Hey everyone, i just bought my 97 civic. unfortunatly its a dx model, so it has that gross looking black rubber side bumper strip that runs along the doors. does anyone know how and what to use to paint it. my car is silver and i wanted to paint it to match. any help is appreciated

 

Click here and here .

There's lots of info in these two threads. I must say that silver is a really hard color to match. Go to a body shop and have them mix you up some paint. If you're not careful though, it'll take on different shades.

 

My friend with a VSM civic painted his lip with a spray can and it looks very good. can't tell it doesn't match unless you REALLY look for it

 

i just had my black door moldings painted to match milano red on my dx. my body guy had a bitch of a time doing it, turns out you need to do a tri-stage paint(whatever that means). but if you don't it'll start bubbling and look like ass. but in the end, he kicked ass on my car.

 

Yeah I think the real way to do it is, you need to put a layer of that flexible primer crap that's for plastic or it will chip later?

 

thanks for the tips guys. one last thing, anyone do the door handles too? i'm afraid of them sticking too much. thanks

 

painting is one of those things you should leave to the pros....you can save yourself a lot of labor costs and take everything off of your car yourself (thats what I did when I got my lip and stock sideskirts painted), but let them paint it for you. The pros can get the perfect match and the perfect finish....the odds of you getting that on your own are slim at best

 

Go pro paint with the skirts, DIY is a pain and will not look nearly as good unless you are extremely lucky/skilled. I just had my skirts painted (and a CTR front and rear lip painted/installed.) It cost about $475 for all of it with labor to take the parts off, paint, and reinstall. So I'd figure prolly $225-300 for the skirts alone at a body shop.

 

..... do it yourself. foreaL. and if it turns out good theN good for you. but if it turns out bad, oh well... wuts a can of primer and paint run you? like 13 bucks. thats nothing. if you do mess up THEN you can go to the pros. its always worth a try if its gona save u a lot of money that could be used on something else

with less then 475 bucks you could buy your own air compressor and paint gun and start practicing on junkard parts or some shit and then later later you can just start doing all your shit and all your friends shit for money. my friend has his own shit and is VERY GOOD at painting. he did his own engine bay and doorjams but then he's letting pros do his outside cuz he's putting his car in HIN next month. but he could probably do it himself just doesn't wanna screw up and not be ready for show

anyhoo spray cans should be just fine for that shit n dont really need high end equipment unless ur trying to paint the entire car.

just dont be scared to try stuff yourself. just know wut ur doing before you actually do it. read up on stuff. i think in the DIY theres a section that tells how to paint that stuff

 

I say try it yourself, but go to a paint shop and have them color match some paint and put it in a can for you.