I decided to paint the aluminum skidplate, I never really liked the look and the H3 emblem never really stood out IMO.

1. Remove skidplate, very easy as most of you know. Four bolts only front two have to be removed back two just loos-end.

2. Claen skidplate, I had previously put some metal wax on it so that had to be remove, some dawn dish soap and a scotch-brite sponge worked great.

3. Prime the aluminum. Paint will not adhere to raw aluminum, I found this self etching primer at Autozone ($5.49). It seemed to work great. Tape off the bolt clips so you won't get any paint in the threads.


4. I used a rubberized undercoating (Wal-mart $6.99) and painted the face of the skidplate.

This stuff took six hours to dry. But seems to be a nice durable coating.

5. Mask off everything but the H3 emblem.


6. Spray with desired color. I used a gloss white to match my truck.


7. Let dry then remove masking.


8. And back on the truck.


I really like the look.

 

Nice Job man!!! looks good

 

i like mine better. would have been nicer if the squirrels didn't keep standing up in the road . . . . [>:]

 

Shorty you might want to repaint yours. You could have evidence of endangered species kills splattered on the skidplate.

 

Looks good. I like

 

Nice job on the skidplate; have thought about doing that to mine just haven't gotten around to it yet. Good job.

Yes, I like yours to Shorty!

 

Looks real good finseeker; I'll be doing mine once the warm weather stays longer than a few hours. Thanks for the post with photo's.

Cliff

 

Thanks everyone. I really had fun doing it.
Next I'll be blacking out the grille, just haven't decide how I want to do it.
I saw a post years ago on another forum where the guy took a propane torch to the chromed plastic grille, he passed it over the surface carefully and the chrome will lift from the plastic.
I think I may try this method. Or maybe just the sanding method, I just hate the thought of the paint or bed liner chipping and the chrome showing through.

What do you guys think? Anyone ever try heating and peeling the chrome?

 

I don't think it would be worthwhile to paint my skidplate. I'm using it too often for it's intended purpose. You can probably see the "reshaping" of the plate here in this pic.

 

Bloody good idea mate! Did mine in red to match the Rancho kit but haven't worked out how to post pics on here.