Q about painting car trim

[rainmaker]

I drive a silver 03 Audi A4 1.8t and am currently working a lot on it. As a result, I'm down a lot of money which is making me reconsider buying a body kit. I mainly wanted a body kit to look good with new rims and to cover up that dark trim on the bottom of the car. I was wondering if it is possible to get the darker trim on the bottom of the car painted to match the rest of the car.

Would this look good? Would it be a lot cheaper than getting a body kit? Has anybody done this before? Thanks for the advice.

[AllWheelGrip]

most people just color match the lowers, paintin them black wont look that good

[T-sport]

Lol Allwheelgrip -He wants to paint the bottom skirts Silver not black !
Rainmaker you should be able to get them sprayed silver at a body shop a lot cheaper than buying,fitting and spraying a bodykit and it will look fine.
Many Audi owners have sprayed theres already. Check out this example Kazyee has done to his -100_0240.jpg (

[mandoh]

i've also been thinking of painting my trims silver. but the trim isn't as smooth as the body,so thats wats bothering me. i dont want the car to come out looking stupid,or do u guys think it'll look fine?

[RickT]

hi... if you got one of the late B6's they come with the trim painted... i had to buy some trims after someone drove into me in a car park and drove off and while i was Audi i asked is there different trims if its painted and the answer is no.. all you need to do is get the trims painted.... ENSURE they use flexi paint for plastic though!!

also you will never get a perfect match from body work to trim...

Please see the below post which i replied back to a while back..

All….

The reason why the paint is a different colour is due to one been on Metal and the other on Plastic..
This is because a special process has to be used when painting modern plastic components and this involves using a flexi-aid and additives in the paint to prevent it cracking when the part bends.
This results from the paint appearing a different shade.. This is like this on every audi… Silver / Blue / Red are the colours you can notice this the most on… on the back wings to the bumpers…
If you take a trip to your local audi garage and have a look you will see..

Rickt


http://www.audi-forums.com/8p-forum/...ighlight=paint

CHEERS

[rainmaker]

See I'm torn b/c if I get the trims painted, it might run me about $400, this is just a guess though (it may be more for all i know), i will have to make calls to confirm, but a buddy of mine tried getting a rear lip spoiler painted and was quoted over a hundred bucks

i saw a body kit on ebay for 398 dollars with 175 dollar shipping, and this could cover the trims, but then again this isn't painted either so i'd be stuck in the same predicament

i wonder if it would be cheaper to paint it on my own

[T-sport]

You could do but would advise that if you think you cant do a proffesional job you could end up making a mess, and as your car is worth so much i would personally wait till i had the cash to get it done at a paint shop

[RickT]

dont even try painting it if you know your no good!! (ie for best results you need an oven to bake the paint....) however you can do it without and get the same finish....

one option you can do which mate of mine did when he rquireda new rear bumper was to get in touch with every breakers and buy the bumper used and already in the correct colour!! after a bit of polish and time you could not tell the differnce...

however the trims are hard to get off without breaking them....

let us know what you decide!

RickT

[rainmaker]

Thanks for all the input. I went to the body shop today and the mechanic told me that if he painted it, it would look horrible in a year. He told me not to do it. Is this true? Thanks.

[kazyee]

har har... saw this thread and thought i would give my two cents.... my car looks 20 x better with the bottoms painted... i did it myself with flexipaint and made sure i preped everything right before i did this.... the only reason the mechanic would assume that the paint will look horrible is because he doesnt know anything about paint.... u will have the same road rash (pebbles / sand marks and sh!t on the bottoms as you would on the front bumper.) i have been around paint for a while (graphic designer) and i know whats entailed for paint to stay and look good, and how to match colors... i painted my bottoms by myself with my own spray gun and will asure you my paint will stay as nice and as clean as the rest of my car. Its like painting on any fiberglass or urethane... as long as you prep the surface correctly you will be fine.