Undercarriage color

[hotkarl]

In the process of restoring the underside of my truck it's silver, and I can't tell for sure if the underside is body color or factory primer and I couldn't find any definitive pictures. Were these trucks originally a thin coat of body color or primer? If anyone has some decent pictures that would be awesome. My truck is definitely original but with the silver it's hard to tell. I'd like to know for sure how to refinish it. If my truck was any other color I'd know for sure.

 

[derekp]

They usually just come a painted black underneath.

 

[hotkarl]

The chassis and components yes, I'm talking about the underside of the body sheet metal.

 

[Harley Harrold]

The chassis and components yes, I'm talking about the underside of the body sheet metal.

My truck is painted 100% Detonator Yellow Clearcoat top to bottom, chassis is all painter black.

 

[hotkarl]

My truck is painted 100% Detonator Yellow Clearcoat top to bottom, chassis is all painter black.

Been a while since I've crawled around under a Ram other than my own so I wasn't positive. I kinda thought it was body color. My truck being silver it was hard to tell if it is paint or gray factory primer, definitely not finished as solid and nice as the rest of the truck. Some vehicles depending on manufacturer are not fully painted underneath. Sometimes you see the body color just wrapped around the edges and then it's just primer throughout the bulk of the middle.

 

[emjohn4]

Been a while since I've crawled around under a Ram other than my own so I wasn't positive. I kinda thought it was body color. My truck being silver it was hard to tell if it is paint or gray factory primer, definitely not finished as solid and nice as the rest of the truck. Some vehicles depending on manufacturer are not fully painted underneath. Sometimes you see the body color just wrapped around the edges and then it's just primer throughout the bulk of the middle.

It's this on the Ram, and 98% of the other production vehicles.

Paint is expensive, and auto manufacturers calculate to the 1/10 penny what each car costs to paint. They don't paint (body color) the underside because no one sees it.

It's e-coated and primered. The metal is protected well enough. A coat of POR-15 couldn't hurt, though.

 

[usaf2006]

My truck is black, but is also this silver color underneath.

 

[ST-8]

My truck is not painted the same grey under the body. It's a lighter primer looking color

 

[hotkarl]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm going to do it with the por 15 gray, and then I'll **** the body color around the edges.

 

[derekp]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm going to do it with the por 15 gray, and then I'll **** the body color around the edges.

Okay, but are you able to color between the lines that way? Or will it look like a men's toilet at 6 o'clock in the morning? lol

 

[hotkarl]

Okay, but are you able to color between the lines that way? Or will it look like a men's toilet at 6 o'clock in the morning? lol

Ha ha! No worries, I have good aim!

 

[hotkarl]

I got to crawl under my nephews '06 on Easter. His truck is nice and clean and all original. Very nice to be able to see everything as it should be. The underside is totally grayish primer. No color wrap around at all. My truck was originally from Canada and everything was undercoated, plus it's silver so it was a little hard to tell but now I know!

 

[hotkarl]

Anybody know what color our driveshafts were when they were new? Can't find one that isn't rusty orange and also no luck with image search.