Thinking of possibly going a new direction with my car. It's currently a black TA with red accents in the usual places as well as painted calipers and red side vents.

What are your opinions on totally debadging the car, removing the side molding and removing all red accents? Should I ditch some but keep others (like headlight or rear lettering)? I'd also smoke the side markers and rear tail-lights to give it a complete "sleek" look.

Also some brief questions:

If I decide to put the badges and molding back on, how difficult is it to apply it nice and "centered" again so it looks factory rather than some shmo tacking them on.

Is VHT removable once it's on in case I don't like the smoked look? Also, if I might be going back to stock should I not scuff up the lenses I paint?

Thanks guys

 

i really like the sleeper look..i say go for it...also im nto sure but i dont think VHT comes off atleat not very easily..if you think your going to second guess yourself go with some blackouts instead

 

I was thinking about that but wasn't sure how the looks compare. Can you tell there's a "cover" on the lights or does it look pretty seemless as if they were done with VHT? I'm also a little worried about the tail-lights melting, I've heard about problems with that.

As far as the side-markers go I guess those would be cheap enough to replace if I didn't want them dark anymore .

 

The removed badging looks good IMO. I don't like removing the side molding. That molding ties into the cues on the front bumper on a TA.

I removed my badging/accents and left it there. It looks clean as hell.

Rear lettering is cool, but I dislike the headlight vinyls. Less is more. Red stands out a lot, which is fine in some places. But when it's all over, it's overkill. Just my oppinion.

Strip the sides, leave the red in the vents. Keep the rear Pontiac vinyl, ditch the headlight vinyl.

VHT can probably be stripped back down. I stripped it with carb cleaner on my old 3 Series. Just let it sit and it didn't effect the lens. That's the ghetto way to do it though. Woudn't try it on a nice set of tail lights.


Here's a pic of mine to give you an idea. I had the silver accents on the TA badge before.





Much cleaner IMO. Got any pics of yours so we can all see it, instead of picturing it?

I'm doing a bunch of stuff over the winter for an even cleaner look. Filling in all my side markers completely, gloss black wiper cowl, smoked tail lights, painted gloss black taillight filler panel, etc.

Clean is the only way to go!

Rob

 

I have a similar setup to yours including the red vents. My side molding has been off for as long as I can remember and I've never looked back.

I have been thinking about removing some of the red though. I think I will take it one step at a time. Right now I'm thinking i will blackout the back panel, leave the PONTIAC lettering filled in red and possibly remove the FORMULA badging on the door and leave all the other red accents on like the headlight and the sail panel birds.

Personally I LOVE the contrast of red and black, but its pretty easy to go overboard and clutter the look of the car.

edit: I also have my markers VHT'd and I love it, I am thinking I might do the taillight covers because I don't want to VHT my taillights.

 

Great input so far guys, maybe I will start slow then by removing the pillar birds and side badging then possibly the headlight vinyl. I'd like to go a little darker with my tint eventually, the previous owner had it done so it wasn't my choice.

I have a bit of an older picture I can post but not sure how (and the lighting isn't the greatest anyway).

 

I prefer the "neked" look - lol:

 

Hell yeah, very nice car Casey.

I still like my side molding though LOL. I agree it looks better without on a formy.

 

I want your wheels! Best wheels for a T/A for certain! As far as the moldings - I like it with and without - I am going for a really clean look on mine,

 

Wont find a Z28 badge on this car....

 

This is my 1995 Z28, but you would never know at first glance. It has shaved badges & side molding. I love the look!

 

Very nice - sooooo clean!

 

Some nice cars so far, I think i'll do it soon. I might go as far as stripping ALL the red and just doing a nosebird and rear lettering in silver or chrome/reflective.

One thing i'm wondering is if there's a paint out there that's close enough to something chrome-like for the side vents otherwise I'd make them black again.

Also another idea i'm thinking of is getting clear side markers for the front instead of smoked, but still blacking out the rear sidemarkers and tail lights. It would look like I had a totally different car . If I did all this I may even switch the interior lighting from red over to hyperwhite leds. I saw some pictures of another car that had that done and it looked amazing...very clean and tasteful but very dramatic.

I was thinking about moving to a C6 down the road but I just can't bring myself to get rid of the TA, so the inspiration has been re-kindled . Long term plans I think are going to be some new wheels, darker tint, ram air hood, headers and a cam in no particular order . It already has a drop from when I built the suspension so I won't have to worry about that at all. Luckily it's adjustable as well so I can play around with it whenever I end up getting new wheels.

 

Here's a picture of my car right now for those who asked. I also have some A-pillar birds and my vents are red. I don't believe you can see the black/red calipers in this picture either. Sorry it's a bit dim; been getting dark here pretty early with the winter coming.

If it weren't so dark I'd try to snap something better so you can see more of the car . Anyway, I'm thinking of going for a chrome nose bird, removing side badges and headlight vinyl as well as pillar birds and doing chrome lettering on the back. I would switch the birds on the wheels from red to black as well to keep with the chrome/black theme. Calipers would be re-painted as all black with silver "trans am" lettering (nothing on there now) and I would probably smoke the side markers and rear tails. Might even do clear side markers, I like the look of those.

Down the line I'll be doing a ram air hood, new wheels and darker tint on the sides but that will be a while.

 

When I got my car it was missing the Trans Am door badges. I wish I had them back

 

what method did you guys use to get the z28 stickers off the side? i got mine off but the adhesive wont come

 

I think I'm gonna either debadge my Z28 or get those Z06 lookin emblems for the sides. The back is going berger style so no emblems. How do the side emblems on the Camaros come off?

 

hey bad *** i think ur car would look EVEN better, (it already looks bad ***) if u removed the "Ram Air" lettering form the hood. jm .02

 

I used my finger to "roll" most of it off by pushing against the edges. It took a while but it worked better than anything else I tried. When I got most of it off that way, I sprayed some goo-gone on what was left and let it sit a minute or two before rubbing it down with a damp cotton towel. I had to repeat this a few times but eventually it all came off. You'll probably have to do some light polishing in the area to remove a few small scratches but that's not a big deal since you'll need to do some polishing/waxing on the area anyway to help it match the rest of the car a bit better.