Painting Leading edge of hood and trim under grille. Thoughts?

[estoguy]

I was looking at the leading edge of the hood and the trim under the grill today. Its got some dings and chips etc.

Had a thought of painting those areas black. I did some quick (not to mention crappy) photoshopping just to give you guys an idea of what I'm thinking.

What do you think? I was thinking of touching it up etc, but doing it in black would be easier, plus I think if I do a good job of it, having that those front edges black could look kinda edgy. I thinking a matte black paint, like what I used for the rocker panels.

I was going to the area under the grille anyway, but was thinking of doing the edge of the hood and the fenders too.

Suggestions are also welcome, of course.

Some other ideas I got from BF was doing a straight line above the roundel or even plastidip.

And yes, the photoshopping is crappy... just wanted to show intent. Did it in about 5 minutes.

[Fourbanger]

Honestly I don't think that would look good at all. If you just want to cover up imperfections then get a hood bra. They can potentially cause more imperfections if you don't take care of your paint but I dig the look.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hood_bra :D

[Holland]

If you did it like an old Charger, and had the first few inches from the nose back to the fenders and hood, like a stripe. That would look decent.

[estoguy]

If you did it like an old Charger, and had the first few inches from the nose back to the fenders and hood, like a stripe. That would look decent.

Kinda like this?



Or maybe ?:

[ELVA164]

I'm gonna stick with what I said before and say you could probably pull off the chevron-looking bit on the hood if you used a satin finish vinyl. Best part is if you decide you don't like it, it takes three minutes to remove no harm done. Paint/vinyl around the grille would look really bad though.

[estoguy]

So how would the vinyl get attached? Some kind of glue? Two-face tape?

[ELVA164]

The vinyl has adhesive on one side. Even if you had a guy do it for you (prevent creases/bubbling/etc.) it wouldn't cost much to do such a simple piece in such a common color. When we had the Cortina done it wasn't much at all for more area than you'll need.

[estoguy]

Cool... and sorry to sound like a noob, but I'm knowledgeable about such things. Where would I find this stuff?

[estoguy]

Got another picture that probably shows a better idea of what I'm aiming for:



So the lip of the hood forward of the tape would be black and the area forward on the fender? It would be a bra-type look, but much less wide. On the hood, at most, 3 inches or so.

[ELVA164]

If you look through the phone book (or internet, guess that's how it goes now) you should be able to find one or two auto detailing shops or graphic art shops that will do vinyl.

As far as the mock-up goes...personally, I would only do it if you put a bit more of an angle into the hood part and left the rest alone. More like how the first picture you posted was. Doing a flat band across the front won't be aesthetically pleasing I don't think.

[Fourbanger]

I still think it'd look best if you leave it alone :shrug: Save the money and put it towards something that you'll notice and that will actually increase the value of your car, like a suspension refresh or ellipsoids.

I'm not a fan of original styling endeavors unless the rest of the car is well executed.