Need opinions on what to do BAD!!

[MJ300]

Well I thought with the beautiful weather this weekend would make a really good weekend for me BUT I thought very wrong when this happened Friday night.

 

 

Got hit by my friend's 83' camaro, he shattered his rear spoiler, and messed up his rear bumper he just got finished fixing and painting. Luckily for me he's paying for my damages which are estimated to be about $600. So now I'm in a bit of a pridiciment right now because when I was talking to my dad about it, he told me that he was planning on having the entire truck painted anyway this summer. :doh: So.........right now I'm trying to convince him that while it's in the body shop to just get the whole thing painted now, because it's gonna save my friend money, and my dad money because my friend is paying for the portion he messed up.

 

So if I do decide to get it painted now while the body work is being done it's most likely gonna be Colorado Red with silver Cherokee trim and fender flares such as shown below.

 

 

Now I know that money does not grow on trees, and that isnt going to be the cheapest thing in the world to do but I think that if before I actually take it to the body shop I might try to less the costs by.......

 

1. Removing the rear bumper

2. Removing all fender flares

3. Taking the decals off myself

4. Removing anything that needs to be removed for painting (i.e. winshield trim, bumpers, decals, cab vents, etc.)

5. Grinding the worst rust spots and sanding them down

 

Anything else that I could do to lower costs on anything my friend has to pay for the dent, or me to paint the truck? Also any estimates of what my paint could cost? (minus the inside of the bed) cause I can't wait till monday till the body shop is open again!! :fs1:

 

P.S. If any of you guys have some time on your hands and good photoshop skills put some brand new red paint on my truck with silver Cherokee trim and fender flares without the black stripe. Thanks guys :D PIC BELOW

 

[Eagle]

It certainly would make sense to do the painting now rather than repair one panel, and then paint the rest of the truck later.

 

That Cherokee color scheme isn't really silver, it's more of a platinum (at least the ones I've seen). I like it, but it looks better with the moldings in the platinum area -- and then they trap water and start it rusting behind the trim Catch 22. Whatever color you use on the flares, be sure the shop uses flex additive in the paint. The flares do flex, and without the additive the paint will crack and peel right off.

[jbhill]

take off as much as possible. assuming your truck doesnt have many dents or any spots peeling, id say atleast 2 grand for a good bb/cc, i wouldnt waste my time with single stage.plus red isnt the cheapest. just a quart of red mixing color is like 275, were as say a blue is like 90...

[creekscout]

Well I'm going to the JY tomorrow afternoon to look for the Cherokee trim, I have half of what I need right now from a donor but am afaraid to remove it.

 

Anyone know how to remove that trim that goes across the bottom of the doors??? (I'm assuming some sort of adhesive.) :dunno:

[HOrnbrod]

Anyone know how to remove that trim that goes across the bottom of the doors??? (I'm assuming some sort of adhesive.) :dunno:

 

It's just attached w. 3M double sided tape and pulls right off the body, especially in hot weather. Problem is I don't think the XJ trim is long enough for the two MJ bed pieces. You'll need five pieces per side. It's a real bear to clean off all the old adhesive; I use a sharp putty knife w. plenty of Goo-Gone. Then clean it up real well with alcohol and reattach using new 1/2" 3M molding tape. :D

[codybutz]

ive always used a 2" putty knife and a heat gun. i wouldnt heat up the trim itself but i use it to heat up the blade alittle on the putty knife, not like glowing red hot but a little warm. also if you don't mind messing up the paint on the donor jeep you can just grab a piece of wire with to doll rods on the end, you just slide the wire behind the trim and work your way down the jeep until its all off