Well it's about time, I got my car into the paint shop.

My Stillen front lip and side skirts are being painted this evening. A little odd though the painter installed the parts on the car, and he is painting the parts while it is on the car. He called me back to his shop earlier today (afternoon) to show me the imperfections (around the edges) of how Stillen formed these, and you can see where they used some sort of saw to cut the mold out of the jig, and by doing that some edges kinda of looks like crap. He said that there is not much he can do to fix that.
Anyway he called me back again this evening. and he wanted me to see how the base went and he said it is tough to match my existing paint colour "satin white w/pearl" to be exact to the factory paint. He didn't put the pearl on yet, but I took a look at it and I sort of agree with him, he also suggest to repaint the rear side flares also, so it will be uniformed look and paint. He had to order PPG paint, instead of Dupont. I took some pic's of it being on the lift earlier today.

So looking forward in seeing the final product, all i need is the AAM and the roof wing installed and I'm set for the time being...lol...

 

How much did the work come out to ? Because I'm looking on getting the front lip, and side too.

 

awesome cant wait for pics

 

I dropped off my front lip and side rockers the other day. To clean, sand, and paint them it's costing me ---> $275

 

The polyurethane isn't cut out of the mold, it just has some flashing on the edges that is trimmed and sanded down. As per the instructions, these should be prepped, primered and sanded before painting, and you'll have a perfect piece.

Painting while on the car would make things 10x more difficult, I'm not sure I understand that philosophy at all. OP please PM if I can answer any questions, we'd like your paint/install to be what you were hoping for.

 

I had no issues with my stillen lip or painter. I would use someone else.

 

My Stillen lip is being painted today and installed tomorrow. I also have pearl white and the shop had no problem matching the colors. I had one shop tell me they would have to take off my bumper and blend the paint together to get a perfect match. Needless to say I took my business else where.

 

Guys, It is impossble to get a 100% factory paint colour match, unless you have a link at the main factory that painted your car, with the exact same paint they used on it originally...lol


@josh, i'm just stating what the painter/installer said and showed me while he preped the parts. It looked like it was cut marks on the edges. When he was pre fitting the parts he found these imperfection, but you would only notice them when you are up close and looking for flaws. The stillen lip i received was contorted and it was never in a rigged form, like the side skirts. Both end pieces was twisted, so it was a little harder for him to paint.


Anyway I picked up my car this evening and I'm happy with the install, paint, one thing i wish it that it was like this when it came out of the factory, but that is wishful thinking.. I'm happy with the overall look, paint matching. There was some fitment issues but again nothing is perfect. I didn't realize that on the side skirts, with the side "scoops" it is a hole and not a solid piece in there, that just cut off.

I'm a little **** when it come down to things like that, I will take some final pics of the final product and post them later.

PS. in all it cost me 600.00 painted and installed...

Thanks,

 

Soo easy to say that, but when it is already up on a lift, tires off, and the parts already pre fitted. What are you going to do ?

 

Not disrespecting the painter, I'm glad you're happy with the results.

Polyurethane can sometimes hold a shape for a bit after being put into a box that allows it to be shipped FedEx, but just tossing it out into the sun will bring the part back to it's original shape (i.e. not 'twisted'.). Side note, should NEVER be baked..

Looking forward to the pics!

 

^ this. when I got my front lip it didn't sit flat. I let it sit overnight flat and it took the right shape.

 

Jig, that is a smoking deal.
Unfortunatley I can't find those great deals where I live. I paid more for mine, but they did the install and so forth. I think in total with the cost of the stillen products -800.00 bucks CAD + paint/install $600.00= $1400.00 CAD. (crap, that is another AAM exhaust)

 

Yes he did that Josh, but then again I'm not there to look over their shoulder when they are doing their jobs.
I gotta work to pay for this sh*t!

 

Got lucky. My mother is the office manager of a welding company near Boston. Lot's of auto body shops order various products and gases from them. This guy has done work on her Murano and my father's Altima.

My mother gave me his contact info and the rest is history. Just got the parts back today. I'm going away tomorrow so I won't get to install them until the following weekend.

Given the prices that I've seen people on this forum pay to paint various parts, I can't imagine getting a price like that unless you know someone or do it yourself. But with that said, I'll reserve my final opinion once I get the parts on the car.

Unfortunately it sounds like prices are a little steep north of the border.

 

Hey Guys,

Not sure how most of you post pics on here but here is the link to my pic's. My apologies of the winter tires, couldn't get the factory "shoes" on in time.

 

 

Still sanding and fitting, probably a week or so out until completion.

 

 

 

Here is the album link

https://plus.google.com/photos/10544...CP3ota7uicasEw

 

Now you just need to finish it with the rear corners

 

Flows really nice! I gotta get the skirts now.

 

Sweet wheels!

 

I think I may hold off on that. Though if Stillen end up offering a rear diffuser like Ghozt design and blends it with their rear corners, then I most likely get them. On a white car it does not pop that much, but on your whip. I like them allot.

What sort of detailing procedure did you do to make that thing shine puuurdy ?

 

nothing fancy, they're 17" winter rims. They grew on me..

 

...just black-out those lugs nuts and b-rollin.

 

Thanks.

For my car to shine I just always clean it anytime I notice that it is dirty and also use Turtle Wax ICE Spray Wax to help keep the shine

 

Results look great! Congrats on the new look!

 

Thanks Josh,

Looks like I will be ordering the rear's now. I was looking at my car from a distance today and the rear seems a little naked, even though it still has the stock rear guards, it needs more flow...

Hey, is there any discounts on the rear's skirt pieces ?

 

That was the idea behind the skirts, keep them simple but finish the line that the lip and skirts create.

Pricing is still at the discounted introductory price, and the current special would bring that down even more. Coupon code is TAXREBATE10-5, or give us a call!

We could definitely use a white example on the website. I might be able to do something for you with some images since we don't have white..

 

Sound's good, I'll pm you..

 

Anyone else with side skirts from Stillen, have you had any issues with the 3m tape coming off even though the area was cleaned and prepped ?

In the last few days, we have some warmer weather here and my car has been parked outside and I'm noticed on both sides that the 3m tape has come off the upper part along the lower door lines..etc etc.

 

I have the full body kit Front Lip, Side Skirts and Rear Corners for the side skirts I just have the clips on the bottom in for now as I had a hard time having the sides hold up good with the adhesive but hope to have it fixed in the near future for now though its good.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/401933...-nissan-maxima

Check with Ghozt when I saw his in person it looked pretty good

 

did you de-wax and de-grease it? or just wipe it down with some cleaner? also, did you use the 3m adhesion promoter 06396? it won't work if you didn't do those steps. i tried a regular cleaner the first time and they came off. tried without promoter the second time and it came off again. sucks cause now you gotta remove all that 3m body molding tape and install a new strip, its annoying taking that stuff off...

 

Yeah, I'm the same, took it back to the shop and they said it was tough putting on the skirts at it is tight fit and with the pressure on the skirts the top 3m is not enough, but then again, they will say anything to p[ut blame on the manufacture. They want to charge me an extra 75 buck to take it off and use some other type of automotive glue to make it more secure. Something tells me it will be real secure.

 

I"m plan on paying someone to do it the right way so I don't mess them up and that it will have that factory touch on the inside of the car

 

Hey Ghozt,

I didn't do the install, but the shop that painted did. They told me that they cleaned it and put on the adhesion promoter (don't know which one). I'm sure they didn't properly clean it, now they are putting the blame on the the parts.lol..

They told me that they will not charge me labour to redo it, but I have to pay for the automotive (tube) glue they will have to use, and the cost is 75.00 bucks. All this stuff pissed me off with places like these.. if you thing you can trust someone to do a good job, they end up not doing one. If i had the time and garage to do this I would do it myself.

 

Ouch. Yeah if no pre-fit and sanding was done to make it fit flush then it can be a struggle to get it to fit right. There were a few places I had to file down just so it fit better and wasn't pulling away from the car

 

Yeah that's a PITA. The body shop that painted my side skirts and lip said they'd do the install for free. But they also said they wouldn't guarantee the parts would stay on. When they said that I told them just to paint them and I would do the install myself.

I've only got the front lip on my car right now. It fits really well but I also pre fit it and sanded it slightly before dropping it off for paint.

I was going to write up a post or two about this install in my thread but I'll give a summary of what I did to prep.

1. First I washed the car really well then dried it and clayed it.
2. Next I stripped the existing wax off the lower part of the front bumper with dawn dish soap diluted in warm clean water. Dried it again.
3. I rubbed this area down with 100% isopropanol to prep. Air dry for a few minutes.
4. I used two pouches of 3M 06396 adhesive promoter. Interestingly, Stillen provided a slightly different adhesive promoter (4298 I believe). Not sure what the difference is.
5. Let it dry slightly, but not all the way.
6. Affix the front lip and voila.
7. Well not quite, I actually messed up a bit but I'll post the details when I do the write up on my thread.

The point is I plan on following the same procedure for the side skirts. But now that you guys are talking about problems with the tape, I'm inclined to have the body shop install them.

The few minutes I spent d!ckin around with the stock rockers makes me think they're gonna be wicked hard to pull off.

 

The front lip was WAY easier than the side skirts. The front lip just stuck on, I didn't use adhesion promoter or any of that. I think what's making the install hard for people is the fitment, without the pre-fit and slight sanding for the flush fitment it won't be sitting flush against the car, and will be pulling away basically. You should be able to test fit it and have it sit effortlessly against the car and you're mostly just lifting it upwards then sticking it against the car at the right height. I also stayed there and held it onto the car for a good 5 minutes after sticking it on; made sure it held on. It's DEFINITELY on there now.