Sonic Disaster

[Sliver]

Just wanted to share with everyone how horrible the past couple of days have been for me mod-wise.

I have had a whole crate of things in my room to go on my Sonic, all that involve tearing the front end apart to work on. Waited for a long weekend so I could go slow and do it right and I REALLY don't like paying an arm and a leg for a shop to do work. This is where I am currently.

Halo rings - bought them 3 months ago, tried baking AND hot-knifing the headlights open. No good and made a huge mess. Cut them open finally and they now look horrible. Took the chrome out to black it out and that turned out bad. Tomorrow I'm just going to buy chrome spray paint and try again.

Plastidipped front "mouth" - broke all the clips by the fenders on both sides removing the fascia and tried to plastidip what I wanted. I was too worried about removing the tape in time and ended up with run marks, ripped it all off and gave up for the night.

I also have foglights to swap in and a LED grille kit that have to go on. Am I losing my mind? SO much stress and frustration. Probably should have just taken the parts to a shop and paid to have all of this done Anyone want to chime in and cheer a guy up?

 

[Eric Smit]

at least your car looks better than Tmo's.

 

[Preloader]

Well I hope you can find solace in knowing that opening up the headlights is no easy task, even for the professionals, and for what it's worth, I warped my taillight when I tried to bake it in the oven to open it.

All the nerve-racking setbacks are part of the journey when it comes to trendsetting. Rarely does anything worth doing, go perfectly right the first time. Look at my clutch upgrade. I had to remove and install the trans 4 times.

My best advice is to embrace the struggles. Learn to laugh (having friends around helps) at the mistakes. I had the time of my life doing the trans the first 3 times. The 4th time when I actually got everything right, ironically, was the least fun or memorable time. True story.

 

[Sliver]

at least your car looks better than Tmo's.

That made me laugh but I do feel kind of bad for the guy!

And thanks Preloader! I just don't like having to worry about quality and functionality at the end, but I guess worrying doesn't help the problem. Just have to use good judgement...

 

[Kuntryboy865]

And this is the exact reason I don't do mods that involve cutting exterior parts, that one thread about retro fitting the head lights for HID projectors just screams not to be done because things like what he went through can happen. I'm all for DIY but messing up a brand new car, no thanks.

 

[stoopid]

Thanks for sharing your experience, even if it just confirms what my gut already tells me - stay away from cosmetic mods!

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

at least your car looks better than Tmo's.

Thanks jerk!

 

[Joyride]

I agree that doing mods on a new car on your own without good experience is a recipe for disaster. I grew up around Volkswagens (65 beetle) and would tinker around with mods but even with that I am very reluctant to take on major mods without proper help. I usually stick to the bolt-on stuff, otherwise I seek help, which usually means paying to have it done right. Good luck on your next mod I'm certain you learned a couple things on your journey, in mods and in life.

 

[LTZ ICE]

Preloader,
You have a terrific attitude….
Learning from your mistakes with good memories and appreciating how you got there is what it’s all about!!

 

[GeneralZod]

Thanks jerk!

It was funny in that sinful way.

 

[Joyride]

Preloader,
You have a terrific attitude….
Learning from your mistakes with good memories and appreciating how you got there is what it’s all about!!

I've had my patience tested many times while working on cars which I think has actually helped my patience as a Dad too. It's all in how we choose to respond to these tests.

 

[Thaifight-R]

And this is the exact reason I don't do mods that involve cutting exterior parts, that one thread about retro fitting the head lights for HID projectors just screams not to be done because things like what he went through can happen. I'm all for DIY but messing up a brand new car, no thanks.

lol found it funny that "stoopid" liked this. XD
(No offense stoopid, but your username is hilarious. haha)

 

[Preloader]

I have met some people that get flustered and red in the face at the first hard bolt to remove. They are missing the whole wonderland of joy that is car enthusiasm.

Trust me, if everything just bolted on in under 2 minutes without any fine tuning or grinding or rolling around on your back, it wouldn't be so rewarding when it's finished.

Some things go really easy, and that's great, but if your done in 5 minutes, you're left with a "now what?" kind of void.

Some of the more time consuming projects I do are the least noticed to the average viewer, and that makes them more fulfilling to me because it means I did them for myself and not to impress others.

Like deleting the door lock knobs or Swiss cheesing the crash beam. Nobody pays much attention to those mods, but they mean a lot to me.

 

[Yosemite Sam]

Some of the more time consuming projects I do are the least noticed to the average viewer, and that makes them more fulfilling to me because it means I did them for myself and not to impress others.

My feelings exactly!! :banana::banana::banana:

 

[Preloader]

Speaking of which, those undergrill fogs look amazing. I'm sure that was harder to do than it looks. Did you Dremel out some of the honeycombs?

 

[HADES20]

Go shopping at the mall that will help and the clips on the fender are really needed I broke the ones on the driver side on mind and you can't even tell. Maybe you could make a art exhibit

 

[Yosemite Sam]

Speaking of which, those undergrill fogs look amazing. I'm sure that was harder to do than it looks. Did you Dremel out some of the honeycombs?

Yes I did - 9 of them. Tried to make it look like it came that way. opcorn:

Before:

After:

 

[Preloader]

That's so gangster. I figure the blocked honeycomb has to do with fuel economy.opcorn:

 

[$ub$onic]

You need to make the lights little eye balls

 

[Preloader]

I didn't want to derail this thread too much but you don't seem to have a build page so I'll ask here.

How hard was it to remove the honeycomb? Any tips? I think I'd like to do it to mine soon.