Note: I am not liable if you ruin your Jeep… I’m not saying you can’t but, you won’t unless you try!

Well gang, after a few requests, I decided to do a little “How To” write up on painting your Jeep in the driveway. Bare with me, because I’ve never written one of these before. OK, on to the fun stuff…

First things first. Set down and pick out a color you like. I was willing to paint the Sarge ANY color… As long as it was Olive Drab. After talking to Tiny, we agreed on a satin finish. Satin will be easier to keep clean. Ultra flat is fine, it just takes a little more work to scrub.
The one thing you want to make sure of is that the supplier (in my case Lowes) has enough in stock to do the job. Nothing sucks more than getting halfway through a paint job just to end up not having enough paint. Here is a list of what I bought:

12 cans of Rustoleum Olive Drab Satin finish paint. (Lowes)
2 cans of Duplicolor Fusion Textured Black (Lowes)
2 cans of Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter. (Kragen Auto Parts)
6 cans of Rustoleum black primer. (Lowes)
4 Scotchbrite fine grit scuff pads. (Kragen Auto Parts)
2 rolls of Masking tape (Lowes) (I personally like the 3M blue painters tape.)
Spray can Handle (Lowes) (Your fingers will thank you) (looks like a pistol grip)
A mess of old news papers.

OK, so now you’ve gathered your stuff and are ready to paint. The main thing to remember is this: “The paint job is ONLY as good as the prep work”!!! I can’t stress that enough. Clean everything thoroughly with a heavy mixture of car wash soap and Dawn dishwashing detergent. If you do as I did and paint panel by panel, all you have to do is go back and wipe down the next panel before you paint it. Unless of course you see a whole bunch of crap has settled on that panel like bird crap or tree sap… That sort of thing.

Here's Sarge half way thru his paint job:


Also, remove what you don’t want painted.

Here's Sarge's interior stripped:



As a rule, if you don’t want it painted and can take it off, it’s worth the time and effort to remove it. I stripped that sucker. Anything and everything I didn’t want to paint came out. I’m lazy. I’d rather rip it out than tape around it. Plus, at the end of the day, the job looks a lot cleaner.

Here’s where you need to make a decision. Do I paint the flares the color of the Jeep? Do I paint them black? Do I take off the flares, or paint them on the Jeep? Damn, you’re an indecisive little bastard aren’t you?
I chose to paint them on the Jeep. In retrospect, I should have pulled them off, but I can go back and do that later. Some weekend when I have a lot of beer and free time. If you leave them on and decide to paint around them… It’s a good idea, to go ahead and paint them first. Paint ‘em, let ‘em cure a few days. It will be a hell of a lot easier to tape around them as opposed to taping up a freshly painted Jeep just to paint the flares.

Oh, and take your time taping off stuff like the windshield and what not. The more time you take, the better it will look.

OK back on track.

All clean… Next step. Use that scuff pad. Scuffing gives the new paint something to bite into. It scratches the surface enough to paint over but not enough to see when your paint dries.
Make sure you get in there real good. You’ll want the surface of the old paint to have a foggy / satiny finish. And make sure you get back into corners, nooks, crannies and any other tight place. All to often, people neglect these areas and the paint will not bond and begin to flake.
Now, for those places you can not reach or feel aren’t scuffed enough, use the Adhesion Promoter. It etches the old paint, giving you a good bonding surface.

Now, if you have areas where the clear coat is pealing away… Sorry gang, but there is no easy solution to that. Anytime you try to feather edge the clear to smooth it out and repaint it, the clear always always always wrinkles at the edges when the solvents in the new paint hit it. Usually not on the small chips or dings. But if your hood has the clear pealing away, you’ll have to sand off ALL the clear coat on that panel. Trust me on this one.

“Hey ccain… What if I sand thru to the bare metal?” Good question! If you sand thru in a small area use the Primer you bought. But, if you have a large panel that is stripped to the bare metal you’ll need to etch it. If you don’t, it WILL lift (wrinkle). Probably not the first coat. But definitely on the second.
You can get etching primer in a rattle-can at the parts store. Do yourself a favor before hand and get a can. That way you have it.

Now we get down to the actual painting. The trick is to keep the panel wet without running the paint down the side of the Jeep. It’s gonna take some practice but you can do it! Temperature and Humidity play a big role. If it’s 70 to 85 with very little humidity, then it’s just about perfect to paint. Any hotter and the paint will dry too fast and leave streaks. Any cooler and the paint will dry slower. Too cold and the paint will most likely run down the side. Too much humidity will leave a foggy appearance in your paint. You’re saying “Hey Jackass! I’m painting it flat OD green!” And I’m saying that by foggy I mean it will turn the paint kinda white.

Remember this: Cut in all the door opening and edges first. Now REMEMBER THINS: 3 coats. FIRST COAT: Thin tack coat. (this will act like a magnet to catch the next coat.)
Wait 5 to 10 minute and start the next coat. SECOND COAT: Medium to heavy coat (this will start to hide the color under your new paint. Wait 5 to 10 minutes and start the next coat. THIRD COAT: Medium to heavy final coat. In a shiny paint job this would be called the color coat and is usually heavier to increase the shine. But, since there is no shine this coat should be used to make sure there is none of the old color still shining thru. If you build 3 coats like I described, you will have about 2mil of paint on the Jeep. 2mil is about the thickness of your factory finish.

Well that’s about all you need to know.

OOH, if you go OD and want to make it look like an Army Jeep… Do a little research and never forget that details make the thing look good.

If you decide on stencils, remember the guys in the Motor Pool were not artists. They slapped em on and shot em. They were crooked and had overspray.





It all adds to the authenticity!

Thats just friggin awesome lol
Lets see the whole thing done

Jeep looks good but the write-up is kinda wordy.

Hehehehe... Thanks Scout!

And Smeg....Tiny just informed me of that as well!

Here ya go:

BEFORE



AFTER

So when do you plan on getting this fixed?



Because it clearly doesn't work........

(Seriously, good write-up, Love the finished product)

Dude...That is a sweet jeep. The tire pressure is a nice touch. I see it all the time but would probably not have remembered to add that. I don't see it on the front in the bottom picture. Did you add it later or just do the back?

I vote for this to be stickied! I'm gonna need it soon

CCAIN... simply awesome job bud!

I'm really surprised the local establishment didn't bust your nuts for putting that large hole in the ozone layer.

sweet, dude i really like that...

greath write up ccain, thank you very much, i am gonna be hittin the paint in the next few months, one question though, did you take the dash out?

Damn nature Nazis!

Man I didnt even realise it was that kinda nasty looking one you just bought with the chrome grill, looked kinda of 'college kid' like.

Now its look great nice job! Add a 50 cal to the back seat and your done!

First off... Thank you guys!

Well, it's still in the developmental phase and has yet to be field tested!

I added it yesterday. I just haven't gotten around to taking a pic of the overall Jeep. The tire pressure markings are over each wheel, just like on a mil-spec vehicle.

Sweet man, keep us posted on how your's turns out!

Well, I figured I'd do my part. Ozone is bad...mmmmkay?! I can't stand to be chilly, so bring on the global warming! And why not melt the icecaps! Vegas would make a kick ass beach community now wouldn't it?

Thanks Vector

Good luck with your paint job! And no, I left it in. I really like that the YJ has those metal speaker plates at either end of the dash. Made it easy to tape around.

I was thinking more like a recoilless gun, but I could definately do the 50. Mount up a Ma Duce and have Tiny man it as we truck down the 15 to Big Bear. Sorta like partin the Red Sea!

Great write up Cain, but I gotta call bufu on this picture my friend. What are you going to paint "It's a Jeep thing you wouldn't understand" on it too?

Jealousy is an ugly thing!!!

Here ya go Jack! Just for you!

LMFAO - Looks great Cain!

Much better dude bro.

Well Jack... I went one better and fixed it up just for you!

I need that on the back side of my sun visor instead of that buckle your seat belt shit.

seen this around a few sitres, thought you would like it... its got the tyre presure painted aswell, i reckon they look wicked

seen this around a few sitres, thought you would like it... its got the tyre presure painted aswell, i reckon they look wicked

oooops here the pic

I'm starting to like the new JK's better already. Nice top too.

Wow, Nice job.
I've been planning to do the same thing to my heep as soon as I can get it in the shop.

HA!

I don't think I'll be spottin' for ya much.........

In Soviet Russia... Trail Spots You!!!

It came out really well, the dish soap removes all the wax. For prepping it just before shooting I wipe the whole thing down with either Prep-sol or Laquer thinner, NOT mineral based, that just puts oils back on the thing.
Are you going to satin clear coat it over the top ?
One positive for removing the fender flares is you can get at any rust thats starting behind them, not a big issue in calif but in cold weather climates it is a big one. I'm starting to see rust traces behind my front flares on one of my 97 TJ's but I need to repaint the front clip anyway once I replace the passenger fender.

Right now I'm trying to find the best power tool for removing the surface rust on the TJ's frame before I paint it. Something like a flat circular sander that the pad will last more than 2 minutes that I can chuck in my drill.

33? I put 44 in my tires

Moved to FAQs.