One tone to two tone 92 explorer

[jakegator]

Hey there so I searched and didnt really find what I was looking for on here so i just went for it and thought I would post what i did incase anyone else was thinking about it. Well to start out its a 92 explorer xlt with some rust on the lower doors and the part of metal underneath the door. In order to pass inspection the rust has to go... or just not show up. So i decided to sand the surface rust off then prime and paint the lower section of the door (under the black rubber trim piece). Im sure there are better tools to do the same job but i did it with a sanding pad, grinder (with a sanding bit), self etching primer, black duplicolor gloss paint, clear coat spray.

One more thing! I am not by any means a mechanic, nor do I claim this is a rust "fix" just makes it look better until I get a around to actually fixing it.

So first things first, I sanded the paint and rusty spots down to the bare metal and gave a fast clean. Also this is the first picture post i did so if the pics are doubled my bad!

http://i1242.photobucket.com/albums/gg530/jakegator/29a7e306.jpg

Then I just primed it, i believe i did 3 coats. Note: If you want it to look as smoth as the stock paint you will either need to sand the paint off by hand (good luck!) or use a little bondo to smooth the divits out. There are probably other ways I dont know off

http://i1242.photobucket.com/albums/gg530/jakegator/93295318.jpg

Then I did 3 coats of glossy black.

http://i1242.photobucket.com/albums/gg530/jakegator/430e8378.jpg

Finally I did a good 5 coats of clear coat, im going to look into some other covering that is more durrable. Im not going to attach that picture just cause you cant tell the difference on here. Down the road I want to try to spray or paint something similar to the rhino bed liner under the trim. I think it would be more durable since my explorer wont just be on the road.

Any input and feed back would be great! Ill attach the finished product when its all done.

 

[Anime]

On a 4 door, you can just cut the rocker away cleanly and not worry about fixing anything. Losing the rocker makes for a nice place to tuck rock siders.

Herculiner is what you'd want to coat the bottom of the doors and the rockers with. Clean up all the rust and stuff inside the open part of the rocker area and use a paint brush to get a few coats of Herculiner in there and you'll never need to worry about it again.

 

[jakegator]

Thanks for that, I will be looking that hurculiner up! Yea the previous owner mostly cut that away on the one side, just gotta clean it up and repeat for the other side.

 

[Suicide77]

Looks good!

 

[bones66]

herculiner is really good at rock guarding your truck but it is really rough. i had it on an old yota and used to rip my pants and sand my legs getting into it. i used krylon for my two tone. its held up through two montana winters and a whole lot of trail riding. i 600grit wetsand primer then the krylon.

 

[bones66]

 

[$$exploder$$]

Anime could I cut my rockers off on a two door and just put sliders on it

 

[Anime]

On a 2-door, the area between the back of the door and the rear fenderwell is hollow - not the same as a 4-door.

The hollow area has a plastic piece, sealed with goo and foam, that is an inch or so above the rocker, which seals out some weather, but typically the rust gets up high enough that it goes above this, and you wind up having to mess with it to repair the panel.

If the rust is just on the rocker, and doesn't go any higher than the bottom of the door, you could just cut off the rocker, and do the same as on a 4-door, slapping on Herculiner to seal the rocker and the plastic piece from the bottom.

If it's higher, you'll need to cut off the rusted metal and weld on new metal, then seal up the plastic again, using black silicone or some other weathertight sealant - this is best done from the top on the inside, you can remove the rear speaker to get to the area without removing the whole plastic panel, but the best access is with the panel removed. After that's sealed up from the top, just use Herculiner on the bottom.

You could also weld on sheet metal, making a long flat piece to cover the bottom of the rocker, or even use a piece of rectangular tubing to make a 'rocker slider', welding it to the body as a new, stronger rocker panel instead of actual rock sliders.