Like I said - I wasn't done yet.  I still wanted that shiny new truck.  Unfortunately, at this point the economy had tanked, my phone wasn't ringing, and my fat-free budget had gone on a crash diet.  But then Maaco announced a "half-price" sale, and I figured a new coat of paint would be a worthy compromise, so I headed over to their local shop.

Turns out they still wanted a chunk of change and a firstborn to do the job.  In other words, even their much-touted "sale price" was still well out of my budget.  What wasn't out of the budget was a can of Bondo, a few cans of red and white spray paint, a quart of white Rustoleum, and a small foam roller to apply it.  Not to mention boatloads of fine-grit wet-sand paper, and gallons of elbow grease. 

Again, I took what I had, and went to work.

I started by grinding the dented areas down to raw metal.  A neighbor loaned me a dent-puller, so first I pulled out the big dents.  Then several thin layers of bondo, with sanding in between.

The red accent was spray-painted from a rattle-can, the white was rolled on with a small foam roller.  No one believes me when I say it, so I'll say it again.  My truck was painted with a paint roller.  By using a foam roller (shown at left) the paint distribution is very even. With a professional touch, wet-sanding and several coats of paint, a very respectable paint job can be had.

The reason I chose Rustoleum is that it is a very tough paint, made for industrial applications.  It does not require a primer.  It has excellent self-leveling properties, and it dries quickly.  I would not attempt this with just any paint, but it worked well using the Rustoleum.  Because my painting was done outdoors, I painted early in the day, while the air was very still.

There is an excellent thread on this subject at moparts.com, from which I learned a lot.  For those who would like to learn more, and have the patience to wade through pages and pages of commentary, click here.

Everything was wet-sanded between coats with 1500 grit paper, and the final coat was polished up with Turtle Wax Polishing compound.  Now I was really good to go!