Blacking Out
#1
04-01-2015, 10:40 AM
Blacking Out
I am wanting to do some exterior work on my 05 Century Limited. I'm thinking about blacking out all the chrome on it.
I'm wondering what yall would advise as far as type of paint. I have experience with Plasti Dip but that was on a F250 bumper and bed. I know you can use it on anything but I don't know if it will work well or not on my Century.
If it helps, I really like matte black finishes. Kind of Storm Trooper type feel. But the paint is that Glacier Blue color atm.
So what would be my best option of a matte black paint for all the chrome on it?
Thanks in advance!
-BB
I'm wondering what yall would advise as far as type of paint. I have experience with Plasti Dip but that was on a F250 bumper and bed. I know you can use it on anything but I don't know if it will work well or not on my Century.
If it helps, I really like matte black finishes. Kind of Storm Trooper type feel. But the paint is that Glacier Blue color atm.
So what would be my best option of a matte black paint for all the chrome on it?
Thanks in advance!
-BB
#2
04-01-2015, 12:20 PM
Quick Question:
I realize that my Century is made for luxury and not sport but I'm looking into the Cherry Bomb glass pack muffler for it. It will make it louder by a lot which is one of my goals.
Any thoughts?
I realize that my Century is made for luxury and not sport but I'm looking into the Cherry Bomb glass pack muffler for it. It will make it louder by a lot which is one of my goals.
Any thoughts?
#4
04-05-2015, 03:01 PM
Yesterday was a cool day for Nana.
I ended up blacking out the rims and grill like I wanted. All but the Buick insignia. I like them and it looks badass. Way tougher than before. Not so "Driving Miss Daisy-ish" and more "Driving Dr. Jeckle-ish." Score for me! I particularly like the fact that the grill badge is black already so looks super good with an all black grill. Taking that off was 5 bolts that looks like beer tab tops. Honestly, I laughed when I got them out. I was like, uh ok, this is the flimsiest bolt ever. But it only hold on a skinny, little grill so what can I expect?
Rims were easy. Probably should have taken them off so I didn't spray the brakes but I'm hoping with some driving it'll wear off. Then again it may be a huge booboo later on. We'll have to wait and see. They need one more coat to cover some of the angles I wasn't able to get to. But other than that, it's exactly what I wanted.
Next part was fun. My boyfriend had a glasspack I wanted to try on it. Well the muffler is welded to the res pipe and that's bolted to the cat. So there goes putting the glasspack on for now cuz it requires that I do some cutting on the entire exhaust and I don't have a welder so that complicates things. I wanted to see what she would sound like raw without the res and the muffler. It's only like 3 bolts and two hangers to get the whole thing off so we did. My boyfriend, myself and two of our buddies all thought it sounded pretty beefy for a Buick. It's a v6 so It shouldn't sound that bitchy in the first place but they had doubts. Instead of Nana sounding like a little kitten, she sounds like more of a lion now. I don't know what it's going to effect, being that it's a newer model car and very electricl unlike older model vehicles that you can just bang and fix it half the time. So we will see. I took it for a test drive and at about 45 it gets to an octave that'll curl your hair until you let off the gas of upshift. It sounds annoying until about 65 then upshifts and isn't too whirly. On cruise control at 70 it purrs lovely. Not one complaint. Interior sound is considerably louder as I already knew it would be but not ridiculous. The trip to Texas this summer will prove to be interesting sound wise. Hope there's no small town cops that wanna mess with me for the noise. Our neighbors hate us already from our loud vehicles. lol So I'm sure they are just thrilled about another vehicle causing their windows to rattle at 7 am. Sorry bro. :/ What can I say? It ain't easy bein sleazy.
No glasspack for now seeing as I don't wanna shoot myself in the foot by cutting and pasting all my stock exhaust. There was a brief idea to clamp the glasspack or go to autozone and have them weld on a flange to fit to the cat but I have a gut feeling that wont sound good. I think it'll pop and crackle more than I want. At the moment it doesn't do either. It's just clean. Besides I have my heart kinda set on the FM Super 40 Series if any are going to go on.
I am going to start taking pics and watch the progress. I got pissed cuz I was so excited about blacking out the chrome that I forgot to take before pics. Oh well. Can't do nothing about it now. Just gotta wait for the rain to stop again for me to take some pics.
All in all I am happy with the progress made. On to the next mod. :]
I ended up blacking out the rims and grill like I wanted. All but the Buick insignia. I like them and it looks badass. Way tougher than before. Not so "Driving Miss Daisy-ish" and more "Driving Dr. Jeckle-ish." Score for me! I particularly like the fact that the grill badge is black already so looks super good with an all black grill. Taking that off was 5 bolts that looks like beer tab tops. Honestly, I laughed when I got them out. I was like, uh ok, this is the flimsiest bolt ever. But it only hold on a skinny, little grill so what can I expect?
Rims were easy. Probably should have taken them off so I didn't spray the brakes but I'm hoping with some driving it'll wear off. Then again it may be a huge booboo later on. We'll have to wait and see. They need one more coat to cover some of the angles I wasn't able to get to. But other than that, it's exactly what I wanted.
Next part was fun. My boyfriend had a glasspack I wanted to try on it. Well the muffler is welded to the res pipe and that's bolted to the cat. So there goes putting the glasspack on for now cuz it requires that I do some cutting on the entire exhaust and I don't have a welder so that complicates things. I wanted to see what she would sound like raw without the res and the muffler. It's only like 3 bolts and two hangers to get the whole thing off so we did. My boyfriend, myself and two of our buddies all thought it sounded pretty beefy for a Buick. It's a v6 so It shouldn't sound that bitchy in the first place but they had doubts. Instead of Nana sounding like a little kitten, she sounds like more of a lion now. I don't know what it's going to effect, being that it's a newer model car and very electricl unlike older model vehicles that you can just bang and fix it half the time. So we will see. I took it for a test drive and at about 45 it gets to an octave that'll curl your hair until you let off the gas of upshift. It sounds annoying until about 65 then upshifts and isn't too whirly. On cruise control at 70 it purrs lovely. Not one complaint. Interior sound is considerably louder as I already knew it would be but not ridiculous. The trip to Texas this summer will prove to be interesting sound wise. Hope there's no small town cops that wanna mess with me for the noise. Our neighbors hate us already from our loud vehicles. lol So I'm sure they are just thrilled about another vehicle causing their windows to rattle at 7 am. Sorry bro. :/ What can I say? It ain't easy bein sleazy.
No glasspack for now seeing as I don't wanna shoot myself in the foot by cutting and pasting all my stock exhaust. There was a brief idea to clamp the glasspack or go to autozone and have them weld on a flange to fit to the cat but I have a gut feeling that wont sound good. I think it'll pop and crackle more than I want. At the moment it doesn't do either. It's just clean. Besides I have my heart kinda set on the FM Super 40 Series if any are going to go on.
I am going to start taking pics and watch the progress. I got pissed cuz I was so excited about blacking out the chrome that I forgot to take before pics. Oh well. Can't do nothing about it now. Just gotta wait for the rain to stop again for me to take some pics.
All in all I am happy with the progress made. On to the next mod. :]
#5
04-05-2015, 03:14 PM
Next project will probably be a shift kit. From what I understand they are a pretty cool and functional trans mod being that it'll shift a lot quicker. I hope I can accomplish this before summer. I haven't priced it out just yet but boyfriend says it'll be like $100-$150?
Do any of yall know of a Century that has had a shift kit on it? If it's successful, which I don't see why it wouldn't be, it'll give Nana some more of that get up and go she's been missing. This may not be the very next mod I do, but it certainly is on my list.
Do any of yall know of a Century that has had a shift kit on it? If it's successful, which I don't see why it wouldn't be, it'll give Nana some more of that get up and go she's been missing. This may not be the very next mod I do, but it certainly is on my list.
#6
04-14-2015, 10:35 AM
I just want to document how dumb the people at my local AutoZone are.
Dear fat guy at AutoZone:
An idler pulley is the correct name for a "tensioner." It's a tensioner only because the pulley can be adjusted to adjust the tension on the belt. 0_o
As far as the words you use, I don't care. But don't declare your "in-depth knowledge" on a subject and tell someone they are wrong when the replacement part CLEARLY is marked....IDLER PULLEY.
k. thanks.
Dear fat guy at AutoZone:
An idler pulley is the correct name for a "tensioner." It's a tensioner only because the pulley can be adjusted to adjust the tension on the belt. 0_o
As far as the words you use, I don't care. But don't declare your "in-depth knowledge" on a subject and tell someone they are wrong when the replacement part CLEARLY is marked....IDLER PULLEY.
k. thanks.
#7
06-08-2015, 10:33 PM
The one guy used vinyl to black out his chrome, for my current car I used Plastidip. It involves quite a bit of tape and paper to get it just right w/o overspray. 1st few coats the chrome will still show through, more coats are the better for later if you decide to peel off and change the color or sell the car in "stock condition".
Can't speak on the shift kit, I was just praying the tranny held up and the fluid when I got the car at 107K wasn't the original fluid. The brochure for these cars pretty much said "just put gas in and go" for the 1st like 100K or so miles.
Muffler should be fine if you just touch the rear one behind the tire. usually that's good enough for most people who just wanted some kind of sound from the car. Touching the mid pipe under the seats one usually opens of the sound of the engine quite a bit. The 3100 sounds way better than the 3800, to me at least. I kinda wanted to do this but liked the quietness of sneaking in and out of the neighborhood. My Subaru has no mufflers and rattles picture frames on the wall on cold morning starts. The neighbors were happy when it broke down I assume.
Did you ever get some pics?
Can't speak on the shift kit, I was just praying the tranny held up and the fluid when I got the car at 107K wasn't the original fluid. The brochure for these cars pretty much said "just put gas in and go" for the 1st like 100K or so miles.
Muffler should be fine if you just touch the rear one behind the tire. usually that's good enough for most people who just wanted some kind of sound from the car. Touching the mid pipe under the seats one usually opens of the sound of the engine quite a bit. The 3100 sounds way better than the 3800, to me at least. I kinda wanted to do this but liked the quietness of sneaking in and out of the neighborhood. My Subaru has no mufflers and rattles picture frames on the wall on cold morning starts. The neighbors were happy when it broke down I assume.
Did you ever get some pics?
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