to the guys who have painted their cladding

[Alwayssideways]

did you guys clear the cladding after painting?

I used fuzion plastic paint. It came out great , but it seems to scratch very easily. I was wondering what people are doing to keep it from scratching

here is my progress so far. I still have to do the front bumper.

any help?

 

[AlexSport'00]

Rustoleum has some roll on bedliner for about $20 a quart or $50 a gallon. I used 3 quarts and I did both bumpers and the whole lower half of my doors. So you could probably get by with 2 quarts. I had originally done the paint, but after about the fifth car wash it was getting scratched rally easily (I guess my 3 coats of clear had worn off). Either way, the liner is hard to scratch. Just to test it, I ran some scissors along my door before the liner and it obviously left a huge scratch. Did the same thing on the liner and it left a very very faint line. And that was after coat 2, so coat 3 covered it up. Also, if you just get a gallon, then if you do get scratches they can be easily fixed since the liner isn't perfectly smooth anyways. All of mine turned out well (except two parts, but that's due to other reasons...mainly my stupidity; you won't have the issue that I created) and I get compliments on it all the time, with a lot of people asking if I got it professionally sprayed on.

 

[AlexSport'00]

And to answer your main question, more clear coat will help prevent scratches.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Not necessarily, clearcoat doesn't prevent scratches or make it harder to get them. More clear just allows more clear to scratch into and repair before you hit the paint below. You're breaking the surface of the clear when you scratch, so whether or not you have one mil or 20 mils of clear, you can still scratch it. It just allows more material under the scratch to buff it out.

 

[shooterdude199]

i put no clear on as i knew it will get scratched. if it does i can just do a touch up. i used sems black trim paint. believe it or not as many touch ups that i have done, it doesnt look splotchy or mismatched in color. it seems to hold its color very well. around the tires is where you will have most of your scratches. if you're really worried about that you can see if you can get what the honda guys call "clear bra". not very cheap and not very many people use it, but it protects your clear coat from scratches and such.

 

[AlexSport'00]

Well, I meant that it'll help prevent scratches to the actual color paint, since there will be more material in between the color and the offending object that's scratching your car.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Ah- yeah, that makes more sense...

 

[AlexSport'00]

Good. Otherwise I was going to cry due to my lack of knowledge about apparently anything. lol

 

[Alwayssideways]

Maybe ill repaint them pieces with the flexible bumper paint that they used on the myst site. I think it is designed for bumpers, it should hold up better.

 

[LONO100]

i used fusion paint as well, and while i do have to touch it up now and again, it isnt too bad. just a thought, but has anyone tried wheel paint?

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I didn't read thru other replays but I can tell from the pictures you need atleast three more good coats of paint. I did iirc 4 or 5 coats on the bumpers and 7 or 8 coats on the cladding. I didn't use any clear at all. It'll take about two washes before the top layer of paint won't show the scratches. Check out my thread or lono's thread about it.

 

[delexploder]

I have fusion on my plastics and after seven years that need to be redone but they held up real well and as far as wheel paint that's what I used for the grill portion of my wife's 98 ( faded grey grill with chrome surround) I used the argent silver and it looks great with the chrome and so far after a year of highway speed bugs and and the new liquid death they spray on our roads here in winter it looks like I just painted it.

 

[frankcal]

I did mine with 3 coats of rust-o-leum self etching primer and like 4 layers of krylon fusion satin and theyre still holding up about a year and 3 months later. I get some scuffs here and there but with some black magic it all blends in and cant really tell. Although my back bumper is starting to chip somewhat but that probably because of daily strain on it of taking things out of the back and standing on it.

 

[Pickupman_69]

I did 7 coats of paint and 5 coats of clear and three years later minimal peeling or scatching

 

[Pjibs]

I did..

Cleaned it
2 coats adhesive promoter
3 coats paint
2 coats clear

but that's all well and good until you scrap it against another car...

 

[ncranchero]

Has anyone actually done the Plasti-Dip spray coatings?

One local member was going to do his but he disappeared.

Pretty interesting YouTube videos on the subject.

 

[Alwayssideways]

So I tried out the duplicolor bumper paint on the front. I think this might hold up a little better. But for now I will keep it as is to see how everything holds up. I also installed some euro tails which i plan on tinting soon. So here is the truck as it stands now.

 

[Joe Dirt]

That looks SOOO much better. Why Ford didn't do that I have no idea.

 

[interscope8]

Plasti-Dip

 

[frankcal]

Looks really good, next you should do those wheels. I just did my 03 sport with the same wheels and it looks a lot better. As for plasti-dip i've tried it on a couple of items around the house as well as a bike to test out before trying it on the car and wasn't really happy with the result and how easily it would all start to come off once it had a little peel.