Ok so I painted the wheel cladding

I love Love LOVE this auto and the wheel cladding was just a bit too much.. Had a hotrod body shop paint the cladding white and also took the liberty to paint the brake calipers RED. The look of the car looks a bit more grounded with the bold black just on the bottom. That's just me....YMMV...
mitch
 

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First of all, thanks for the update and pics! (y)

I'm sure A LOT of people will appreciate seeing this thread. As for the looks, first impression is my brain going "where's the cladding" lol. The more I look at it though, the more it's becoming natural and the more I like it. You're right, it does look a bit more grounded with the exposed cladding just on the bottom now...Once again, good on you for trying it out and letting us know!
 
I love Love LOVE this auto and the wheel cladding was just a bit too much.. Had a hotrod body shop paint the cladding white and also took the liberty to paint the brake calipers RED. The look of the car looks a bit more grounded with the bold black just on the bottom. That's just me....YMMV...
mitch
Way to go! I know I was wondering what these would look like painted.
 
I love Love LOVE this auto and the wheel cladding was just a bit too much.. Had a hotrod body shop paint the cladding white and also took the liberty to paint the brake calipers RED. The look of the car looks a bit more grounded with the bold black just on the bottom. That's just me....YMMV...
mitch

Did they remove the cladding to paint it or painted on the car? It's making me ponder doing my Polymetal Gray CX-30. Thanks for showing your results!
 
Maybe it's just me, but does it look like to anyone else that the wheels/tires are too small for the wheel openings? The rear wheel cavity especially looks like it should be a lot more filled in.
Every picture I've seen of the CX-30 looks like it has undersized tires.
 
Maybe it's just me, but does it look like to anyone else that the wheels/tires are too small for the wheel openings? The rear wheel cavity especially looks like it should be a lot more filled in.
Every picture I've seen of the CX-30 looks like it has undersized tires.

It does look like it to me as well, but I think a lot of vehicles of this type have that look as well. I think it's because of the increased ground clearance? Maybe it's more noticeable now that the wheel cladding has been painted?

It's more pronounced in the rear because the CX-30 has a natural positive rake (rear higher than front).
 
Looks good. Would look even better if they'd matched the color

It's the photograph.. Ironically the paint from Mazda does not match up that well.
In shade or low light you can see the plastic painted parts are just a touch off. Bumper covers mainly. They just don't sparkle like the metal painted parts. I wonder if it's just the pearl white..
YMMV
m
 
White seems to be hard to match from plastic to metal. My father in law honda pilot has a pretty bad color difference between the bumper and the paint. On my white mazda 3 the difference is barely noticeable but still.
 
Looking good ! I also think the cladding is a bit too much on the CX-30.
Painting the lower cladding would also look good in my opinion. Here is a photoshop rendering of what a lowered CX-30 with fully painted cladding would look like.

Wow, I really like the rendering they did. Looks really good with the cladding gone and hunkered down like that.
 
Sorry, while I'm not a fan of the cladding, that just doesn't flow well, especially with the huge side cladding still there, and the mis-match color makes it worse, IMO. Given the bad (again, IMO) options, I'd go back to black. (got - to - resist - the - joke)

As for matching painted plastic vs painted metal, there's a bigger issue. A pearl white won't just be a 2 stage paint process, it will be a 3 stage paint - a basecoat color, then a translucent pearl, and finally a clear coat finish. A pro body shop will do it right but I can't be sure that someone, even a pro, will do that on plastic wheel cladding.
 
just doesn't flow well, especially with the huge side cladding still there,
I agree about the "flow" Tell it to Ford also about the F150... Poor choice by Mazda. It looks like they tried to make it look like a Mini.. Then again opinions are like a-holes, everybody's got one... ;^) If you read the other posts, matching the metal and plastic body parts sometimes doesn't work. I've seen it on Lexus also.. In different light it matches and other light it is just a RCH off... A crap shoot for sure.
 

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Even if the paint isn't a perfect match, I do like it more than the bare cladding.
 
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