hey guys im really tired of the xlt grey plastic trim on my truck so my project for the summer is gonna be to paint them. now ive seen you guys all take different approaches to this so what would look best on my truck? black flat or semi gloss, dark grey, paint matched, bedlined

ive been tossing the idea around with bedlining the rocker and then do flares and valence to match but idk how that would look and not sure if im ready to make that happen quite yet
and paint matched will be a lot more work and money so im not sure im ready for that yet either

so i want your opinions and pics would be great
btw here is my truck

 

Mine was just like yours....but for last year, flares, bumper and valence are Duplicolor Truck Bed Liner in a can.

Sanded all down with 220, took a tack clothe to it, 2 or 3 coats of DupliColor adhesion promotor, then on went the Bedliner. Takes some time to learn how the stuff sprays to get the desired texture. If sprayed thick it'll be smoothish/bumpy. If sprayed thin and far away, you'll get the good texture. I just sprayed my new flare to replace the missing one I've had for eons.

AND i'm even more help....since I'm DWB! lol.









Here's DWB with Krylon Fusion Flat Black on the flares....looked really good...just I didn't prep them properly before spraying. I literally cleaned them and sprayed. I had a ton of chips. Went to respray after my double lift, tried to get rid of the chips and keep the texture, sanding the chips made it smooth...had to texture it somehow, then i sprayed the bedliner, then flat black on top, looked like junk to me. SO...now i'm all bedlinered. I love it.

 

that looks really good shane but how well has that held up cuz ive read that it chips off but maybe they did bad prep
and how rough is it
cuz i know i dont want my flares to be as rough as my herculined bed
and how hard is it to clean do you have to use a brush or can you use a sponge

 

Here's my truck with just the regular flares unpainted:



Here it is all color matched and painted:



Just to give you an idea of what the difference is if you're interested in getting them painted.

 

yea i really like the paint matched but i dont have a paint booth so i wouldnt get good results and idk how it would look with DWB but 4sure it would be awesome to have the only DWB edge

 

I think it would look sweet with DWB matched flares and valance and chrome upper bumper... Take it in man, see how much it'll cost.

A buddy did mine at his work.. I traded him a Hurst for the 4 flares and valance color matched and prep'd. Hookups FTW!

 

its definately not as rough as the hurculiner stuff.....look at my closer up shot...


it's actually quite smooth. just bumpy.


I've heard some folks have chipping issues with the bedliner...but i havn't . Ive had it done since last march/april/ It pays to properly prep the surface. I havn't noticed much fade over the past year as well. For two years, my once was chrome upper has been painted with duplicolorl bedliner. virtually no shade difference between the newly painted stuff and the year old paint(now two year old paint) on the upper bumper.

 

ok well im kinda leanin towards gettin em paint matched cuz my truck is more of a mall crawler but im not gonna pay to have it done cuz my grandpa has a shop and has all the paint guns etc. so maybe ill do that but idk

 

i think his name is 'offroad_ranger'....he's got a DWB with color matched front bumpers....

 

Shane Im lovin how yours looks. Im thinkin about paintin all my crap this summer as well. Cant decide if i want color matched or black. Hmm...

 

yea i know who your talkin about the guy with the 00 steppie with the newer edge bumper and he doesnt know how it got that way lol yea that looked kinda wierd on his truck but maybe cuz ive never seen a paintmatched dwb

 

ok so for now im just gonna do black probably semi gloss then clear

so how do i go about this getting the valence off? getting the flares off? prepping sand or scuff with scotch brite

 

I recommend not sanding plastic. I was told by someone who works at a body shop this ruins the plastic making it "fuzzy" and less likely the paint will stick to it.

Clean the **** outta them and use adhesion promoter and a primer and then paint and clear... That's just me though.

 

A tack cloth will take care of that issue...

 

I just herculined my bumper and valance.

 

yea i have a half can of herculiner but thats way to rough imo

so just clean the plastic really good then adhesion promoter then primer then paint then clear

btw how do you get the flares off just pull all the little push clips out
then how do you get the valence off without taking the bumper off