I have it too!

This last week over spring break I painted my bumpers "Battleship Grey" and as far as I care, it looks darn fine and I did a good job with all the steps. Much better than the somewhat rusty chrome.

Also painted the hitch with a can of Duplicolor spray on bed liner, $7.99, worked awsome. It dries to a slightly dimpled, semi-gloss black, hard plastic surface. If you need some paint like that, go for it.

I filled in a rust hole (1.5") in one of the rear bumper ends with Bondo too. That was the first time I ever used it and that turned out great too.

I will be doing more body work soon. I want to paint my rocker panells with some of the aformentioned bedliner spray next weekend, goodbye surface rust!

Standbye for a pic or two,

Lamm

 

Pic...

 

Pic...

 

Pic...

 

A Pic...

 

Sorry for the crummy lighting and pic quality. I have a digi cam from 1996 and it's 8:00 in sunny old Ohio.

Lamm

 

Nice, let us know if the paint job lasts.

 

Hmmmm, I think I like that.
My rear bumper is toast with rust, and the front it starting to go also.
I love paint!

 

Nothing personal... But it looks like crap.

Chrome - although an environmental disaster. Rocks.

I guess I'm showing my age or something. I saw a show on discovery the other day where they built a 40,000 Hot rod and painted it primer grey and called it done. Whatever.. Give me shine, give me chrome...

 

came out pretty nice, i'm just interested to see if it lasts. did you do anything to the chrome you had on there to prepare it for the new paint?

antibling.. uh oh. i just ordered clear corners for my taco :pat:

-Russell

 

I agree;primer just a cheap way out and gray primer is the worst,at least go black if you're on a budget. You see so many primered cars around but then they have like $4000 in wheels on it.

 

Thats not primer, I used primer but thats paint.

Thanks boogyman, I sanded the bumpers for a while with 60 grit and then cleaned with acetone.
Between each coat, I shot it with some compressed air to knock off any dirt/dust.
Previousy I had painted my rear bumper only with no prep work, i just cleaned it with a wet towel and sprayed it. The paint lasted fine. it was still sticking except for one spot where I dented the bumper. That time frame included one Ohio winter too.

Part off the "grainyness" you may dislike is caused by my VERY old school digi cam also.

Also, nothing personal, but I think about 90% of the things people do to SUVs look like crap. The new models just keep getting worse and worse too, like the Titan. It's all a matter of personal prefrence but If you are the type that has to have a showroom car 24/7 an SUV is just more surface area to polish.

I take the SUV's middle name VERY seriously, and part of the utility I have strived for with my 4Runner is the ability to touch up trail-damage easily and cheeply. I have better things to spend my time on than cleaning my 4x4 and better things to spend my money on than polish, wax and a buffer.

Not all SUV owners go off-roading a lot, but I do for recreation and need, so this suits me well. I guss I'm more like a "Four Wheeler" person and others are more like "Truckin" or "Off-Road". It's thier choice, but I like mine better.

Lamm

 

Word.

 

How do you really feel?

Lamm - I like where you are headed with this. You know, its creative. But in all honesty, you might want to have some guys do a quick photochop for you and make them black and see what you think. I am definitely biased towards black (despite my fat ugly chrome bumper that needs to go on the front), so take it FWIW.

Keep us posted on your future plans!

 

Uhhh... I believe you saw the Alumitub car on discovery channel, and they never painted it period. Thats an all aluminum roadster with bare aluminum body panels.


On to your truck. I think it looks great! I don't much like the color, I wish it were a bit darker (might be the camera), but its very unique. I've never seen a 4runner with bumpers like that. I think some sliders in a matching color would set it off. It would give the whole wrap-around effect giving the truck a more balanced look. Where's the pics of the hitch though? That's what I want to see, so I can do mine.

 

Thanks for the support guys!

I decided on the grey after "repainting" my bumpers on a cheap version of photoshop I have. I too would have liked a darker grey but I kind of thought that with the brushgaurd, valence, flares and rear-bumper step cover the grey would keep things from "mushing togeather". Eventually a TJM with the top of my gaurd welded to it and some type of custom rear bumper will take up residence on my 4Runner so I will have bleck then. I got the whole grey idea from a 4Runner that was up for sale here on Yotatech, I liked it and after all, it's only spraypaint.

Plays With Toys, sliders are in my near future, as in June. I plan on the grey with some black grip tape up top. As far as the hitch goes, when I get outa school tomorow I'll snap a close up for ya, dark here now. That paint is great though.

Lamm

 

I like it! I'm slowly de-blinging my ride.

 

Speaking of anti chrome, Ive been thinking lately what my runner would look like with black tube steps instead of the chrome.

 

i love the 4runner chrome accenting... its too bad in my eyes that not everyone else does.

 

Looks good. How did you like that Duplicolor? I've got the inside of my FJ-40 just about ready for painting, and I'm thinking of shooting the whole thing with the Duplicolor bedliner. The nice thing about the Duplicolor is that you can paint over it, unlike some of the other (Herculiner, Durabak) which I don't think you can.