Claybarred, waxed, and a little direction... (56k make sammich)

[BenP]

Well, I've been lamenting my car's current state lately. I was really lacking any sort of direction with my mods. I have a few bolt-ons under the hood, some interior lighting, my bronze SES's, yellow lamin-x on the fogs, red calipers, tinted grille and sidemarkers -- but none of it is really fitting together in any sort of theme.

I made a few decisions this weekend:
1) She needed a good claybar and detail.
2) The red calipers had to go, since they didn't fit with either the wheels or fogs.
3) I'm tinting the tails too

Apologies for picture quality, I took them on my cell. It was amazing the difference the claybar made -- I'm going to do my wife's car this weekend, it looked so good.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4744/pic0097lx4.jpg










Mmm, glassy roof...




Before...







Didn't have a printer, so I did it myself. HA!




New hotness!










Unfortunately by this point in the night, I couldn't get any good pictures of the brakes with the wheels on, so I snapped a few of my lights (interior & exterior):























Then I snapped a couple quick ones this morning on my way into work.














Okay, so here's what I'm thinking now.

Tinted tail film should be in today or tomorrow. That's going on. That'll leave me mostly black/yellow. The wheels' bronze fits a little better now, but I still think it would look better as either solid gold (think the color of those rotas everyone has) or black with silver lip. Opinions?

Also, what do you guys think about maybe putting yellow lamin-x on the headlights, too? It doesn't look as good on stockers as it does on Machs, but it might help tie things together. What I REALLY REALLY REALLY want is a set of Hellas or working rip-offs, and put yellow lamin-x over just one of the projectors on each side. That'd be hot.

Short story is, I still need help finding my direction and welcome any thoughts on what I should do, what looks good, or what looks completely sh**ty. So fire away!

[05TronZX3]

the car looks great! its really clean looking, i like the new brakes a lot more than the old ones, especially the lil black focus haha.

[theaadman]

car looks great, keep it up

[Phacade]

Nice idea on the brakes! Looks shiny.

[guitarseth]

The car looks good! I wasn't too sure about yellow calipers, but I think it'll work.

As far as direction goes..what type of things do you enjoy doing with your car? Personally, I'm the type of person who likes to get out and take a drive through the twisties by myself, so I've focused on a mild engine build with cams and a good intake, a decent suspension setup, and some very supportive seats. I don't really get into the whole car show scene or hangout spots, so I haven't done anything with the interior or exterior unless it enhances my driving enjoyment. If you enjoy hanging out with your car friends somewhere, consider a trick ICE setup, or some gadgets that will keep you and the guys entertained while you hang out.

[o2_designs]

My opinion...I still like the wheels they are. I'd niteshade the taillights(tint). Repaint the calipers Silver. And remove the yellow laminX and use smoked LaminX. Then paint the insides of the headlights black.

I would totally black the car out. IMO.

It could be because of the yellow. But I also agree, the yellow fogs don't mesh with bronze/gold. I don't like it either on my car with my goldies, but it looks good with my black 17's. So if you want to keep the yellow on the car, ditch the bronze...but hate to see it go...

[BenP]

Originally Posted by o2_designs

My opinion...I still like the wheels they are. I'd niteshade the taillights(tint). Repaint the calipers Silver. And remove the yellow laminX and use smoked LaminX. Then paint the insides of the headlights black.

I would totally black the car out. IMO.

It could be because of the yellow. But I also agree, the yellow fogs don't mesh with bronze/gold. I don't like it either on my car with my goldies, but it looks good with my black 17's. So if you want to keep the yellow on the car, ditch the bronze...but hate to see it go...

Okay, definitely very helpful. Lemme think... well first of all, I'm getting these headlights this week, so that solves that problem:



I'm also open to getting rid of the lamin-x. If I can find a scheme that works with the wheels, I'll do it.

Do you think silver is the best color to paint the calipers?

[BenP]

What about matching them to the wheels, or maybe even trying to do a really glossy black? Looking back over my pictures over the course of a day, I've already convinced myself to repaint the calipers and remove the fog lamin-x.

[bunksvt]

you did all that and dident use armor all for the tires??? come on now...thats like rule number 1.

[Nickgt40]

Well, are you stuck on the bronze wheels? I like the yellow on the black, especially with the new headlights but personally I'm not crazy about bronze wheels on a black car. If you are going to keep the bronze I think the yellow on the fogs and calipers clashes. If you do take off the lamin-x and repaint the calipers I would say definitely paint the calipers black. Any other color is going to make them stand out and clash too much with your wheels.

[BenP]

Originally Posted by Nickgt40

If you do take off the lamin-x and repaint the calipers I would say definitely paint the calipers black. Any other color is going to make them stand out and clash too much with your wheels.

Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Bronze and black CAN look really cool together but it seems like basically NO other colors can go with them, not even the red of the taillight.

Oh well, blacked-out projectors and tinted tails, combined with removing the lamin-x and repainting the calipers gloss black -- that oughta do it. I'll post pics when it's done.

And fine, I'll armor-all my damn garbagey bald tires

[Ray]

dont worry about armor all on the tires. picks up too much gunk from the road. to clean the tires wet them, soak them in a 1:3 purple power solution, the using a scrub brush scrub them down. rinse thoroughly. tires will come out black, clean, etc. if you want, get some of the satin tire "shine" (which isn't really a shine, just looks like a new tire.)

for the calipers: paint them satin black with a silver "focus" logo.

keep the lamin-x on the fogs. tint the tails. if maine lets you tint the windows, do that too.