Third Gen Ex trim and bumper painted!

I have wanted to do this for a while and am incredibly happy with the turn out! I have a 2002 explorer XLS. It took about 3 hours from start to finish. Three coats with Kyrlon Fusion and it is gonna dry over night!

BEFORE!!!

AFTER!

Thanks for looking!

Give input !
Happy Explorations!
Cam

 

[2002ExplorerFan]

How is the paint holding up?
I've been thinking of doing this to my 2002 XLT because, like yours did, the trim is fading and looking worse and worse each day lol

 

[BigRondo]

Nice job Cam. That looks awesome!!

Can you give us some info on your prep work please.

 

[WyomingExplorer]

2002explorerfan, the paint is holding up very very well! I went and washed it today and is holding up fine!
I have thought about it for a while and after school yesterday I just decided to go for it! So I went and got some Krylon fusion and got it done!!
Just go for it! Sooo worth it, at school i got tons of compliments and everyone likes it, especially me!

PS, sorry it's upside down, I don't know why that happened??

 

[WyomingExplorer]

Nice job Cam. That looks awesome!!

Can you give us some info on your prep work please.

Thank you!!! It was well worth the 5 hours!!!

Well first i pressure washed it with just straight water, cause i didn't want any soap residue that could potentially get under the paint and make it peel. And then i took a clean bucket of water and scrub brush and scrubbed all of the dirty spots. Rinsed it one more time with soft water and then air dried it. Any nooks and crannies that were still wet i took an air compressor with a blower attachment and blew it dry. You MUST take your time otherwise your hard work will fall off bit by bit!

I used these tools. It's just painters tape, tape/paper combo, and a putty knife.
The putty knife was the thinnest I could find in my collection so i could slip behind the trim pieces and push the tape down flat and make sure it is not overlapping on the trim itself!! Take your time and tape it thoroughly!

I folded the tape under the grill so no over spray would get on it and then put paper from there up!

Thanks for the look!! If you have any questions just ask! Happy to help!

Cam!

 

[2002ExplorerFan]

Thanks for all the help it looks great! And yeah, my friends at school keep bagging on me because my Explorer looks terrible with the trim as it has faded really badly. Now I just need to convince my parents to let me do it...they have had the Explorer for 10 years now (original owners) and I would just hate ruining it after they just gave it to me for my first car.

 

[WyomingExplorer]

Thanks for all the help it looks great! And yeah, my friends at school keep bagging on me because my Explorer looks terrible with the trim as it has faded really badly. Now I just need to convince my parents to let me do it...they have had the Explorer for 10 years now (original owners) and I would just hate ruining it after they just gave it to me for my first car.

Show them my car and tell them it's worth it!!! It cost only like 20 buck max! Totally worth it! If it doesn't look good the first time just put some more coats on it!

 

[BigRondo]

Thanks for posting the details on your prep work!!

 

[doug625]

Looks great! Let us know how it holds up! Also, was that paint satin or gloss?

 

[x5h21q2]

Hey! Turns out I had the same idea in Feburary and it seems we have the exact same car. I have a few suggestions though!

I painted the side trim black on mine (was annoying to tape) it looks really nice.

Then I also painted the section above the tail gate and below the glass ( I had seen it painted on stock Ex's and liked the way it looked)

Your ex lookin' good!

Here is a quick pic I found of what it looked like before:

Take a look at mine and let me know if you have any questions! I used a matte paint and it has held up fine, even a regular car wash!

EDIT:
I forgot I also painted the wheels after this, I think it makes it looks a lot nicer, I was iffy about it at first. I used plastidip on this so I could 'somewhat easily remove it' if needed.

-Steven

 

[WyomingExplorer]

Nice ex! I just painted my window pillars a few days ago and looks great as well as my handles! I'm going to plasti dip my rims also once i get my new tires! I think i might do my hub cap also, or just leave it off. Does anyone know the ups and down of that??

 

[x5h21q2]

Nice ex! I just painted my window pillars a few days ago and looks great as well as my handles! I'm going to plasti dip my rims also once i get my new tires! I think i might do my hub cap also, or just leave it off. Does anyone know the ups and down of that??

I've seen some great pictures of the hub caps. It actually looks really nice with just the Ford symbol. I've seem some good pictures on this forum.

How was painting the pillars? Mine are pretty well sun faded but I'm afraid what it will look like after paint. Did you use a matte? Let me know if you have pics.
Thanks!
Steven

 

[obie]

That does look really nice. Aggressive, but clean. Great job!

 

[WyomingExplorer]

I've seen some great pictures of the hub caps. It actually looks really nice with just the Ford symbol. I've seem some good pictures on this forum.

How was painting the pillars? Mine are pretty well sun faded but I'm afraid what it will look like after paint. Did you use a matte? Let me know if you have pics.
Thanks!
Steven

The pillars look goood! Much better. But the one thing i didn't do is sand them down. if there are spots that aren't as faded I would definitely go ahead and sand it down, because you can see the level difference a little, not enough to bother me into doing it again though

 

[x5h21q2]

The pillars look goood! Much better. But the one thing i didn't do is sand them down. if there are spots that aren't as faded I would definitely go ahead and sand it down, because you can see the level difference a little, not enough to bother me into doing it again though

Okay thanks! Might message you with a few questions later in the week after I size this project up, haha.

 

[FordExplorer2002]

nice love the way this came out i wanna do the same but it scares me crapless. seems like everytime i do something big like this i mess it up even takeing my time.

 

[vjeske]

third gen ex paint black all trim

my work body shop. my man for me paint headlight and taillight. i did paint black grill, side step bars, and wheels.:exp:

 

[WyomingExplorer]

All black errythang! I like it!

 

[vjeske]

All black errythang! I like it!

thank you

 

[chicagorilla357]

I'm thinking of doing this on my 2001 ford explorer sport. Question on your prep, i've heard many mention sanding but didnt hear you mention it. Do you not have to sand?