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Next project...
I need to decide on a color and drop them off to be media blasted and powder coated. Haven't decided on a tire size yet either, but I know I'll stick with the same size on all four corners so that they can be rotated.
Damn it! You beat me to it. I had plans to Dinoc the wheel, shifter bezel, and the door inserts (after filling the cross hatch with plastic filler). It looks VERY good! Congrats.
I did the same thing with the carbon fiber wrap with my shifter. I was really happy with it and Damn you Fweasel for showing me that steering wheel lol. Gonna have to do that next now haha
I had not seen this thread before. It really came together nicely. I've thinking about the base radio with upgraded touch installed. I may have to do that! (But when?)
Well, there was a small driveway mishap while on vacation and the V jumped into a pile of old kitchen cabinets. Punched holes through both grills, scratched up the bumper and nearly tore the lower portion of the bumper clean off. A base cabinet drawer tried to occupy the same space as my radiator and AC condenser, turns out they were pretty solid cabinets. Anyway, patched up the mechanicals with new OEM parts so I could drive the family back home. Luckily Lindsey Cadillac was in the same UPS shipping zone and I didn't have to pay extra for overnight delivery. Now it's on to the cosmetics.
Just picked up my new bumper from the body shop. Wasn't easy to get an OEM part from the insurance company, but here it is, fresh out of the mold. Popped in my tinted side markers to check their fitment. Not sure if they're too dark for my tastes. Once the car is complete, I may buy another set and re-tint if necessary. My clear fog/turn signals came back too dark, so they're being wet sanded to take off some of the tint. Miscommunication between me and the painter about how light I wanted them.
Next weekend I go back to my powder coater and pick up the upper and lower grills and my GM accessory wheels. I had the grills done in the same satin black color as last time. I chose an anthracite metallic for the wheels with a matte clear coat that should turn out very similar to the British Black set of Prodrives I had on my old Subaru. The test sample turned out perfect and will be much lighter than my current set of OEM 7 spokes. The Prodrives on my LegacyGT were the perfect color because they were the color of brake dust and never looked dirty.
I bought a set of Morimoto XB 3157 switchback LED's and will wire up the turn signals to run clear DRL's with amber signals using the write-up on CF. I plan on running standard halogen bulbs in the fogs as I rarely use them.
I bought a set of LED's for the headlight corner lights that had a dome on them. I didn't like the look of the exposed traditional 194 style replacements. I don't really care how bright they are, the lights themselves are pretty useless in my opinion. I just wanted to address the color temperature.
Finally found some low profile 194 bulbs for the new sidemarker lights as well. All of the usual suspects protruded too far into the housing and were going to make a hotspot on the lens that would have surely driven me crazy. These were much shorter, but still had both radial and axial LED's on them for more 360* output. Time will tell.
Hopefully it should all be back in one piece in two or three weeks. I'll likely sell my current set of summer wheels and tires to fund a new set of Michelin PSS tires for the accessory wheels. I really like the custom powder coat color on them, but I like the accessory spoke design the best and wanted to try a lighter color this time.
Did they have any problems matching the paint? I had a hard time finding anyone who really wanted to paint the bumper off the car for that reason.
There are three age variation colors to go along with the factory color code, so four in all. My guy painted four samples and I stopped by in the car on a sunny day to compare. We laid all four on the hood, two were immediately thrown out and the consensus of everyone else was all on a unanimous winner. The same shop painted my original front bumper before, and the color match was perfect.
There are three age variation colors to go along with the factory color code, so four in all. My guy painted four samples and I stopped by in the car on a sunny day to compare. We laid all four on the hood, two were immediately thrown out and the consensus of everyone else was all on a unanimous winner. The same shop painted my original front bumper before, and the color match was perfect.
My paint guy had 7 variations. The one he picked isn't exact. Was a weekend cash favor and I'm not that picky so I let it go. It's only the sideskirts/molding under the driver door and rear passenger. You have to be looking for it to notice.
There are three age variation colors to go along with the factory color code, so four in all. My guy painted four samples and I stopped by in the car on a sunny day to compare. We laid all four on the hood, two were immediately thrown out and the consensus of everyone else was all on a unanimous winner. The same shop painted my original front bumper before, and the color match was perfect.
You're paint guy seems pretty flexible and willing to work with you. Mine wasn't that accommodating...leave the car or forget it. Stealth gray is one if the worst from what he was saying.
I'm interested to see how you like your corner bulbs LEDs. Yeah I see the misimactched collors reflected on cars in from of me and , I agree it just looks kinda stupid with the mismatched color.
I'm interested to see how you like your corner bulbs LEDs.
I just came back in from the garage, swapped out my third brake light, for the third time since I bought the car. While I was in there, one of my license plate LED's was half dead so I swapped them with the capped LED's I had set aside for the headlight corners. They appear to be just as bright and the 5 LED 194's i pulled out, with the added benefit of the plastic cap to keep moisture off the electrics. The exposed bulbs that were installed for about a year had a fair amount of corrosion on the circuit traces and several of the LED's were dead. The color output looks to be about 5K and I'll have no problem installing these same bulbs in my headlights in a few weeks.
You did LED conversion on the 3rd brake light and still having to replace it or...?
No LED. I had intended to send in the used OEM replacements I bought for LED conversion, but they showed up in surprisingly excellent condition so I used them as is. My original housing shattered during last winter's deep freeze and the 2nd started to show signs of moisture on the inside when the neon finally failed. The 3rd one is still in original form. I'll send the 2nd one in to be converted to LED.
Originally Posted by Naf
You could have gotten 255 for the fronts and 275 for the rear...
I'd rather be able to rotate front to rear to maximize tread life.
Really whoring it up lately in this thread, but hey, who doesn't like more pics! Bad news, tweaked my back and I won't be doing any work on the car this weekend. Good news, I picked up the rest of my parts this morning and everything turned out awesome.
The fog lights were wet sanded and buffed which lightened up the tint a bit. Still won't know if I'm 100% sold until I get my LED switchbacks installed.
The new mesh inserts for my grills redone in satin black. I need to order some 3M emblem adhesive tape to get the Caddy logo back in place.
The wheels turned out exactly as I hoped for. The matte clear coat was the key as I was open to a certain variation on color.
I wasn't sure how the black center caps would look or if I would need to have the silver centers painted to match. I like the black ones and will likely order a set of black McGard black two piece lug nuts to go with.
This picture was taken in the shadow and the wheels look much darker than they did in the direct sunlight. The metallic portion of this color does exactly what I was hoping it would. Can't wait to get the tires mounted and balanced. Will need some more rest before the back is ready to wrestle with that swap.
04-07-2015, 02:22 PM
While I was in there, one of my license plate LED's was half dead so I swapped them with the capped LED's I had set aside for the headlight corners. They appear to be just as bright and the 5 LED 194's i pulled out, with the added benefit of the plastic cap to keep moisture off the electrics. The exposed bulbs that were installed for about a year had a fair amount of corrosion on the circuit traces and several of the LED's were dead. The color output looks to be about 5K and I'll have no problem installing these same bulbs in my headlights in a few weeks. 
