03-04 Sedan owners

Nismo Kit is hard to find and kinda pricey "for me that is"
I was thinking of wrapping the stock skirts, rear, and front "lip" in Carbon fiber???

I hate how it gets ashy so fast and from what other say on the forum its a mess to get painted!

Anyone know a good place for some good cheap CF vinyl and a lip that can fit on the Aero bumper?

Heres what it might come out looking like just picture CF

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3825469/2004-infiniti-g

 

Lots of cf vinyl that's been talked about 100s of times..popular one is 3m di-noc..

Just curious why is it a mess to paint side skirts or a lip..

 

I was warned that the surface of the stock skirts are a pain to prep and most shops wont even attempt it. Also its pretty high, I was given estimates around $500 just to paint over the rear and sides. The guy even told me that it would probably mis-match. Its either repaint the entire car in one go of paint/wrap the sides. Im just wondering if anyone has pulled it off?

 

i think the wrap could be pulled off with a black car and a really agressive look....even so i think cf skirts would be a little much

 

If you've got a garage, it's really not hard to prep and paint the sides. I've done it myself on my G and got the paint to stick and it's the first car part I ever painted myself. These shops are incompentent if they can't prep the surfaces correctly. $100 in paint, $40 on the paint gun, and $250 on a compressor can get you results like this (painted rear Stillen valence and lowers).



As for wrapping, it will work fine. You could probably do the side yourself, but the front and rear will take a professional. In the end, you'll probably spend as much wrapping as you would on paint.

 

$400 bucks and you did that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im going to be honest those results are AWESOME. Was this your first time painting??? I have spots i need to touch up on so that might as well be a good investment!

@M@rco
Yes, I saw a matte red IS 250c at the car show and it had CF lip/skirts/valence
Then there's a black panamera on 21'' with CF kit as well!!

 

WOW! you did that DaveB? You did an awesome job! You G is looking good.

 

Thanks. The compressor and paint gun were purchased from Home Depot. The paint (factotry color) was purchased at an automotive paint supply store. I used a PPG "single stage" paint which is paint with both the base and clear in one. Todays cars use two stage paints (base and a clear) for longevity. The single stage lasts about 15 years. It's cheaper and for my purposes, it works. PPG makes probably the best single stage and you pay for it.

My first time painting was the lower sills (sides and rear) back in 2008. There's a DIY on this site for it. My second time painting was Nov of this year doing the rear valence. I am a total painting novice. The reason I choose to do it was because I knew I wanted air tools for auto and home improvement and my thought was if paint shops wanted $500 to 1,000 for the work, why not try it myself. It's only the lower sills and not a 1/4 panel. The worst that can happen is I have to get it professionally done.

The key to everything is the prep. It's time consuming to get the plastic parts clean. I'd plan on 6 hours of prep. Painting is super easy. It takes about 2 minutes to lay down a coat of paint. I usually do 2 light coats and 2 heavier coats. The single stage paint doesn't really require any buffing afterwards. The great thing about automotive paint is how quickly it drys. It lays down so much smoother than rattle can.

 

Thanks. The compressor and paint gun were purchased from Home Depot. The paint (factory color) was purchased at an automotive paint supply store. I used a PPG "single stage" paint which is paint with both the base and clear in one. Todays cars use two stage paints (base and a clear) for longevity. The single stage lasts about 15 years. It's cheaper and for my purposes, it works. PPG makes probably the best single stage and you pay for it.

My first time painting was the lower sills (sides and rear) back in 2008. There's a DIY on this site for it. My second time painting was Nov of this year doing the rear valence. I am a total painting novice. The reason I choose to do it was because I knew I wanted air tools for auto and home improvement and my thought was if paint shops wanted $500 to 1,000 for the work, why not try it myself. It's only the lower sills and not a 1/4 panel. The worst that can happen is I have to get it professionally done.

The key to everything is the prep. It's time consuming to get the plastic parts clean. I'd plan on 6 hours of prep. Painting is super easy. It takes about 2 minutes to lay down a coat of paint. I usually do 2 light coats and 2 heavier coats. The single stage paint doesn't really require any buffing afterwards. The great thing about automotive paint is how quickly it drys. It lays down so much smoother than rattle can.

 

^The post so nice, you submitted it twice?



^ "ashy"

Ok, done now.

As for your question, CF vinyl would look pretty cheesy in that application.
There are times it looks really good, but I highly doubt this will be one of them :/

^You were lied to. They're just plastic, the same as lots of modern car parts (bumpers, fenders, entire Saturns LOL...)
In fact the front and rear are the exact same as the rest of the bumper, they're not even a separate part, just an extension of the bumpers.

Plenty of people have done it. My sides are painted (That's about the only part of the body left that was OEM un-painted)

The shop didn't have trouble painting it, and it's held up very nicely.

 

you have a link to that diy?

 

As posted everyone is right pretty much. The lowers are the exact same plastic at the rest of the bumpers, only thing is that it has texture. Its really easy to prep. Takes bout 30 mins. I do it daily and havent had any adhesion problems. Biggest problem with plastic is the mold release agents. Easiest thing to do is to wash the parts thoroughly with soap and water. Let dry. Scratch them up with red scrotchbrite. Rewash with soap and water. Clean with wax and grease remover, or i use duponts 3901. after that drys wipe with a platic prep which removes static and mold release agents. Once that dries spray with a plastic adhesion promoter. Itll say to let dry for 25 mins then apply top coat. On the bumpers lowers i would reccomend a primer since there is texture. Sprayin 2-4 coats of primer you can sand all the texture out and have a nice flat surface to paint. sorry for the long post , just trying to give yall the best info i can since i do this on a daily basis most of the time

 

awesome thank you for that. helped a lot

 

What gun do you use? Im trying to pick up a decent one. Already have the compressor and steve mentioned a sata but im not looking that expensive lol.

 

Oh wow.... This a great thread..... Thanks for the info. Dave, I like your sedan