howiedoit

iTrader: (9)

I've used the carbon fiber sticker stuff on my Accord's interior. Held up fine as long as you clean the surface and all. But I just got myself a 95 SC300 and sold the accord

GeneK25

I got a hold of the guy who makes custom carbon-fiber parts. I'm waiting for his respond right now if he can make this piece. I'll keep you guys posted.

GeneK25

I will have this piece installed in carbon-fiber over the weekend. I'll post pictures.

claymax

933005spd

In reference to the Sherwin-Williams recommendation...

I worked for SW for the last 12 years, most recently managing Houston Commercial, the biggest branch of it's kind in the country. (just so you know I wasn't running a little retail store.) If you ever want paint for your auto, you have to go to a SW Automotive location. We have a wide range of coating in the regular stores and some would probably work, but they were not designed for autos and will not give satisfactory performance over the years. You can buy high performance coatings at the regular (non Auto) stores like Polane, a catalyzed polyurethane, but it has to be baked on.

The Automotive stores are usually a little scary. Even as a SW employee I had a wide range of experiences with them, rarely good. Call and ask for a recommendation for painting your car and you'll get a different answer every time. I strongly encourage you to find a reputable local body shop and get the details on the system they use. Auto finishes are rarely simple or less than 3 stages. You will most likely need a primer, its reducer, a midcoat, its activator, and a topcoat with its reducer/activator. A clear coat or metallic finishwill likely add steps respectively.

Now, I don't want to imply that SW coating aren't any good. I feel if you use any company's mid or top line you'll be ok, but you have to get the system right. Ask someone who knows, like your local pro. The employees at the stores cannot possibly know how a hundred different manufacturers paint their cars, so do some research and save yourself the headache.

Having said that, if anyone wants info on painting their house or anything non-automotive I'd be happy to give you free advice. I took a leave of absence in December to get my MBA, but I do know the ropes on regular painting after 12 years.

hansjl

So did anyone ever figure out how to replace or fix the molding? My Red 95 SC400 would sure look alot better is it didn't have those ugly chips in the molding. The $500 to $600 each for repair is what my research says is a ball park. If someone had an easy ,solution I bet they could make some money from it.

Thanks

Din

You have to remove the window trim on the inside of the door to access the screws that hold that piece in, yes it is attach to the chrome trim around the outside of the window, it isnt hard to remove. When i got my car painted , I also painted that trim part as well casue mine was all chipping and stuff. We used regular paint (same paint that you would use to paint the out side of a car,) My friends body shop had left over paint from a car(DuPont paint) we mixed a black with a light grey and got a real nice color, looks jsut liek it would when it was new. What we did was sand that part down till it was real smooth, sprayed some primer/sealer on it let dry, then spray the color on it then sprayed clear on it. The results , perfect.

hwallen172

I'm planning to repaint my trim on the driver's side. I got a spray can of color and clearcoat from paintscratch.com. From what I've seen, I think the underlying metal is aluminum so I'm going to do a couple of coats of primer and then wet sand. The tape job shouldn't be bad at all since there are only sharp borders at the top and bottom.

Din

or you can do what hes ^^ doing, use a can of black or dark grey spray paint.

kylesc400

that part for me got scratched up...i took it to a good body shop and had it perfectly repaired and oem matched for $90. they said it was a part i could probably order, but when i asked the lexus dealership they said they had to sell me most of the door just to get that part...for $750. that was a tad bit ridiculous, so i went with the body shop for 90.

jdmsoarer

we took mine off to paint when i repainted my car. There are 2 screws and a couple strips of the worlds strongest freakin 2 way tape. U gotta pry it off with a flathead or paint scraper.

Ryan

I had my car completely repainted a couple of weeks ago. I had chips in the piece and the body shop ordered a new piece. The owner of the body shop called me when the piece came in and said it was $600. He was outraged and so was I, so he sent it back. He ended up painting both sides and it looks totally OEM. The cost was nominal ~$100 for both sides given everything else they were doing. The practical solution here is to have a body/paint shop do it. If you want to save a few bucks, remove the pieces yourself and have the shop paint them. I will post some pics in a few weeks, I am now about 90% done with a total restoration of my car - new paint, emblems, leather seats, etc.

Good luck!

rushgator

When I purchased my SC I had the same problem with the B pillars. In fact the plastic was gone, exposing the stainless underneath. It looked kinda ghetto, so I had to get it fixed ASAP. Well, as most of you found out, you cant just buy the plastic trim, you have to buy the whole freakin' window trim surround. Well, "no deal" I told my local Lexus parts department when they quoted me a price of $700 per side. I then when to a local body shop and had the stainless painted. Sure, there was the matter of the screw holes to cover up, but that was not a problem. Now it is painted metal...like the rest of the car, and I do not have to worry about plastic problems later down the road. BTW, my bill at the body shop was $700, but that also included painting the front bumper cover (it had chips), and the rear bumper cover (it had bad scratches). Most people cant tell the difference between my painted b pillars and the stock plastic ones. Besides, it is a perfect color match to the rest of the body, unlike the plastic.