Cheap customization - paint?

[Blue91Ex]

yea see i love the ST rims, (not stock explorer rims like those, [which looks great also, but not what im going for) but dont spacers put a ton more stress on axle components and wheel hubs and stuff?

Also i was mtn bikign today and went to unlock my explorer when i was leaving and found a big arse scuff on the fender, like 8 inches long and an inch wide, i couldnt rub it off with my finger so u know any way to repair that without having to get touch-up paint?

oh and i did a [very] rough pic edit to see what the grill would look liek color matched.

it was in microsoft paint so ignore the terrible editing job haha, its just to get a basic feel of the look, i dont mind it, a bit more agressive look imo, but the grey inner parts stick out liek a sore thumb, and i would rather hide them because they just dont look all that good (i have considered cutting them out but that wouldnt look very good either and make teh grill weak) so maybe paint those parts black? or just color matched like the rest?

And, one last thing, haha. Several people mentioned using plastic gutter mesh on the inside of the grill? any reason that would be a bad idea? look weird, noticably reduced airflow to radiator? anything like that i would need to consider?

 

[arco777]

Mesh shouldn't hurt anything. Really fine mesh could hurt airflow.

Yes, spacers add stress by leverage but in my case I had no choice and they don't really stick out much further than stock so it's not bad.

For the scuff you could try 3M scratch remover compound.

 

[Blue91Ex]

how much does that cost and does it actually work? or is it just somethign to rub off material stuck to the paint? i think this may be like, rubbed in enough to actually have damaged the clearcoat (got enough of that already...)

and what parts do spacers stress? would i have to drop a few hundred every year or two for wheel bearings or something cheaper liek ball joints and stuff? and why exactly DOES it add stress? having the different backspacing doesnt hurt second gens any..?

and also, im curious of just, what you think of having teh grill sorta color matched, look good, tacky, cheap? idk lol.
and thanks for all the info guys, really.

 

[MrHendren]

Id have to agree with plastic dip. Easy, cheap, and if done correctly, can last you up to 3 years. go to www.dipyourcar.com they have different colors there over what your hard ware or walmart does. Been messing with it a few months now and love it, done my murano rims, catch people looking all the time. Planning on doing my explorer in the coming months.