DoneDeal's DIY "Desert Tan" Paint Job

[jdpber]

looks good so far.. keep it up.

 

[Done Deal DR]

Truck looks good!

I would PLASTI DIP the rims, bumpers and grill black! I like your rims! Dont go 3in its to big for Stock apps, loose power.

go with 2 and half at most

Exhaust was done like 6 months ago. Had a 3" before and still does... since I have no under 3" to reference I don't notice any loss of power. The bumpers and grill are already black, I don't see what plastidipping them would accomplish.

The wheels are nice, just too big for my taste on this vehicle. I can see the attractiveness of plastidipping them since you can remove it, but it's more trouble than it's worth to me. I'm patient and can't wait to get a new wheel/tire setup.

looks good so far.. keep it up.

Thanks!

 

[IRQVET]

Finally, something different. I really like the new paint job, nice work!!

 

[Done Deal DR]

Small update - cleaned up the turn signals and headlights last night and assembled the grill. Hoping to wet sand this weekend and get the grill installed.

 

[96ProCompTahoe]

looks good! glad to see something different in the OBS crowd.

 

[DefendHawaii]

Good looks. Tactically speaking I would have went coyote brown, but love seeing more rugged looks on here to many guys with 24s and air ride.

 

[Done Deal DR]

Good looks. Tactically speaking I would have went coyote brown, but love seeing more rugged looks on here to many guys with 24s and air ride.

To be fair, comparing tactical colors between locations like HI and WA (born and raised to 18 years old in WA state) and AZ is like comparing the amazon and the middle east.

Coyote brown is a very cool color, but it only tactically makes sense in more wooded areas. Here in AZ, desert tan matches literally just about everything. The sand/desert, the homes, the rock. Not to say my color choice had anything to do with being tactical, it didn't... but I was just bringing this up since you did.

And yes, I'm surprised I haven't seen more "rugged" types of trucks here. There are certainly some nice lifted OBS's here so I don't imply that at all, there are some I really like such as bowtie's that is much nicer than anything I have. Just a different style, but I'm glad so many of you find it refreshing since these are things anybody could do with very little money. Obviously as I dive into things like the wheels and tires, differentials, things will get considerably more expensive.

 

[IRQVET]

Nah dude your heading in the right direction, building a unique rig takes stones, trying new things and hoping they turn out right is a scary proposition. (Not to mention expensive) And of course, people like DefendHawaii and I are partial to the look your going for considering we're military.

Keep it up dude, your rig is looking sweet whether its coyote brown, desert tan, or a two tone red/brown like a turd in a punch bowl look, lol. (J/K) Your rig is looking much different, and that's cool as hell.

One Question: What do you plan on doing wheel wise? You going to spray the ones you currently have, or are you going to get a set of steel wheels and color match them?

 

[DefendHawaii]

Are you going to put on a brush guard with that? And run same color? I do like the coloring I just have always had my kits coyote
Brown etc. up here driving in the woods with my
Big red Tahoe sticks out
But it does help if I get stuck since I live far out and have about 2 feet at least of snow everywhere. I was thinking of doing a tactical minded color job when I get my NBS suburban z71 next year.

 

[Done Deal DR]

Are you going to put on a brush guard with that? And run same color? I do like the coloring I just have always had my kits coyote
Brown etc. up here driving in the woods with my
Big red Tahoe sticks out
But it does help if I get stuck since I live far out and have about 2 feet at least of snow everywhere. I was thinking of doing a tactical minded color job when I get my NBS suburban z71 next year.

Probably no brush guard, I like the clean look without it but we'll see. I'd like to do custom bumpers at some point.

---------- Post added at 06:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:26 PM ----------

I had a few hours of free time and got a few more things checked off the list. I started by sanding down, priming, and re-painting the rear tail caps black.



Yep, my garage is a mess. The paint job project has really taken its toll on it so that will be yet another project on my list after I'm done with this.

I will let them cure a few days and then wet sand them.

Then I pulled the rig out of the garage and wet it down to get all of the dust/light overspray off to see where I stood.




Everything looked pretty good, so at this point I'm just trying to get a bit of sheen (just a little, it is a ultra flat paint job of course), even out any blotchy areas, and make it smooth to the touch. I started with the front left fender using 1200 grit 3M wetordry paper and you can see the difference when wet. Wetsanding was very simple, basically I just kept the area as a whole wet using a hose and had a small bucket I got just for this task to dip the paper in. The bucket was small enough to rest on the tires which made access easy. Kept sanding with back and forth motions until there was no resistance, or if the paper started getting stuck it indicated it was too dry. Paint is as smooth as a factory paint job.



Tackled the rest of the body using the same method. When wet you can't even tell it's a flat paint job, but once it dries up it's still definitely the flat look I was going for. I'm very surprised by the results, everything is really coming along.





Things are obviously looking pretty smooth so I just took the hose and a standard sponge to it to get off any wet sanding residue that didn't come off with just the hose.

Following pics are wet or mostly wet:







Half Dry:



Nearly Dry:



And a pic of my Z, just for S&G's. Preparing for body kit install, hopefully next weekend.