RWDorGTFO

Well, I just got my IS in late March. I love it. There were a few things about it that were nice, but I guess just weren't for me. I'm not a fan of all the chrome trim. The grille surround, emblems, above the windows, etc. I plan to plastidip the emblems but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Anyways a few weeks ago I decided to paint my grille surround. At first I planned on just going flat black but I had purchased this clearcoat called 'Clear Effex' so I decided to try that on top of the flat black. I like how it turned out, it's different at least. On rainy/cloudy days it just looks like SGM, which is the color of my car anyways. But when the sun hits it, it's like 8934568476498546 different colors. It's pretty crazy looking in person. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it or not. I get compliments on it all of the time. I've never posted a thread on CL before, so I thought I'd make this one my first. Let me know what you think!

The "before" picture-This was the first day I got the car, right after it's first bath.


I took the surround off, cleaned it, then sprayed it flat black. 4 coats.


After it dried, here's what it looked like.


Then I shot it with 2 coats of the Clear Effex and here's how it turned out.


Final product on an overcast day.


Mostly cloudy day, but you can still see some color changes.


And here it is in sunlight.

greg0126

iTrader: (2)

Whoa. That's pretty nifty. I want to see more pics of it in the sun!

obby

iTrader: (9)

that's unique.... never seen that done before..

RWDorGTFO

Haha thanks guys! I'll look and see if I have any more pictures of it in the sun. I would go take some right now but it's been rainy in Baltimore all day

500rwhp

Nice. Not a fan of the chrome look either. One of my next mods is to paint the grille trim body color

MikeyK02

iTrader: (7)

Looks good. You gonna paint the lexus emblem?? Or get a black pearl to replace it?

gemini1

iTrader: (7)

Nice.
I painted my grille surround and lower grille Tungsten Pearl. Same color as my car.

HeartmyIS

iTrader: (18)

I think satin black would of looked better.

Silver10

Well its definitely different....

Initial G

iTrader: (38)

way to be unique.

Looks good from what I can tell.

RWDorGTFO

Appreciate the input, guys. The only reason I did it was to be different, and I thought it turned out pretty nice so I thought I'd share it with the community and see what you guys thought. Eventually I plan on getting a SGM painted emblem and grille surround, but I'll probably keep this for a while. Maybe in the fall I'll make the switch once the sun isn't as strong because it really looks 10x better in person haha. I know it's not for everyone, though. I appreciate all of your input.

Sffd103

iTrader: (16)

looks pretty good and different

Alias

iTrader: (2)

Looks pretty cool, Definitely unique.

furryjet

iTrader: (2)

Looks pretty nice. I assume you can peel it off easily since it's on plastidip?

RWDorGTFO

Thanks!

And yes sir it'll be easy to take off, if you try to. I'll probably just keep it like this until I get my OEM painted one from Sewell and see if anyone has any interest in buying this as it is.