well i'm dropping off my car today at the body shop to get my trunk done. for those who dont't know, i'm having my ss/sc wing removed and the holes filled and having the trunk key lock cylinder shaved off and the whole trunk re-painted. I'm also getting rid of the rest of my badging and doing something with the front bow-tie.

i'll be hanging out at the shop tonight as they do the work. A friend of mine works there and is giving me the hook-up on the price. needless to say, i'll have my camera with me and take pics of all the steps along the way to getting her shaved!

How about a mini poll....

What should i do with my front grill?

1) paint the bowtie black and leave the chrome trim around it.

2) Paint the whole thing black.

3) remove the bowtie and place one of the SS emblems on in place of the bowtie. (if i did this i would be painting the inside part of the SS, the white pearlescent part, black to match the rest of the car.

oh, and i will be in the market to sell my stock wing. It is black and in near perfect shape. there is one tiny little rock chip on the top of the center section that is about the size of a pen tip.

 

i say paint the front bowtie but keep the chrome around it

 

thats the one i was leaning towards most, but i'm still unsure.

I have to leave my car there for 2 days while they do the work for me so i'll be borrowing my friends car that is doing the work. He happens to have a 06 ion RL with the competition package that is basically stock besides an intake. So i won't be out of a fast car for the next couple days

 

I painted mine black and left the chrome. Here's some pics......snow and salt all over it but you get the idea lol

 

I say go with #1, but if you end up doing #3, I'll buy the bowtie from you.

 

kyssmySS are you in warren PA? just wondering.

 

yup, i decided last night at the shop to paint the gold part of the bowtie and leave the chrome trim! man, i was fun to watch these guys welding in patches and filling all the holes in the trunk. I feel like an idiot because when i got there i realized i forgot my camera at home. They plan on having it in paint tonight. last night was filling and primer stage. I'll try to swing by the shop tonight when i get out of work to take some pics of what they have done so far.

 

ok, i got some pics today of my trunk in progress. Its just in primer stage after they did all the filling. They did more block sanding and smothing and sanded down the rest of the factory paint and primered the whole thing over again. I'll have it back friday and from the looks of things, its going to look bad ass!



And the car i'm driving till friday. my friends '06 ion red line with the competition package.

 

haha tthe plates....... i didnt get the saturn at first then was like ohhhhhhhh

 

gotta protect my friends and my identity

 

awesome, I just got mine back and it turned out great, I decided not to shave the key lock, but color matched the front emblem with the car.

 

lets see some pics! i decided to do the trunk lock cylinder only because it wasnt going to cost me any extra to do it and they were already going to weld in the holes from the wing. the remote popper and the button inside the dash still pop the trunk just fine. I think it looks alot more slick this way.

 

I agree it looks better with the lock shaved, for me it would of costed an extra $90, and plus I use the trunk alot so if the power lock mechanism ever broke I would be screwed lol. I will try and get some pics up tonight since I am work right now lol

 

Here are some ideas for the front end. Check out my gallery. Pay close attention to the door trim panel pic.


https://www.cobaltss.net/gallery/sho...&searchid=5441

 

i like the black painted center section of the grill and the color matched headlights. If my car was any other color than black i would do my grill the same way. Kudos on the door controls bezel.

 

Thank you. I did it all myself. I manage a paint and body shop so I have access to anything I could ever want or need.

 

well, they ended up getting it all painted last night and i got to take it home! to say the least, i am very happy with the final results. I'm going back next week at some point to have the trunk color sanded and buffed and it will look like glass!!

here's alot of pics for you guys:


this was my painter. This is just the sealer stage, not the actual paint.



and the finished trunk and color matched bowtie!



The bowtie came out perfect. It is perfectly smooth with not the slightest hint of orange peel.



and some night shots....i couldnt help myself





While i had it in the shop, we shaved all the remaining badges off the car. So with no wing and no badges, this car looks pretty damn sleeper with those little winter rims on it

I'm going to have the windows tinted in two weeks. I'll get some pics up of that too.

 

looks bad ass. i like it.

 

Looks like they did it the right way. Although it is not a good idea to prime a body panel and paint it in the same day. Sometimes you will have shrinkback issues. Especially on darker colors. Look at the trunk in a month in detail and I bet you will see some sandscratches. I am not a fan of the shaved look, but if you are happy with the job, that is what matters the most.

 

Thanks man, i'm loving it so far. I went outside to get the paper this morning and i didnt even recognize the car


thanks for the concern. The trunk was primered and sanded the night before so i'm not too worried about that. The pics i just put up were just the sealer, paint, and clear stage. all the prep work was done 24 hours previously.

 

Then you should not have any isssues. What brand of paint did they use??

 

oh man, not really sure about that. I know they used a pretty good clear. it has a longer flash time then a quick clear or something like that.

 

Just curious to see if they used Dupont, PPG, Spies Hecker, Nason, Sikkens. Some are better than others, but I am sure they took care of you.

 

i'll ask, but i'm still very pleased with the results so far. We'll see how it truely looks next week when they color sand and buff it and the paint has time to fully cure.

 

nice