Painting Front Tow Loops (Process & Pics)

I had a free afternoon today and thought I'd play with the Tundra a bit. Truck now has 30k on the clock and still loving it every time I drive it. Over the past 4 to 6 weeks I've been thinking about painting the front Tow Loops, but I keep forgetting about stopping to pick up a can of gloss yellow paint to give the truck an accent with a pop of color. This afternoon I was a lazy a$$ and settled for a can of spray paint I had laying around the garage.

First order of business was the removal of the 2 tow hooks from the frame. Two 11/16 bolts on each bracket and they were off. There was a bit of a surprise that there was bare steel under the Tow Loops. Seems the frame was painted after the installation of the loops. Anyone else see this? I gave each side a quick sanding with some 100 grit dry sandpaper.




Then the fun began.. as my old man (now I'm the old man) told me, 90% of the paint job is the prep so I began with the 100 grit and then used a scratch pad to make sure all surfaces were roughed up so the applied paint would not have an issue clinging to the surface.

 

Prior to painting, I washed all parts with soapy water, followed by blowing the parts off with air pressure to ensure no water remained in the cracks. Once dry, painted the Tow Loops with the red paint I had on hand.

 

While paint was drying on the Tow Loops, touched up the bare spots on the frame. Still thinking the loops were bolted on the frame and then it was either dipped or painted.

 

You'll enjoy the pop of color those provide! Loved having my blue ones peaking from under the bumper.

 

Here are a few pictures with the Tow Loops bolted back on the frame. Paint matched a lot closer to the sway bar than I originally thought.

 

All done... came out better than I thought! What do you guys think?

 

You picked the right color since that blue on your truck pops!

Thanks Bro!

 

Looks good.

I bet if you hit them with a gloss clear coat they would match the sway bar perfectly.

 

Hmmm... good idea. The paint was very close.

 

Looks great. So no prime, right to paint, right? On my list of things to do for sure. Great write up, thanks.

 

Since I did not go down to bare metal except for a few small spots when sanding, I felt there was no need to prime the tow loops. I wasn't concerned about the underside of the loops (where they come in contact with the frame) since they were bare metal to bare metal from the factory. The enamel I used provides 2 layers (red paint and black) so there is no raw metal contact any longer. Figured this should suffice.

 

Yeah buddy I did the same and no REGERTS.

 

Whew... that red just pops and accents the truck perfectly! Glad I went ahead and made the mod!

 

I also painted my factory crappy skid plate light gray and I also have no regrets on that one, though mods like that sometimes look really cheap and bad im stoked on it.

 

I was thinking about that but with Christmas coming, I asked for the aluminum TRD skid plate. Maybe the family will chip in and get that for me!

 

These red loops are looking great fellas. Not to hijack but what size BFGs are you running?

 

315/70/17 on bone stock suspension & no CMC

 

Thanks for the nice write up! On my list to do very soon! If your family does get you the TRD skid plate, I’d take your stock one off your hands

 

Can I send you mine,I must have not let them dry completely when I painted mine they are all crazed and cracked and look like crap

 

I’ll keep you in mind!

 

Sorry to hear that… could very have well not been dry or there was some oil/grease film on the loops. I washed mine off with Dawn dish washing detergent (remove oil and grease), blew them off with the compressor, and then painted after about 30 minutes (made sure they were dry). Put light coats on and used a heat gun to ensure the paint was dried before applying another coat.

 

I live in Phoenix az so I didn’t even clean mine I just primed them & painted them lol. Came out easy especially when it’s 118* outside.
Edit ok nvm I did clean mine in a soapy bucket lol I just remembered.

 

What was the color code you used they look perfect

 

At 118 degrees you certainly don’t need to be using a heat gun!

I also suspect there is little to no humidity… it’s a dry heat! Perfect weather for painting.

 

Here’s what I used

 

I need to get off my @$$ and do mine,l. I'm going to sandblast, then paint them.

 

This is what I used, believe it or not the paint can states it’s a Ford red. Interesting

 

I have a glass bead setup and was thinking about blasting them, but since they were in such good condition I figured I’d leave the factory finish and apply the red as a top coat. If I had a lot of bare metal I would have definitely primed them like you did.

 

If I wasn’t in a hurry, I should have went out to the store and bought some Rust-oleum! I suspect you’ll never have to touch them up.

 

On my Tacoma I painted the entire armor of the truck with rustoleum self etching primer and satin paint. No issues. Especially out here in the SW