I got a lot of work done today. Had perfect painting weather this afternoon. I finished my grille and got rid of most of the chrome trim. I had a couple people express interest in seeing what was involved, so I took some pictures of how I did it.

First, take off that ugly license plate holder. Masking off the trim is painfully boring and time consuming. But it'* always better to take it slow and do it right the first time.


Laid down some plastic primer, then painted with color-matched paint. I ordered mine online from http://automotivetouchup.com/. Your paint code is usually located on your spare tire cover in the trunk. (Just an afterthought... on a dark green car like mine I think flat black might have looked pretty cool.) Lastly, a layer of clear coat helps protect the color and make it shiny.

Finished front.




On to the back:




I could have done another layer of green to make it darker but I decided to leave it, I think I like how the lines look. I also painted the trim around the roof/windshield black to blend in with the rubber. Left the door chrome strips alone to see if people like it, and because I was running low on paint. The grille was painted last night.

Ignore the rust starting around the wheel wells and fading bumper clearcoat. That'* on my list. Let me know what you think!

I liked the sunny prism effect here. haha

Nice job, the car looks great.

Looks Great!!

Looks really great !!! Good job

Nice job!

I approve

nice, might as well do the side trim too, you could always photoshop the chrome color off a picture to see if you'd like it before you do it :P thats what i do

never liked the chrome on them

looks good!

looks good now loose the rest!

Thanks everyone. I plan on finishing the rest after I get some more paint. Looking at it from a distance, it looks so different... almost like a new car.