Hey guys-

I'll be taking the car to the bodyshop to have my MS sideskirts repainted soon, and I was thinking of getting the rear trim and shrouds painted gunmetal to match the color along the bottom of the MS parts. I'm just tired of looking at faded black shrouds and think the gunmetal color will be a nice match.

I found a couple threads about painting this section, but never determined if the paint can hold up to the heat from an aftermarket (MS) exhaust. I'd also like to cut out the plastic mesh and install a real metal grill, such as one from rotaryfx.com.

Can anyone post their long-term experience with having the rear section painted, and if possible, let me know about the quality of the rotaryfx grills and their fitment? They seem overpriced for what you get, but I just want an easy install.

Thanks in advance!

 

Use a heatgun carefully and the faded plastic will go back to black.. Ive done it a few times on car plastics..

As for holding up with the heat yes... Any aftermarket piece such as the MS rear addon is painted there.. If its good quality paint it should hold up fine unless the exhaust is actually touching it.

Heres a video of a blue 8 with color matches rear end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpyB47jeN6Q



Dont know anything about the grilles though, sry.

 

Hey, thanks Rotoryfan...

On my car, the exhaust shrouds are more faded than the rest of the black trim under the bumper, so I figured the heat from the exhaust flowing around them was what was causing the fading. But you're saying a heat gun will actually restore the deep black color? If I don't go with the gunmetal paint, I'll give it a try!

As for the grill, it seems a lot of people are just going with Home Depot mesh or something similar. Greg (Rotr8), if you're reading this, I might need a hint about how to attach it to the bumper!

Someone here used diamond cut mesh and painted it black, but I don't remember who it was. If anyone knows where he got that stuff, please let me know.

 

home depot or any hardware store. its the mesh for covering your gutters. they make a big sheet for covering holes around your house of the same stuff if you have a lot more to do like the front bumper

 

Here's the rear grille.


You can either use some glue or just keep 3 diamonds (1 per "angle") of the stock fake grille when cutting it and tap some rivets\screws in.
I also did the front one and oil cooler ducts. Less than 30$ for the whole car!

 

Mothers back to black. Its like $10 at autozone and it cleans it up brand new.