Before you start this project, determine what color you would like to go with. You'll need at least, bare minimum, of 3 cans of color, 2 cans of clear, a spray bottle with water or just use a water hose, a clean T-shirt or microfiber cloth, a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol, small ratchet set, masking tape for whatever design you choose to do and a razor to cut designs into the masking tape.

First Step: Remove 1 Green grounding strap bolt of passenger side. Remove 2 bolts that attach the hood to the hinge. Keeping the loose side elevated with a buddy or a 2x4 block of wood in a towel, remove the opposite side bolts. Place hood on a clean surface.

Second step: Wash everything off your hood really good. If you miss a spot and try to paint over a dirty surface, you'll end up with a paint bubble. I'm not sure what the proper name for that is called, but the paint will start to rise after a while or it just won't adhere itself to the surface.


Third Step: Wet sand the desired area with a really fine wet sand paper. There's no such thing as too much water. I used about a 300 grit. After sanding, dry the surface with anything that doesn't break apart. You could use a T-shirt or a microfiber cloth. You want to look at the surface for any shiny appearance. If it shines even a little bit like the picture above, sand it again. Once all sanding is complete, you can move on to the next step.

Fourth Step: Clean the entire hood with alcohol and a cloth that doesn't fall apart. Again, you may use a T-shirt or a microfiber cloth. This is an important step! Make sure you clean really good. If there's any oil on the hood from your fingers or any dirt, you'll end up with a paint bubble.


Fifth Step: Tape off any portion that you do not want painted. Once the area is taped off, you can cut bits and pieces off the tape to perfect the shapes or design that you choose. You can even use a sharpy to do designs. Cut the marked portions out with a razor.

Sixth Step: Shake the can and start spraying. You want to hold the nozzle of the can about 12 to 16 inches away from the hood. Spray in a swiping motion. It should take around 3 seconds to spray from one side to the other. Start from the top and work your way down. DON'T SPRAY TOO MUCH!!!! All you want to do is mist the hood. If you stay too long in one spot, you might get a run in the paint. Overlap slightly while working your way down. When you're done with that coat, wait about 15 minutes to allow the paint to dry, depending on what type of paint you are using. I used Krylon indoor/outdoor paint. Then add another coat. Continue this process until there's about 5 coats of color. Once you sprayed the last coat of color, wait an hour.

Seventh Step: Do Step Six with clear coat. Only this time, you should only have 3 or 4 coats of clear. Once you are done with paint, wait 2 hours to allow the paint to dry.


Eighth Step: Remove tape. When you are removing the tape, pull the end of the tape toward you and away from the paint starting with the outermost layer of tape. Don't attempt to pull several layers of tape at one time. You'll just rush things and possibly mess up the paint. Slow and calm with the whole process.

Ninth Step: Look over the edge of the painted surface. Notice how it's slightly raised. To remove this, make sure the painted surface is dry and hardened. Most cases, this step is done the next day. Gently wet sand the edge with a 300 grit sand paper. Once the area is smooth, clean the sanded area with alcohol, then apply 2 layers of clear coat.


Tenth Step: Install hood. Do not try to buff or wax for another 3 days. If you try to wax or buff earlier than 3 days, you could keep the paint soft from the wax or you could even take the piant back off. Allow the paint to harden for 3 days. You can still drive it around for now. Just don't scratch it.

And that's all you need to know about painting your hood. This same process can be used with anything that you want to paint. You don't have to sand down to the 1st layer of paint. In fact, you should only take off what you need to. If you sand down to the primer, immediately stop, you've gone too far. Continue on with the rest of the surface.

Hope this helps! Good luck on your paint!

__________________
01 Ranger 3.0L 2WD Ext. Cab 5spd
Done: Painted Hood & Interior - Intake - Flowmaster 40's - 3" BL - Billet Grille - Blackout Headlights - Euro Tail Lights - Mamba M5 16" Wheels with 31's - Dome Light - Explorer Console - Gibson Headers - Delta Force Tuning - OHC
To Do: T3-T04 Turbo kit - Roll on Bedlinter - Paint Exterior Body Trim

Nice write up dude and it looks good

I thought it said "Paint your head" not hoood. Lol. Looks good

__________________
2001 Mazda B-3000 CabPlus "FX2 Off Road"| 3.0 | 5 SPD | 3 In Spindle Lift | Belltech Shackles | UltraGauge |Alpine Head / 10" Kicker Setup | Air Box Mod | Add-A-Leaf| Thrush Welded B4 Rear Wheel | Kobalt Box | Cobra 19 DX IV | Custom PA Speaker | Front/Rear Tow Receiver | 2X Aux Lights | Hideaway Strobes | Back Rack Safety Rack | Amber LED Strobes | Blue LED Strobes | 265/75/R16 General Grabber AT2's

lol clearly sayd paint your hood, meaning graffiti the walls of your 'hood

damn good wright up!! im gonna be painting my hood one of these days lol

__________________
02 Ranger- 4.0
Blinker mod, herculiner bed liner, throttle cable mod, new cab, interior lighting, switch back turns, custom halos in fogs. 330 LEDs and counting
Xbox 360 gamertag: cheebaRanger17
http://www.facebook.com/cheebster

The prep work sounded good but I would use prep solvent before you shoot it and buy a tack rag from a paint store. Tack rags have wax in them so when you "lightly" wipe acros the surface it picks up all the dust and dirt. I wonder if spray paint holds up to power washing.

It does if you do it right.



Nice writeup!

__________________
YZ the way to be!
The Brotherhood!

Mods to come: Camburg entry 6.0 system. FiberwerkX Fenders and bedsides. Tube bumper.
R.I.P. Jeff Ashton. 1992-2011

Thanks Cooter 83! This is my next big project

__________________
OXFORD WHITE 2002 FORD RANGER SUPERCAB 4 DOOR XLT FX4 OFF ROAD 4.0L SOHC 4.10 GEARS V2.0

OXFORD WHITE 2002 FORD RANGER SUPERCAB 4 DOOR XLT FX4 OFF ROAD 4.0L SOHC 4.10 GEARS V1.0 - SOLD

Sweet write up!! Very cool

Nice presentation. I painted my hood a couple of weeks ago and it turned out pretty well, but I wish I would have seen this post before I did it so that it would have turned out a little better. I like the design you put on yours.

__________________
2000 XLT Extended cab 4x2 3.0
No real mods, just some bodywork and paint so far