Painting the XJ Desert Tan

[Darky]

After you sand spray a "tackcoat" meaning go lightly. Then back it up with a heavier (normal) coating till finished.

I'v read this will give the paint a good surface to adhere to. Thats generally what they recommend if you dont lay all your paint down at the same time, and go back to it later. Theres some good info on using spraybomb at www.ih8mud.com.

Yeah, that was the method I used to get the first coat down, spray real lightly then come back over it heavier a few times. My cousin was helping me with it and he just kinda went at it and sprayed it in one shot. But, at least its all one color and I can go back over it easier now.

To get rid of any splotchyness, try washing the area with a sponge and some ajax.

That's a good idea, I'll have to give that a shot.

Dude you got overspray on your window trim and tailights! jk lol. Looks good.

Shhhh, don't tell anyone... I'm going to scrape the windows and eventually I want to get taillight boxes, so I'm not too worried about the taillights as long as they're visible :thumbup:

That's just the way he is... paint on tail lights and all...


Curt

What, do I have paint on my tail? More importantly, why you been looking at my tail?

 

[Xtreme XJ]

HA !!! I've alway wondered about just coating stuff I DIDN'T want painted in an oil or vasoline then wash it off later...

Keep coating it Justin... it's coming along... your going with the tan & black right ?

Curt

 

[Darky]

Yeah, the raised portion of the hood will be redone with the satin black after better preparation since that's where a lot of the oxidation of the original paint is. The front bumper will stay black, the sliders will be black and whenever the rear bumper arrives, it'll be tan. Depending on how I like the black hood, I may repaint it to brown. We'll see.

 

[EricsXJ]

This project was another bitch but I got it done:

I did quite a bit of bodywork prior to painting and the whole writeup is here: http://www.ericsxj.com/paint/paint.htm

Also the above pics are showing it good. Depending on how the light shines on it it sometimes looks like crap. The hood was the hardest and I still have some striping left over:

I'm thinking maybe a wet sand with 400 grit might get rid of that and other irregularities?

 

[Coastie]

Very good write up, and an awesome site!

 

[OverlandZJ]

Looks good Eric.

I'm wondering if you were to remove the hood and place it on some horses and lay your paint from side to side vs front to back if it would help blend better.

 

[DanMan2k06]

Ca# AP1735B5H1CS8W I'm thinking maybe a wet sand with 400 grit might get rid of that and other irregularities?

Like I said earlier, try washing it really well with a sponge and some ajax to get rid of any splotchyness or high(er) sheen areas.


Edit: wow don't know what happened to that quote?

 

[pecsxj]

Going to try and paint mine this summer, toss up between tan or OD, I am in the dessert now but I never know were I will be in a few years since I am in the military. I think I am leaning toward the OD green like OverlandXJ's, not trying to copy his but I just love the old OD military jeeps.

 

[bmpweXJ]

Looks good.

 

[rag]

It will eventually lose some of it's "tan" quality and become much more dull. It's hard to pickup on it until you touch up a spot. Tan > OD. Also greasy hand prints and fluid spills are a PITA to deal with on tan paint if they are allowed to sit for longer periods of time.

 

[macs97XJ]

I like the tan myself, however I much prefer the look of all tan like our LSSV's are with everything green, wheels and bumpers without the two tone black and tan. My .02

mac

 

[maui xj]

i painted mine last year and loved it ever since. i spent a lot of time sanding and prepping the surface. i was going to use rustolium american accents mesa tan but when i went to pick up the paint home depot didnt have it or anywhere else for that matter so i i used a single stage paint and air gun after it was all said and done i know i wouldnt have got such a good finish with a rattle can!

i painted the bumpers and sliders flat black and left the inside of the grill black and i think it came out great!

 

[EricsXJ]

Nice job Maui xj. :thumbup:

 

[GordoSmasho]

I think I'm going to be heading in this direction in the next year. I'm wondering if it would at all be worth shooting some flat clear over the top for durability. Or is this a no no. I'm some what new to the rattle auto paint. I would think some clear would help some of the fading and oil absorbtion as previously mentioned.

 

[EricsXJ]

I'm wondering if it would at all be worth shooting some flat clear over the top for durability. Or is this a no no.

I would not do this. You want to be able to touch up spots at will and I'm not sure what effect the clear coat would have on that. The paint is very durable (assuming you do good prep work) and mine has not faded much at all. I take off my doors for the summer months and I left them outside the whole time while the Jeep was parked in the garage. When I put the doors back on last winter I could not tell any difference or fading from the paint on the doors vs paint on the jeep.

I will say that the comment about grease and oil is absolutely true, so that is something to be careful of. But worse case you can always lightly sand and re-paint if needed.

 

[Darky]

Mine hasn't faded much at ll, and my prep work sucked. I'm gonna redo it at some point. Prep work is key!

 

[Geck_87laredo]

Dont you think spray paint will come off if you spill like gas on it??
isnt klyron rattle can?

 

[nates94xj]

I thought I was being cutting edge by painting my xj desert tan a few weeks ago, guess not. $300 at Maaco and it looks pretty sweet so far. Best part is, no paint in my lungs. It would look better if I had agreed to their high pressure sales and paid to get more prep work done, or better yet, done more prep work myself. I'm just going to scratch it up soon anyways.

 

[DanMan2k06]

Dont you think spray paint will come off if you spill like gas on it??
isnt klyron rattle can?

Yes, and yes.

 

[rabies]

i used that krylon camo stuff too.
if you spill gas on it. it changes color alittle but doesnt come off unless you scrub it while its wet.

for the record. "sand" and "khaki" are 2 different colors for the camo.
the khaki is more greenish.
the sand is a light light brown

heres mine painted "sand" roof rack and suspension/bottom is painted khaki



:smootch: