well, I had a bunch of scratches on the bumper and a small hood dent. to make a long story short, I went to a reputable body shop and had them fix everything and paint a few things extra while they were at it. here's a photoshopped image of how it is supposed to look when finnished. the bottom driving lights will be masked with some black vinyl to give them that cutout shape.

Can sombody who has this done please post some pics, I did a search but came up with nada,
should be ready in 2 days
check it
before:


after:

 

i wanna paint mine like that too :o


whats the deal around the fogs though?

 

what a coincedence, anyway, thats black vinyl around the lights, it looks cheap when there isn't anything to seperate the paint from the body. I can't wait to see how it'll look. by the way, do you guys think I should paint the fake wood trim on the center console silver like the exterior while they're at it?

 

As long as you know the trim job will be good quality, do it, I love the way the 03 interior looks with the titanium trim.

 

i think the trim might look nice painted satin silver, all clearcoated and shiny.

btw, can you delete the fogs from the first pic, 03 style. thx

 

how much are they charging you?

are they taking the bumper off to paint it?

 

yesss, I just got the call, they are charging me $550 for everything, from the fixed dent on the hood, the minor repair and repainted bumper, other small scratches around the car fixed and the fake wood on the center console painted silver. I think thats a fair price. I saw the work they did on a twin turbo supra that was worked, pretty nice. I just hope the paint doesn't peel later on.
by the way, here's the pic without the fogs, talk about the ultimate smiley face:

I think it looks better without the fogs after the paint is done(bottom):

 

Masking the front bumper



My masking job



paint i used



finished!!!



Close up



So fresh and so clean

 

oppps...one more

 

On my 03' the lower bumper came painted so I didn't have to worry about it...

However...I have a question: If I should start another post so I don't hijack this one, let me know...but

Has anyone ever looked into getting another clear coat put on the car...since it is sooo thin as it is...

I have a very reputable body shop here, that has worked on my family's cars before, and I am thinking about asking them to fix all the chips...I have a small dent from someone's door behind my driver's door and then finishing it all off with another clear coat...


what do you think?

E

 

chikai, I admire the DIYS job, but the paint seems like a slightly different hue. Did you everthink about leaving the fogs out, I think it would look more agressive. thanks for the post, just what I was looking for. As for the clearcoat on the whole car, I guess you could, but damn it would be expensive. If I were to do any more painting, I would paint all the black plastic on the car glossy black to protect it from turning that ugly grey in the sun.

 

yeah...the paint color is slightly off. Basically the paint cans I used was from painting the side molding of my old 1995 Satin Silver Integra.

Since I had an entire can left, I figured I use the same paint. It is only marginally off and is absolutely unnoticable when you're standing in front of the car. My only regret is I got a little impatient and had a little drippage (see close up view)

I thought about leaving the driving lights out, but I figured it would expose too much of the CAI to the elements.