My blacked out Explorer

[trents2011]

What did you use on your headlights and tail lights? I love the look my is the silver but i will have the rest of it blacked out with the satin finish. How are the handles holding up you had wrapped.

 

[BillyG2014Sport]

Blacked out

Looks really good brother. I am considering doing a mat black vinyl hood decal also. Are you happy with the results? It really looks like a Sport and besides the Turbos are over rated...JK!

 

[unsung43120]

All these blacked out Explorers are giving me great ideas! Has anyone ever had some sort of black chrome wheels, instead of flat or matte black? I'm curious.

 

[driver460sz]

I'm in the process of my upgrades. Plasti dipped grille, bug shield, rain shield, and thing that was chrome. Added some nice side steps, 22 inch Millani rims. I bought a used 2013 base model so I could upgrade the inside myself the way I want it. Alpine head unit, all touch screen and voice activation, starter, rear camera, 11 speaker (1 stealth sub) inside. Added the electronic rear door opener. No sure what else is to come but its starting to look good. I think going with the base and doing a bunch of upgrades and turning it more into a limited is the way to go. Still 3 grand under what the limited would have cost me and that's with the 120,000 mile B2B warrenty.

 

[SHAD0W]

I'm in the process of my upgrades. Plasti dipped grille, bug shield, rain shield, and thing that was chrome. Added some nice side steps, 22 inch Millani rims. I bought a used 2013 base model so I could upgrade the inside myself the way I want it. Alpine head unit, all touch screen and voice activation, starter, rear camera, 11 speaker (1 stealth sub) inside. Added the electronic rear door opener. No sure what else is to come but its starting to look good. I think going with the base and doing a bunch of upgrades and turning it more into a limited is the way to go. Still 3 grand under what the limited would have cost me and that's with the 120,000 mile B2B warrenty.

Sometimes you are forced to upgrade to higher-end models to simply get one or two tech features that you like--while at the same time inheriting other tech features that you could live without or flat-out hate.

But that's a pretty smart move to start with a Base model and work your way up. This way, you don't have to worry about the inherent problems that pop up with some of the OE technology. Additionally, you would ultimately end up with a truck that meets your exact specs, wants, and needs. Post some pics of your progress! Some DIY tutorials would be nice as well.

 

[driver460sz]

Been messing with plasti dip and figured out some things. Put the cans in HOT water and really warm up the liquid. If using a can it comes up really smooth and consistent. I took about 20 mins between coats and did 6, just in case. I did this on my window guards, grille, hood guard, rear emblem and explorer strip in the back. The plasti dip matched the lower plastic material that runs around the car almost perfectly once I used some cleaner on those parts. For rain guards I had EGR and AVS. The EGR are way think and will hold up forever but on the front window they are too think and need to be sanded down. My window motors were hurting trying to roil them up. The AVS are flimsy and not as nice but allow the windows to go up and down with ease. Both are in channel.


Removing the grille sucked at first but after taking it off a few times it is actually fairly simple. Remove the top plate that has the 8 screws and two funky pop pins (note, use two flat head screwdrivers to pop them).... 4 mins and done. Remove the top nuts hole the grille on. You will see two, even though there are four nuts between the grille and housing. Remove the middle two which are pretty simple. What looks like a nut and washer are actually one piece so don't worry about them both falling. After the middle two are out pop the bottom left and right grille components. Be gentle and just press up and pull. To be honest just the nuts or just the clips would hold the grill one...its VERY well secured so if one breaks your still fine. Once the clips have separated from the backing you can gentle pull the grille forward giving yourself more room to reach the outer nuts. I was able to get a 10 mm open end wrench on them and quarter turn them once and use my fingers the rest of the way. Do not get overly worked up about not dropping the nuts. If they fall you can easily get them back. Once the nuts are off you can gently pull and pop off the third clips. Takes me about 10 mins now that I have done it 3 times. Took me an hour the first time. Takes less time to reinstall. Maybe I am wrong here but I left out the outside nuts as they are a pain in arse to get back on and just used the middle nuts. Honestly I can't imagine a reason that the outer ones are really needed.

The rear explorer thing as I call it. The chrome piece across the back. Removes easily. There are nuts that you reach from tailgate. Open the hatch and you will see them Once removed, CARFULLY work your way across and pull the strip off. It goes back on very easily by just popping it on and screwing the inside nuts back on.

 

[SHAD0W]

I'm gonna dip my truck at least once, just to see what it's like. Just not ready to pull the trigger yet LOL

 

[awmenard]

I'm gonna dip my truck at least once, just to see what it's like. Just not ready to pull the trigger yet LOL

Great idea, I'm the process of dipping my whole truck, don't want to go crazy so I'll be going with a white base, a ballon white pearl with a satin finish.

Can't wait.

 

[driver460sz]

file:///C:/Users/Scott/Pictures/Camera%20Roll/explorer.jpg

 

[cwescapexlt4x4]

file:///C:/Users/Scott/Pictures/Camera%20Roll/explorer.jpg

Please retry your photo using a website/host to put the image URL into.

 

[driver460sz]

Wish I could just figure out how to put a darn picture here.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd...._=1439857699_e2b3e8571343c23587460de3e0195c14

 

[cwescapexlt4x4]

If you put the image URL in the yellow imagine icon, it will be shown embedded in the thread like below:

 

[peterk9]

Wish I could just figure out how to put a darn picture here.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd...._=1439857699_e2b3e8571343c23587460de3e0195c14

The info you seek is in a thread in the 'sticky' section here;
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25
If you take out a $20 membership you can simply use the 'Manage Attachments' program the forum has.

Peter

 

[driver460sz]

Thanks for the info everyone.

 

[Halwg]

Well, I'll be the one to say I don't like them. They look like generic cars, or like the vehicles you would see for commercial service. Not my cup of tea!

 

[SickSix]

It looks like a couple of people on here tinted their headlights to go with the "blacked-out" look. My question is, does that affect the light output of the headlights?

I'm looking to tint mine, hoping to tone down the very bright amber turn signal, but I don't want to affect the light output for the headlights.

 

[peterk9]

YES. Any tinting of a clear lens will adversely affect the light output. The amount of degradation depends on the tint used.

Peter

 

[csj2116]

Curious how dark people went on their headlight and taillight tint. I'm considering doing this and have an option of 20% and 50%, also did anyone get their fog lights smoked.

 

[peterk9]

I guess I just don't understand this whole tinting issue. Why would anyone go out and purposely reduce the visibility of their lights and cut down on their output? Especially with so many complaining about the poor headlight and foglight performance to begin with.

Peter

 

[supr squirrel]

So to revive a somewhat dead thread....

I want to tint my tail lights and have been going over my options. There are a few so I'm going to go over them all and kind of ask for input.

1) Tint film. This is what @jonnoriega used and I like the way his looks. I'm leaning more towards somewhere between his and the 'sport' tail light look, which I'm sure could be done with a slightly lighter tint. However, one of the things that worries me is the raised lettering on the lights creating 'bubbles' in the tint. His look amazing and that doesn't seem to be an issue. I have a few great places to go around here, but I'm not sure they'd be able to pull of the look without issues. And driving 350 miles to get it done wouldn't be 'optimal.' haha

2) VHT Nite Shades. The 'do it yourself' project. The best part? It's removable with a bit of elbow grease if you decide to remove it down the line. But it will take a lot of work to achieve what I want to achieve. Wet sanding, etc. I've seen some done 'right' and they look amazing. I used to really get into doing things like this (and still do, as evidenced by my brake calipers), but this would be more 'labor intensive' and with two small boys around I'm not sure it's something I want to tackle. The positive side is that, outside of my time, the cost would only be in the $20-$30 range.

3) Tinting clear coat. Just recently stumbled upon this. Basically you mix your clear and then add black paint at a 2/1 ratio. This wouldn't be something I would tackle myself as I don't have the means. There are a couple of shops in town that I trust to do it. One of them did solid work on my Grand Cherokee before we sold it, the other one did work on my custom 2000 S-10 back in the day. The shop that did my Grand Cherokee earlier today quoted me in the $175-$250 range to do it today, but he seemed a bit 'hesitant' about it. I mean he offered to do it, sure, but I would be his first. And considering if it doesn't turn out right I'm looking at around a grand to get back to stock tail lights I'm not sure about it. The other shop....the one that did the mirrors and a few other things on my custom S-10 back in the day....was closed when I drove by so I haven't got a chance to get a quote from him, yet. He'll be more expensive for sure, plus his shop is 'slower' than the other guy.

Mrs. Squirrel is going to Germany for a week in late February for work and I plan on taking Alfred in to get the front windows tinted at that time. Depending on what I ultimately end up deciding on with the tail lights I would likely get the tail lights done then, too, if I opt for option three. Do it while she's away and I have her vehicle to drive at the time. If I go with option two I will likely attempt it while she's away, too. And if there's time I'll be plasti dipping the emblems at that time (as I already have the stuff.) Eventually I plan on getting them painted, but I need Mrs. Squirrel to see what they'll look like in something that's reversible before I crack them open into pieces and have them done by my shop.

Anyway, after all of this...what option would you go with? I'm leaning towards three as it will look the most 'factory' of all options, but until I talk to the second shop I'm slightly 'worried' (for lack of a better word) of being the first person to get them done at the first shop, haha.