Saturday, March 30, 2013

Painting the exterior mouldings

Hello, my friends!
Today I will share the experience I had during the hot summer of 2010, when I decided I wanted to paint my Volvo S60s exterior plastic mouldings. I decided to go that way, because I wanted, as I said in earlier posts, an exterior look closer to the newer S60 models. Here's my car before the paint-job:
You probably wonder, how did I got the obsession about the MY2005 and up look? Well, funny thing, I parked once near an almost exact Volvo S60. Why is funny? Because here in Romania, it's more likely that 2 identical German cars (SUV) will meet in a random intersection (seen it quite often) than having 2 Volvo S60s parked next to each other. So the pictures below are quite rare (impossible even, in Romania). The only noticeable difference was the exterior look. Of course the car color was also a bit different, mine is Volvo Cosmos blue metallic 450, the other is a newer shade - Volvo Barents blue metallic 466, but, I prefer my shade of blue. Here, what do you think?
twins with a different birth date
 and another shot.
So, I went to the guy who painted my trunk fin and asked him to paint the mouldings. Also, must note that I didn't paint the side skirts, because I didn't quite made my mind as to how they will  look in the end, will I buy some sport kit side skirts or not, etc. 
Another note, the plastic mouldings had a discrete course look and feel to them, witch had to be sanded down for perfect paint adhesion. And a funny note, I already confessed my fear of damaging the car in the process of updating, so I also bought a used set of exterior mouldings. Now they lay around in my back yard. The mouldings came off quite easily, being hold in place with nothing but a few clips and double sided tape. Next day they were finished and installed. Here's the finished look:
front
 back
 side
 front, drivers side
Improvement or not? Tell me what you think. Write me a comment in the section below.



16 comments:

  1. It's obvious that you love your car, so keep up the good work and never give up!

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  2. You definitely made the right decision having your Volvo S60s' plastic mouldings repainted. It definitely took the Volvo a step forward into looking more closely like the newer Volvo S60 models. It surely made it look more sleeker and newer. Kudos!

    Nannette Henriquez

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! As of now, I am completely changing the car (face-lifting it) with parts from newer Volvo s60s. I changed the rear bumper already: http://mys60project.blogspot.ro/2013/12/seeing-double.html The front bumper is next.

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  3. It is very important to take some time and do some research before making a purchase.

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    Replies
    1. Agreed. However, I don't quite see your point.

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  4. Wow! Good job! Going through your blog, I have seen that you have been doing quite a lot of tune-ups and mods on your car, and so far, I can say that it is looking good. I am looking forward to how it will turn out soon. I’m sure it’ll look really sweet. :)
    Taleen Kizirian

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the support! I will reopen the blog soon, just need to find some time to write the latest posts.
      Stay tuned!

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  5. good stuff; all it takes is a vision and then action.
    Your car looks great!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I am always open to feedback. I hope you will like my next mods and tunes!

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  6. Have you thought about using the steering wheel from the s60r? I have a 2004 s60 and I love it.

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    Replies
    1. Yes. The steering wheel is also on the update list. However I am going to use a newer model (the one with the small aluminium trim) or an R Design one. We'll see what is available at that time. Thank you for your idea!

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  7. Subject matter with this blog usually are great in addition to appreciative.

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  8. How much did the trim painting cost you? !

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    Replies
    1. Well, it was quite inexpensive. All the trims plus the trunk lip spoiler were done for ~50$. However, today, I would do them myself.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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