cosmic blue gone black?!

[buttdart]

well, i had a busy day yesterday.

i painted the wheels flat black.
i painted the big M's flat black.
i removed the mazdaspeed 3 emblem.
i tinted the side markers.
i tinted the 3rd brake light.

the reason i didn't go with a glossy black is because the rear and front bumper both have black plastic on them already.

springs on the way that with give me a 1.1" drop. pics coming after that.

before -

after -

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after -

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after -

 

[Kobyoshi]

me likes

 

[BSTD3]

Lookin good! (cool)

 

[hectik1]

I like what you did a lot.(drinks) Changed the whole personality of the car!

 

[speedracer]

I wuv da blacked out look!!!!
saaweett!!

 

[CoolWhip]

I love that, I'm planning on doing the same thing. White/blacked out look.

 

[bmman93]

get the side marker lights out of the rear bumper and tint those too!! mine is done and it looks good

 

[ericrapp]

You seem to be kinda, well dark. Thoughts on rear reflectors. How about a deep blue to match my cosmic. I like the touches looks personalized.

 

[ericrapp]

Oh yes love the wheels.

 

[controlo]

I like what you did a lot.(drinks) Changed the whole personality of the car!

+1, looks awesome.

best looking CB i've seen.

 

[john blutarski]

I love it

 

[imac]

looks nice. big fan of black rims.

is that just regular spray paint you used on them? i had flat black rims on my old car and used black brake paint to touch them up, but it always peeled off after a while. let me know how yours hold up.

 

[BluMicaR]

As a Cosmic Blue owner myself I really dig everything but the wheels, they seem to be too much black; I don't really dig dark rims though because I like rims and they get too muted when they're dark.

Nice job though.

 

[whitey4311]

How are you guys painting the rims?

Are you using rattle cans or have a sprayer to get them looking so good?

Also how durable is the paint going to be compared to the stock paint?

 

[buttdart]

i have a good friend that has painted 100's of wheels as well as many engine parts etc that helped me do this.

first we scuffed the clear off the wheels with scotch bright pads.

we tried to use primer but the enamel didn't adhere very well and we got a ton of fish eyes on the first wheel. we scuffed and redid that one as well as the others.
3 coats of THIS.

my roommates rx8 wheels are holding up after 2 years, no major chips etc.

 

[Kurt07]

Good job. I like what I see.

 

[whitey4311]

I have some of that paint for when I painted a header on my RC car. It has ceramic in it and seemed to hold up very well so I can imagine how it would do for the wheels.

So just scotch brite the wheels for prep, clean with denatured alcohol, then paint?

Is it hard to get in the tight spots or do you just do a bunch of light coats to prevent build up and how many cans per wheel?

I bet a clear coat would be a good idea so that the brake dust can be cleaned off. If not I imagine a flat color like that will be hard to wipe things off it.

 

[buttdart]

i would think 3 cans would handle all four wheels.

i didn't even clean after scotch bright. we sprayed them down with a high pressure air hose to clear off any junk.

3 coats total.

 

[mrjoshyman]

looks awesome! normally CB is my least favorite MS3 color, but I think this one looks sweeet.

how difficult was it tinting the side markers?

 

[buttdart]

how difficult was it tinting the side markers?

incredibly easy. grab the side marker on the end closest to the front of the car, pull and it pops right out. one shade of 'nightshade' or something like that and you're done.