Who here has painted their XJ themselves?
 

If any of you folks want to share some photos of XJ's you've painted yourselves I'd really like to see them.

I'm researching what is involved to make it look nice. Seems like prep is really the major bulk of the work.

Going to be helping my friend paint his soon and eventually paint mine also. Anyone have experience with tractor paint?

What problems did you encounter? What do you wish you did better? What kind of paint did you use? What kind of primer?
Please share any information you think might be useful.

My MJ is currently painted with Tractor paint primer - I actually like the flat primer grey color but it's not overly durable by itself. I really skimped on the prep and just wire wheeled off the peeling clearcoat, decals, rust then sprayed. A year later, I still haven't gotten around to putting actual paint on there. I want a matte or low gloss, so I'm considering mixing up a custom grey using flat black and glossy white.

depends how good you want it to look & last, what sort of gear you have, etc etc

prep should be 90% of your time

I have painted many vehicles

the best results for longevity will be 2 part paints

look on Youtube for the variety of approaches

spraying paint over any area that has not had the rust removed is not sensible

I have a 91 c1500 I’m going to paint hopefully soon. Having trouble finding any paint that can be applied with a roller and brush that’s not just an oil or alkyd based like Rust-Oleum. That type of paint is too brittle. I have seen some good looking Rust-Oleum paint jobs but it wouldn’t be durable enough on a Jeep.

Was going to try tector paint paint but I really want satin red and all the tractor stuff is gloss. I might just do a red oxide primer for now. Or possibly sand the tractor paint after and apply a satin or matte clear over it.

Way too much work to brush or roll. Harbor Freight has halfway decent 1-2 HP compressors for $140 (loud, but they work fine), and the cheap HVLP gun set for $40, plus an inline dryer. Otherwise, jut buy a bunch of rattle cans. Doesn't duplicolor bed liner come in red? Thinning that a bit with paint thinner and rolling it might come out relatively smooth..

Paint it with bed liner, you can get Raptor liner in black or tintable where you can tint it any color you want. It's very easy to spray on, it's durable and it looks good, I sprayed my whole Dakota in a black and blue two tone.

Even if you've sprayed the tractor paint flawlessly any gloss paint will dull within months of application if exposed to the elements on a daily basis.. As you've found, prep is 90 % of the "paint job"...The old rule of thumb was: " The hardest to reach prep areas are the most important" anything that get paint needs prepped don't cut corners..I've used Summit Racing's single stage urethane paint and it's held up perfect for 2 years now sitting out in the elements every day..
Will your project be taken down to the metal in any areas ??? Or just a scuff of the factory paint ??

Do you think it should be taken down to the metal? Basically I want to get my ducks in a row and definitely do it right. I was going to borrow a garage and make a DIY paint booth. I definitely want it to be white. Also, was maybe thinking flat white. I was thinking of using the tractor paint, but after reading some of the replies I might consider something else. Maybe I will also look into the Raptor liner. Mine was previously bed lined half way up the sides, but the armor panels were not originally primed so they started flaking and rusting. I have to take them off and get them sand blasted and zinc-primed then I'm going to have to remove the liner off the doors and the half inch that's above the armor panels. Then I was going to spray the truck all white and then bed line just the armor. I don't plan on attempting this for a couple months. I'm just doing as much research as I can. I'm still definitely in the learning stage and I want to anticipate as many things as possible before I dive into it. I want to take my time on the prep on my vehicle and not rush through anything. I don't care if prep takes me a month of off hours.

I kind of want to do mine flat white. Don't they make flat clear coats?

In some areas it will definitely have to be taken down to the metal. There is some rust on the roof I want to fix. There is some rust on the hood where the supercharger injector was pushing into the louver too. I put spacers so now that dent and rust spot needs to get fixed. Then there are a few other areas of surface rust I need to handle.

I'm going to look into the white Raptor. At the very least I'm going to have to bed line the armor. Did you use a compressor? Or that 2 part rattle can?

Thanks for the tips. I will definitely make note. Going to look into 2 part paints. What if I wanted to do it flat white?

I partially painted a 98 Gunmetal Blue. I got the thing in fairly decent (exterior) condition but the roof and liftgate clearcoat was flaking and there were some rusted through areas to repair. I got the paint from a company I found on the internet. It was a close match so I did not attempt to paint the entire exterior. I just focused on the repaired areas. The paint was from here -

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/auto_paint.asp

I bought quart sizes of everything and ended up needing a bit more. I used an orbital sander to rough-off the clear coat and then wet sanded the surfaces smooth. Then I laid on a few coats of primer (from the same place above) lightly sanding in between coats with 400 grit. Then came a couple coats of the topcoat, also lightly sanded, followed by a couple coats of clear. Initially, the left and right rear corners of the roof were rusted through so I had to repair it. The rain channels on either side also had rust-through to the interior of the truck. The right rear fender immediately aft of the wheelhouse had a sizeable hole. I repaired all damage (including the front left & right floor pans) with composite techniques (fiberglass, flock, resin) but steered clear of any kind of body filler. Body filler is agroscopic and will eventually rust the surface it's bonded to so no bueno. I could have taken 1500 grit to the clearcoat and then buffed it out but we're talking a 98 XJ Classic repaired to give to my son for a college ride.

Yep, a paint job is 99% preparation. Do that right. Then, practice shooting the paint on some sizeable pieces of cardboard. I learned how to paint many years ago so the process is 2nd nature to me. I will say a proper paint booth is the best place but the garage is the next best. I got some 1" X 2" X 10' lumber and some clear plastic dropcloth. I stapled the plastic to the lumber and then screwed it to the ceiling of my garage to create a paint booth. Then I used a couple of cheap box fans with furnace filters as ventilators/dust collectors. I cut square holes in the plastic and duct taped them around the fans. The plastic was also duct taped to the floor. I opened up a couple holes in the plastic at ceiling level to draw fresh air in and move the overspray in a down draft through the filters of the fans. For personal gear I used a full face paint mask and dressed accordingly. If you assemble a paint booth inside you garage make sure to leave at least three feet all around the vehicle. I had my XJ angled in the garage and that seemed the best way to give the most room.

Good luck.

I used a compressor and the spray gun that comes with the kit.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...43133efcdf.jpg

Just to reinforce Raptor Liner, Lots of Sound and Lighting companies use Raptor liner on our big cable trunks for tours. The cable trunks get MAJOR abuse out on the road.
Quite a few professional speaker manufactures use it on the outside of their speaker cabinets too. It is easy to touch up after a tour.
I just used some on a pair of "Near Field Monitors" that I take out on the road. Yeah the carbon fiber looked wicked as hell, but it was getting scratched up even though they go in to a foam lined road case when not in use.

So yeah, I will be using some on my XJ's rocker panels fairly soon.
The two part rattle cans are really expensive (around $40/ can), and they don't go very far in coverage. I would buy the kit as mentioned above. More bang for your buck.

This is on those monitors I own.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...1dc593031.jpeg