Well, summer is over for me...Back to school and back to work. I figured I'd take a few pics and wrap-up what I did this summer, modification wise.
We'll start with the most obvious modification...my rims. They used to be gunmetal with a polished lip, but it wasn't enough after a while. I contemplated many colors as well as selling them, but with the help of my girlfriend, decided to match the spokes to the rest of the car (Cinnabar Red) and leave the lips polished. They came out amazing IMO and I get double takes all the time. I feel I did it in a "non-ricey" way
. Also what you see in this pic is my painted calipers. They used to be red to somewhat match my paint and offset the gunmetal, but I felt by painting them silver they'd bring out the lip more. Everything flows pretty cleanly now.
Next is the front end. I had it painted about a month after the car was repainted (last August) because it wasn't bonding properly and chipped off a bit. After that it was all good until it got hit at my mechanics shop this summer. He paid for it and I brought it to my body shop, he sanded it and repainted it. So the paint is about a week old (just #80 on it). While there, I also had him cut out the ugly license plate hardware built into the bumper (which was painted red). It gives a nice clean look now of the bumper, with a clean bar across the center and my license plate hiding, but still visible, behind it. Also, while the bumper was off I wanted to do some touch-ups. Around the license plate, I painted everything flat black to take attention away from anything but the plate. On top of this I wetsanded with 1500, then 2000 grit papers, my headlights and blinkers. Following that, I polished them out with DACP and protected with EX-P.
Lastly, the tail end. I used to have red/smoke tinted tails that emitted less light and had no true reverse light. I tried to sand them down and repaint (due to clearcoat failure), but they came out too dark. Luckily, I had re-finished the stock taillights over the winter with 1500 grit papers, mother's aluminum polish, Klasse AIO/SG. They were very glossy and in perfect shape, so I slapped them on. And the ONLY yellow accent that will ever be on my car is the "Support Our Troops" magnetic ribbon. I went against all Autopian standards on this one and actually put such a thing on my car. I stand completely against Bush's decision to send troops over, but support the ones over there for having to do such a thing.
On the paint is Poorboy's EX x 3, Poorboy's Natty's x 2, touch-ups with S+W and Gliptone's Carnauba Body Gloss. BnB on the tires.
Enjoy!
We'll start with the most obvious modification...my rims. They used to be gunmetal with a polished lip, but it wasn't enough after a while. I contemplated many colors as well as selling them, but with the help of my girlfriend, decided to match the spokes to the rest of the car (Cinnabar Red) and leave the lips polished. They came out amazing IMO and I get double takes all the time. I feel I did it in a "non-ricey" way
. Also what you see in this pic is my painted calipers. They used to be red to somewhat match my paint and offset the gunmetal, but I felt by painting them silver they'd bring out the lip more. Everything flows pretty cleanly now.
Next is the front end. I had it painted about a month after the car was repainted (last August) because it wasn't bonding properly and chipped off a bit. After that it was all good until it got hit at my mechanics shop this summer. He paid for it and I brought it to my body shop, he sanded it and repainted it. So the paint is about a week old (just #80 on it). While there, I also had him cut out the ugly license plate hardware built into the bumper (which was painted red). It gives a nice clean look now of the bumper, with a clean bar across the center and my license plate hiding, but still visible, behind it. Also, while the bumper was off I wanted to do some touch-ups. Around the license plate, I painted everything flat black to take attention away from anything but the plate. On top of this I wetsanded with 1500, then 2000 grit papers, my headlights and blinkers. Following that, I polished them out with DACP and protected with EX-P.
Lastly, the tail end. I used to have red/smoke tinted tails that emitted less light and had no true reverse light. I tried to sand them down and repaint (due to clearcoat failure), but they came out too dark. Luckily, I had re-finished the stock taillights over the winter with 1500 grit papers, mother's aluminum polish, Klasse AIO/SG. They were very glossy and in perfect shape, so I slapped them on. And the ONLY yellow accent that will ever be on my car is the "Support Our Troops" magnetic ribbon. I went against all Autopian standards on this one and actually put such a thing on my car. I stand completely against Bush's decision to send troops over, but support the ones over there for having to do such a thing.
On the paint is Poorboy's EX x 3, Poorboy's Natty's x 2, touch-ups with S+W and Gliptone's Carnauba Body Gloss. BnB on the tires.
Enjoy!
j/k
but it's cool, as long as they can stop you well, that's all that matters. :xyxthumbs