kamandor

Just wanted some opinions on an paint mod I'm debating. I have a 2004 Civic Si sedan, I've already done a custom black grille paint job on the grille, you can see it stock here:



Below is a quick MS Paint job of the idea I have. Basically I would paint black the lower grille area so that it 'droops' down and highlights the size of the lower grille. It will be somewhat Lancer Evolution-esque. Here:


OR: slightly less paint, leave the 'pillars' beside the fog lights silver but paint the bottom lip black.

Personally I think either will look pretty nice, and will definitely be unique. I won't say which I prefer of these two quick Paint-jobs, I want to see what others think. I'm not a huge fan of the car's silver paint job anyway, so I am trying to do what I can to make my car look custom yet 'professional'. I also just bought Eibach Sportlines and plan on dropping my car this week.

Thanks for your opinions!

Tyson09

iTrader: (1)

do the first one, looks cleaner. the bottom pic looks way to weird

Midori

1st pic with the or option. I wouldn't do either though. It will start looking like a beater with all the spray and its not I mean its a 2001+

Tyson09

iTrader: (1)

actually piant it all the way up and do the body lines on the hood, thats if your going to paint it. personally if the option was to keep it, thats what i would do, save your money for some power parts or carbon fibre parts, something with function and looks good.

Paco

I would just stick with the painted grille it really looks good man i like it, doin the whole bottom of the bumper i think would be abit too much and its the first place that really gets stoned chipped..especially with the black they would really stand out after..

k_r_a_c_k_e_r

iTrader: (3)

if your going to do it, use vinyl.. that way if you dont like it you can remove it.

kamandor

Thank you all for your opinions. I definitely like the first option best. I never thought of using vinyl, I think that is probably the way I will go, especially given the paint chipping problem (which I also factored in).

Anyone know where I can get black vinyl to do this? If it's fairly cheap I'll probably at least attempt this mod, but we'll see how it turns out.

I agree that with too much spray paint the mod has the potential to look 'beater-ish', so I definitely want to avoid that. Especially because I plan on retrofitting TL/TSX projectors soon and am dropping it this week, I am going for a totally 'clean and sleek' look.

BTW, I have a DIY guide for doing the blacked-out 'floating' grille here: http://www.torontocivics.com/tccv5forums/t8772/

subsonic-civic

iTrader: (2)

i say keep it as is.
try making a photochop where you black it out from the grille to just before the bottom of the lower bumper...

like this....


and this...



(not my pics)

_andross_

Yeah I'd say just leave it as is...looks liek you took a chuck out of the bumper if you do paint it haha

kamandor

Here's another style I just MS Paint-jobbed.

I painted the 'pillars' beside the fog lights and the inner air dam lip, but left the bottom of the front lip alone. I think it keeps the bumper looking cleaner, and makes the front air dam look much larger. I tend to imagine what the car will look at during the night with the lights on. Thoughts?

VS. the current set-up below:



I'll definitely update this thread if I do go ahead and try this mod.

k_r_a_c_k_e_r

iTrader: (3)

^^ I like the look of that the best.

as for where to get the vinyl.. any place that does vinyl signs will sell you a sheet, shouldnt be more then 15-20 bucks for the size to do your bumper.

Shizno Werks is a great place, but I'm not sure where you live.. they might be to far away

jdesouz

if ur going to do the black out go with the black out of the sliver near ur fogs ... personally i dont like it but thats the only one that even looks good. Kinda looks like ur car is smiling at you and it has no front teeth only to back ones :P

kamandor

Hahha thanks! I know exactly what you mean. I'm not really sure what I will end up doing, if anything at all. It was just an idea I had and wanted to bounce off the forums to see what people think.

The only real 'look' I was hoping to achieve was to make the car appear slightly wider, by 'increasing' the distance between the fog lights and thus making the front end 'seem' wider. I don't want to buy an actual front lip or anything carbon fiber (nor do I have the money for that sort of thing) so a small paint-mod is my easiest option. I loved how my blacked-out grille turned out so hopefully if I go ahead with this lower front bumper mod, it will look nice too.

hula_balu

why not black out the whole grille with only the h showing? it might look good with the just pillar option.

slowandfurious

i like the last one you Ms'ed looks the best. Nice and simple and still looks clean.

kamandor

Here's a photoshop:


I'm thinking I might go with a gunmetal paint colour for the grille if I do this style, to give a bit of contrast so it doesn't look just like I bought a stock black grille.

Or, the full black-out look:

jdesouz

the full black out of the gril looks good but the black out of ur bumper looks like ur missing the front end of ur bumper :P but its ur car dude, do what makes you happy lol its unique ill give u that

kamandor

Thanks I really appreciate the input. I haven't really decided, but I'll probably go with the first picture above, so just the grille and pillars (not the full black-out over the bottom lip).

I was thinking though, once I lower the car, if I did do the 'full blackout with lip' it might look more 'natural' because the car will be sitting lower and therefore the blacked out bottom lip will look more aggressive and visibly lower the car(somehow).

Here's another really quick photoshop of the full-blackout non-lip style, just imagine the car is 1.7" lower all around:

VS.
FULL BLACKOUT PLUS LIP


We'll see! Lol

k1e1v1i1n

i dont like it at all , looks weird.

eatmyshorts

1. Get a lip
2. Lower it abit

I dont wanna discourage but it just seems wrong..