LX470 Paint refresh

This has been long overdue. When I acquired the LX470 it came with the delaminating clear coat issue and a paint job was always in the cards as part of the 'restoration'. My buddy's body shop was shutting down for a month for a much needed vacation and they allowed me to use the shop and was going to help get this complete. Thanks Jeremy!! 

I've gone through this a couple of times but I wanted to try to do a lot of the work myself this time and boy did I. This has been a long process and it took me almost 3 weeks of working on it everyday after work like a second job. Body work was clearly not my forte and I still need to do things multiple times to get it right. 

The plan here was to paint everything from the molding up for a couple of reasons. I still am not sure if I am going to do a front and rear bumper change. Also, if I do keep the bumpers then it's not that hard to just paint the bumpers and caps. I also like the two tone currently, but I also like it when it is all one color. Since I am undecided it'll be easier for me to address the moldings up for now. 

Started off with a full wash and degrease of every nook and cranny to try to get rid of any contaminants including the under carriage. Removed all the parts that can come off the car like roof rack, headlights, tail lights, moldings, side mirrors door handles etc. Then got to sanding to get rid of all the old paint off down to the factory primer/sealer. Everywhere there was rock chips and wherever it required body work took it down to metal to get rid of any surface rust etc. All the bare metal surfaces got a coat of Ospho metal treatment to prevent rust. 

After multiple tries to get the body work right I wasn't a 100% satisfied. I asked another friend who does body work to just look over my work and he did!! He fixed up whatever needed to get fixed up and after multiple spot priming, surface preps and sanding got the car and all the parts in primer.

Gave the car a couple of days to cure and then with guide coat applied got back to blocking the car with 400 grit sandpaper to make sure everything was levelled out. With everything leveled out it was time for a final wash, degrease and prep for paint. With the car in the booth the plan was to break up the painting into different sessions. Before paint, the parts were wiped down with prep solution and a tack rag to catch any loose dust particles. After prep the parts were sealed and multiple coats of base and then multiple coats of clear was applied.  First session was to tackle the roof and tailgate. 

Second session was the hood and all the parts that came off the car.

Third session was to cover the left and right side.

With everything painted, gave it a couple of days to cure before reassembly. Every single part that went back on the car was thoroughly cleaned and all the plastics got some conditioner. The tail lights, fog lights and side markers even got a polish before going back on.

I don't think this car has ever been this clean since it left the production plant. With all new moldings etc. I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Now to go ahead and mount all the accumulated parts on the car!

-AJ Abraham

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Mercedes W204 Big Brake Kit (BBK) Upgrade DIY

 

CT200h - Front End Refresh

It's been almost a year since the CT was purchased. Since Day 1 I've always wanted to get the front end at the very least painted. The bumper had a broken tab on one side which I rigged up to hold in place but needed to be messed with every so often to get it back in place. Also the fenders and hood had rock chips and fading clear. I knew that instead of  getting another 2011+ bumper I wanted to go ahead and do a 2014+ F sport front end conversion.

I was pretty much more concerned with the mechanical aspect of things initially. Since the major mechanical aspect of the car was tackled and I couldn't stand the exacerbating condition of the bumper I figured it was time to shift focus and remediate that. 

Ordered the front end parts and dropped the bumper off to get painted after a quick test fit. Also added the rear hatch trim piece to the paint list since it was in pretty bad shape for some reason. The parts were primed, blocked, wet sanded and sealed before painting it. 

After the bumper was painted I assembled the bumper with the grill, fog lights and trim pieces. Then moved on to getting the front end prepped for paint. Stripped the front end and got everything primed and let it cure completely for over a week.

Unfortunately I had to leave the country for two weeks and put the project on the back burner till I got back. Thankfully I have some good friends and the day I landed back in the US to my surprise I got some pics of the car completely painted!! Thanks Jeremy!! Jeremy blocked, wet sanded and sealed the front end before paint.

Only thing left to do was to put everything back together which I did enthusiastically the next day!

Happy with the outcome! Onto other things!

-AJ Abraham

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@aj_ls460
@aj_lx470 
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LX470 - Grill mod

Really liked the idea of some raptor style lights on the grill. Saw the aftermarket grill options for the LX but I wanted a more subtle OEM+ look. So got some lights to mod up and see where it goes. 

The lights I got had a smoked finish because I wanted it to blend in when not in use. They were made for a Tacoma grill I believe. When I got it, I saw that it had some extensions so trimmed that. And I also used silicone to seal all the edges etc just to ensure that it was watertight.  

This is how I liked the placement of the final product to be. 

So guess snow ball time, the grill looked rough, it is 23 years old so it was time for a refresh anyway. sanded the whole grill down except for the chrome and used epoxy to glue all the lights down. 

Sealed the whole grill before paint and then on went paint and clear. Tried to match the paint as close as possible but went with a slightly lighter shade, very OEM +. 

All the wiring was heat shrunk and used braided cable sleeves to keep the wiring clean and protected. 

Routed all the wiring between the grills so you don't see any of it from the outside. 

Happy with how this turned out. 

-AJ Abraham

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@flawless_fitment
@aj_ls460
@aj_lx470 
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