[Sabuu]

So the better part of today and last night after work I decided to try and make a few budget modifications

This was me taking care of the chrome (which I wasn't a fan of)

Before

After

This is probably going to be temporary as im not sure if I'll stick with black (yet to decide what color(s) I think I like with the gray). This was all done last night.

Today's project was the rims.. which was a lot more labour intensive than I had thought it would be haha.

Before
(See above)

After

This was actually the color I used on my black prius, it's "granite". I think it looks good so far, but we'll see how the next few days go.

Now I just need to do something about that chrome front.. what would be suggested, vinyl or painted? I'm not sure which, personally, and was hoping someone would have any suggestions.

 

[Sabuu]

Here's a close up on the rim color ( don't judge the over spray )

 

[Sabuu]

I like it, especially the changes to the body accents. Details on the changes please.

I’m looking forward to putting on the new snow tires with black wheels soon.

Thanks! The vinyl I used for the chrome was just some 3M vinyl I got from Amazon - Black Vinyl

The wheels weren't Plastidip but actually Rust-oleum's take on it (which I got from Walmart) Granite Rust-oleum

My budget mods. Plastidip done correctly is durable and looks like a professional finish. Wheels, “grill”, and emblems.

Very nice, I do agree that done right it is a great alternative at a fraction of the price. How hard was the grill to paint? Unfortunately I'm going to need to touch up the wheels as I went into it with the mind set I had with my Prius (which were just hubcaps and extremely easy to paint) which resulted in the unsightly bit of over spray on the tires themselves.

 

[Sabuu]

I just masked the grill area with blue tape. As for overspray on the tires the PlastiDip just peels off. There is a liquid mask that came with the kit from dipyourcar.com
They have great tutorial videos. I spent less than $80 total.

Ah, I figured the grill area would either be fairly simple or a pain, nice to know it sounds like it shouldn't be too difficult. Yeah thankfully Rust-Oleum's peel coat is pretty easy to remove once it's cured (if you want to remove it).

To each his own, I suppose.

Oh, I know. My Fiancee's reaction to everything so far has pretty much been "Meh" when I've asked her opinion..

Kinda hard to overlook. How do you intend to remove it?

Very easy. The lower plastics have been a bit more of a challenge. That plastic doesn't like to have things stick to it. After a repair application 2 years later it looks pretty okay on mine.

Lots of Plasti-Dip learning can be had here: https://www.youtube.com/user/DipYourCarcom

The overspray was actually very easy to remedy - as per the instructions you just take a microfiber cloth (and mineral spirits if it's being stubborn) and rub at it a bit until it either gets lifted by the cloth, or you can start peeling it off.

Funny enough the lower plastic I felt like would be much easier since it seems you could just put up some paper behind it and pretty much go at it, but I'll have to keep in mind that it won't be as cooperative to taking the paint. Did you have to do anything special with the top grill section due to the recessed edges or just mask everything else off and go at it?

 

[Sabuu]

Watch the videos. It's all there. Mask as they show, and go.

If you do the lower plastics it might be wise to use their primer, which I didn't find at Home Depot. I didn't use it but I probably should have.

When spraying near grille openings I angle the spray to either side rather than pointing it straight in. It should minimize any overspray inside. Plasti-Dip doesn't overspray like enamel paint, so that helps.

I was wondering if primer might help, might have to try it just to see. Also nice to know that it doesn't overspray like enamel paint, I might need to get a can just to see how it (may) differ from Rust-oleum's peel coat. Thanks for the advice!

If you want to prevent this in the future, go to the dollar store buy a couple packs of playing cards, and stick the cards between the tire and rim all the way around. Then when you spray it doesn't get on the tire, and they just pull out when you are done. Have only done this with winter wheels and tires that I didn't care too much about, but it worked well, and I didn't have any overspray.

I actually tried this method using 3x5 index cards.. which would not stay stuck between the rim and tire, but that might've been on me for getting the first kind I found, which were kind of cheap in my opinion (and rather thin) even for index cards.