How Much Does it Cost to Paint a Truck - DIY & Professionally

Well made trucks will outlast their paint by many years. However, if you leave the paint to chip and peel, it will leave the body exposed. Raw metal body panels will then become rust magnets, and eventually the paint that didn't last will end up taking your truck with it. Instead of waiting for the paint to start failing, you need to be proactive. The good news is that you can do it yourself and it won't cost as much as you think. It turns out, painting your truck, is a great investment.

Painting a truck gives you the chance to rejuvenate the look or try out a different color altogether. Besides choosing a color, one of the biggest things to consider is the cost to paint a truck before getting started. While we can’t tell you exactly what it cost to paint a truck, we can help you ballpark the answer.

Professional Painting or DIY

The biggest consideration to make when evaluating the cost to paint a truck is whether you want to do it yourself or pay a professional. Of course, going to a professional costs a lot more, but it’s likely you’ll receive a showroom quality finish. If you have the tools, patience and skill, you could attempt the paint job yourself. This not only saves you money but gives you a project to enjoy. The one time we don’t recommend painting a truck yourself is when you require the finish to be collector’s quality. Then, it’s best to bite the bullet and seek help from a professional. To get that durable, high-gloss finish you crave, they might need to apply more than 20 coats of paint!

Cost to Paint a Truck Professionally

If you choose to go the professional route, you have some different levels of service available to you. Basic Service – This involves a few coats of paint and is the most inexpensive option. They use synthetic enamel and will only take care of visible areas. You can expect to pay between $500 and $1,000 for most basic services. Standard Service – This often includes sanding and removing any rust before beginning the paint job. You can expect to pay anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000 depending on how much work needs to be done. Showroom Quality Service – This involves taking the bodywork to bare metal with sanding. Then, they remove any dents and rust. After that, the shop applies high-quality paint in numerous coats. These projects might consume a month of time and cost up to $20,000.

Cost to Paint a Truck Yourself

If you drive an old truck, it might not make sense to have a professional paint it. To keep the costs down, it’s wise to consider doing it yourself. The materials you need are readily accessible. Make sure you purchase:

• Paint (or Durabak for maximum protection)
• Primer
• Masking tape
• Foam brushes
• Sandpaper
• Paint trays
• Solvent
• Filtered Mask

One of the main things you need to consider is where you’ll paint the truck. Because you don’t have a climate-controlled booth, you need to evaluate your location’s dirt and dust content. The best place you could paint is in a very well-ventilated, clean garage. If you haven't got access to that, many people are able to use DEET and Citronella as bug repellants and apply Durabak in their front yard.

You may be of the impression that good automotive paint has to be sprayed on with an aerosol can. If you want to mimic the application of a professional sprayer, it's not going to be possible with a can of aerosol though. Whilst you can find cans of automotive spray paint from as little as $10, you would need dozens of them, costing you hundreds of dollars. The finish would still not look close to professional but don't worry too much, because it won't last that long.

If you were to try and use your HVLP gun and air compressor to spray on some professional automotive paint, then you just need to invest in an oven big enough to fit your truck in to dry it! Even if not, you'll need to spend a lot of time and money on bondo and sanding as that paint will magnify any imperfections in the car - so set aside a week for the project.

There is another option though, Durabak. Durabak was developed to address all these problems in a simple DIY package. For just $300 you will have enough Durabak to coat your Truck fully. Durabak is not regular paint, it's military spec so it's super tough. It's also much thicker than regular paint, so you don't need to have the world's most perfect surface to apply it on to. Durabak is also flexible not brittle, so if your truck ever gets dented, it won't just crack and break off leaving exposed metal.

You can roll on Durabak or use a spray gun and you can get surprisingly great results that will last decades - check out our gallery for pictures of DIY Durabak to see what great results you can get with it.

Final Thoughts

Prior to making any commitment, you want to fully consider the cost to paint a truck. If you choose to go professionally, you’ll want to receive multiple quotes and evaluate the shops’ reputations. If you prefer to tackle this project on your own, we can’t recommend Durabak enough. Not only is it a cost-effective option, but it protects your truck from UV rays, rust and scratches. If you want to see how simple it is to paint the exterior of a truck with Durabak's truck bed liner paint, just check out this YouTube video from a customer that did it himself. https://youtu.be/Vd8Phbw_5yI Contact us today and let us help you improve the appearance of your truck.