I just picked up the elements half door enclosures for my JK and I'm thinking about trying to paint them myself to try to save a few bucks. I know the quality probably won't be as good as if I have a shop do it, but I also don't want it to look terrible either. I'd like to do this myself as I expect to use the elements on the trail and they will probably get scratched more frequently than my full doors.

I was thinking

1. Really good cleaning with acetone.
2. two coats of primer.
3. two-three coats of paint
4. two of clear coat.

Does anyone have any recommendations about how to go about painting these parts? Am I missing any important steps?

Thanks in advance

 

You could Line-x (they have lots of colors) or powdercoat as a alternative.

But if you really want to paint, how are you going to do it? Do you have a place to spray? Do you own a air gun, compressor, water seperator? Does you wife worry that you will ruin the garage?

The easiest way would be to order paint, primer, and clear (stock JK colors) through color rite in a piss can form. Take them outside on a calm day or throw plastic down on the drive way or hang them up if you can, spray the road down with water 1st to keep dust down. Just remember your paint job is only as good as your prep work.

This way should turn out fine if your just using them as trail doors.

 

I'm kind of leaning towards doing it quick and cheap with a rattle can. I have access to a large compressor and a paint gun, but I would be spraying it outside any way. (no booth) The nice thing is that I probably won't have to worry about overspray too much the only thing to hit where I will be painting is the cows in the pasture 100 yds away!

The thing is... the enclosures warped slightly where the mounting nut and hooks were welded on, so I know it is not going to look like the $7500 half doors any way I do it. It will look pretty good, but not perfect. And... if it isn't going to be perfect anyway, I just as well make a fun project out of it. Worst case scenario I paint it, don't like it, and then hit it with line-X or something like that. Then I don't have to worry about scratches!

 

You can line-x it in red. If you want to do a rattle can, order it all through Color Rite so the paint matches. If the enclosures are warped slightly you can always use a sealer or "cough, cough" bondo. Sand smooth and paint it. Well it's a little more complicated then that and you might be getting yourself into a project that you don't want.

See how much it would cost for you to do it yourself then get a price from line-x and a paint shop. That might change your mind on what way is the cheapest.

 

I guess I made it sound like I've never painted a car before. I had two different 70's fords that I painted in high school, so I'm not a total newbie to it. Just 10+ years out of practice.

That, and back then we couldn't afford to replace the metal when it rusted, so we'd cut out the rust over the rear wheel wells, fiberglass or rivet in a replacement (usually from a road sign) and then bondo the crap out of it until we could sand it smooth. While it may not have been as nice as the new camaros some kids had, I think most of my HS classmates would remember the electric blue F100 before they would remember what other kids were driving.

That was also back in the days when 10 MPG and a daily quart of oil didn't hurt the pocket book as badly as it does now...