This morning, my sister took the '99 max downtown and when she got back I noticed tons of scratches on the trunklid some which had been scratched down to the metal!!! The worst part is that I have a black max and it looks horrible!

I was thinking of re-painting the entire trunklid and while I'm at it, shave off the keyhole. For anyone that has done this on there max, I have a couple of question for you:

1) Approximetly how much money should I expect to pay to shave the keyhole?

2) Does shaving the keyhole mean to cover it up or to completely remove it and then cover up the hole?

3) How much does it usually cost to repaint the trunklid?

4) For anyone that lives in Toronto, can you recommend a good shop that can do this for me at a reasonable price?

 

I shaved my trunk keyhole (hated that damn thing) but I don't know how much I can help you. I don't necessarily know what the cost was. At the time I had a bunch of stuff done (shave the antenna, paint/install ground effects, paint doorhandles, grill, air dams, sideview mirrors, fuba antenna, window trim, etc., etc.) and it was all in one (steep) price. Sorry man. But yes, the whole trunk will have to be repainted to do it right. And what they did was remove the lock cylinder completely (actually I did so as to save the half-hour labor), weld a plate behind the hole and fill in from the outside, sand and repaint. No regrets. Go for it man. Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.

 

ptatohed, thanks for your help. You were saying that you removed the lock cylinder yourself to save the 1/2 hour labour costs. Was it easy to remove it and do you have any pics or instructions to help me out? What else can I do before hand to save on the labour costs? I was thinking of removing the inner tails myself before I go into the shop.

 

your sig is messed up, says you have a maxima ES. well i guess you can have a ES if you look at it backwards? well just thought i'd let you know

 

what would you do if the button for opening the trunk lid stops working? how would get the trunk open? is there some kind of safety latch somewhere? i doubt it would happen, but never know.

 

slick, actually I do in fact have a Maxima ES. hehe
It was a special edition model that was only sold in Canada in '99. It is exactly like an SE model except for side airbags, leather, bose audio, spoiler, and sunroof. I guess it's almost identical to a base SE model in the states except for the spoiler.

 

Nathan, first you're welcome! Second, yes the lock was very easy to remove. I don't have any pics or instructions for you but, trust me when I say it was easy. All self-ex. Just take a look at it from inside the trunk and you'll see. The only thing is, I noticed on the 95/96, the keyhole sticks out (gosh, I hated that thing...) and on the 97-99, it is a little more flush, kind of set into a cavity. I hope that doesn't change anything for you.
But, to be honest with you, it was so easy and quick I can't really even remember it all that well (and trust me, I go very slow and do things very carefully and aggenize when I am doing something 'permanent' to my car). I remember starting in the trunk, I think there is an outer ring, remove that and the cylinder pushes out. There is also some kind of arm that goes from the keyhole/cylinder to the actual trunk latch. I removed it completely. Just take a look, I think you'll see it's easy. If you have a prob., contact me and I'll go to the garage and look at the removed lock and try to remember from there.

Anything else you can do to save money? I think short of removing the carpet, the taillights like you said and the lock, I don't think so. Trust me, I asked if I could take off my trunk to save money but they said I better leave it up to them! (I don't even know that they actually even did remove the whole trunk). Maybe you can offer to mask off the rest of your car??

As for the concern of locking your self out if it breaks, I guess that's a possibility. But I figured between the remote trunk pop on the alarm remote control and the remote pop from inside the car, there are still two ways in. HOWEVER!, keep in mind there is a switch in the trunk to eliminate the use of the two remote trunk popping methods. I always fear it will get accidentally swtiched one day! I wedged a small block in there but plan on welding it fixed later. It doesn't move easily and someone would have to go out of their way to switch it but just keep it in mind.

If you have any other q.s or want a picture of my finished product, just let me know.

:o)

 

my bad, i thought you goofed up, but then again, if it was a mistake, someone would have told you earlier. so a base canadian se was an es? thats wierd, but i should have know that since i lived in canada. i guess i really didn't get into the max until i moved to the states. btw, nice sig, "friends don't let friends drive hondas", haha

 

No, no no...the ES is not a base to the SE. I've got the base '98 SE with velour seats, 100 watt stereo w/6 speakers, sunroof, auto climate control, limited slip diff, heated seats and mirrors and trunk spoiler.

The ES is more like an off shoot after the GLE. I think of it more like a cheaper SE.

 

Actually my Maxima ES has luxury velour cloth seats, white guages, 120watt system 6 speaker, auto climate control, traction control, limited slip diff, heated seats, mirrors, 8-way power drivers seat, and keyless entry with power trunk.

 

Will removing the lock cylinder cause any problems with the keyless entry trunk release?

Personally, I was thinking of installing a very, very bright red LED light of some kind that I could use in foggy conditions, like what the Europeans use only much smaller. Might be kind of cool...