ILikeBond

I've been gone a week on vacation and have much to catch up on. But I thought I'd show you all some pictures of the MRT louvres I had painted and installed and of the side mirrors painted, both of which were finished the evening before I left for vacation the next morning - thus the week that has gone by since I've had the time to show them.

First, a before shot -



Now, a similar after shot -



Now a couple other random ones, including one of me standing next to my beauty (you can't really see it, but I'm wearing my TMS hat ) on the way up to the top of Cadallic Mountain in Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor, Maine. Cadallic Mountain is the highest point on the east coast.





This shot was taken in front of The Portland Regency in Portland, ME. There was a neat little circle in front of the entrance. When the valet took my keys and I asked where it would be parked, he told me they had a side lot off a street going past the hotel the parked in and I might be able to see it from my hotel room. He goes to move it and the other valet tells him, "don't move that. Keep it here." So they kept it out in front where it could show off to comers and goers. (btw, I've noticed a lot of garages and other places I've parked in doing this, putting it in a "front and center" type spot, presumably to draw the attention of others - very flattering). Anyway, I come out a few hours later, and it turns out another mustang - a torch red V6 - had pulled up, so they decided to put them side-by-side. Kinda neat:



The coolest part, though, was, I was walking past the hotel a few hours later and two more cars were parked right on the circle by the door, on the left side (the mustangs were on the right):



:worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:



Funny story about that - when I checked out, I was talking to the head valet. He asked me if the mustang was mine. After complimenting it, I made a joke like, "well, it's no Viper . . ." So the guy tells me he'd actually rather have the mustang than the viper - thought it was really cool, loved the retro look.

Hope you enjoy!

StangNut

Cool story. Thanks.
Love the painted mirrors. Car looks great.

BaSsFreAk89

being a new driver on the road....those louv's would be so hard on me, but i cant resist! must have mrt louvers!!! lol looks awsome, love the painted mirrors too

goat678

how much did it cost to have the mirrors painted

ILikeBond

Mirrors were $125 apiece to be painted.

Enfynet

I dunno man... 05 Mustang GT vs Viper coupe... I might have to turn to the "dark side" on that one...

outdoorstom

Thanks for the great pics and story! You're car is looking awesome!

adrenalin

cool story and nice pics

05redfiregt

Looks great!

CDGun

Mirrors and louvers look great, I think the painted mirrors are going to be a must mod for me.

BLAKE

That looks fantastic!

blackhat

Jack,

They look great! Where'd you finally end up getting them painted? Did NY S.U.V pan out?

ILikeBond

Yep, that's exactly where I went!

They were impressed when I told them I heard of them on a recommendation. They're a good shop, and a couple of good guys running it. I was glad to see there was no milage added onto my odometer, car was treated with respect, paint matching is very decent if not perfect. Only downside I noticed was that the inside of the louvres look a little unfinished, i.e., you can see sanding swirls under the flat black paint on the inside. But he said he'd fix it for me next time I was in.

Thanks for the tip, Blackhat!

Limeaid

Say do you know what kind of prep was necessary to paint your side mirrors?

ILikeBond

Well, there have been threads on this before that could offer you a more comprehensive answer (search "painted mirrors"), but basically, I think they sand, prime and paint. It's a little more involved in that. I'll see if I can find a link to the description of the proper way to do these things.

Some shops have apparently taken short cuts and simply used bondo, which is a horrible way to do this. The shop I used was very professional and when I talked to the guy about how he was going to prep it, it was abundantly apparent that he knew exactly what he was doing, which was reassuring.

If I can find the link, I'll edit this post and throw it in here.

Edit: That was easy. Here you go:

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/index.php?sh...painted+mirrors

<!--QuoteBegin-paint-boy@June 20, 2005, 3:06 PM
When painting textured plastic parts you want to sand most of the rough finish off the parts....then use the proper plastic adhesion promoter and sandable primer. Prime and sand until all is smooth and ready for painting. This is what I do at my shop.

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