silverstreaktsx

I bought this diffuser months ago. Gave it a good sanding with 800 grit, washed it with dish soap, sprayed it with adhesion promoter for plastic, sprayed a few coats of primer, sanded, used a tack cloth and cleaned it up. I painted it with Honda Nighthawk black pearl. It was a small can so I used it all. I think I did 5 or 6 coats. I put on a ton of clear coat. I put on so many coats I forgot how many. I think I used the whole can also.

I tried to install it myself with 3m auto tape and it just wouldn't stick properly. I even wiped down the area with rubbing alcohol. Couldn't close the gaps and you could see a few too obvious gaps around the red reflectors and I wasn't confident enough to put screws into my bumper. You could still see a silver line of bumper under the reflectors and it was driving me nuts.

It sat in my storage room for a month until I took it to a reputable tuner shop in my area. I brought a bunch of small #6 stainless steel screws from Home Depot that I spray painted with black caliper paint. They did their best and managed to do a so so job with 3m tape and only 4 screws that you can only see from under the car. They were able to get the 3m tape to stick reasonably well on the top part above the fins, between the reflectors. This is where I was having issues. They told me they used a heat gun, which seemed to do the trick.

Despite their best efforts, the visible bumper line below the reflectors remained . On the way home, in a moment of inspiration I drove to a car vinyl wrap shop and asked for a scrap piece of black wrap. They gave it to me for free. When I got home I removed my reflectors, covered the exposed areas on the bumper with a thin vinyl strip about 9 inches long. Then I put 1 screw into the diffuser and bumper above each exhaust tip. I could only screw in with my impact gun at an angle, but it worked. I figured that since my bumpers' virginity had been taken by the 4 screws, what harm could 2 more do? All of the screws were invisible! (unless you're me and too anal retentive to not notice.)Then I popped the reflectors back into place.

I never expected it but the six #6 screws, combined with the 3m automotive tape holds it firmly in place. It's not going anywhere. Thank god I didn't go with my original plan and use construction PL polyurethane. A bomb blast wouldn't be able to remove the diffuser. After it dried i wouldn't have been able to move the diffuser and get the vinyl wrap onto the right spots.

julius071

This looks great. Love the fact you went with black. Good luck with the build!

Chris Kramer

Nice! Very subtle