Help me! Ideas needed =)

[pawzbear]

I was diddling with the idea of getting a new car for a while, either a new(er) Alero, rx-7, or a Nissan 300... Solely b/c i have had my alero for..eh..4 years? and i like change. However!!! I figure that if i keep my original ('99 GL 2.4L) I will have more $$ left over for modding it and making it different.

Im going more for appearance mods and going light on performance ones.. i dont want to fool around with it too much inside.

First thing to be done - repaint. Im getting a few (BAD) scratches and dents fixed on it soon, and i figure while hes doing that i might as well freshen up all the paint b/c it looks bad.
Question is - should i stay with my stock Metallic opaline blue (so pretty and unique around here - he's the only one) or go for something different? I want something different but i also want to maintain the unique-ness and keep it clean..
Any of ya'll ever seen a nice paint color that really made an impression??
I need ideas... or i might just go with a metallic black =/

To help out, some appearance mods im aiming for are the Razzi kit, eibach springs, and probably 17in italia inox rims. So it needs to look classy with those things?

Thanks for any help, input, or ideas!!! Its ABOUT TIME im modding this damn thing.
Heres a pic of him last year.. hasnt changed any since..He has a razzi spoiler and thats about it.

[MixtapeMessiah]

u already started modding it why not finish it

[pawzbear]

huh? i am finishing it now.

[AlbinoMonkeyRat]

huh? i am finishing it now.
it's okay, Candy. he's a post skimmer.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i57/AlbinoMonkeyRat/shortbus.jpg

anyway, what kind of money are you talking here? I know you have free/cheap access to a shop, so labor costs don't mean shit to you.
Springs = if you pay more than $400, you got hosed.

paintjob color = IMO: go with a unique shade of blue. orange, yellow, green and purple are colors that COULD look good, but there's always somebody that will give you crap. Blue, no matter what shade, won't get the random "what a gay color" comments. Red could be good too, but IMO is overdone, as is black, white or silver.

rims: with the "plain" cleared corner headlights, I'd say that any chrome wheels can look good, as long as they're not bulky. "Show the brakes" is what I mean. (might wanna get a rotor upgrade too lol)

that's all I can come up with for ya. :)

[HazMatt24]

do type R badging and lots of carbon fiber...j/k...but whatever you do, do the body work before you paint it. Shaving the handles wouldn't look bad

[pawzbear]

yeh its a 4 door..shaved handles will be a must eventually!!! maybe suicide doors?? thats near the bottom of my list tho...lol. i hate 4 doors.

[HazMatt24]

if you're gonna do it right, you'll want to do that stuff first or you'll have to repaint.

[pawzbear]

i know, but thats not a priority mod.. its down there

[Frostbite545]

Definitely go with the rest of the razzi kit... i mean you already have the spoiler, and i agree about paying no more than $400 for springs, i know the Eibachs are like 250 or so at pfyc.

As for paint, blue is a great color, and if you want unique, go electric blue like mine lol. My friends try to find my exact car, and to date no one has, though its a nice color on the alero without being too flashy imho of course.

[HazMatt24]

I like a nice midnight blue, with a purple pearl on top

[jackal2000]

if i could do it over i would get springtech springs not eibach

[pawzbear]

y springtech jon?

and randy - ur right. labor fees no issue for me. Except on stuff imma need done in a machine shop.. like exhaust and shit. but it will still be on a reduced rate for me. I also get a DEALLLL on great paint jobs and body work.

im doing paint/body work first.
2 springs/rims
3 tint
4 finish my sound system with either alpine or rockford fosgate 12in subs..
orrrr body kit.. dunno which first. molded? maybe.....
5 intake/exhaust - not sure what type im going with yet.. exhaust will be DUAL though.. maybe magnaflow or borla. dunno what will sound good with a 2.4.

a glittery black would be cool as hell... but still common =( gosh i dunno i want something unique!

[TwistedDreams]

y springtech jon?

and randy - ur right. labor fees no issue for me. Except on stuff imma need done in a machine shop.. like exhaust and shit. but it will still be on a reduced rate for me. I also get a DEALLLL on great paint jobs and body work.

im doing paint/body work first.
2 springs/rims
3 tint
4 finish my sound system with either alpine or rockford fosgate 12in subs..
orrrr body kit.. dunno which first. molded? maybe.....
5 intake/exhaust - not sure what type im going with yet.. exhaust will be DUAL though.. maybe magnaflow or borla. dunno what will sound good with a 2.4.

a glittery black would be cool as hell... but still common =( gosh i dunno i want something unique!


then get a rendering...

[SweetNLow]

y springtech jon?

and randy - ur right. labor fees no issue for me. Except on stuff imma need done in a machine shop.. like exhaust and shit. but it will still be on a reduced rate for me. I also get a DEALLLL on great paint jobs and body work.

im doing paint/body work first.
2 springs/rims
3 tint
4 finish my sound system with either alpine or rockford fosgate 12in subs..
orrrr body kit.. dunno which first. molded? maybe.....
5 intake/exhaust - not sure what type im going with yet.. exhaust will be DUAL though.. maybe magnaflow or borla. dunno what will sound good with a 2.4.

a glittery black would be cool as hell... but still common =( gosh i dunno i want something unique!

your order is all wrong........... use common sense.....

if your gonna have the car painted........ wait until you buy the body kit so it can all be painted at the same time. i dont care how cheap you get things done its still gonna save you money in the long run doing it that way.

system can be bought at any time........

rims and springs should be done befor you paint the car.

exhaust gets done after body kit is installed and painted because if your gonna have duals you wont really know where to position the tips unless the bumper is on there.

[jackal2000]

y springtech jon?

because they sit lower than eibachs. in NC you should have no issues with pot holed roads etc.

[SweetNLow]

because they sit lower than eibachs. in NC you should have no issues with pot holed roads etc.

werd up

[alerored04]

intrax is a good compromise between how low the st's are and how high the eibachs sit. Also if you have quite a few miles on the struts consider replacing those as well. And if you are doing 18"s a brake upgrade is a must, especially with a kit. There is something about stock brakes that bugs me. Even if they are stock size and drilled and slotted, they will look nicer, and work better.

[pawzbear]

yeh but my dad's forcing me to do the body work it needs first. =/ so i dunno. im gonna see how it plays out. its not a final order, just ideas thrown in there

and alerored.... im getting the cross drilled rotors and ceramic pads too. thats kinda minor for me to have done so i didnt mention it.

[jackal2000]

And if you are doing 18"s a brake upgrade is a must, especially with a kit.
purely opinion. i drove around with 18's for 2.5 yrs and changed my brakes once. as long as you dont drive like an idiot stock brakes are fine.

[jabartram]

and alerored.... im getting the cross drilled rotors and ceramic pads too. thats kinda minor for me to have done so i didnt mention it.


if your gonna do pads and rotors, forget ceramic, go with kevlar, better stopping power, longer lasting, and they cool down extremely fast.

[SweetNLow]

yeh but my dad's forcing me to do the body work it needs first. =/ so i dunno.

well then you dad is indeed retarded if thats how he wants it done........

but all this stuff isnt cheap..........

razzi will run you prolly $600
subs/amp another $500 atleast
intake/exhaust will be in the neighborhood of $400 if you get a good deal on an exhaust
springs $250
rims $1500+???
tint $150???
rotors and pads alone will run you atleast $250

you lookin at nearly $3000 for all that stuffIN ADDITION the cost or paint/body work and even if your getting a deal on that there is no way you payin less than $1000 to paint an entire car a different color

[HazMatt24]

well then you dad is indeed retarded if thats how he wants it done........

but all this stuff isnt cheap..........

razzi will run you prolly $600
subs/amp another $500 atleast
intake/exhaust will be in the neighborhood of $400 if you get a good deal on an exhaust
springs $250
rims $1500+???
tint $150???
rotors and pads alone will run you atleast $250

you lookin at nearly $3000 for all that stuffIN ADDITION the cost or paint/body work and even if your getting a deal on that there is no way you payin less than $1000 to paint an entire car a different color

if you are doing it right and not Earl Scheibin' it

[Gr1m]

if i could do it over i would get springtech springs not eibach
LOL i was saying the same thing to myself, these are too low with the AAS kit i almost lost my whole back bumper, now i need to get body work again after i bag it, im sellin my S/T's if ur interested :p

[pawzbear]

i dont want a car that low... i will scrape that fucker everywhere. lol.

and my dads not retarded.. just VERRRYYYY narrow minded. we'll see how it goes with him.

c'mon brent... im not retarded. i know how much this shit costs. i have been on these boards a looong time... i picked up a few factoids along the way.

[SweetNLow]

c'mon brent... im not retarded. i know how much this shit costs. i have been on these boards a looong time... i picked up a few factoids along the way.

ok your not retarded........ but your still a woman



hahaha

[AlbinoMonkeyRat]

BURRRRRNNNNN!!!

but really, Brent's got a very good point. Paintjob should be the very last thing to do with the body.
IMO: this order:
repairs -> bodykit -> shaving and molding -> paint


and because of the risk of accidental damage to the body (ie: dents and dings from wrenches, etc...if you're not careful), I would say Rims and Springs before any of that.

[BlackJack]

paint job should be the last thing of all.

I like your ideas.

However, let me get my hands on your Alero for a couple of weeks, and I bet I can make you smile.

[pawzbear]

^^lol im sure.

im not doing anything crazy with it.. just a few things. You see, around here, barely anyone has modded cars. People are gonna be like, "wtf???" Nobody even knows what aleros are in the first place....
Also, I still want it to be a daily driver also so it must be practical

[BlackJack]

that's a good point for sure. (shh....dont tell anyone, but I drive mine daily with no problems that aren't self-induced)

[alerored04]

i meant brake upgrade apperance wise. I know stock brakes will work fine with 18"s.

[El_Diablo]

a glittery black would be cool as hell... but still common =( gosh i dunno i want something unique!how bout black with a blue pearl or flake? or maybe even a metallic black flake and a blue pearl cobined to make it really shine....

[pawzbear]

i dont like the colored flake look. its ricey imo. =/ the pearl may be an idea tho

[ppgnut]

ok so iam going to clear some things up for all you "newbs"
pearl is either mixed in the base coat on factory colors, or it can be used over the base coat mixed in with a mid coat clear
like what you are talkin about doing the black with a pearl over it will work just fine blue pearl over black makes it look purple, purple pearl over black really turns it purple, but done correctly it looks great

now why on god green earth would you want to put a mettalic flake over something is beyond me this is not the 60`s it don`t look good and it is a huge pain in the ass to spray, thats why PPG du pont house of kolor, make all those cool colors no need for old technology any more

[ppgnut]

ok so once again to clear up some things for the "newbies"
body work is first!!! get the kit do the shaved handles, then do the springs, interior is always last!! any car builder knows that and now you guys do

what would make the install of lowering springs such a huge deal?? you guys make me laugh
ok so BODY WORK IS FIRST!!! when the car is done and painted go ahead and do everything else, please don`t listen to any one else besides me and brent lol
and i don`t care what kind of deal you get on body/paint work a color change is allot of work allot of time allot of labor allot of material, is everything getting removed?? even the glass?? everything out of th e way in the engine compartment?? even if I gave you a deal it would cost you $4,000 now thats a deal lol as you would say

building a car is not easy and if you know the look your going for cool, then if not draw it out, see what works and what does not work
so i hope i cleared up how the building process should go

[BlackJack]

can you explain that again?

[pawzbear]

isnt house of colors... like... expensive as hell? hm i dunno.

we have had our 69 firebird repainted twice....for about 1k. once this red metallic, now this metallic-y pearl thing. Its amazing and we get compliments all the time. 4 k? jjeeezzz........

[SweetNLow]

isnt house of colors... like... expensive as hell? hm i dunno.

we have had our 69 firebird repainted twice....for about 1k. once this red metallic, now this metallic-y pearl thing. Its amazing and we get compliments all the time. 4 k? jjeeezzz........

automovtive paint is expensive as hell. PERIOD

[AlbinoMonkeyRat]

while that may be true, Brent, I think she's refering to "relative" cost. like House of Colors is much more expensive than average brands (sorry, I don't know a lot of auto paint brands...)

[pawzbear]

neither do i know much about paint stuff....
However, i want and will only use quality products... my dad's buddy is doing it. He does body work all the time for us.. he fixed my car after i wrecked it (EXTENSIVE WORK!!!), installed my spoiler, helped fix up our classic car, does body work on our Prince Cable account trucks.... ETC! So i trust him.

update.. lol my queer first little mod in this project....
Dual post mirrors... 28 bucks a piece delivered to our shop-brand NEW factory stuff.
i think thats a great deal considering they sell on PFYC for almost $150
told ya we get deals......

[SweetNLow]

house of kolor is no more expensive than Dupont paints or PPG paints. price of paint usually depends on what color and whats in the paint. red is hands down most expensive paint

[p1mptress]

my mom works for records for the police dept. and says that the most cars stolen are always red! So stay away from any red.

[pawzbear]

yeh im not going with red. we have too many red cars already...
a 69 and 95 firebirds - both red. and a SUV and work van - both red. We have had too many blue ones in my life too. too many blue oldsmobiles for that matter!

[olds_03]

I say you get a big airbrush painting of "Lindsay <3's Candace"
yea...serious!
lol sowwy!
i think the blue pearl color would look really sharp, Candace!

[SweetNLow]

this thread is offically making my head hurt

[AlbinoMonkeyRat]

this thread is offically making my head hurt
omg yeah...too many girly opinions. And your input on the paint should be stickied.....

[El_Diablo]

its all on the size of the flake.... and also, there are tons of different pearls out there... thats why they have test panels ;)

[ppgnut]

holy fuckin` shit!! do not listen to this guys post seriously at all, there is no specific size of flake at all, were are not in the 60`s and we painters don`t use crushed glass any more to achieve a desired look, your clueless so please do not post with useless info

let me give ya guys a example of how expensive material is and keep in mind the cost is my cost
gallon of clear 160, reducer 90, hardner 60, gallon of base coat 116, of course using PPG, house of kolor is hands down by far the most expensive system out there, PPG`s custom colors are just as expensive
and why is the guy doing such cheap ass work doesnt he like making money?? knowing you guys or not this is not an easy trade and to do your car for a 1,000 make me want to slap this guy right in the cock sucker
this thread makes me laugh makes me shake my head at all the useless info that people are posting

[SweetNLow]

let me give ya guys a example of how expensive material is and keep in mind the cost is my cost
gallon of clear 160, reducer 90, hardner 60, gallon of base coat 116, of course using PPG, house of kolor is hands down by far the most expensive system out there, PPG`s custom colors are just as expensive
and why is the guy doing such cheap ass work doesnt he like making money?? knowing you guys or not this is not an easy trade and to do your car for a 1,000 make me want to slap this guy right in the cock sucker
this thread makes me laugh makes me shake my head at all the useless info that people are posting

most people dont even know that when you guy paint you have to buy the hardners and reducers and shit.

but ya chris house of kolor is most expensive for the most part. you know what im talkin about though......... it depends on what product your using from HOK........ my tangelo ended up being the same price as the mistsubishi red that is the bottomr color on joels car.

[whiteliquid]

I've always wondered why red is more expensive. I've always been told its because there is yellow flakes in it but ppgnut says they dont do that anymore:lol: So why is it more expensive

[pawzbear]

wow why are yall getting so angry? This isnt that serious. Im modding my car and having fun with it. Not buckling down and acting like the world's gonna end over it.
He does cheap work for us because we refer a lot of business to him (=make him money) and we do cheap work for him. Considering we are the largest (non-stealership) shop around here, us referring business to you means you stay really busy. Especially with our business accounts like the cable company's trucks, and NC State university housing busses, a few limo companies, etc etc... You scratch our back we scratch yours.

And im sorry people are posting 'useless info' theres nothing i can do about it so im not getting mad. Anyways, back on topic.
I still want a black metallic maybe... what kind of options are there concerning the metallic-ness?? im clueless really. Im gonna get my hands on a color book thingy soon so i dunno...
or maybe a pretty, light teal color? no metallic... just pearly?


updat : body kit being ordered before paint.. gonna get it delivered to the shop within a week or so.. just gotta get my money together and shit. Im SOOOO busy with school and work its hard for me!

[olds_03]

reeeeeerrrrr!:p
no like i said before, i think a pearl blue-ish color would look nice. im very partial to black cars so if you go with that itll definitely look hot!

[pawzbear]

AT Italia Inox rims are going for like.. 189 on tire rack. nothing but a set of used 19's (TOO BIG!) on ebay.. im considering a used, like new set of the stainless steel ones. Anywhere for cheaper or should i just bite the bullet??



oh and the painting of "CANDACE LOVES LINDSAY" on it will most def be a consideration!

[AlbinoMonkeyRat]

what about a pic of candace loving lindsay? ;)

[HazMatt24]

what about a pic of candace loving lindsay? ;)

and remember, customizing is all about the details

[olds_03]

w00t Candace! w00t indeed!

[Menace]

My true advice. If you are looking to buy a car, stop modding your alero. Modding an alero is a trap because once you start you want to keep going till your finished and normally when you sell it back you will not get your moneys worth. So my opinion is the money you want to use to mod the alero put aside and start figuring out how much the car you want to buy is. Then sell your alero(which will be worth more money because you didnt debage, lower, etc etc etc.) I hope you understand what I mean.

[pawzbear]

i decided im not getting a new car instead. keepin the ho a few more years.

agh but im seriously rethinking it now that i got to play with an 04 RX8 for 13k at the dealership....

[SweetNLow]

rx8's suck....... unless you can wind it up to 6000rpm on a regular basis its a waste

[BlackJack]

heh...I HAD a friend with an RX8.......

[pawzbear]

shit, its gotta be nicer than my alero.
not hating on the ho.. i love it to peices still

[p1mptress]

RX8's are so nice! That is a hard decision!

[Menace]

I'd pick an RX8 over a ho any day.

[Cliff8928]

...let me give ya guys a example of how expensive material is and keep in mind the cost is my cost
gallon of clear 160, reducer 90, hardner 60, gallon of base coat 116, of course using PPG,....

Not to mention a bottle of pearl is like $90

[pawzbear]

yeh but an rx8 means car payment too. =////// i hate paying bills. No car payment on the ho!

[HazMatt24]

plus rotary = $$$$$$

[AlbinoMonkeyRat]

heh...I HAD a friend with an RX8.......
what happened? *hopes it's only a drama story, nothing worse*

[SweetNLow]

groupie alert!!!

[AlbinoMonkeyRat]

^ what do you mean? He said he had a friend with an RX8. I asked why about the "had" part. if the friend got rid of the car, or their not friends anymore are the drama stories. the friend wrapping it around a tree is what I hope it's not.

[BlackJack]

no, nothing bad happened to his car or him except some kook with an Alero made his car look not quite so fast as he would like to have believed. Once he gets his new turbo setup though, should be quite an interesting time.

[El_Diablo]

holy fuckin` shit!! do not listen to this guys post seriously at all, there is no specific size of flake at all, were are not in the 60`s and we painters don`t use crushed glass any more to achieve a desired look, your clueless so please do not post with useless info
there are different sizes, sorry bro, i resepct you but i know a lil shit myself and ive done a lot of experimenting with paint effects

if you dont wanna listen to me then dont, im not forcing you to... but dont insult me

[BlackJack]

holy fuckin` shit!! do not listen to this guys post seriously at all, there is no specific size of flake at all, were are not in the 60`s ...........this thread makes me laugh makes me shake my head at all the useless info that people are posting

while you might be resident painting "expert" and my area of expertise isn't this exactly, your statement makes me curious as to why several paint shops I've been to in the last two years have all shown me different paint swatches titled "medium" or "large" flake. And yes, looking quite like the crinkled aluminum foil from the old days, though they were newer samples. Guess it must be some new effect that mimicks the flake of the old days, or else all the rest of the painters are liars and I'm not listening to any of them anymore.

[ppgnut]

did you see marble base coat?? marblized base coat is done by house of kolor
you could have seen candy colors, but the actual flake that evey one is talking about the old school way is out dated and we used to use crushed glass to achieve the flake
now we use pearl, and mettalic, and candy to get a certain flake
i havent used crushed glass since 1990 and as far as i know is banned by osha

[pawzbear]

http://www.houseofkolor.com/hok/products/specialty.jsp
2nd thing down!

you think the extra fine flake would look nice?? I dont want the tacky 60's look.
or maybe the ice pearls? what kind of affect would that give?
as i said, im clueless on this stuff. id appreciate someone's help, preferably ppgnut

[AlbinoMonkeyRat]

banned by osha
while this may be true, it doesn't necessarily mean that individuals can't use it for their own personal reasons. You working in a shop can't use it in your on-premises/on-the-clock work, but you CAN use it at home.

But OSHA usually has a good idea of what's potentially dangerous...

[ppgnut]

so like i said before the flake yr`s ago was crushed glass , i knew that HOK makes a flake but its not crushed glass it is indeed a mettalic
wut you are asking about is made to put over a candy base or a candy mid coat clear, which means you would have to have a candy color in order for this material to work
the pearl below wut you linked will work in and or on top a base coat using a mid coat clear, i suggest using the pearl over a base coat
or if ya want a candy color its ur car and up to you not any of us
so if this guy you use lets say PPG HOK can be applied over PPG since its made by PPG, i think so its up to you really

[pawzbear]

it said you can mix in the flake with the HOK klear? I just want a black car i guess. i dont need some crazy color. Should i just buy an HOK black, the klear, the extra fine flake, and the recommended hardeners/reducers to go with it? i found a website that has pretty good deals on HOK stuff it seems:
http://www.tcpglobal.com/hokpaint/

[ppgnut]

no need to buy HOK black or anything else from them, since they are made by PPG here is what you can do , base it black using PPGS dbc system, and then use HOK pearl not the flake that is only on candy colors
so you can use the pearl from HOK on the base and believe the pearl from them is out standing, again using the dbc system add the peral to the dbc 500 mid coat clear over the black the black will just pop out at ya
but no need to buy HOK base coat for a HOK pearl

[SweetNLow]

that body work your getting done better be flawless on a black car

[ppgnut]

^^^correct^^^
black shows every little imperfection as if it were under a microscope
so "your guy" better be real good

[pawzbear]

yeh he fixed our firebird real nice...it was restored ground up. when we got it it was busted up bad.. talk about 100's of those damn little dents. my dad started some of the bodywork but he finished it better.
I have only a few lil dents and dings along the sides of my car, and one on the edge of my hood. My car is in good shape to start with, so its ok.
and by pearls... which of these do you mean? I dont want any of that colored shit, like purple or something. thats too much on a ho imo.
http://www.tcpglobal.com/hokpaint/hokpearls.aspx

[ppgnut]

http://www.tcpglobal.com/hokpaint/classitem.aspx?classno=H28

that is wut you can use , and the kind of car don`t matter if its a alero or eclipse for that matter if a paint job is tastefully done

[pawzbear]

what color should i use? white? turquoise?? i duuuunnnoooo. what would they look like on black?

[ppgnut]

you won`t see the white pearl, i have done blue and purple, those are the ones i like

[sound_xtreme]

house of kolor is no more expensive than Dupont paints or PPG paints. price of paint usually depends on what color and whats in the paint. red is hands down most expensive paint

ya my colors were expensive as shit, mostly because of the pearls though

[SweetNLow]

whos voting that this entire thread never happens????

<---- rasises hand

[sound_xtreme]

*raises hand*

[pawzbear]

bite me. it is =-P its gonna take a lil time tho. im ordering the bodykit this week probably.