I want to paint my orange bumper vents either black or silver, to match my RS better. Do I need to sand them down, or can I just paint over the orange?

dude!! orange is what makes it look so kewl!! but if u must, u can use primer first, then paint it to the color of ur choice. save time from sanding...but think about it. good luck

cough puke sputter....the day i got my RS i ppainted them Krylon black...no gloss...now they just hide in the vents. Orange look s awful and cheap/cheesy/lame/etc etc..i will colormatch them when i paint my side/rear skirts..but for now black is suffecient

ok dumb question. How do i get those fuc**rs off? HELP!

can u get those out?

Really easy, I swear! Just put a flat head screwdriver in at the top, with a piece of cardboard or something between the screwdriver and the body to protect the finish. Gently lever up and it will pop out at the top and you can pull it toward you. The bottom will pop right out too. I painted mine red to match my license plate frame and my painted dash and (eventually) the struts. Very nice indeed!

NO! The absolute simple way to get them out is to take an allen key, about 9/64" (real small), and put it inbetween the vents toward the middle and pull. I painted mine this last weekend and IMHO everyone should do this cause that ugly flat orange sucks.

If you want to see what the vents look like silver. Here you go.
http://208.9.184.110/MembersList/UserPics/138/car02.jpg

Rick
http://roads.to/ricksrides



[This message has been edited by Rick Buckner (edited March 23, 2000).]

Hey Rick....

Did you paint the grilles on your bonnet vents silver? looks pretty cool!

Just painted mine yellow this morning. http://208.9.184.110/NonCGI/smile.gif

Scoobyshag,
Yea I had the hood vents painted as well, when I had wrecked the car. Wish I would have thought and had the grill done as well. I guess that I will wait until I get the front lip spoiler and some of the chips in the hood fixed.

Rick
http://roads.to/ricksrides

Originally posted by Rick Buckner:
If you want to see what the vents look like silver. Here you go.

My god, what is that on the windshield, an inspection sticker?? Holy cow, I haven't seen one of those in 15 years.

I Just used good glossy white spray can paint. Just washed the dirt off and smoothed out the little nicks. Spray a coat...let it sit for 10...spray another, and wait 20..insert & your set! You might want to do 3 coats, depends on how thick you put it on. Careful not to make the paint run though, then you have to start all over.
looks good though...glossy and it matches my White impreza http://208.9.184.110/NonCGI/smile.gif

How does one go about painting the hoodvents? Do you paint the hoodvent cover, or the actual honeycomb grille itself? Also what kind of paint? TIA

bryanw,
Yea that is an inspection sticker. West Virginia still requires all vehicles to pass a safety inspection. You should see how big the stickers are with a modified truck. Just lifted, lowered regular sticker. Don't have to worry about emissions but safety. Usually about all I have to do is drive in the garage, turn my lights to make sure that I don't have one out, and get a sticker. The garages know that I take care of vehicles and sink a lot of money in them, so they aren't that worried about my vehicles. Other people usually have to have their brakes checked, ect. I haven't had my car inspected yet, but if it is like my truck, they will just slap the sticker on.

Keiho,
As for the hoodvents, the vents were removed off the car, and the honeycomb part was painted. The body shop used the same paint they used for the driver side of the car. I suppose it was factory paint.

Where can i get the blue ridge pearl paint?
I really want to match the color.

I sanded mine for an hour making sure not to miss a spot then I painted them orange http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smile.gif

I just painted my car bright orange it was easier but it did take about 175 cans of Krylon. http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smile.gif

Someone else on the board suggested this but if you take off the bumper lights, you know the orange ones above the vents, put your hand inside, reach down and push on the tabs of the bumper vents, they just pop right off. Easy and no worry about scraping the paint off.
As for the paint, I went to Home Depot, got Painter's Touch by Rust-oleum in navy blue. It matches my BRP perfectly and I didn't sand or prime.

I took my out entirely to facilitate air flow for Larry's Intake (took both out so it matches and doesn't look lopsided).

make sure to spray SEVERAL coats on. stones fly in there all the time.
mine are a little chipped. i only put a couple coats on w/o clear. next time i paint them i'm goig to put primer on then lots of coats. then clear over it.

-M a t t