Help on Blacking out my explorer

[wags91]

I have a competely stock 1996 4.0 explorer, I would like to black it out myself as it has gray lower sides and silver bumper/grille. Any pictures to go along with comments on what procedures to go about, as well as paints to use would be great, heres what the front and side look like.

 

[Paraphoe]

Step one is to paint that UGLY grey bumper trim black. You can follow this thread of mine for that:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216871

You should also (obviously) get the windows tinted. Make sure they're legal, though.

Next, I would get a set of black rims of your choice.

For lights, I LOVE my black diamond headlights. Much better than the black covers and they don't dim the light output much, if at all. See thread below:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212249

Also, a very easy and cheap do-it-yourself is to tint your taillights with some VHT nightshades or similar smoke spray. There are tons of threads about that, but here is a link to when I did part of mine:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212944


Good luck!

 

[BogFather]

Since these pics i've taken off the front fender trim added a custom bumper with 4 fog lights and gotten black steelies for my 32's

 

[ddarko]

I just sprayed my rear plastic bumper cover with "EZ Liner" bed liner paint in a rattle can. It's still curing in my garage as I type this. It has a bit of texture to it--which I feel is appropriate for the piece--but nowhere near as much texture as a roll-on bedliner. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and thinking I may do all of my grey trim with the same stuff (either that or gloss black to match the body). I rushed the prep so time will tell how well this stuff weathers the elements.
I took one photo with my phone but I was losing sunlight so the picture sucks. The nerf bars in the photo are not painted btw.

I've also smoked my tails and high brake light with VHT:

 

[BogFather]

Love the tails, need to get a pic of them in the dark and the light so we can see how they SHINE through

 

[ddarko]

Love the tails, need to get a pic of them in the dark and the light so we can see how they SHINE through

Ask and ye shall receive

[edit] These are just the running lights btw, not the brake lights. [/edit]

 

[Millertime1987]

That looks bad ass. Where do you purchase VHT?

 

[ddarko]

Thanks It's called VHT Niteshades. I picked it up at Canadian Tire but I've heard that a lot of auto parts stores in the states carry it. Try this:

http://www.vhtpaint.com/wheretobuy.html

 

[ddarko]

Finished the rear bumper. Looks much better now and feels good to get rid of the rust spots

Sanded...

Primed & painted...

Finished!

 

[Paraphoe]

Well done, sir. Looks badass.

 

[ddarko]

Thanks Paraphoe. I love your headlights btw. I'm having a hard time finding a set for my vehicle that doesn't have the orange reflector in it. If I can't locate a pair I guess I'll just go with traditional clear corners.

 

[Paraphoe]

Even on eBay? That's where I scooped mine. I think the brand is Eagle Eyes or something like that. I did actually have to search to find ones without the orange reflector, but it wasn't too hard.

 

[KPSquared]

Looks sweet man. You worried about the cops? I know it's illegal here in Alberta, but not sure about TO

 

[RickOTR]

I just sprayed my rear plastic bumper cover with "EZ Liner" bed liner paint in a rattle can. It's still curing in my garage as I type this. It has a bit of texture to it--which I feel is appropriate for the piece--but nowhere near as much texture as a roll-on bedliner. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and thinking I may do all of my grey trim with the same stuff (either that or gloss black to match the body). I rushed the prep so time will tell how well this stuff weathers the elements.
I took one photo with my phone but I was losing sunlight so the picture sucks. The nerf bars in the photo are not painted btw.

I've also smoked my tails and high brake light with VHT:

Paint the center trim piece black where the Ford log is. It would make it look a lot better.

 

[ddarko]

@Paraphoe: Yep, even on ebay I can only find the ones with the orange reflector I wonder if I can remove them?

@KPSquared: Thanks. I'm not sure what the Highway Traffic Act says about smoked tails here in Ontario. I've had cops drive behind me couple times but I haven't been hassled yet. I see a lot of dark tails around here too and it's easy enough to restore mine to their original colour if need be.

@RickOTR: The rest of the grey trim is next on my hit list. I'm also thinking of debadging the rear, moving the "explorer" badge to the front and adding a custom badge as well. Will post again when it's all done.

 

[killerfanatics]

That's nice. Great job!

 

[FloridaState]

Since these pics i've taken off the front fender trim added a custom bumper with 4 fog lights and gotten black steelies for my 32's

Be thankful you don't live in Florida. It's a felony to have that color scheme. It's the same colors (or at leasts appears to be) as the Florida Highway Patrol, so in FL you can't have those two colors on your car or you'll go to jail! lol

 

[BogFather]

Now that is tooooooo funny. Yeah would be kinda bad to get stopped for a paint job ROFLMAO.....

 

[zembonez]

Hey Bog... that split two color scheme looks really good but that hood thing is a tad unusual...

 

[ddarko]

Black trim... done.

Finally finished painting the trim on my X yesterday. It's been cold and windy as hell lately so I couldn't get any work done. We even got two days of snow... SNOW! In MAY! :roll: First time it's ever snowed on my birthday.

Anyway, here she is from front and 3/4 (sorry about the glare). The rear looks the same except I painted the trim on the hatch gloss black and removed the "sport" badge.

One thing I didn't realize was that the entire nose is a single piece of plastic. I thought that the grey lower valence was separate from the bumper and grill surrounds until I actually tried to remove it.