks ago. It was $5500. never bothered with painting my 4Runner.

Hilux4Life

Nice. I used to own a 69 Boss. I miss that car. I do have one estimate of 4K, but I thought that was rather high especially if I am doing most of the prep work.

MaK92-4RnR

do you take it offroad at all? i wouldn't bother otherwise. if its not a street queen, its not worth it. $4k can really beef up the hilux in general.

Hilux4Life

Yeah I know. I do take it off road a bit, but will be taking it much more often. My current paint job is complete ˟˟˟˟ at this point. The roof and the hood are beyond pealing. I wish I had the space and the time to do it myself.

MaK92-4RnR

If it goes offroad in anyway, i wouldn't even bother. you'll be wasting money.

tumor21

Rattle can'd my '87 for 40-50 bucks with rustoleum antique white (closest I could find to factory "Creme" paint on the market) and my friends can't even tell the difference from a fresh paint job. For the record, I did it the completely wrong way too. I didn't sand down the original paint, didn't spray primer, didn't use minerals or spirits to take out impurities, etc... I did a quick and dirty job with about 7 cans of rustoleum and couldn't be happier. Probably will start to degrade in a few years, but who cares. I wheel it and it gets dirty and stays that way most of the time anyway I can always get more paint from home depot to cover up any "bad" spots.

If its only gonna see street put a few bucks into the paint, if it's important to you. If you're gonna offroad it from time to time... really no point in tearing up a fresh paint job that cost you thousands... am I wrong?

Hilux4Life

I appreciate the replies. I definetly see everyones point about tearing up a fresh paint job. For me this my DD now and will be so for as long as I can help it. Currently I take my truck on expedition style off roading trips and the majority of the times I am going at it solo. Many of the times there is no one around me for miles and miles. With that in mind I normally dont push my truck to the limit off road wise because I dont put myself in situations where I am ˟˟˟˟ out of luck. Also, my truck is not set up at all for rock climbing so I dont mess with rocks. (thats what my FJ40 is for) So this truck is not put on real tight trails where body damage would be occuring.



So when it comes to offroading I am not real concerned about ˟˟˟˟ing up the paint job. However, your rattle can job reminds me of a thread I read years ago on T-nation about a guy who painted his truck with rollers and suprisingly it came out really great. I will have to consider all options.

96vettelt4

You get what u pay for..I paint cars and can tell you that its about what you want. The paint is the easy part...Prep and wet sanding afterwards is where the hours add up. $100.00 to $10,000 its all what you want it to look like. If its an off road vehicle i wouldnt invest to much. If you have the desire and want to learn its not that hard to learn how to paint provided u have a garage or place to paint it. some of the paints out now like from Dupli Color you just pour into the gun and spray, its already mixed for you. Ive always told people if you can turn a wrench you can learn how to paint, its not that hard but it does take patience...and u can go to Maaco and get a decent job if you tell the guy spraying it theres a nice tip waiting for him for a nice job especially if you do the prep such as taking bumpers and things off and do some of the masking yourself..I know a guy who paints at Maaco and hes told me a tip will go a long way ..good luck...