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Looks sharp.If you ever want to change to euro glass headlights give me a shout.I do have some.I will give you a great deal.I also can give you a really good place to get your wheels done if you want them powdercoated.I got my valve covers and my intake done there.

pm me with how much you want for the struts. im broke at the moment but maybe we can work something out.

diezzel wrote:Looks sharp.If you ever want to change to euro glass headlights give me a shout.I do have some.I will give you a great deal.I also can give you a really good place to get your wheels done if you want them powdercoated.I got my valve covers and my intake done there.

I"m pretty happy with the headlights but I'm curious what it would cost to powder coat the rims. I'm going to swap the rubber onto my 5 spokes and see what can be done with the SE rims...but probably not soon. I'm in the midst of a flurry of spending and the boss is starting to mention it here and there.

So I hauled out my 94' 5 spokes and decided to use them for my winters this year. They were in decent shape but had some corrosion on the lip area so I decided to blast them.

Before...



After...



I picked up some Dupli-color primer and Dark Grey Metallic paint. So we'll see. Also in the market for some lightly used winter tires if anyone nearby has anything.

There is a lot more to come very soon. I'm also looking for some replacement body parts and I'm going to be painting the entire car before winter comes. Should be cool.

Wow Charlie, they look great.... D

They will look better when I paint them this weekend. I am thinking I will put my all seasons on them this weekend and do the same thing to the SE rims and refinish them like stock.

Just a heads up, these wheels were coated from factory. Now that you've entire removed that coating, the oxidization will happen again, and they will look like an intake manifold or a valvecover in no time. I suggest spraying some clear on them, at least.

Ryan wrote:Just a heads up, these wheels were coated from factory. Now that you've entire removed that coating, the oxidization will happen again, and they will look like an intake manifold or a valvecover in no time. I suggest spraying some clear on them, at least.

wytbishop wrote:They will look better when I paint them this weekend.

But thanks...I know you were just being helpful. I bought some metal primer and Dark Grey Metallic. We'll see how it looks on Saturday.

It's too bad everyone in the mx3 community isn't closer. Powdercoated rims ftw.

Lots of nice work Dude
Hey Charlie two points; if there's an after market enamal on the car the laquer based primer will cause it to lift usually along the edges so people need to completely sand that stuff off first just to be safe.
If your worried about sanding then use a rubbing compound. They come in different grades from course to fine and they're a pretty safe way to go.

Well...my plan when it comes time to paint the car is to purchase 12 cans of the same spray that I used on the bumper. There are a few spots where I will be exposing the bare metal and doing a bit of filling but in general I will be painting over the old paint. I purchased an inexpensive (canadian tire brand) orbital sander which I will use to scuff the factory paint.

For the wheels I will be using Dupli-color's body primer. If that doesn't work I'll take it off and do it again with adhesion promoter.

You know for a few extra bucks you can buy an HVLP spray gun and then buy and mix the paint yourself. The results of using a gun like that would be superiour to rattle cans for sure.
I have a random orbital sander and I think they're great. You can actually remove one layer of paint at a time once you get use to using one which only takes about 15mins. For really good adheshion use self etching primer over bear metal. Costs about 18 bucks a can but is a really good product and yes Crappy Tire sells it.

EDIT. I just remembered, I used Stainless Steel paint once and man that stuff got really hard. I'd think it would work awesome on wheels I just haven't sourced any out lately.

yes, but to use and HVLP gun you need compressed air and I don't have it. I'm actually going for a sort of reduced gloss "satin" look for the car. I think it will be cool. The paint I put on the bumper a couple of months ago is holding up extremely well so I think it should work out. The paint guy at the local Napa is very knowledgable and helpful. If I'm doing anything really stupid he'll tell me.

I couldn't find any etching primer for the wheels at CT so I'm going to try it with the standard metal primer that Dupli-color sells and see how it goes. Worst case, I just have to do it again in the spring.

Ya sorry, forgot about the compressor. Sometimes I forget that I have resources that I take for granted, lucky I guess. As far as wet sanding using 2000 grit and water is pretty safe. Do what I do and try it on a friend s car first.

I'm not going to wet sand. I'm going to leave it slightly textured to get the satin finish I want.