The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Tailgate Letter Painting

I am considering painting my tailgate letters and my rear bumper canvas white to match my front bumper. I have seen the lettering available from the typical sources in white but think the bright white lettering would not fit well with the canvas white bumper.

I know I can mask the letters but getting the masking lines crisp and clean seems like it would be a challenge so I was hoping to find premade stensils but so far no real luck.

Any suggestions about the best path forward would be appreciated.

One way to do that would be to paint the letter area the color you want, apply the letters available after the paint dries, then repaint the area body color and peel the letters off.

More work, but should work out OK with crisp lines around the letters.

I used a dedicated signwriter to edge mine

I know an 80 something year old fella who worked at a Furd plant and he said the letters on the tailgate where painted with a close nap paint roller and he was done almost as soon as he started. One continuous motion all the way across.

Thank you all for your input.

I considered the paint, decal, repaint, remove decal approach but was hoping for something easier (I can be lazy) and the roller idea but wasn't sure if that would produce clean lines.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

A sign shop can make decals for you in any color you want.

I saw a tip for getting crisp edges when masking.
1) Paint you base color.
2) Mask your letters.
3) Apply your base color to the masked area. When you do this, any leakage around your masking will be the base color and it will seal the area around your edges.
4) Apply your letter color.
5) remove your masking.

Thank you for the additional inputs.

I do have a sign/printing shop nearby and may inquire about their ability to provide what I am looking for.

dgrinnan - thanks for the detailed explanation, it sounds like a viable option to consider.

The women who did my pin stripping shamed me into having her do my tailgate as well.

She didn't shame you into anything. She did you a favor.

Wow! That looks great!