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Looks great! Looks like your tire is on backwards...

solo_ryder wrote:Looks great! Looks like your tire is on backwards...

x2? is this true??

sad to hear the broken fog lamp... unfortunately you can't just replace the outer lense since it's attached the the housing... you can remove the internals though...

That looks awesome! Great job.
Sorry about the fog light, and the wound.
With that done, those headlights, and a detailing, it would look like a 2010 car

Can I ask what brands of paint/clear you used? I'm sure you researched before you picked, so I'm curious what you chose.

Ryan wrote:Can I ask what brands of paint/clear you used? I'm sure you researched before you picked, so I'm curious what you chose.

x2 It looks great! Share your secrets

mmm, new rasperry metallic. lussshhhh... very nice job btw

I don't see the messed up tire guys

and that looks great! I'm always afraid of painting outside pieces because I think it will look like crap =(

share your secrets!!

Thanks everyone. To be honest it's about a 10 footer. It looks great from 10 feet but the finish is very course when you get closer. It looks good enough to drive around though and t will make a nice base for a pro to do the car properly. I have all the pics of theproduct I used I will post later. I'm on my phone right now.

How I'm able to punctuate is a mystery.

Dark_Rider2k3 wrote:I don't see the messed up tire guys

and that looks great! I'm always afraid of painting outside pieces because I think it will look like crap =(

share your secrets!!

He's right, the tread is directional. I must have accidentally swaped them the last time I have them both off.

As for secrets...The bumper and lip were easy because they are new. Here are the steps I followed.

1. Wash the entire piece thoroughly with a red scotchbrite pad and comet. The comet gets it very clean and the abrasiveness of it along with the scotchbrite pad scuffs it up very nicely.


2. Rinse it off very thoroughly. You have to get all the comet residue off.

3. With the bumper the next step was adhesion promoter. One coat is all that's required. This was not necessary with the lip because it came from the factory already primed. I did wear through the primer in a couple of spots while I was washing the lip and there was one area that needed to be sanded out on the bumper so make sure to clean it thoroughly with a tack cloth and use the adhesion promoter before re-priming.




4. I primed the entire bumper with "Flex Fill" primer. Don’t' try to get full coverage with the first coat. Do a nice light coat, wait 15mins and do another. Let that dry for 1/2 hour or so and then lightly sand with 320 grit. The primer goes on with a bit of texture so you're just trying to knock it down.



5. Wipe all the sanding dust off with a clean cloth. Then use a tack cloth to ensure that there’s no dust at all! Then I used a cloth (not the same as the one I used before) with some brake clean on it to make sure there’s no grease or oil from my hands on the piece. Brake clean dries with no residue and won’t harm the primer.


6. Now I spray the color. Again, you’re not trying to get full coverage with the first coat. Put down a nice light coat and don’t worry if it’s not even all over. Wait 15 mins and do another light coat. Now you should have pretty good even coverage. Wait 15 more minutes and do another coat. This time you’re looking for any patchiness or areas that aren’t even. Let that dry at least an hour. Here are the small pieces before clear.



7. At this point a pro or experienced painter would probably color sand. I’ve never done that and am not sure the correct procedure so I didn’t. I used a grey scotchbrite pad (the finest) and LIGHTLY wiped down one area of the bumper to see if it was better but that turned out to be a bad idea so I did another light coat over that. I think the right thing to do would be to let it dry for a day and then wet sand with something like 1000 grit, but I was too scared to screw up the paint.

8. So now I just did three light coats of clear. The clearcoat I used came out of the can really heavy so it was difficult to do light even coats. Again, I think a better painter would have done something to smooth the surface of the clear as well but I didn’t.



And the finished product...


The problem I had with the sides I realized is that the primer is actually reacting with the old paint underneath. I am letting it dry thoroughly so that I can sand it right down to the plastic and prime and paint again. I will probably not get that done today.

wow! Great work, even better write up. Vote for sticky

Nice job, professional results out of a rattle can are not easy!

Let us know if it spiderwebs/crinkles after a year. My last paint job did

I am pescimistic on this one. I don't expect it to last extremely well...but we'll see. I just wanted to get it looking decent so I could put it on after having it for a year.

Hey Charlie, what is that half dome looking thing on the moon roof?
It looks like it matches the slim rain guards? Where do I get one?

Are one of these it? Windflector or deflector? http://www.autoanything.com/deflectors/60A1069A0A0.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.autoanything.com/deflectors/69A1308A0A0.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.autoanything.com/deflectors/69A1368A0A0.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's a sunshade/rain guard for the sunroof, right? A OEM accessory that you can still find here and there..