I get a lot of comments and questions on my hood blackout. The flat or matte finish of the hood reduces any glare while you are driving. It helps with eye fatigue on long drives, and even better, prevents a blinding flash of sun when you are tipping over rocks! Here is the solution that I chose after trying a couple different things.
My first attempt was a decal, and after about a year it began to fade and crack due to the extreme sun and weather. Thats no good. Also, the cost was relatively high ($320 installed). My most recent solution, going on two years now, is a rattle-can solution. Cheap, and the results are great! No wear, marks, or fading/peeling. It still looks great!
After the sign vinyl, I tried semi-gloss paint. That was OK, but I couldn’t get a good finish out of a rattle can, and I didn’t want to pay a body shop to so it. I tried three times with some rather heart-breaking visual results. A semi-flat paint just didn’t provide the smooth finish I needed. The solution?
It finally occurred to me that semi-gloss bed liner would cut glare, be durable, and have a mottled, speckled finish that would hide other blemishes. In other words, It would be FORGIVING. I used Dupli-Color Bed Armor. With a little masking tape and very little prep (light sanding with 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper) I sprayed the bed liner on and got a perfect finish. I’m still happy with it to this day!
Here is a link to the product I used. Three cans should do it!
Bed Armor
M
Also something I used on mine was plastidip as it is cheap durable and if you do get any knicks or scratches all you have to do is just hit that specific spot again and not redo the entire job. I did it on mine because of the 40 inch lightbar on the roof of my 4runner was giving quite the glare off of my hood.
Thanks for the tip Nick! Appreciated! I’ll have to check out PlastiDip too!
M
I tried PlastiDip on the hood of my FJ and it was a fail (I’m a fan of PlastiDip). When I tried to peel the painters tape which I used to mask the area of the hood like you did in the above post the PlastiDip peeled back as well creating a jagged line. I used black PlatiDip on all my silver plastic parts to make them matte black and it worked excellent for that job, but not for the patch on the hood. If someone knows a good technique to make it stick and not peel back when you remove the painters tape used to mask the area then please let me know!
Hey @Giovani. Sorry to hear that! What a pain. THat creates a lot of work for you – thankfully, once you find the right semi-rough finish, it is very forgiving as far as what is underneath. The technique i used worked very well. Maybe try that? Also, lightly sand (#800 – #2000 depending on finish material) the hood before using anything. It will help it stick.
Remove the tape before the plastidip drys.
I tried the exact same thing, but when you have to do 4+ coats of plastidip it is hard to remove the tape before it dries. I spent about 2 hours removing the jagged edged paint job. I plan on having a buddy just matte grey my whole hood out soon instead of messing with different cans.
Love plastidip though, has worked wonders on my rims.
I did the center swell on the hood of my f-150. Heres how you get around the peeling edges. Mask the area off like usual. Then paint the entire middle section 4-5 coats until covered. Leave about a 2″ area inside the tape unpainted. After the bulk of the area is painted and dried, do the remaining bit around the masking in 1-2 heavy coats and quickly remove the tape (within 2 minutes). It will peel off cleanly if it is still wet. Only downside is its hard to get an even coat that is not streaky. But the good news is you can go over it as many times as needed. I would avoid spraying it on a hot or cold day.
Looks good, @administrator I’ve tried all sorts of paints in the past. Armor and Plasti-Dip have now become my 2 favourite remedies for scratches and fix ups.
I’ll need to check out plasti-dip
Looks great.
Thanks!
After a couple rounds of Rustoleum flat black, I too have thought about the bed liner approach. A year or two after the first hood blackout, the paint turned greyish and became smooth, almost like a new chalkboard.
Lucky for you Michael, you just have to lay down 2 straight lines to mask. My hood blackout has two curved corners and a bowed front line. The solution is to use electrical tape. It’s extremely forgiving around curves, sticks well, and can be purchased in a variety of colors to contrast against the car’s paint.
Ha! Yup, my hood is pretty easy to mask for sure.
I need to do this I’ve been putting it off because I wasn’t sure what to use.
Thanks Nate.
You are welcome!
Had plasti dip on my JK wheels for over two years. Still looks good. Peeling the tape from the plasti dip super fast worked for me as I sprayed on a plasti dip where a bug deflector would live. I am doing matte black on black stock paint so mistakes are hidden a bit. My profile pic is a plasti dip badge. OB# 327
That badge looks great!
What did you do to avoid clogging the wiper jets with bedliner?
I just took my time and masked them really well.
What did you use on your wheels? My 80’s stock wheels are in need of some tlc and I am going to be blacking them out as well.
It’s a rattle can – there is reasoning behind that. If you powder-coat, that is an expensive fix when you scratch it. Here is a link to the article:
https://www.overlandbound.com/tech-tuesday-dont-knock-the-rattle-can/
@louie714
Thanks
I really like this write-up (and that truck!). After dealing with pretty bad glare from the last adventure out in the woods, I’m going to use this write-up to do my own anti-glare stripe. Thanks!
Thanks for the write-up…..I used your info to do mine.
[img]http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah288/shizane2003/11760139_10153440985170140_7555589621609539867_n_zpskrtnzpgz.jpg[/img]
Awesome @shane_oneil ! Glad is was useful!
I tried this today and the results were terrible. I prepped my hood by washing it down with solvent to remove any wax, then I lightly sanded and Windexed the hood.
I masked everything off and applied several light coats of DulpiColor Bed Liner. All was fine until I peeled off the tape. The edge I got was jagged, rough and peeling. It looked terrible.
It took me over 2 hours of rubbing, scraping and wiping my hood down with gasoline to get all the bedliner off.
I ‘might’ try it again with Rustoleum oil based bedliner but this experience really out me off of trying this experiment again.
@ultimatesurvival This sucks. Sorry about your pain. After trying many techniques and going through the same thing, I know how you feel. I think whatever coating you use will need great care when removing the masking. The surface itself looked good right? This may be to little too late, but I recall helping the mask in some occasions with a blade, and pulling the mask before full cure. The end results have lasted quite a long time. Perhaps we can get specific techniques answeered in our forums. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Really interested in using this exact method, but I’ve heard some complaints of fading and mud staining. How is this holding up after several years? It looks beautiful when new. Nice work!