Hedlights, 08 Front Bumper, Rims, Cluster (Dean's mods)

[DeanM45]

I**** Update -- I will just use this thread for my exterior cosmetic upgrades ****

Needed to take a break today to re-install the front plate because LAPD made a HUGE deal out of it and to take a look at the damage from an ink pen that fell out of my pocket and on to the seat and sat in 110 degree heat, in the sun, with the windows up!

First the seat: the pen literally melted onto the seat. How it fell out of my pocket and landed there I will never know. I got the ink out but unfortunately it pulled out the dye as well. Cleaned it again and treated the leather so it is now SUPER super soft. As soon as the dye comes in I will redye the lower portion:


Since I had to pull the front bumper off to reinstall the front plate (long story regarding the initial removal) I went ahead and did a quasi Audi mod to the lights:






Also, removed the black paint and re-polished the thin "rails" on the grill:


The lights are under the headlights so you can not see them with the car off. The exposure is wacky because they are so bright -- great for DRL.

I like the grill a lot more now---very subtle but it is noticeable.

I ** may ** dye the center of the seats (or maybe the whole seat, all of them) a different color. The infiniti dye is pretty easy to pull out and it is definitely water based (not lacquer) so a recolor would be easy. Will think on that over the next few days.

[Larz]

Sorry to see that seat. Hopefully the dye will take care of that. Great job on the DRLs too !

[infinitedrift]

are you going to dye it yourself of have a shop do it? I wonder if dying them black will hold up under the sun and daily wear and tear.

[DeanM45]

Thanks Larz.

I will do the dye myself -- done it before on a number of different cars. Key is prep. Clean, clean, clean. Treat with Leatherique and then when completely dry add the dye. Wait 48 hours and good to go. No doubt that it will hold up. The dye came out because of the cleaner I had to use to remove the ink. Color does not make a difference -- it will hold up the same depending on how well you take care of it (keep it clean and moisturized). Leatherique RO is good for that. My Supra is 25 years old and it almost never has the targa on, seats still look and feel brand new.

[KongzTT M45]

So those strips are under the headlights? You didnt disassemble them to do that?

Which brand strips did you use?

Any night time pics?

[Larz]

Dean,

Those fog lamps are brilliant! Where did you get them and was it a kit? They appear to fit nicely in our existing housing.

[KongzTT M45]

Dean,

Those fog lamps are brilliant! Where did you get them and was it a kit? They appear to fit nicely in our existing housing.

2nd^^^

[DeanM45]

Yes, the leds are under the headlight case. Tried a few experiments having them inside the housing but the dispersion (because of the lens) made it look "weird". I'm Global Sales Manager for an electronics manufacturer and last time I was in Taiwan I saw some lights in the test lab and I asked one of the techs to make some "strips" for me which he did.

I'll have to go and see if I can find the receipts for the fogs. I bought a couple off of ebay until I found one that worked size wise. Converted them to HID and added the halos. Just pretty much luck of the draw.

Did dye the seat and here is the result:

[KongzTT M45]

seat looks great man! Perfect!

which dye did you use?

I have the same color seats in my M.. no stains yet.. but I would love to know for future!

[svard75]

Wow that looks awesome! I have a bit of colour fade happening on my drivers seat lumbar support and should look into this. I've got the wheat interior but there's quite a bit of darkened staining due to brown and black leather jackets. Do you recommend I scrub the crap out of that staining first prior to dying?

[wingFeather]

Good work on the dye, Dean!!!

[DeanM45]

Correct, you need to clean the seat with alcohol first. There must not be any organic contaminants on the leather. Scrub it down with a terry cloth. Some more dye will probably come off but that is OK. Then use a neutral cleaner and wait for everything to dry. I sent a headrest into a local dye shop and had them color match the dye. It is basically paint that you put on in very thin coats, letting it dry a few hours between coats. Not hard to do at all if you take your time and be careful. Rips or tears are a different issue and require a lot more work. In the past when I have run into rips or tears I just cut a new piece of leather for the panel and sew it into the existing, still good remainder of the seat. Then, dye the new leather. That is a LOT of work and recommend just having a leather shop do the repair.

[TEE M35x]

Love the fogs. I'm indifferent about the headlights, they look cool, but I've never been crazy about car owners trying to copy audi/benz.... just work w/ what you got. The car is beautiful as it is, I can't see myself ever adding the LED(or similar) to my headlights. Just my opinion, not trying to bash..

[DeanM45]

I was getting a bit bored and an opportunity fell into my lap. A guy had a damaged 08 Non-sport bumper. I picked it up for $50 Friday and went to work on it Saturday. There is something about the sport bumper that I just do not like and for $50, $80 in paint/materials and a little time I had nothing to loose. I screwed up on the paint-wasn't paying attention I guess. It is still paint code WV2 but it is definitely NOT the correct shade. Anyhow, started Saturday around 6A, repaired all the damage (rips, fill front bumper holes, gouges, etc.). Primer, sand, primer, sand, 3 coats of base (with sanding in between) and 5 coats of clear with sanding in between). Finished up around 10P. A few mods for the 06 grill this morning and then mounted it. The base is damn good now so I'll get the right paint, scuff it repaint and re-clear it in a few weeks. Still need to get the proper lower grill for the adaptive cruise along with the tow hook cover as well as the foglight grills. All in good time.

Repairing:



Primer:


Base coat:


Clear Coat:


Installed:




Color mis-match:



Fun way to spend a Saturday.....sort of, lol.

[CPJ LB]

wow...quick work Dean!! did you also get the wheel fender liners from the 08 M? the ones on our cars (2006) are shorter so with the 08 bumper there is a small gap between the fender liners and wheel well.

overall, looks good...not sure how to fix the color shade difference...possibly polishing the original front-side fenders...? besides, the fresh paint will always look 'shiny' compared to the other surfaces...I'm sure its hardly noticeable out on the street.....

all the work you've done to your M, you can open up your own shop!! You'll have plenty of customers from this forum

[DeanM45]

wow...quick work Dean!! did you also get the wheel fender liners from the 08 M? the ones on our cars (2006) are shorter so with the 08 bumper there is a small gap between the fender liners and wheel well.

overall, looks good...not sure how to fix the color shade difference...possibly polishing the original front-side fenders...? besides, the fresh paint will always look 'shiny' compared to the other surfaces...I'm sure its hardly noticeable out on the street.....

all the work you've done to your M, you can open up your own shop!! You'll have plenty of customers from this forum

A little bit of work with a heat gun took care of the fender liners. They are taught but fit just fine and everything lines up. No, it is an absolute color difference, not reflectivity (have you seen the rest of my car? Clay'd, wet sanded and polished the whole car a few months ago. Looks like glass

While doing some research it looks like Nissan/Infiniti also used WV2 for Silverstone Metalic during the same years. That explains the difference-it definitely looks more like silver than diamond graphite. No biggy, once the current paint fully cures (2 weeks or so) I'll pull it off, scuff it up and re-shoot it. Can do that in a day since no body work is required on the bumper. I love working on my cars but I HATE working on other people's cars, LOL.

[Partysan7]

Not bad at all. Good job on the prep and paint at least on the pics it looks good minus the color difference. You are missing the fog light trims and also you should get 08+ grille , the grille you have on now looks like it doesnt belong there.
50 bucks is a steal !! I sold my bumper exact same with all the grilles and trims for 350 two weeks ago

[DoN_BLaZe34]

Agreed, the 06/07 grille just looks out of place on there. I love the work you did on the bumper man, looks great!

I think my Vlene side skirts and rear bumper would really set it off lol.

[Partysan7]

I dont mean to be rude and or to insult but to me the 06 -07 grille doesnt look good on 08+ bumper. And thats probably becase I was looking atmy previous bumper for almost 5 years

[DeanM45]

No problem, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and it is the correct opinion if it agrees with mine, lol.
In all seriousness, I appreciate feedback because what looks normal to me may be totally out of whack!
I do things to my cars to make them unique -- on the M, the flappy paddle shifters, interior trim color, exterior lighting, a few little performance items , and now the bumper. The grill I'll swap out when one comes along that I like. The lower foglight grills are on order (stock).
$50 was a good deal but remember, the bumper needed a lot of work. The lower lip under the three grills was almost completely torn off. That, of course, allowed me to reattach it with a little extra material to move it forward slightly (like the 06 sport lip).
Side skirts and rear bumper: I still have not seen any I llike but I always have my eyes open!
I had to run over to the store and a couple of people have told me that the car looks great and can't wait to see it when I get rid of the primer on the front bumper, LOL!

[CPJ LB]

hhhmmmmm.... speaking of grilles, I still have the billet grille (powder coated gloss black) that I had with my old 06 front bumper... I wonder if it'll go good with an 08 front bumper... here's some old pix of the billet grille on my car, but tomorrow I'll try and place it next to my 08 front bumper and see how it looks...






08 sport bumper with 08 midnight black grille

[wingFeather]

I like the original grille with the newer bumper. Looks aggressive!

PS - Any chance I can get your old bumper?

[BadMan35s]

can you post pics of how your headlights with the leds look at night

Needed to take a break today to re-install the front plate because LAPD made a HUGE deal out of it and to take a look at the damage from an ink pen that fell out of my pocket and on to the seat and sat in 110 degree heat, in the sun, with the windows up!

First the seat: the pen literally melted onto the seat. How it fell out of my pocket and landed there I will never know. I got the ink out but unfortunately it pulled out the dye as well. Cleaned it again and treated the leather so it is now SUPER super soft. As soon as the dye comes in I will redye the lower portion:


Since I had to pull the front bumper off to reinstall the front plate (long story regarding the initial removal) I went ahead and did a quasi Audi mod to the lights:






Also, removed the black paint and re-polished the thin "rails" on the grill:


The lights are under the headlights so you can not see them with the car off. The exposure is wacky because they are so bright -- great for DRL.

I like the grill a lot more now---very subtle but it is noticeable.

I ** may ** dye the center of the seats (or maybe the whole seat, all of them) a different color. The infiniti dye is pretty easy to pull out and it is definitely water based (not lacquer) so a recolor would be easy. Will think on that over the next few days.

[DeanM45]

can you post pics of how your headlights with the leds look at night

While driving home today I figured I'd try the adaptive cruise control even though the lower grill I have now does NOT have the cutout for the sensor. Guess what, it worked flawlessly. This is cool because now I will not have that big blank space in the lower grill. Very cool.

Some night shots, exposure is all wacky but you get the idea:




6000 HID bulbs all around, 35 watt ballasts on the fogs and they match the leds perfectly.

[DeanM45]

Re-painted the bumper, again, today. Still not quite right but much better than it was. Apparently color matching diamond graphite is a pain. Anyway, wanted to try something different so I went with a 2K clear coat this time. The stuff is incredible. Lays out really well and provides a crap load of depth. Would look bitchen on a black base coat. The stuff is supposed to be super tough against chips and general wear. We'll see. It gets dark too fast now so no pictures of the paint but hear are some additional night shots of the lights without the head lights/foglights on (just the halos and leds).




Also but the KYB struts on today. The stocks weren't "bad" but with 80K I figured it was time. WHAT AN INCREDIBLE difference they made! The stock sport struts seemed to be in good shape when I removed them but the car now rides so much smoother with absolutely no decrease in handling. I used the ExcelG/GR2 KYBs for the non-sport M ($240 shipped from Amazon for everything). At full extension the KYBs are 1" longer that the stock sport struts (all four). Car is sitting about 1/2" higher all around but I think it will settle back down. Rears are beyond easy to do (2 nuts, one bolt). Fronts, aside from the spring compressor took about 20 minutes per side. No biggy. Need to start looking at rims now.

[DeanM45]

So I talked to the paint guy today and showed him what was going on. He ** thinks ** that the clear(because of some orange peel) needs to be wet sanded and polished (was going to do this anyway. You can see on the lower part of the bumper the color is pretty good (darker). But on the upper part (with a white wall and bright sun behind me (in front of the car) the dimples are catching the white and bouncing it around (kind of like textured glass) a bit. We'll see. Worst case he said he will add a bit more black to the paint mix for the NEXT go 'round, LOL.



As a test, I walked up to the car with a red poster board and the bumper looked red. Never thought too shiny would be a bad thing.

[mikesd1980]

Is there something special that needs to be done to get the fogs to come on with parking lights?

I like the mods your doing with your car. I think im going search for the fog halo's, they look nice.

[DeanM45]

That depends. You could just wire in a relay with an additional switch and bypass the entire stock switch setup. Otherwise you can do what I did which is very involved. You have to add in a 12 volt ignition feed to the stock switch. I do not remember the harness color or which wire to cut but it can be done that way as well. I'll see if I can find the info. Either way also allows you to run the fogs with the stock high beams.

Curiosity got the best of me and I shot some base coat on the side of the bumper. Exact match to the stock paint. So the clear is doing something to the base coat. Might not have allowed enough flash time on the base OR it could be the orange peel in the clear right now. Painting metallic has got to be the hardest thing I have ever done on a car!

[DeanM45]

Thanks to CPJ LB new shoes are on:





I'll take some more shots at a better location tomorrow. With all the changes I need to revise my sig picture now!

My next mod is underway and it is a noticeable trim piece. I am having to use a water jet and some very bright leds....

[CPJ LB]

Hey Dean,
that was quick...you got the new shoes on!! they sit very nice on your car...it was a pleasure meeting you in person for the first time and seeing your mods on the car...thanks for the many ideas as well

we gotta get a So Cal meet for the M's!!!!