Re-Paint, rhino, raptor, or leave it alone?

[Rockey709]

I recently got a new toy in the form of a 1994 4x4 sportsmobile and the clear coat is starting to show its age a bit. The truck is still new to me and we’re in the honeymoon phase where I want to rebuild every aspect of it and ruin my marriage to make it perfect blah blah blah.

question is, has anyone had any success with the various DIY Bedliner style applications (think we’re the Russos) in the green one on YouTube. Or is there a special patina to 26 years of adventures and leave it alone? From 20’ away, you can’t tell it’s peeling.

fishing for thoughts, advise, or I told you so’s.

thanks.

 

[borison]

I would probably try to save the finish as much as reasonable, whatever that is, and rock the expo white. It’ll still look better than covering it up.

 

[i bike]

I Raptor Lined my entire white van, including jambs and inside of the barn doors. It was a stupid amount of work, but overall I think it was worth it.

I had paint lifting in big chunks in a few different spots, but if yours is just the clear coat you could get away with white Raptor on just the exterior. That’d save a bunch of labor and material.

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[Deleted member 9101]

Depends...do you want your van to look like a chalk board in a few years...if so the DIY bedliner is for you...lol.

 

[Raul]

I did Monstaliner. Mine was peeling really bad. It was a fleet van and they did a poor paint job to paint the original brown paint to silver as the rest of the fleet. I am quite pleased with the results. It is a rough look, but that’s What I was after.

 

[jkam]

I'm a big fan of letting a vehicle gather a patina with age.

 

[nitro_rat]

If you think the original paint is a mess, wait to see what it looks like after a few years with a less-than-professional cover up with any type of coating!

Resprays are no better than than the surface they're shot over. It's hard to feather out peeling cleat IMO. Got to strip it all. If you change colors it's a LOT of work to do it properly. Either way the jambs usually never look right again.

All those liners turn chalky in the sun. They pick up dirt in the crevices that's hard to remove evenly. You can see the pressure washer marks like on an old driveway that's been sprayed. And talk about a b!t€h to remove! In most cases the vehicle is reduced to a parts truck as the body is unsalvageable. Some scrap yards won't take the shell either. All that liner is flammable and makes a big mess when they try to recycle it...

 

[Deleted member 9101]

You'd be better off painting it with implement paint from TSC.

 

[Rockey709]

Really good feedback everyone. Seems like the pack is 50/50, so thanks for nothing I suppose lol. Kidding!

I’m in San Diego with plenty of sun and sea air so the thought of a fast degradation is an important consideration. That being said, they look amazing when done well! Damn portal! Making my decision harder ???

 

[i bike]

Really good feedback everyone. Seems like the pack is 50/50, so thanks for nothing I suppose lol. Kidding!

I’m in San Diego with plenty of sun and sea air so the thought of a fast degradation is an important consideration. That being said, they look amazing when done well! Damn portal! Making my decision harder

FWIW my van sits in the AZ sun all day long with frequent temps over 110. I did my raptor back in March and it still looks great, the original sheen did fade a little but I actually prefer it a little more muted. Raptor has a UV protectant built in.

I also sprayed the main body color with the 20% urethane reducer method using an HVLP gun to reduce the texture. It cleans up SUPER easy. I just use a medium stiffness brush and some standard car soap then dry with a leaf blower.


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[Cummins_expo]

I have a similar paint peel happening. Local paint shop mentioned doing Raptor. He sands down to the grey primer under and then sprays a clear over the Raptor. According to him it helps keep it from chalking and keeps the dust/dirt out of the texture. He showed me a shop truck that was several years old and it looked pretty darn good. I was going to do a full re-paint but knowing I will Arizona pinstripe it first trip out makes me seriously consider the Raptor

 

[Raul]

Mine is holding quite well under the Houston Sun. I've replaced 4 times already the red pinstripe. The last one I was tired of taped pin stripes and used Ford tractor red in rattle can. The Monstaliner is holding quite well. If you have doubts, do not do it. If you love it, go for it.

On this picture the Monstaliner is 2.5 years old. The bumper was spray painted a month ago with Harbor Freight bed liner can. The big gauge on the lateral was caused by a fairly large branch on a tight trail. Usually there is no trail pinstripping.

 

[Mxkutch]

I painted my whole van (inside and out) with monstaliner and love it.

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[Mxkutch]

I actually did mine with Monstaliner after seeing how good Rauls turned out on here and mine still looks great two years later


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[Todd780]

I vote wrap it like the A-Team van.