I had some time for my car again this weekend, so I got around to some small projects I'd been putting off for a while. My horn finally got a hi/low upgrade (which was a way bigger pain in the ass than I expected.). I got around to sanding and touching up the dumb rusting metal joint at the back of each door sill. I even refinished the outside door post between the side windows, which had gone all dull and peely.
The main task du jour was finally color matching my side mirrors. Quick rundown:
1) Remove Door Panels
2) Remove foam insert, expose three bolts
3) Remove nuts, detach mirror
4) Pry inner mirror glass from top center, until just before you think it will break you get a satisfying "pop". Set aside glass.
5) Apply a good number of thin coats primer
6) Apply two coats Duplicolor GM "Victory Red"
7) Apply one thin, then one thicker coat Duplicolor Clear
8) Reverse order to reinstall
9) After several hours to allow decent curing, apply coat of wax and buff off.
The immediate result is pretty convincing. Considering my prep work, painting skills, and methodology (namely using rattle cans on a bloody humid day) all sucked, I'm not even close to complaining. It should be interesting to see how long they last. Potential questions:
Q) Why didn't you paint the inner mounting plate?
A) Because that looks dumb. Maybe I'm alone on that conclusion, but it does.
Q) You should do the door handles too.
A) That's not a question. Also, I think my car looks better with a few black accents to help balance the contrast of the black bug deflector I have installed up front. I drew the line at doing the outer mirrors, but not the door handles.
Anyways, this concludes my car whoring for this week. Stay tune for my continuation of last weeks FatMat installation. I have another $400 of B-Quiet products going in. Somewhere. I'll find someplace. Incidentally, the FatMat I installed on the inner trunk lid fell off and stuck to my groceries. That sucked. The rest looks ok for now.
Before Paint:
After Paint: (And in need of a good wash and wax:
Damn. My signature is visually inaccurate now.
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i agree on the mirrors, painting the sails looks kinda weird/dumb. I still think that painting the handles would be better than leaving them black, there is plenty of black in the wheels and windows/window trim to "tie" in the bug flector. Looks good tho, the small things like that make a big difference
ive always liked your car.
nice upgrade!
u should paint the handles! (not a question, its a fact)
car looks clean none the less!
WiGM-Tuners member.
looks good. but did you seriously remove your door panels to get to the mirror sails? ive never had a problem removing mine with the panels on. just one screw then the three nuts and the mirror is off
(tabs) wrote:looks good. but did you seriously remove your door panels to get to the mirror sails? ive never had a problem removing mine with the panels on. just one screw then the three nuts and the mirror is off
Good catch, I had the panels off anyways to try and fix a speaker wiring issue. Scratch that off the list for sure.
Something that i hadn't seen mentioned elsewhere was that the mirror glass can be popped out for easier painting. Definitely handier than masking it.
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its easy to pop the glass out, but a little trickier to put it back in. i didnt realize that the first time i painted my mirrors though so i had the fun task of masking off the mirrors.
lookin better. now take off that bra
(tabs) wrote:lookin better. now take off that bra
NEVAH! It's not a bra, it's a bug deflector.
The difference is that the bras tend to ruin the paint, while this thing actually helps. It's has kept the front my hood from looking like a pitted rusting mess like a lot of daily-driver 3rd gens I've seen. Plus, it's not a common look so I take it as a signature effect.
Quiklilcav wrote:Looks good. If you still have more paint, you might wanna try painting the flat portion of the vent visors. it will pull the whole window line back together. Just a thought.
It's a thought. I'm not sure if I'm confident enough in my masking and painting skills (or just how close a match this duplicolor crap is) to try painting the lip.
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Geeky wrote:Quiklilcav wrote:Looks good. If you still have more paint, you might wanna try painting the flat portion of the vent visors. it will pull the whole window line back together. Just a thought.
It's a thought. I'm not sure if I'm confident enough in my masking and painting skills (or just how close a match this duplicolor crap is) to try painting the lip.
PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE
Now paint them!!!!
PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE
Oh and looks 1000000x better man.
JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.
where did u get the paint from
Kill list:03 eclipse, 06 GTO, 04 Mach 1 Mustang
locdizzel wrote:where did u get the paint from
It's a Duplicolor spray can off the rack from the quintessential Canadian auto/hardware store "Canadian Tire". You can have a spray bomb mixed for you at most auto parts stores.
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found it thanx , you cant get spray bombs mixed around here which is crazy and paint for spray guns cost 200 for half a pint
Kill list:03 eclipse, 06 GTO, 04 Mach 1 Mustang
cavGTP (1dersk8) wrote:Looks great man! Reminds me of my old cavy, except I threw on a Z bumper *hint *hint
i agree, car looks great thus far man. but throw a z kit on it and you'd be golden!
A Z-kit has been in the cards for the last year or so, but I haven't stumbled across one locally yet. Perhaps one day...
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mine are black and my car is white i like that even tho i am going for black and white feature
