We should have a 350z dedicated fail thread

 

Glad to see your taking the opinions like a man. Many cant.

Its cool man. This is a rare case when your reasoning here is legit.

Some kids come on here and post pics of cheap crappy mods they BOUGHT and then use this excuse. Then ppl respond with "then why are you modding the car in the first place if you cant afford to?" Which is a totally correct statement. In your case, you were just trying to fix a dent in the fender low budget style. Personally i would have just waited to save up and have it done right, but i dont see your reasoning as wrong.

All the painted stuff is good if you like it, just dont get too carried away with the rattle can for the sake of your Z. Great job on the headlights (i need to do that bad)

 

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about most of the commenters on here, because many of them wouldn't know the correct end of a wrench. It's just paint and if you're getting in there and learning, it's all good. It can always be sanded and repainted even if you mess up.

Anyways, kudos for your first attempts at some DIY stuff. If you're new to DIY stuff like me, you're going to do 5 things and 4 of them you're going to like right off and 1 you're going to be ok with. Several months later, you're going to be satisfied with 2-3 of them. The good news is that as a DIY'er, you can just try something else and you aren't wasting a ton of money.

I like the wheels, headlights, and even the door handles. I too hate the factory finish on the triangle at the rear view mirrors, but I think that a paint match to the body color might be better for that area and the pillar? As for the fender repair, I think that you did a good job for your first ever attempt at body work and painting, but you really need to go back and do the whole piece because you're not going to be able to blend black across a tape line.

Again, it's only paint. As a DIY'er, you could change it every weekend if you wanted to, and at the end of the day it's you're car. Keep up the DIY work, and you'll enjoy your car and learn so much about it. I had never changed my oil before I got my Z, and now I do all my work myself - and I LOVE IT. I'm an IT Manager, and it's great to do something with my hands on the weekends. Keep it up OP!

 

No where to go but forward from this point. The headlights look nice, I personally would have just blacked it out.

 

sparklecityhop. Totally agree, its a DIY, try your best and no regret is how im dealing with it, and yeah if I find it doesnt work out then I'll just redo it in a couple months. Its funny, a lot of people like the door handles but I find that was the one I f'd up the most times, my driver side i redid twice and it keeps turning out like crap. I need to redo it again.

Zerafian: exactly, just looking forward and seeing what else. yeah i was really thinking blacking out the headlights but then figured many people do that why not go with the theme i was running with.

People posting stuff like 'we should have a 350z dedicated fail thread' dude just move on, if you got nothing worth saying then just go put someone elses thread down. point was i wanted to share what I've been working on, I get it if you don't like the direction I took but don't be rude and put people down. I really didnt think there were members like this on this site but whatever I guess their all over the internet.

Bottom line is I love my Z and how it turned out.

FYI, gonna detail this weekend, good polish, wax and take care of the inside. I think the next pics I put up will be pretty nice considering everythings done at home with basic tools and supplies.

Night all.

 

Oh yeah GeauxLadyZ, thanks, yeah I got really annoyed at first with the comments but I say whatever now, I did what I did because I wanted to and because I liked it. Totally agree rattle can aint great, and inhaled way to many fumes haha. I don't plan on adding any more graphite to the car. I talked with friends and any more I add just will look way to tacky. I plan on redoing the hood and bumper, I still can;t afford a pro job, wouldnt be worth it. But a friend use to paint some classic cars, we are gonna use his equipment and make a makeshift booth. I hope it turns out well and will share it with everyone if it does.

 

Another ruined Z.

Looked better in the before pics.

 

You got a little crazy with the rattle cans. The rear fender is not perfect but impressive work on a budget.

 

Nice work! If we all liked the same stuff and had identical cars, this wouldn't be much of a fun hobby. Glad you chose to do stuff on your own, it could have came out a lot lot worse and you'd be kicking yourself. Seems like you did a good amount of research to at least do what you were doing properly (i.e taping, sanding, cleaning, waxing, etc) and didn't just take a can and go to town like a lot of people. Trust me, the mistakes I made when I started working on cars almost 10 years ago were massive failures, but learning (sometimes the hard way) is half the fun.

 

Great work, but rattle can mods are for civics. Spend the extra time and money to do it right, so it doesn't look like crap in a couple months.

 

^ this, the fact of the matter is rattle can just doesnt hold up to the sun. most will probably be fine excpet the 1/4 panel. if i was you i wouldnt mess with it. it should cost you around 400 bucks or so to have it fixed. if its a solid black, they can just paint the quarter panel. black is one of the easiest colors to paint.

 

I hear ya terrasmak, and you know that I respect your opinion as gold on here. I think that as our cars age, there are going to be more 350Z's ending up in the hands of those that want to play, but don't have the money to pay for expensive mods. Shoot, you can get a coupe now for $10k. At some point, the cost of the mods just aren't comparable to the value of the car. We are destined to see more of this in the future. If it had been something other than paint (which I see as a 100% temporary modification that can't "hurt" anything else), I'd probably look at it differently.

I agree completely on the not holding up to the sun. But for those hammering OP, I look at it this way. If he had paid to have it professionally painted day one, he's out X dollars for the whole job. If he tries the rattle can and he's satisfied with 2/5 of it, he's saved 40%. If he hates it and needs to repaint all of it, he's still only going to be out X dollars to have it professionally painted. It isn't like chopping his springs and having alignment issues, blown bushings, and other damage as a result of a poorly planned mod. It's just paint, and it isn't going to waste money to try it out.

I will also agree with davidv that OP got a little happy with the rattle can, and should have stopped about halfway through the process, but again - that's my opinion, and it's his car.

 

The only thing I'll say about some of the damage on the car is this... when people walk by and see it, they'll say "Damn that sucks". When people see the rattle can fix... they'll say "What a ghetto *** rig". I personally wouldn't have touched it but hey its your car.

 

The only thing I would be worried about would be the paint flaking off eventually. I've never had luck with rattle cans but then again I prob just don't know what I'm doing. This is why I let a body shop do it all for me. Oh you might get flaking when you fold your mirrors in.

 

i love all the mods, i love the fact that it was all DIY
i kinda went off with a spray can on my car too
the only thing i don't like is the repairs. aside from chip repairs, body paint should always be done professionally

but get those fixed and your car would be beautiful

 

nice job seems like a tough one as well
but did you use the same paint on yr mirror?
cos i am wondering if i can use the same paint on my door handle

 

I think it looks good. Good job

 

not feeling the pillars or mirrors. i'm actually surprised you'd paint the pillar since they're already black and go with the car. wheels, emblems, and headlights especially look good. and did you sand the fender at all to make it blend better?

 

That's real cool PSe-the fact that it gives you something to do that brings you enjoyment means a lot-that's why we're all here...to work on the cars that we love-some people are pretty harsh here-might be b/c their parents buy all of their mods for them+they never had to try anything by themselves-thumbs up for doing it yourself-

 

holy ****...you really like messing stuff up with spray paint...and really love masking.