sjt0017

Hey Everybody,

I've been on here for a while and had an '07 GS350 that was taken from me by Hurricane Sandy, after owning a Cayenne Turbo for the last 18 months I'm back to 3GS ownership and couldn't be happier! I bought an '09 GS450h, mercury metallic & black/red walnut interior. I just finished the coilover install this weekend and put on the new wheels, very happy with the turnout. Dialed in the suspension over the last couple days and need to put the engine covers/trunk back together now. I have a few other things I'd like to do to the car, but I won't be going crazy with this one as I did with my previous Cayenne, as this is just my daily driver.

I've been researching best ways to get rid of the red wood trim, and I've seen someone on here paint their steering wheel & center console piano black with average results. My last GS had the Bird's eye maple and I'd love to have that again, but for the prices people want for those trim pieces (and the door pieces are part of the whole door panel, apparently are not removable), it doesn't look like I'll be going that route. I'll be getting the steering wheel rewrapped in the next month or so in full leather. From the info I've gathered, it doesn't seem like there's any other option other than to have it wrapped. I really didn't want to wrap it, but I can't stand it at all. I'll be getting it wrapped in 3M dark brushed silver, which is almost an exact match to our gauges. I'll post pics once it's done.

Since my wheels are black chrome, instead of wrapping the chrome trim in a flat color, I'm going to have it wrapped in tint to keep the chrome look, but match the wheels. Anybody else do this before? If so, what were the results in terms of longevity of wrapping with window tint?

Well, onto the pics, any questions or advice are more than welcome!

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

Great car all I have to say, and are there any other plans other than the wheels.

SoCal_450h

iTrader: (14)

Another hybrid fans, congratz.......

sjt0017

bigblack06, I'm just wrapping the chrome trim all over the car in tint for now and wrapping the steering wheel in full leather to get rid of the wood trim on it, and probably wrapping the interior wood trim. LED's in the fogs, DRLs, and parking lights (can't do HID because the battery is in the back of the car). Black out the emblems and a '11 front grill and I'll be good for a while. The Scout takes up much of my wrenching time, I try to stay away from messing with the car too much.

My uncle is a 3M distributor and mostly tints commercial windows for small businesses and houses, but he started a side business tinting cars in the "offseason" and gets everything at cost. I'm trying to convince him to wrap my car in a satin grey or something similar, but I don't think I want a matte finish.

Majek

Welcome to the 450h club! Regarding the 12V battery being in the trunk, you don't need a relay for HIDs. I used to have LED fogs, but the output was very dim and then switched to HID.

Bhdien

iTrader: (1)

Nice and clean. What kind of wheels are those?

sjt0017

Hey Bhdien, they're Niche Lucerne in black chrome
20x9 & 20x10 et 35/40
275/30 & 245/35 Sumitomo HTR III.

I'd like to get a front lip, but 09's are so limited with front lips. I want something that almost purely goes underneath the bumper & not covering the bottom of it. I really like the VIS carbon front lips but like most lips for 3GS', they don't have one for 08+ models. Anybody have any ideas where to shop or where to source a similar lip?

warandcar

can't wait to see the pics from his mod. how did the interior look?