I don't think this is a maintenance question. I have a 1994 Dakota repainted black by previous owner. Paint type is unknown, but entire vehicle was painted. The roof suddenly started to get some primer gray and rust spots, AND the a/c no longer works. Looking for an inexpensive fix, wondering about having neighbor kid light sand and then reprime with Rustoleum spray and then either silver, white, or cream Rustoleum spray - silver might look best? Total 8 cans? Idea is to keep from rusting, look better, and have a light colored roof in summer since no working a/c. Hopefully would look OK, but since I don't look down on roof perfection is not required. What should pro spray cost as alternative? Thoughts or comments? Thanks.
spray paint truck roof?
- Thread starter bmwjohn
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I had a '97 Dodge Dakota with the ubiquitous Dodge paint flake-off. At first, it was on the roof only. So I removed ALL of the paint on the roof with a wire brush wheel. It looked pretty good. I even removed some of the primer in some parts, down to the metal, but for the most part, it was down to the primer.
** I think not removing ALL of the paint, including the primer, was my mistake. **
After I got down to the factory primer, I applied about 3 coats of automotive primer out of an aerosol can (probably Rustoleum, but I don't remember the brand). It looked really nice. Then I applied about 5 coats of the closest color match I could find. It was looking REAL good at this point. Then I applied about 2-3 coats of clear (with some light sanding between all the coats). It looked great...not factory finish great obviously, but real good for DIY.
But behold, less than a year later, it started flaking off again. And the hood started to go with it. I decided that if I were to do it again, I'd take it to Maaco or something for the horizontal surfaces (the vertical surfaces were still fine). But I sold the truck before I did anything else with it.
Make sure you completely remove that primer. Maybe with a chemical etch. From my understanding, talking with a lot of Dodge owners from that era, the primer coat was bad from the factory and had no "tack". So even if you remove the color coat and re-apply color, it's going to flake back off because it's not getting good adhesion to the factory primer coat.
** I think not removing ALL of the paint, including the primer, was my mistake. **
After I got down to the factory primer, I applied about 3 coats of automotive primer out of an aerosol can (probably Rustoleum, but I don't remember the brand). It looked really nice. Then I applied about 5 coats of the closest color match I could find. It was looking REAL good at this point. Then I applied about 2-3 coats of clear (with some light sanding between all the coats). It looked great...not factory finish great obviously, but real good for DIY.
But behold, less than a year later, it started flaking off again. And the hood started to go with it. I decided that if I were to do it again, I'd take it to Maaco or something for the horizontal surfaces (the vertical surfaces were still fine). But I sold the truck before I did anything else with it.
Make sure you completely remove that primer. Maybe with a chemical etch. From my understanding, talking with a lot of Dodge owners from that era, the primer coat was bad from the factory and had no "tack". So even if you remove the color coat and re-apply color, it's going to flake back off because it's not getting good adhesion to the factory primer coat.
$50 paint job
Stock rustoleum is soft and flaky. When mixed with mineral spirits it turns hard as nails.
Stock rustoleum is soft and flaky. When mixed with mineral spirits it turns hard as nails.
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