[flubyux2]

You know... my car has been sitting for quite some time. the exterior of it has been neglected and im trying to restore it, the RIGHT way.

i pulled off the upper nose peice, front bumper, turn signals, side trim, fender liners, mud flaps, 3-piece wing, tail lights, center panel and will probably pull the mirrors and window trim off too.

im trying to buff out the factory paint, Super Red II. i need to get it cleaned up and shined up so that its ready to sell. i got the nose piece, bumper and wing all buffed out and waxed up. they are looking pretty good.

i wantd to actually repaint my side molding w/ the same color, but i noticed something. i dismanteled my liscense plate frame/holder. i pulled off the 2 metal trim strips and the red lens. the side molding itself is integrated into the body of the liscense plate holder. i decided to try waxing it to see if i could restore the color. it improved the appearance, but the color is still off. its actually DARKER than the shade of the rest of the body. i figured maybe its just sun... darkened? i held up the newly polished trim strips and they are much brighter/brilliant than the molding itself.

however, what threw me off is, the smaller urethane insert in the molding is the SAME off-colored shade of the molding itself. the transparent, red-tinted urethane strip is the same shade that the side molding turned out to be after a good rub down. this obviously means that the red tint of the urethane strip must have ALWAYS been this darker shade of red... which leads me to ask; is the main body of the side moldings supposed to be the darker shade of red? was toyota trying to give some contrast to the apperance of the car?

i like how the urethane strips are transparent and tinted rather than solidly colored. you can see the 3 grooves that are embedded on the underside. when i paint the trim, i wantd to mask off the urethane strips to preserve this novelty that toyota engineered. but if i repaint the side molding and leave the strip as-is, there will be 2 different shades of red on the trim... wtf? i really would rather not paint the urethane strip. i like the transparency of it and dont want to make it opaque.

anyone know what the f im talkin about?

 

[Jeff Lange]

The trim was not the exact same colour as the car, though it was a LOT closer than on pre-91 cars.

 

[MKIIINA]

yea the part that has a slightly darker tint to it than the actual paint color. im willing to bet that the other parts have faded while the plastic which has the color molded into it hasnt faded as much exagerating the difference.

 

[Tony Mawad]

The color red is one of the biggest, if not the biggest color that fades.

Keep in mind you do live in the Sunshine State.

Also they probably used different paint on different parts. The body has clear which has UV protection to some degree & the mouldings probably don't have the two stage paint.
Many times plactic parts are painted differently to keep the total film build up less. Less film build up allows for more flexibility & durability.

All of the reds I know of have much mixing clear in them to give them depth & illuminate them. So much mixing clear in the paint formula might be a factor on how long the color will last.
The trim may not have any or as much mixing clear in it's formula.

Different paints age differently & fade differently.

^ One theory.

 

[myMUSICveins]

i pulled off the upper nose peice

How easy is it to pull this off?

which leads me to ask; is the main body of the side moldings supposed to be the darker shade of red? was toyota trying to give some contrast to the apperance of the car?

Most pics I've seen of 91+'s I've noticed the trim being slightly darker, I think its quite normal.

Also, to a lesser degree, paint will look different on different surfaces, plastic, metal, etc etc.

 

[Jeff Lange]

How easy is it to pull this off?

Not really easy at all.

Hecklerr posted a guide on how to do it a while back, but I don't think his guide will stop the anger, lol.

 

[flubyux2]

lol... the nose piece... its easy for me. course, im da mack.

the more i take supras apart, the easier it seems to be for me.

the nose piece, pull the mud flaps off, then the fender liners, then there are 2 nuts way up inside the front of the fender. then there is one bolt perpendicular to these nuts at the front of the fender. then, there is 6 bolts holding the mid section of the nose to the front of thecar, 2 on each left and right headlight motor support panels, then 2 on the center hood latch support. then there is 4 holding the front bumper to the nose piece, behind the grills.

of course, you have to take the front bumper off. thats pretty easy too. just have to remove 6 bolts or so holding the lower plastic dust skirts from the bumper to the car. then unplug your fog lights and temp sensor. remove 1 nut on each side holding the bumper brace infront of the wheels. then there is a screw going upward on the very rear tip of the bumper at the wheel well. then after that, its just 2 17mm nuts holding the bumper support to the frame rails. take off those nuts and pop the bolts up out of the frame rails. the bumper assembly should pull right off the car. then once the bumper is off, the nose piece should pull right off. it pulls away from the fromt of the car, not vertically or side to side.

if you have an electric drill that you can hook up a nut driver bit, 10mm, it makes live 100x easier!!!

 

[Jeff Lange]

Yeah, if you've ever done it before it's not too bad, but if it's your first time it's not so fun.

 

[flubyux2]

yeah, quite true... im getting to be a pro at taking the A70 apart... dont know if thats a good sign or a bad sign.

i guess i should get to the sanding and painting then... i should try to keep the car lookin 91-92 rather than swapping on the 89-90 molding right?

ive already got the nicer nose piece w/ the square supra badge... that newer badge is a PITA to wax and detail around and inside.