New guy's Explorer - Comments/Suggestions?

[bpl09]

Here's my 2002 XLT. Bought it a few weeks ago, bone stock. I've put some time and a little cash into it so far so lemme know what yall think. Sorry about the cell phone quality photos.


So Far:

-Painted the trim with krylon fusion
-15% tint
-Niteshaded my tails and part of my corners
-Painted the inside of headlights black. Opened them up with a little help from the oven.
-Billet Grille
-2 12" Alpine Type R's powered by 2 500 watt Alpine amps
-JVC Arsenal touch screen head unit in the mail.

















^I niteshaded the plexiglass on my sub box..and taped off the A. Go braves








Future mods:
-2" Spacers
-Tires
-Air intake


here are my past vehicles:





Here is why i wish my new ford was 4x4...man I loved that Durango but 8 mpg forced me to sell it.

 

[japracer4]

looks good so far. #1 how well do those headlights work at night and #2 where do you get this nightsgade?. keep up the good work. also, should've kept the bmw.

 

[bpl09]

I bought my niteshade at advanced auto. and the headlights work great at night

 

[wagoner2]

Looks Great!

 

[Limited02]

Looking good! What are your plans? Lift, lower or leave it alone?

 

[bpl09]

I'd like to put spacers and bigger tires on but I'm not sure if i want to spend the money on anything big

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

looks good keep up good work

 

[perkinsbrandon72]

looks good if you dont mind i would say paint ur rims black and take off the roof rack if you dont use it. I like the head light was it hard to get them apart and what kind of paint did you use

 

[alexk]

Nice EX. I was gonna paint my trim black but wasnt sure how it would look without the foglights.

What kind of engine was in the durango? I looked at a 2003 4.7 when I bought mine and it was averaging 14.9 mpg. Not as good as my 16.9 but not 8.

 

[CALDWELL]

LOVE the Headlights !!!!! they are SICK

since your all black i would have to agree with a post above me... paint the rims black also !!! and paint the center caps like a silver color for some contrast... just my thought...

how hard was it to remove your trim and bumpers to paint... i wanna lose my grey trim really bad !!!

 

[Curtis]

Love the headlights! ... need more details on how you got them apart?
oven temperature? how long? Glue them back together?

I think black wheels would look great too....
Nice job man!

 

[Kovalchuk]

It is crazy how much painting the damn grey trim can improve the look of these Explorer's. It's the best mod for the money by far!

Nice looking X... would be even nicer on black 16" rims with some MT's and a 2.5" suspension lift!!!

 

[bpl09]

I put the headlights in the oven at 245 for about 7 or 8 minutes. A buddy of mine did the same thing with his f150. Its a tricky process because the lens does melt pretty fast. I used a heat gun also. Once I had them opened, I taped off the circles, sanded down the chrome, and sprayed it with krylon fusion. Its good stuff. Then I used clear silicone to glue them back.

The durango was a V8 5.2. It also had a lot of extra parts on it that weighed it down. Didnt help the mileage

I didnt remove the bumpers, just taped carefully around everything.


As for wheels, I might paint them black and the center caps dark gray...I'm gonna let the stock look grow on me first

 

[MillerTimeX17]

do you know if you can open the corners up in the oven like that?

 

[bpl09]

yes you can open the corners too. I did mine just like my headlights.

 

[mshuler009]

My suggestion, would be accent lighting....search led on here you will find a lot of threads. I'm in the process of doing a complete underbody led kit write-up. I'll tell you, I've only got $40 bucks in it, and I have enough materials to do the underneath, inside, and a few left over to put in other places...

 

[MillerTimeX17]

cool, cool. well its looking good bro