My Tahoe Being Painted - Pics Inside

[Big Tap]

I finally bit the bullet and put my Tahoe in the shop to get painted. It's been in there for about five weeks so far, with a few more weeks to go hopefully. If all goes as planned, I should have some paint on there by next week sometime.
Here are a few before shots of my ride. Keep in mind that these pictures are about a year old. The peeling clear coat had gotten worlds worse and looked terrible.

It's been a long and painstaking process. Whoever owned it before me either had it on it's side, or they ran it under a low overhang. This became evident when my body man started digging into it and finding layer, upon layer of bondo and just shoddy work. Bondo isn't really a bad thing if used in moderation and correctly, but whoever did it, mixed it incorrectly and just made a huge mess under the paint.

Upon further inspection and peeling back more layers of bondo, we were welcomed by this mess. This is what happens when you let an idiot loose with a dent puller and a semester of auto shop class. At this point, I was ready to punch whoever worked on this thing before in the face.

 

[Big Tap]

After much hammering, welding and sanding, the roof if finally on it's way to becoming a roof again. There's still some miscellaneous body work that's going on, but it's getting close to being ready for the primer coat.

There's a lot of extra things that I'm having done while it's in there. I'm having an SS front bumper installed, along with a rear Tahoe Z71 bumper painted to match. I'm also having my Street Scene D pillars and running boards painted and having my door bezels re-painted to match with my billet door handles re-installed. I'm also having all of the trim and emblems removed as well. As soon as I get it back, I plan on installing my 2/3 Belltech kit and Corsa tip.
I think all of this should look really good and will hopefully come together really nicely. When I bought this, it was suppose to be my DD that I was going to throw rims & tires at with a descent stereo. As everyone knows, those are the famous last words. I'll keep you all posted with the progress as it comes along.

 

[WaynesNside]

looking good man, can't wait to see the final result.

 

[CSRMarc]

Looking good, are you shaving the roof rack? Was wondering if people do that and how it would look.
Look forward to the pics
Sucks about the all that bondo, I know PDR has been around for awhile now, why wouldn't someone just pay to have that done?


Marc
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[M.M. 700]

Does it have a salvage title??? Or is this finding a complete surprise????

 

[road1will]

Does it have a salvage title??? Or is this finding a complete surprise????

Just because it was wrecked doesnt mean it has to be a salvage title. Hell, the previous owner could have fixed it himself and it would never even show up on carfax.

 

[Big Tap]

Yes, I'm completely shaving the roof rack and just going with a clean look. As jacked up as the roof ended up being, it probably would have been more work to try and re-mount the roof rack than to just do away with it. I don't use it, so no big loss.
I ran a Carfax on it before I bought it and it came back completely clean. It had an impecable service record actually. That's part of the reason I bought it. The only thing I knew about was that it had been run under a low overhang, but was told that it was fixed. I had no idea that it wasn't fixed correctly until it was too late and paint started coming off and all hell broke loose on the clear coat. Live and learn I guess. At least I get to do it my way this time...with a few extra mods for good measure. :yesnod:

 

[oneclu]

how much are they charging you to sand down and repaint this truck?

 

[Big Tap]

how much are they charging you to sand down and repaint this truck?

There's a lot more going on than just sanding it down and painting it. Tons of body work and lots of color matching going on. With everything that I'm having done, it's going to come in around 4K. That's really good considering all that is being done to it. If I was to have it done at shop rates, it would have been double that easily.
He wants to put ghost flames on it for free to help drum up some business for himself since he's fairly new to the area, but I'm a little apprehensive about letting him do it. I just don't think that I want that on my DD and personally think it might be a little too flashy for me, but I'm still on the fence about it.

 

[Big Tap]

Another pic for your enjoyment

 

[JKmotorsports]

Any eta on when it might be ready? I talked to him the other day about dropping my truck off to him to have the grille, ss bumper, and roll pan painted. Still got a couple other things I need to take care of first. I just dropped my truck off at Caliber in RR this morning to have the fender repaired from the accident a couple weeks ago.
Anyway, let me know when he gets finished with yours so I can come by and check out his work.

 

[Big Tap]

Still a little unsure of an ETA just yet, but when I went by there Sunday, he hoped to start putting paint on it by early next week, so we'll see. I had to ask him to take some time away from it to fix my girlfriend's car.
I've been driving my Dad's truck while mine has been in the shop and she rear ended me on Friday.:nonod: It wasn't real bad, but she lives in San Antonio and needed it done pretty quick so she could get back for school. It should be done in the next day or two. As soon as I can get another roll pan in for my Dad's truck, I have to have him paint that and fix the rest of it.

 

[Boarsheadburban]

Damn, what a mess. Hope it turns out ok for you. I just went through this with my Burb,(just got it back from the bodyshop Friday) although not as bad. Mine wasn't crashed, had to have the whole roof redone, cause the the guy who painted it for me used cheap paint. Ended up painting the whole truck.

 

[Polecat]

He wants to put ghost flames on it for free to help drum up some business for himself since he's fairly new to the area, but I'm a little apprehensive about letting him do it. I just don't think that I want that on my DD and personally think it might be a little too flashy for me, but I'm still on the fence about it.

do it....best investment I have done is flames....makes it stand out...I get TONS of looks and questions asking about mine....no longer a normal Yukon on 20's around here.

 

[Polecat]

 

[tast101]

real faint ghost flames shouldnt be that bad

 

[Big Tap]

A new picture with the bumper on. I'm starting to get really anxious about this!

 

[CHISTOSO]

Is that a bumper or just a bumper cap? That is gonna look tits regardless.

 

[Big Tap]

Is that a bumper or just a bumper cap? That is gonna look tits regardless.

It's a bumper cap made of urethane. It fits directly over the stock bumper. Someone also makes a fiberglass version of it, but I'm not sure if it's a cover or a replacement for the stock piece. Thanks for the compliment! Hope to have it back and on the road soon!

 

[Polecat]

who makes that cap??