on my red civic i have theses ugly black side moldings. some of them are starting to fade so they are diffrent shades of black. cant afford a new paint job yet so what r ur suggestions on to helpin me out?

ATL represent

 

Take those side moldings off and spray paint them then clearcoat them to match your red civic.

 

yeah.. and if you find a nice easy way to take them off let me know.. cuz i gave up hah and desperatly want to paint mine aswell

 

After you take the moldings off, sand them down (not sure what grit) to make them smooth and then spray paint em. This will allow the paint to stay easier.

 

400 - 600 grit would be good. you'd want the paint to stick well to the plastic.. then you can colorsand the final coat of paint and the final coat of clear.. colorsand by wetsanding at 1500 grit.. when you are done wetsanding the clearcoat.. using rubbing compound or polishing compound to bring back the clear shine

 

im not positive, but i think WCS did this with his civic. i think, unless the moldings come white from the factory, im not sure, not to familiar with white civics, whenever i see them, there moldings are black. if im wrong, just disregard all that i say and consider me a fawktard

 

I'd suggest masking them off. It is much easier then trying to take them off. I don't believe you can take them off without breaking all the little clips, at least i didn't find a way. Cause i had to take mine off for my sideskirts to go on.

 

but thats so ghetto.. sorry to say it that way.. but doing it that way is so risky.. you end up with paint bleading through where you don't want it, paint chipping because of the edges created when masking everything off..

idk.. imo i would rather leave it black then paint it while its on..
if your gonna do it.. do it right the first time

 

uhh...professional painters have to mask things off all the time. If you mask it off right it will work fine, and will be tons easier than removing them. My girlfriend's dad does custom paint work and that's what he was going to do to mine before I decided to take them completely off and get wings west sides.

 

ya but when pro painters mask stuff off.. thats because those part(s) are not removable.. i'm sure any decent painter would much rather remove all possible peices.. then mask them all off. but idk.. i would much rather spend the time pulling them off.. but i know what you mean about how hard it is to pull them off.. i tried last summer w/o success.. so i left em black for now. after i get some other DIY projects out of the way, i'll try again with them