I just recently bought a '87 4runner (manual) that is in great condition except for the paint. How hard is it to replace a toyota paint job? I'm not planning on painting it myself, will a professional job clean it up nice? I heard that Toyota paint jobs are hard to work with.

 

I have only painted a couple of cars. But when I was taking an autobody class, I repaired and painted a fender on an Avalon. I didn't think the paint was any different.

If the paint is flaking off, then you will need to take the old paint completely off and prime the bare metal. If the paint is just faded, then you can rough it up and prime/paint it from there.

 

Are you looking at a rattle can job, or an actual paintjob from a shop? If its from a shop, the price should be no different than any other car I would imagine. They have to take it down to bare metal, which is the same process on all cars.

The only thing that can get expensive are those damned stripes that some wise guy at toyota decided to slap on these things. If you have some that are baked on real good, they charge extra for removing those.