OK, I think I really want my stripes painted, instead of vinyl. I have talked to a few body shops, and I'm leaning towards the one at the dealer.

The body shop manager spent a lot of time with me on the phone (as the dealer is 1.5 hours away) explaining the process. And the process that gives me a little bit of a stomach ache is the taking off of all of the panels to be painted. This would be just about the whole car as I want the side stripes as well (hood, trunk, both bumpers, side panels, and doors). Should this concern me????? I know it's the right way to do it, buttttttttttttt.......

To all who have had their cars disassemble to be painted, please reassure me that it will be worth it!!

 

also, to paint them properly the rear window and front windshield also need to be removed.

Taking off the bumpers is not a big deal. Not sure I understand about the sides though. There is nothing there that needs to be removed fo side stripes to be painted on, unless they are removing the door I have not seen anyone remove the trunk or hood yet in order to stripe them.

 

adrenalin, I'll ask about the points you bring up. It could be that you are correct, I might have just gotten dazed when he started talking about taking my car apart.......

 

I talked to a local body shop and they said the same thing about taking the car apart. I am not sure if I could live without my car for a few weeks while they do the work.

Based on that, I am going to do a Vinyl package. I already received the kit, I just need to take the time to do the install.

Whichever way you go, it will look good.

 

If you go to a bodyhop to have stripes painted on, and they don't want to remove at least the bumpers... leave immediately. The bumpers at the very least will need to be removed. Negative on the hood, trunk and doors. The thing to remember is when spraying the clearcoat, they need to be able to spray all the way around any edges to seal everything in. If they only spray up to an edge, the clear will crack/chip at the edges in the future. But, when it comes to hinged panels (i.e. doors, trink and hood), they can open these up when they spray in order to wrap the clear around any edges. So they should not have to be removed.

What adrenalin said about the windshields is correct too... but it's not absolutely necessary. Because that groove down between the roof and glass does not do a complete turn, they can spray the paint and clear in there and you should be ok. I didn't have my shop remove the windshields. They did remove that moulding though on the roof at the sides by the doors which will need to be removed for sure.

Edit: I'm curious as to why you want the rocker stripes painted on? That area of the car sees a lot more rocks and debris... having vinyl stripes there might actually protect the car a bit. It's going to cost you about $500 (not including taping off 'GT300' or another design) to have a shop paint on some stripes and then clear all panels. You can get some vinyl rocker stripes for under $75 that will last you 3-5 years minimum. I went with the painted rally stripes/ vinyl rocker stripes. I personally think that is the best route to go.

 

Good to know Ian. The shop that painted my body kit said they would need to remove the glass because there is not enough give in the weatherstrip that goes around it.

 

You must have a very good, detail-oriented shop. My shop didn't even pass the idea by me. We talked about the areas between the glass and the roof, and I had brought the idea up on my own of taking off the glass. They said it wasn't necessary. Looking back, I'm sure that would be the "right" thing to do. But, would have costed me another few hundred bucks. The wife was already about to kill me... so that wasn't happening.

 

Ian, thanks for the tip on the rocker panel stripes. I guess the only real reason I wanted them painted was to match colors, but I guess if I decide on the color based on the vinyl that would not be a problem. I will keep that idea in mind.

And I've seen some without rocker panel stripes, that looked ok as well....

 

Adrenalin's car is a perfect example of that. I would definitely get vinyl rocker stripes though... that way you could take them off if you wanted to. Graphic-express.com has a bunch of colors and a bunch of styles of rocker stripes.

 

Maybe my old pics are a good example but I no longer have rocker stripes since installing the Street Scene kit.

 

I meant your car is a perfect example of a car with rally stripes and no rocker stripes. I think it looks great.

 

I've seen several cars on here that showed pics of the painting process and they had the trunk lid & bumpers removed. Haven't seen any with the hood or doors removed.

 

Actually, there is a little trick we used instead of removing the windshield, we used a rope and run it under the rubber part around the windshield. this brings it up enough to get the paint to the metal part of the roof under the rubber. we did take the bumpers off along with the hood and trunk lid. we want under the hood and trunk part to look as good as the rest of the car when finished.

 

This is an excellent point. While I had my hood and spoilers painted off the car so they'd get a clearcoat, I nixed the idea for C-Stripe on each side and am using vinyl from graphic express. It's a lot cheaper since the trim and doors, needs to be removed if you go the paint route--assuming you want the clearcoat. The body shop manager agreed with this reasoning. Hopefully the C-stripe decals go on Friday.

John

 

Found a paint shop in town that looks like they do a lot of custom stuff, and comes highly recommended from folks in a local club (which I'm not a member of, yet). This is on a hood of an 05 GT vert, might not like the design, but what a paint job!

 

In regards to using vinyl for the side stripes, that's the way the original Shelby's were done. Main stripes were painted and side stripes were vinyl. Probably for the same reason stated above.

 

They removed my bumpers but not the windshield. It was no big deal and looks awesome. I used the dark charcoal metallic, same as the bullitt wheels. Just had the MRT louvers painted and put on. I chose not to do the side stripes, personally I like the way it looks without them. Check my gallery for pics.

 

Robyn, I like! What size are your stipes, and are the tapered?

 

Hey Robyn, your stripes look fantastic. What is the gap distance, 1" or 2 "? I too would like to know what size the stripes are, and are they tapered to Shelby specs, or to a different width? The car looks great.