Grand am GT side skirts on an Alero

[zman246]

Since I had to paint the whole car anyways, I decided to do something a little different and put Grand am GT side ground effects on it. I was a little worried about how it would look with stock Alero bumpers but I think it looks pretty sharp. Its also still completely de-badged from the paint job and I intend to leave it that way. Tell me what you think...

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8758/img7315s.jpg

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5197/img7317d.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/21ackqu.jpg

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1808/img7505a.jpg

I'm not going to do a how-to or anything like that but I do have some info about how its done that might come in handy to someone out there (because I couldn't find any info online). First, you will need a LOT of automotive double sided tape. Its pretty expensive stuff so be prepaired for that. You have to take off the old double sided tape first, which is time consuming with the proper tools and would have been a nightmare if I hadn't had the proper tools. Three fat strips on each of the doors and a lot on the skirts too. You will need to drill some holes on the wheel wells and on the fender but all the holes and clips on the bottom where the old Alero ground effects were can be reused if you don't break them taking the old one off. For the people who want to hide the rust on their two door this way, if there is a lot of rust you wont have holes left to clip the ground effects into so I wouldn't recommend it but it will probably hide less severe rust. Thats it!

[03Sleepr]

Wow, that looks a lot better than I had imagined. clean ho you got there too

[MMGT1]

I think it looks awesome too actually. I was kinda iffy on the idea until I saw this, nice man... real nice

[03glgold]

i don't think it looks terrible however i think it could look better if at the top of the ground effects you had finished it to where it had a smooth joint into the door because the line down the door kinda kills the flow that you would have going there otherwise

[Oldsman]

Reminds me crazytaxi.......he did that years ago.

[TheEdgeofSanity]

I think it looks great, props for trying something different!

[Papa Rad17]

that really does surprisingly good. I would say it looks like it need dropped even more though... nice clean install, glad you did this, I know there have been people asking questions about it before. :cool:

[Shiwnath]

Looks awesome on a coupe. Not too sure if it'd work on a sedan though. Kudos for trying something different!

[fisdad]

I plan on doing that as well. I have found half of the skirting so far, but I plan on using it to compliment my Razzi kit as well. You did a nice job on this. I hadn't thought of using it to cover rust on a 2 door. I am using my razzi to cover all of my bumper imperfections from the years.

[fisdad]

i don't think it looks terrible however i think it could look better if at the top of the ground effects you had finished it to where it had a smooth joint into the door because the line down the door kinda kills the flow that you would have going there otherwise

What are you talking about? Are you referring to the divet between the front of the door and the fender? If so, that has to be there so that the door will open properly. If not, I'm lost but I'd be interested to know since I plan to do this soon.

[TheEdgeofSanity]

I think those sideskirts would look good with an OSV front and rear bumper

[Oldsman]

Looks awesome on a coupe. Not too sure if it'd work on a sedan though. Kudos for trying something different!

Crazytaxi has a 4dr with the ga sides. Looks good with AED and razzi.

[Papa Rad17]

now it need ga gt side mirrors. that would help complete the look a lot.

[fisdad]

now it need ga gt side mirrors. that would help complete the look a lot.

I prefer the stock Alero mirrors personally. The ga gt mirrors seem like they stick out a lot farther than the alero mirrors and they are squared on the end which doesn't flow as well with the smooth curves of the Alero in contrast to the sharp lines of the ga and ga gt... Just my opinion. I'm jealous that this guy got his done before me.

[Papa Rad17]

you are still one of the few

[fisdad]

I know. To each their own. I'm also one of the few that wants my headlight bezels painted body color. I'm just a freak i guess.

[zman246]

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm glad people like it :)

[03glgold]

What are you talking about? Are you referring to the divet between the front of the door and the fender? If so, that has to be there so that the door will open properly. If not, I'm lost but I'd be interested to know since I plan to do this soon.

the area circled in red is what i am talking about

[fisdad]

the area circled in red is what i am talking about

Ah. That black belt line. Gotcha.

[kwhauck]

I am not a fan at all. I also think it looks like a 4x4.

[kwhauck]

I know. To each their own. I'm also one of the few that wants my headlight bezels painted body color. I'm just a freak i guess.

Body color bezels are hot! I loved mine.

[zman246]

Ah. That black belt line. Gotcha.

The black belt line is actually painted blue too but it does kind of stick out. I briefly considered trying to do something about it but couldn't think of anything that would work well. That much body filler would just crack off eventually and you're not supposed to use body filler on plastic anyways. The bumper repair stuff I normally use might work but its expensive and wouldn't fill that much space either...

[fisdad]

Body color bezels are hot! I loved mine.

I agree. I like the look of the mid 2000's impalas with the body colorerd rear lights with circles left for the lamps only and the body color front bezels. I think that's just cool.

[Papa Rad17]

your second housing has proven a pain to break into. I'm trying not to tear them getting into them but with all new sealer crap its a pain. another good hour to hour and half I should have them ready to paint. then its just smooth sailing.

[fisdad]

your second housing has proven a pain to break into. I'm trying not to tear them getting into them but with all new sealer crap its a pain. another good hour to hour and half I should have them ready to paint. then its just smooth sailing.

Woot for painted bezels! How are they coming along?

[Papa Rad17]

they need probably another 45min to get the other one open. then its just paint, silicone, clamp/let dry. I hope to have them out for you Monday.

[falloutboy]

ok stupid question from the guy on the other side of the pond.
what exactly do I see?
you got a before picture?

[03Sleepr]

ok stupid question from the guy on the other side of the pond.
what exactly do I see?
you got a before picture?

he put door mouldings from a GAGT on it.

before (just some random black coupe from google)
http://images.gtcarlot.com/pictures/40134821.jpg

after, look at the doors.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8758/img7315s.jpg

[zman246]

The large plastic ground effects piece on the fenders, door and quarter panel. It was faded out and hail damaged before the paint job so i never took before pictures.

[fisdad]

Was this a Maaco paint job? Not implying anything about quality... I actually think it looks good, but if so I was curious which level paint you chose.

[zman246]

Was this a Maaco paint job? Not implying anything about quality... I actually think it looks good, but if so I was curious which level paint you chose.

Not Maaco, I work at a body shop so I did the bodywork and sprayed the paint myself. Since this is just my cheap daily driver I painted it with an economy paint called Shop Line, which is made by PPG. The price was very low and not surprisingly so was the quality. The finished product looks very nice but the base coat was as thin as water and it took 4 coats for it to cover. The clear coat was ok but scratches easily. I wouldn't recommend it. I normally spray Dupont which is a lot higher quality. If you can afford it then use that. I don't know what Maaco sprays but I know its very cheap. They are also known for barely prepping cars at all which causes the paint to come off eventually. I don't recommend Maaco at all.

[Shiwnath]

I don't know what Maaco sprays but I know its very cheap. They are also known for barely prepping cars at all which causes the paint to come off eventually. I don't recommend Maaco at all.

Maaco sucks ass up here in Canada too. Everything you say is true... after an accident in 2007, we had the car taken to Maaco and the paint flaked after a couple months... terrible quality... I'd never go there again.

[fisdad]

I'm not looking to have a lot of quality right now. I just want it all painted and freshened up until I can afford to have it done right after I've gotten some repairs and mods done.

[zman246]

I'm not looking to have a lot of quality right now. I just want it all painted and freshened up until I can afford to have it done right after I've gotten some repairs and mods done.

I'd recommend against that. Normally for a good basic repaint all a shop has to do sand the top layer of the clear coat so the paint sticks. If you get a Maaco paint job and want to repaint it later ALL of the Maaco paint will have to be sanded off. If you don't then the new paint job will only last as long as the Maaco paint job. Any prepwork problems that cause the maaco paint to come off will also take off the new paint. And sanding off all the Maaco paint and leaving the original paint on might cause waves in the new paint so if you want a really nice looking job you'd have to sand the whole car to bare metal. This will cost you a LOT more money than if you had just waited and done it right the first time.

[fisdad]

Hmm... Well a small body shop gave me an estimate of $1200 to repaint with 1 base and 2 clear. I was really hoping to go for the $500 Maaco special since I've been selling off my vintage video game collection to get money for the parts and paint. I can always sand the car myself if that's the problem with Maaco.

I just can't help but think that Maaco wouldn't be so big AND still in business everywhere if ALL of the paint jobs they did were aweful. I've heard the horror stories about Maaco, but I can't help but wonder, how many of those were the result of the $300 ambassador paint service on a car that was in pretty piss poor shape in the first place?

Not only is my car in pretty good shape, I was going to at least buy the middle paint package with the 3 year warranty. Maybe I can pay extra for more than the "economy prep" package that is standard with them?

[fisdad]

This makes me optimistic about this location.

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=maaco+near+46143&fb=1&gl=us&hq=maaco&hnear=0x886b5d5d730eeec5:0x2ce1c88203cdd0a2,Greenw ood,+IN+46143&cid=7413714344082739801&ei=4Z-WT-SjIZKE8QTHkdHEDg&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=3&ved=0CE0Q4gkwAg

[zman246]

Sanding the car yourself is definitely an option if those shops allow it. You'd have to buy a sander and paper though and that would cut into your savings. You could take off mirrors and door handles and lights ect too, that would make the paint job last longer (the clear coat will eventually peel there if you don't) and Maaco sure isn't going to do it unless you pay more. Even making sure the car is very clean will help a lot. If you wax you're car you could use degreaser to take it off before you bring it to Maaco. Wax under paint will cause problems. Otherwise it pretty much comes down to how good of paint they spray and how much time they put into prepwork. The paint I used on my Alero was $600 for the base coat and 2 coats of clear and thats pretty darn cheap for that much paint. Maaco might be using single stage paint to get the price that low. You don't need clear coat on single stage but it usually fades faster and metallic colors have a tendency of looking funny.

We can figure out roughly how much time they're putting into these paint jobs. Around here Maaco charges $40/hour. We will minus $300 for paint. That leaves $200 / $40 per hour = 5 hours to sand, tape, and spray.

Every shop other than Maaco around by me charges $56/hour. For the body shop charging $1,200 we'll subtract $500 for paint leaving $700 / $56 per hour = 12.5 hours for the whole paint job.

At my shop a complete repaint starts at $3,500 and goes up from there. Minus $1000 for paint / $56 per hour = 44 hours. I'm not suggesting you go this route, I just want you to see the difference in time it takes to get a quality long lasting paint job.

[zman246]

Consider this too- I recently spent 8 hours of my day giving my wife's grand am one hell of a detail. I used Meguiar's 3 step paint cleaner, polish, and an extra expensive Meguiar's wax and you wouldn't believe the difference. The paint was dull and oxidized with swirls everywhere and it practically looks like a new car now. The black paint has a mirror finish again. Why not give that a try instead? Spend 40 bucks on some quality paint cleaner, polish, and wax and save the rest of that money for the better paint job?

[fisdad]

Consider this too- I recently spent 8 hours of my day giving my wife's grand am one hell of a detail. I used Meguiar's 3 step paint cleaner, polish, and an extra expensive Meguiar's wax and you wouldn't believe the difference. The paint was dull and oxidized with swirls everywhere and it practically looks like a new car now. The black paint has a mirror finish again. Why not give that a try instead? Spend 40 bucks on some quality paint cleaner, polish, and wax and save the rest of that money for the better paint job?

I may try that, but I'm skeptical.. Few problems...

- I need to paint the body kit and grand am gt side moldings anyway.

- There are huge rock chips on my hood down to the metal which are deep.

- Long, deep scratches on my roof (2 feet long) and trunk lid (1 foot long) and a deep scratch on my drivers side quarter panel just above my rear bumper cover that is about 4 inches long and 3/16 wide down to the metal.

[AleroGLS_00/04]

he put door mouldings from a GAGT on it.

before (just some random black coupe from google)
http://images.gtcarlot.com/pictures/40134821.jpg

after, look at the doors.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8758/img7315s.jpg

They look very good on a dark color car! Not sure on a light colored one.:coolio:

[zman246]

I may try that, but I'm skeptical.. Few problems...

- I need to paint the body kit and grand am gt side moldings anyway.

- There are huge rock chips on my hood down to the metal which are deep.

- Long, deep scratches on my roof (2 feet long) and trunk lid (1 foot long) and a deep scratch on my drivers side quarter panel just above my rear bumper cover that is about 4 inches long and 3/16 wide down to the metal.

The rock chips and scratches will still be there after the repaint. If you really want them gone you'll have to pay the shop extra to sand them out or glaze them. Either way they should prime them afterwards. Same goes for the scratches- they have to be sanded out and primed and sanded again and sealed before paint. If you can't feel the scratches with your fingernail then you could probably get away with having the shop sand them out before paint with no bodywork necessary. Most of the time those kinds of scratches can even be sanded and buffed out with no painting needed. If you held off on paint then I suppose you could get touch up paint for the chips but you're kind of screwed on the deep scratches. :(

[zman246]

To be fair, I should also mention that if you were to get just the kit and ground effects painted the color might not perfectly match the car. Most cars have several variants of each color and cheap paints like Maaco uses don't usually account for that. If you want to see what I mean take a look at the bumpers on cars. A bumper is painted at a different time than the car is so the color variant is a different. You can tell when you're looking for it but most people will go their whole lives without noticing. If that wouldn't bother you, consider painting just the kit and ground effects. Or not, its up to you. I took a look at you're pics and I'm impressed by how well the paint still looks for a car thats at least 8 years old.

[rfcrime]

I wonder if there are four door Grand ams, probably. Also you think the this would be just as easy for the fo do?

[Papa Rad17]

I wonder if there are four door Grand ams, probably. Also you think the this would be just as easy for the fo do?

O.O where have you been? there are tons of 4dr ga's...

[rfcrime]

ha I had a mustang before this, and grand ams just never interested me, but if I can get the four door black moldings for cheap, and the mirrors, its might kill a weekend

[zman246]

ha I had a mustang before this, and grand ams just never interested me, but if I can get the four door black moldings for cheap, and the mirrors, its might kill a weekend

It should work the same. It'll look weird if you just get the door moldings, you'll need the rocker moldings too. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Pontiac made any maroon Grand am GTs so you'll need them painted if you want them the right color.

[Papa Rad17]

It should work the same. It'll look weird if you just get the door moldings, you'll need the rocker moldings too. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Pontiac made any maroon Grand am GTs so you'll need them painted if you want them the right color.
iv seen maroon 4dr ga's in my local small town. cant recall if they had the moldings or not. it might look ok with only the doors, it would be a good experiment.

[zman246]

I sold her last weekend, but I had to snap a few final pics before saying goodbye!

http://oi45.tinypic.com/2f09gtt.jpg

http://oi50.tinypic.com/v2w5fr.jpg

http://oi46.tinypic.com/2a92qs8.jpg

I 'upgraded' to a 4 door Grand am but I'm already missing my V6...

[Nas Escobar]

I wonder if there are four door Grand ams, probably. Also you think the this would be just as easy for the fo do?

Uhm..... I drive one.

Now, I've never seen a Maroon GA GT like yours though. You would have to get it painted to match your Alero.

But it would be the same thing for the 4 doe. The doors are glued on with double sided tape and the rocker panel actually attaches to the fender, so there's a lot of clips you have to look for when taking them off. Other than that, same thing as the OP's Alero.

[DJx79x]

Would this process be an easier/cheaper way to cover or fix the rust issues on Aleros?

[Nas Escobar]

Nope, only way to fix rust is by bondo and welding new sheet metal on. lol

[WIALERO]

Now i found a way to fix my rust and make my alero look good side skirts miggt match my ga mirrors :)

[zman246]

Just watch out if you're doing this to cover rust. If your rust is bad, you'll have nothing left to clip the ground effects into. Or at least you'll have to do some improvising.

[WIALERO]

My rust is not that bad maybe a lil bit of bondo wilk do the trick you from wi why dont you come to hustisfors and show me how to do it lol

[sleepyalero]

to each his own, i just feel the side moldings never went well with aleros.

[DJx79x]

Agreed but to me this looks a lot better than rust and is cheeper to accomplish

[Babyblue]

looks good.

[zman246]

My rust is not that bad maybe a lil bit of bondo wilk do the trick you from wi why dont you come to hustisfors and show me how to do it lol

Lol its easy but still kind of a pain. There is a LOT of automotive double sided tape holding these things on. It took a long time with a razor blade and a rubber wheel to get all of it off. I hate taking it off plastic parts. You have to go super slow with the wheel or you melt the plastic. Not fun and I sure as hell don't want to do it again! ;)

If anyone else does do it then post some pics. I'm curious to see how it would look on a lighter color car.

[fisdad]

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b195/forhiddentears/Allie%20the%20Alero/008_zpsd9a2996a.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b195/forhiddentears/Allie%20the%20Alero/122_zps083edfef.jpg

[Papa Rad17]

You still trying to sell that ryan?...

[Nas Escobar]

The lines of the Body kit don't go at all with the lines of the GT cladding. The main problem here though is that black strip that goes around the car. I personally would try to find a way to bondo it away.

[Papa Rad17]

the black molding doesn't go to well on there aleros but other then that they arent bad. the rear fender well doesn't quite line up on the molding, it hangs over a bit. I think with fisdads set up it looks good but just the skirts interupt the flow of the alero to much for me taste.

[fisdad]

You still trying to sell that ryan?...

Not really. I'd entertain another offer from the right person though. I want to get her to ASS one more time. I am debating cutting the GAGT skirts to make them line up with the Razzi kits. I'm just not sure how difficult it will be to remove and change the molding. I'd have to cut off about an inch and then mold it together. And I have no clue what the car looks like once I remove the molding. I know that the new paint went on after the moldings were installed.

[Papa Rad17]

Not really. I'd entertain another offer from the right person though. I want to get her to ASS one more time. I am debating cutting the GAGT skirts to make them line up with the Razzi kits. I'm just not sure how difficult it will be to remove and change the molding. I'd have to cut off about an inch and then mold it together. And I have no clue what the car looks like once I remove the molding. I know that the new paint went on after the moldings were installed.

the razzi skirts are my favorite. I would say id be worth it, would look good. But like you said, it'd be a project.

[zman246]

Not really. I'd entertain another offer from the right person though. I want to get her to ASS one more time. I am debating cutting the GAGT skirts to make them line up with the Razzi kits. I'm just not sure how difficult it will be to remove and change the molding. I'd have to cut off about an inch and then mold it together. And I have no clue what the car looks like once I remove the molding. I know that the new paint went on after the moldings were installed.


I think it looks pretty damn good the way it is

[fisdad]

I think it looks pretty damn good the way it is

Thanks! I agree, but I could make it better if I had any money to throw at it again lol.