Appearance, Paint & Body Work
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By BAXTER_EJ1
#23772 I've been contemplating painting my door trim/door handles/mirrors/side skirt.

I've seen some people with it done, and thought it looked good, and I've seen some people leave them stock black and thought that looked good as well.

Can I get your input? Would you paint? And if so, how much?

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Btw, did my vents the other day in a glossy white, with like 20 coats :p think they turned out nice.

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By PetrolHeaD
#23779 my suggestion, paint only the mirrors and the door handles, leave the side mouldings and the skirts, you need a bit of black to break up the lines a little.
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By BAXTER_EJ1
#23797 If I eventually swapped side skirts, I think I'd paint them white, same if I got lips or anything, I'd want the look to be continuous. I like your idea about doing the mirrors and handles and leaving the trim. It would take away the stock look but still leave some contrast.

This is before the 15" got put on:
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By Gorveatt
#23838
PetrolHeaD wrote:my suggestion, paint only the mirrors and the door handles, leave the side mouldings and the skirts, you need a bit of black to break up the lines a little.


+1 my plans exactly :thumb:
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By BAXTER_EJ1
#23846 Alright sweet, I got some paint today, primer and sandpaper too. I assume I'll do the entire moulding around the mirror too, like the part triangular part that "attaches" the mirror to the body. I'll disassemble everything and do some sanding :), also gonna take care of a few rust spots tomorrow and some other shit, I'll post before and after pics guys! :)

I can see the door handles being a bit of a pain in the ass if I do them left in, gonna require a lot of tape, and gonna have to try to get into all the movable parts. Anyone suggest taking them out or leaving them in probably best?
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By projecthonda
#23863 good luck on your project :D

moving this to Exterior and Body :)
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By BAXTER_EJ1
#23887 *shudder*

I took some primer, paint, clear coat, and sandpaper out to my car today to take a look at some rust spots. I noticed some coming out of the stock side moulding, so I take...PEEL that bitch off and the entire body where the moulding clips into is rusted as shit.

I'm kind of a noob with paint, but the dealer who sold me the car did a real quick shitty paint job on it too, so there are a few spots, runs, and areas where he painted over rust. Someone said to use sandpaper, but could I use a dremel as well? I'm leaving this for today until I do some more research, the whole car is so dirty with shit from 14 years of weather and use that it warrants me taking the entire thing apart and cleaning and painting it.

Can you give me some tips of painting though? I got the Automotive paint but that shit runs like a bitch, no matter how light I go, I got pretty frustrated today...I'm feeling pretty cautious about fucking it up more.

The worst spots:
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By teal_dx
#23911 you've got the typical hidden honda rust :( if you wanted to cure that, you'll have to drill out the spot welds and cut out that area and replace it with new metal. I did it in the "how to fix your honda rust" thread, a couple others on here have done it too. it's not a quick fix though.
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By BAXTER_EJ1
#23921 Since it is so hidden, I may just clean it as best I can with a dremel, give it some primer and a light coat of paint and be done with it. Gonna do more work on the rust spots tomorrow, I'll give you updates.

For you guys who did your door handles, did you take them out or paint them with them in the door? If you took them out, is there an easy DIY to removing them and re-installing them? I would have no idea how to begin getting them out, and trust me, I've figured a lot of shit out just by jumping into it lol.
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By teal_dx
#23946 taking them out is kind of a bitch... remove your iner door panel and roll up your window. There's a couple bolts that hold them in but unthreadding the mechanism rod that connects the door handle to the rest of the locking system is hard to do with the small amount of space inside the door. Be sure to mark exactly how it was before you take it apart because it is adjustable depending on how far you thread it in.
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By BAXTER_EJ1
#24020 Painting around the rear lights is going well, just about ready to put the clear coat on. I need the car tomorrow and for the next few days to go to work and do shit for that, but as soon as I get a whole day free I'm gonna get serious about those rust spots with a dremel, put some primer on and then paint asap.

Thanks for your help so far guys, before and after pics will be up as soon as the job is done.
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By Graham
#24076 Door handles are such a pain to get on and off, just paint them on the car would be my suggestion :P

Mask off well though! I got overspray everywhere - takes ages to get off :(