so i decided to tackle the worst part of my mx5, that was the rear garnish. i was looking to change it over to the early model garnish but wasn't willing to drill more holes into such a factory car. The rear garnish wasn't bad but paint was faded and it was the worst on the rear garnish. i did wanna respray the car later on back to a factory red but for new i wanna make it look good as is and save the money to get it done right. So of course this means on the cheap/DIY
didnt turn out the best but hey this is my first time and ill be getting some 2000 Grit sandpaper tomorrow to fix it up right. also need to order new badges to put back on.but heres how it when down.
i started at night and tried to tackle taking the rear garnish off the car without breaking it. It was pretty simple until i got to the clips in the middle ahah. ended up getting them off with my clip remover and all in one piece. looks like there was no previous repair and under it look all original as well that really pleased me to see that my car had never been in any accidents
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Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickr
Untitled by lol mx5, on FlickrGave the rear end a good clean
Untitled by lol mx5, on FlickrAs you can see the rear garnish had faded the worst. actually its the only part that i think cant be saved with a good polish. So i had to do something about it. You can see where the numberplate use to be and how much of a difference it had over the years.
i know that red is a hard color to match and most likely when i get it back on the car it wont look right but as long as it looks better then it did before i dont mind at all.
moved the car out of the garage to make a temp area to spray paint. But in doing this i leave the car exposed lucky its a dry day in Sydney and its looking like its gonna stay like that for a while. letting the paint dry inside.
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickrhad to mask up areas where water can get in just in case.
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickrfirst off i removed the badges, mx5 badge came off with a bit of moving up and down and some fishing wire. mazda badge was put on with two holes and some adhesive on the other side. I drilled the bit of adhesive off and it came out no problem.
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickri started to wet sand with 800 grit and make everything smooth. there was no major damage to it so it didnt take long. The adhesive for the badge came off with alot of rubbing.
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickr
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickrgot some colour matched paint from vg auto paints. took my fuel flap to get as close as a match as i could. also gave them the paint code (SU Mazda Classic Red).
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickrafter a good clean with wax and grease remover and some plastic adhesion, i sprayed down my base coat. 3 coats with a 10 min break in between. came out looking really good
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickrhow it looked dry with just base coat vs sample fuel lid
Untitled by lol mx5, on FlickrGot some 2K clear and sprayed it on now letting it dry over night. will be getting some 2000 grit sand paper tomorrow and polishing it up to get rid of some of the orange peel and some contaminants. but i think it came out really good and im very happy with it considering it only cost me about $80
will hopefully have a update in the next few days showing how it looks all installed
but for now heres what she looks like atm
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickr
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickr
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickrthis is the can of 2K clear i used. pretty cool you crack the mixer at them bottom and it releases the hardener inside.
Untitled by lol mx5, on Flickrmore updates to come.
