Nissan Frontier Custom Paint Prep - Chameleon

Our Goal We did a bit of... 

   

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Our Goal
We did a bit of Photoshop work to see what we wanted before we consulted Maaco's color samples.

Most people know Maaco as a collision repair shop that has a fast turn-around time, and we can attest to their ability there. The crew was buzzing around the shop completing jobs in an efficient assembly line of dent repair, paint prep, masking, painting, and buffing. They must have finished one car per day for the week that we were there. Aside from the regular repair work that Maaco does, they also can handle additional custom tasks like color-matched door handles and interior pieces, so when we were thinking about a full color change for our Nissan Frontier Fantastic Four veteran, our first call was to Maaco.

With nationwide shops and quality paints, Maaco can do more for your truck's appearance than you might think. Also, with a custom paint shop, your truck could be "getting worked on" for weeks, if not months. In one week the truck went from dull and dented to looking like a brand new truck. There aren't many other ways to totally change the look of your truck for such a small investment. Follow along on the next page for the Maaco prep work, and check back next issue for the finished results.

The Maaco of Anaheim manager,...        read full caption The Maaco of Anaheim manager, Ed, inspected the vehicle and marked all of the dents and repairs. From there, Andres started on the dents with a 36-grit grinding wheel.

With metal exposed he was...        read full caption With metal exposed he was able to weld studs to the low spots, as shown in the photo on the previous page. When metal dents it forms ripples, similar to the surface of a pool of water. To restore the shape of the panel, Andres pulled out on the low spots while tapping in on the high spots.

Andres then used a sander...        read full caption Andres then used a sander with 80-grit paper to feather-edge the paint leading to the dent before applying a skim coat of plastic filler. After sanding the first layer of filler with a block and 80-grit, he tapped down any high spots that remained and applied another skim coat. After block-sanding the filler down again only a thin layer remained. You can actually see through most of it to the metal below.