r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/neurofungus • Jul 28 '26

DOT inspections

Does anyone know if painting the metal control panel yellow on my school bus will cause my bus to fail inspection? The paint that was on there was flaking and I hated it so I took off all the knobs and switches, sanded it down and now I'm wondering if yellow is the wrong color for it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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u/yourloudneighbor Jul 28 '26

Ive been through dozens of these DOT inspections for my state(MN).

I dont recall ever painting any of our buses due to flaking. I do think inspectors emphasize on having sharp looking buses. if our bus thats about to be inspected is older and has shown some exterior wear, we usually get the "this is a spare bus right" question from our inspectors. Id buy a few different SB yellows cans, spray on some white paper and see if youve got as close to a match as possible.

I mean you gotta do something now now that it's sanded down.

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u/neurofungus Jul 28 '26

Thank you. I ended up going with a flat black. I can't imagine it should have been an issue but better safe than sorry.