Painting body part
 

I have a good line on some body parts that I want to swap out on my 03 XLT. THe only problem is they are red...and my truck is black. What is the best course of action:
1) Paint them myself (can this be done and look good?) if so does anyone have a "How-to" or some suggestions?
OR
2) Get them professionally painted.

Thanks for the input.

Depends on the size of the part. I personally wouldn't try to paint anything over 2 foot x 2 foot. With big stuff, I end up with runs or orange peel.

it's a black truck...it should be easy. i'm getting a black truck, and i'm painting all the parts myself. black is black. but yeah, silvertank is right, it's much harder to paint the big parts (the sweeping process is much harder). I'll let you knwo when i'm done painting the tonneau ;)

black is a hard color to match, ask anyone that does paint work for a living. theres are hundreds of blacks out there, and if you mix match them, sometimes you can tell they arent the same. as long as you dont get any runs, you should be able to get rid of some of the orange peel with a little wet sanding. if it was me, id take it to a body shop and have it done. get it right the first time

seriously? i thought black would be extremely easy to do...?

Black is actually a very hard color, since no manufacturer can agree on what "black" is. My old Isuzu was black, but my body shop guy said it was more dark brown than true black. My Escort was a true black, but was a lacquer paint. My Eclipse was also black, and it was a tad lighter than my Isuzu. Just variations in the mixing process from maker to maker. There's also metal flake, flat black, gloss, satin, powdercoat, ect. I could blab on for days.

wow. my bad then. the ranger has a gloss black does it not? would u be able to pick up that paint from ford? i really don't want to take a rollpan into a bodyshop and get them to paint it. it's such a small part. tonneau too, the tonneau wouldn't have to be a perfect match.

if youre going to paint it yourself, i would at least use an automotive paint. duplicolor makes automotive paint in spray cans, but i think they may just have gloss black as a one fits all black color. the best thing would be a color match to fords black, which would be hard to find in a form you could use at your house

Wow. It sounds like there are lot of varrying opinions on painting of black parts! I can relate to the variations in black. I had a black Acura that I needed a touch up to after a minor fender bender and went to the local body shop to see what kind of paint they had. Once there, he asked what colour of "Acura black" I needed. To my surprise, there were 4 variations of black for that particular year. At that point I suggested they do the touch up and match the colour themsleves. Cost more, but I could never tell the work was done afterwards. I might jsut do the same here. OR maybe try and find black bumpers and valance!

You could get it mixed from an NAPA paint dealer, then use an airbrush to paint it. That's assuming you have an airbrush and compressor.

Most auto places are expensive because of the prep time involved. If you just bring them the part, it's much cheaper. I took my brushguard and rear cover off when they were painted, and that made the price real cheap. It was just paint and spray booth cost.

would the bodyshop at my ford dealership be able to sell me the paint? in a can or something?
then i can just DIY with this little puppy Personal Sprayer

thaty sprayer may work, ive never used one myself. the dealer may sell you the paint, youd have to call and ask them

That could work, though it may splatter as the air runs out. You have to be careful with things that don't have a constant air supply. That's why most spray cans contain more than enough propellant to expel the paint.

Ford probably won't sell the paint, as it comes mixed from PPG (at least my silver is a PPG mix). It's best to go to a good autobody place and give them the paint code off your door. I know the NAPA places have computer mixing machines for an exact mix. That's how mine was matched after I creamed the passenger door. I have a friend in the business, but that doesn't help you in canada. I'd check with my local body shop, and go from there.

I went to a local paint supplier and they mixed up a batch of oxford white for me to paint my EDGE fender flares with, and I used an hvlp spray gun to paint them with. There was a fair amount of orange peel in the finish, but that was easily fixed with some wetsanding, rubbing compound, and then polishing compound. They turned out very smooth and shiny in the end.

huh. this sounds more difficult than i initially expected... i'm thinking about getting some of that car paint in the cans... hope it's the black i want (or at least close enough) and gettin it done for the time being. then down the road have a bodyshop give me a good spray. i'll want it done eventually once it accumulates enough chips and scratches anyway i guess