Crazy mod ideas?

[JerseySi]

As soon as I can figure out how to get the damn whole front panel off that goes over the grill and under the lights, I'm going to sand it and paint the whole thing flat black. I figured I would also keep the kidney grills chrome. (My car is silver btw) The reason I want to repaint it is because the PO used the wrong color touch up paint on like 100 chips in the front... I can always paint it silver again if I want, but I figured I might as well just do this first to try it out :-P

While I'm doing that, I figured I would work on my headlights too, maybe tint some of them(low beams right? Which ones should I tint? I've seen it done on 3 series cars... Also, should I make my corners black? Or just get clears? I'm thinking about blacking out my rear lights, because I have an ///M5 license plate frame, i figred I would try it out.
-Charles

Not sure about doing the panel all black - you meaning to do under the headlights too yea? I reckon it might just look like you'd removed/lost the whole panel from a distance..
I did my front indicators black (if for no other reason - it was cheaper than buying clears!), couple of quick coats of gloss black car paint, and a quick rub over with some Autoglym rubbing compound a few days later once the paint had gone off...


Have seen tinted headlights for E30's before, nearly got some for my old 325iS, but figured they'd only cut the amount of light, and i like seeing where i'm going! It might look odd if you only did one pair of lights, i.m.o.

Definately would smoke the rears though, did my rear indicators red and it looks tons better than the faded orange - would've done them all black if I had a ///M panel though

Oh btw - ignore the scuffed up bumper rubbing strips in that pic - was like that when i bought it! (when i have the ££ I want to swap them for US style ones - with the side marker lights!)

[SharkmanBMW]

Oh btw - ignore the scuffed up bumper rubbing strips in that pic - was like that when i bought it! (when i have the ££ I want to swap them for US style ones - with the side marker lights!)

why do we want the opposite of each other?!
We North Americains always want to get the Euro trims!

[CharlesAFerg]

Not sure about doing the panel all black - you meaning to do under the headlights too yea? I reckon it might just look like you'd removed/lost the whole panel from a distance..
I did my front indicators black (if for no other reason - it was cheaper than buying clears!), couple of quick coats of gloss black car paint, and a quick rub over with some Autoglym rubbing compound a few days later once the paint had gone off...


Have seen tinted headlights for E30's before, nearly got some for my old 325iS, but figured they'd only cut the amount of light, and i like seeing where i'm going! It might look odd if you only did one pair of lights, i.m.o.

Definately would smoke the rears though, did my rear indicators red and it looks tons better than the faded orange - would've done them all black if I had a ///M panel though

Oh btw - ignore the scuffed up bumper rubbing strips in that pic - was like that when i bought it! (when i have the ££ I want to swap them for US style ones - with the side marker lights!)

Why does everyone have that same scratch on the panel? I have the same exact kind of scratch, from a ****ing Honda at school.

I would be willing to sell you my US style trim with the lights :-P But I will take pictures of all of the panels if you would like, jsut for show.

I see E30s with only the low (or maybe it's the highs) around, I can't remember which, but it is definately only one pair.

The reason I want to paint the whole panel is it is chipped and TERRIBLY painted over with touch up paint on all of the large chips, and it looks terrible. I figured, why not, and I could always do them seperately somehow. The bottom line is though, I need it painted over, it looks too bad as it is. Thats really the only reason.

Oh, and pelase explain the front corner tinting process, PM me if you'd like, I'm really interested!
Thanks!
-Charles

[JerseySi]

why do we want the opposite of each other?!
We North Americains always want to get the Euro trims!

i know eh!
I see so many threads on here with people saying they want rid of the side marker lights, and think to myself "mmmm just send em this way!"
Have already started on the "us look" by popping an extra 5watt sidelight bulb into the indicators, even our local police don't seem to mind - as long as it flashes brightly they're cool
Over here, about the only cars with side marker lights are Volvos, and nothing comes with sidelights in the indicators as standard - over here there's another guy who's done it to a Land Rover Discovery, but thats it

[JerseySi]

Why does everyone have that same scratch on the panel? I have the same exact kind of scratch, from a ****ing Honda at school.

I would be willing to sell you my US style trim with the lights :-P But I will take pictures of all of the panels if you would like, jsut for show.

I see E30s with only the low (or maybe it's the highs) around, I can't remember which, but it is definately only one pair.

The reason I want to paint the whole panel is it is chipped and TERRIBLY painted over with touch up paint on all of the large chips, and it looks terrible. I figured, why not, and I could always do them seperately somehow. The bottom line is though, I need it painted over, it looks too bad as it is. Thats really the only reason.

Oh, and pelase explain the front corner tinting process, PM me if you'd like, I'm really interested!
Thanks!
-Charles

Know what you mean about the chipped paint - although oddly, my front panel is fine - it's the top of the bumper that's bad - lots of chips, and it looks like the previous owner touched it up with TippEx

Front indicators were easy to do - if i remember right i didnt even bother taking them off the car, just used loads of masking tape/newspaper around them!
I would reccomend taking them out though, to be on the safe side
Started by cleaning them with cellulose thinners/panel wipe on a clean rag, just to remove traces of polish etc.
Then i just sprayed over them with normal gloss black car spray paint (Holts Duplicolour - Ford Diamond Black i think)
Lots of light coats, leaving a few minutes between each coat, until they were dark enough (obviously - more coats = darker = less light output - careful not to go too dark or no-one will see them flash!) - thats why i did them on-car i think, so i could leave the hazards on, to make sure they werent too dark!
The finish was pretty good straight after that, and I could've left them - but decided i'd try & make them a bit more shiny! Left them for probably a week to let the paint cure completely (like to play it safe lol), them simply went over them carefully with Autoglym Cutting Polish. Kinda like T-Cut or Faracela G3 compound.
Little bit of time on each one, rubbing away - although not rubbing too hard, or you'l rub the paint off again, then a clean rag to get the polish off - and presto! shiny black lights!

Cheers for the offer of the side trims - am more than skint at the moment though, and there's more important things to fix on the car first (exhaust for a start, the flexi-pipe from manifold-downpipe is screwed, sounds real rough! )

[winfred]

**** i must be board

[Macv]

head on makes it look even more weird.

[CharlesAFerg]

head on makes it look even more weird.

Volkswagen alert.

The left one...

Yeah....no.
Cheap looking.

I'm leaving the chrome grills, but blacking out the corners and my panels. I'll take pics. My panel is destroyed anyways, it needs changing...

[CharlesAFerg]

I was thinking, I could only tint the circle that goes around the projector port on the low beams... Do you understand? Basically the outer part but not the center, where the glass is smooth all the way through, and not textured. That would stay clear... Thoughts?

[Nick.Hay]

Computer says... NO!!!

Removing the grilles, is BADNESS!!! :Thumbs down: