Gloss black? Gloss black metallic? Infiniti Black Obsidian?

I've thought that a matte black paint won't really look any different than a matte black wrap. Or any color, really. I suppose each approach has it's own pros and cons. I know that wrapping under the exhaust tips is an imperfect effort, and that's always bugged me.

Either way, I'm going to do something about this next year, unless a quick fix works and holds up.

 

Probably just a simple gloss black. Fingers crossed the quick fix looks decent!

 

I just took a piece of scrap and sprayed it with a few coats of the PlastiDip, then held it up to the wrap on my bumper. It sure looks identical to me.

I think I'm going to try this little patch job. Have to check the weather... warm days are getting rare. Although it seems the next four days are going to be gorgeous. Hmm.

 

Absolutely beautiful day day, temps in the high 60's, sunny, pleasant. So I wedged the car into the garage with its butt up on ramps. Then I cleaned, taped and painted the rear bumper corners.

The pros: standard PlastiDip seems to be exactly the same matte black as the wrap on the bumper, and it looks better than otherwise. In other words, it's a big improvement (to me).

The cons: the edges are not perfect. If you get really close, you can see the line isn't the kind of line you'd get with paint. And I'm suspect how well this will hold up, particularly in that location. I learned the hard way that you should use a razor blade against the line before pulling back on the masking. That sounds worse that it really is, but like I said, it's not perfect.

Here are 3 pics... before, during and after.







What this has done is lock down in my head that I need to address this as a Spring 2025 project. And this time I'm going to find a shop to properly mask and paint.

Also, I'm thinking of getting the TBW rear diffuser panel, too. @Entcee posted a pic that looks real good to me. Here's the inspiration:

 

The pics (viewed on a phone) look great! Actually surprised the color is the same.

​​​​That will hold you until you get it redone.

 

Eyeballing this weekend's work. This is a big improvement, IMO.

If "perfect" is a 10, it used to be a 7, because the cut line on the face of the bumper is exactly right, even if the corners weren't. But now it's an 8. And if you're standing back from the car, it's a solid 9. It's the little things, man.

Next Spring, I'm still going to visit some body shops and get some estimate on having it painted instead of wrapped. But in the moment, this is totally good enough.

 

Oh yeah! You can't tell from here! Looks great!

 

A few weeks into this, and I've come to the conclusion that the PlastiDip line on the driver's side is still not right. Ugh. I think I'm going to tackle it again in the spring time before assessing whether to go to the paint shop with this project.

Anyway, I also noticed this morning that the car is about to hit 55k miles.



So I was thinking about 2024 projects, big and small, and in hindsight there were a number of visual changes:

* Powder coated calipers.
* Reseated the roof wing.
* Touch-up on the rear bumper wrap.
* Fender decals (which are still there, LOL!)
* Driver's seat restoration.
* SS undertray bolts.
* Steering wheel wrap.

And now that winter is coming, I'm looking back on 2024 feeling pretty good. It's been a few years of nothing really, so this is nice.

 

Now you need to start doing autocross, or if the time committment / travel distance is too much (both are true for me) find some road rallies in your area. These are speed-limit only, obscure/cryptic directions; kinda a scavenger hunt. "The Robin Points East" for a robin mailbox flag on the east side of the road for a turn, for example. Gets you out and driving that beautiful car. Can make it quality time with the partner if you like to argue about directions

First one of these I did was back in 2004, one of my first dates with my wife. We got so lost that we ended up in the wrong state, and trying to make up time getting back to the finish line I chunked the tread off the cheapo tires on her Saturn. We're still together...

 

Wow, your mileage is LOW!!! That is nice!

I have never heard of the road rallies. That sounds like a lot of fun!

 

No road rallies that I'm aware of. But there is an Auto-X club. You might remember I did that last time three years ago, and it was a blast. It was the third autocross with the G. Good memories, no regrets. However, Auto-X isn't something I'm wanting to do on the regular. I know the car is set up really well for autocross, but the last time was more of a bucket-list event than the beginnings of something new.


It was a normal 10k - 12k miles per year those first few years, but a long while ago I started working from home, and after that it trailed down to 2k - 3k miles per year. At this point the G is a total garage queen, and I don't even take it out in the rain. You could say it's kind of boring, but honestly when you don't drive a car often, it's a huge rush when you do, and you appreciate all the little things all over again.

And you save a sh1tload of money on tires.