I have been searching the internet and have found a few sites that sell things for the xD. What I am looking for is the best online retailer's for parts, accessories, mods, etc. ANYTHING xD!!!! In particular im looking for paint for interior items, and parts under my hood. Im looking for not only gauges, but face gauges as well to replace the color of the stock ones. But I also have alot of time to browse so I would like to know great sites for the xD, sites that carry any cool shit!! lol GO!!!
im glad to see you are going on the right track! there are a few sites out there for our cars but not a lot.
as far as interior paint goes, i took mine to a buddy's body shop. i would recommend this because you know its going to be professional, quality paint that wont flake off or anything in a couple months. i had all my parts taken out of the car in 15 minutes, including the engine cover. they all pop out with just a little pulling. real easy. and for a couple hundred bucks i had my interior painted.
www.customxbgauges.com is a pretty sweet site for interior face gauges and what not. i got my green face gauges from there. i believe they can even do custom gauges. you can see pics of my stuff on my page.
hope this kinda gets ya in the right direction. good luck
As far as painting interior it depends on if you want to try it or you want a shop to do it. Shop will cost more but it should be done right.
Doing it yourself will give you a little more experience. Also when comes to painting if you mess up just sand it down and start over.
Best paint for interior is plastic paint, but pretty much any rattle can stuff will work. And I recommend a clear coat, gloss or matte depending on your style and mood. Plastic paint will normally stick pretty well even if you don't scuff/sand the parts prior. My engine cover is just sprayed with plastic paint and still looks the same as it did 3 years ago when I did it. and I didn't scuff or clear it. Just cleaned it real good and rub it down with rubbing alcohol and let it air dry.
If painting yourself I can write out a step by step or look online.. it's not hard.
As far as painting interior it depends on if you want to try it or you want a shop to do it. Shop will cost more but it should be done right.
Doing it yourself will give you a little more experience. Also when comes to painting if you mess up just sand it down and start over.
Best paint for interior is plastic paint, but pretty much any rattle can stuff will work. And I recommend a clear coat, gloss or matte depending on your style and mood. Plastic paint will normally stick pretty well even if you don't scuff/sand the parts prior. My engine cover is just sprayed with plastic paint and still looks the same as it did 3 years ago when I did it. and I didn't scuff or clear it. Just cleaned it real good and rub it down with rubbing alcohol and let it air dry.
If painting yourself I can write out a step by step or look online.. it's not hard.
it definitely is a lot cheaper to do it yourself. i've painted interiors on previous cars i've owned and it came out pretty good. i decided to go the body shop route this time because i wanted to match the color of the shifter and gauges i put in. but if you dont have an absolute preference for shade of color, then rattle can does work well. sometimes its hard to get exact shades of a color in a rattle can though. like resolve said, if you do do it yourself, i would just wipe everything down with rubbing alcohol and let it air dry. TAKE YOUR TIME when painting. dont rush it. use light, even coats so it comes out as smooth as possible. and try to do it in a garage or something enclosed to keep dirt and dust out of the paint.
As far as the inside, Im not sure what I will do yet, cause it is already got red accent in there. Im thinking about little things like maybe the plastic around the air vents, or the 2 plastic inserts on the steering wheel. And I do want to paint some thing under the hood....and speaking of...what things under the hood would require special paint, and what things wouldnt?
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As far as the face gauges, could I make my whole instrument panel light up red, like led's??
there are a couple of sites that sell LEDs that you can replace in all your gauges. you can change all the colors of your lights in your dash, even your radio. there are a few on here that have done it.
ive heard it is pretty labor intensive and can be kinda tough if you need your car because you will have to pull the gauges and everything to get it done. meaning you may be without a car for a day or two.
and painting under the hood doesnt really require any special paint. i went the body shop route and others have used rattle can. the engine cover is pretty much the only thing that can be painted easily under the hood.
Paint should be fine. And the Clear will work. But you may not need it under the hood especially for flat black. Buying flat black just to turn around to clear coat it defeats the purpose of flat colors.
But the brand you got for the clear is the brand I used to paint my engine cover Just I used blue. only prep was cleaning the cover no primer or sanding needed.
lmao, i knew it would defeat the purpose of the flat black. Well i will have the clear incase i ever need it. But i plan on painting alot of things under the hood......mostly whats on the top level, i want as much as i can under the hood to be flat black. Are there any parts i will run into problems using this paint??
Other than the fact it is made for metal and not plastic I don't see a problem. IT should still work. I wouldn't paint any engine parts unless it has a high temp rating. best thing it to get something plastic that is not part of the car. and paint it and see how it works with the plastic. plus this will help you get some practice painting.
When I say engine parts I mean like valve cover not engine cover. Just to make sure I was clear. the plastics are fine with normal paint but for like the valve cover and some other actula engine parts I would get high temp paint from auto part store.