Ordered mudguards from Sewell for the new RX. Wondering if I should take them to a body shop and get them painted/clearcoat-thinking it would look a lot better than the std. black. Has anyone else done this? How much should I expect to pay someone to paint?

 

My guess would be $200 - $300

 

Hi.
I ordered and installed these on our 10 RX. Easy to install and don't look bad in black. I don't think I would recommend painting these as they are somewhat flexible and I would think the paint would crack or chip if you got too close to a curb or other obstacle and the splash guards were bent or scraped.
You should look at the door side mouldings from Sewell's also. These are colour matched and look good on the RX.
Cheers,
Jim

 

I am going to side with Jim on this one. Just got my bodyside moldings and will install this week. Totally agree on the flexing of the mudguards. Black is one of the colors on the RX350/400H, so leavie it along. It looks good on your car.

 

The mudguard are not smooth to the touch and have somewhat of a grainy texture. Painting them would probably not give good results.

If you wish to match the color and shine of the car's body, you might need to sand them down.

 

I had body coloured mudguards on an Altima and they were never damaged by curb hopping. I think the chance of hitting a curb in a RX is pretty remote since the car is quite a bit higher than the Altima was. It looked good on the Nissan and I'm sure it would look good on an RX. If your dealer has a bodyshop see if they will do it for you when they are repairing a Lexus of the same colour. It would just be a couple of swipes of the spray gun and should cost next to nothing for paint and labour.