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BigRED823

New Member
Joined
February 15, 2009
Messages
6
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City, State
Long Island, NY
Year, Model & Trim Level
'04 XLT
ok i'll start by saying I just recently bought an 04 xlt and am loving it, especially after finding this amazing site and seeing what all of you have done. This is MY first ex, but the fam already has 2 mountaineers and my fiance has a hand-me-down explorer that was my parents'. I'm going with the street look with this x (but i'm trying to convince my boyfriend to make his into an offroader when he gets something else as a daily driver)...

so my x has the redfire exterior, gray leather interior, with the silver painted lower bumpers and fenders (would have much rather gotten a monotoned black or white x, but i guess atleast my door handles are body color and not that icky flat black like most xlts). I got it with an already installed factory remote start, and had the guys at my dad's job (dad is conveniently an flm service tech) tint the front windows so that it blends with the rest - lightest up front, darkest in the back

I plan to debadge it, and I already ordered clear corners on ebay - waiting for those to arrive... I want to lightly smoke the tails because the stock red on the tails really clashes with the redfire paint, plus I think I'm going to go for a black and red theme, but I haven't decided yet b/c i do like some chrome...
PS Today I tried using the window tint film off of a role purchased at home depot, as pughman did with his 1st gen - lets just say it is verrrry hard to do (if it's even possible) on a third gen because of the indents and the curve of the entire tail itself. I wanted to do the film incase i got pulled over I'd be able to peel it right off but after today i think I'm just going to do like 1 coat of the spray on tint. (but if anyone has successfully done the film tint on a 3rd gen please tell me how you did it!)... otherwise I may buy those plastic covers but i'll probably spray them first and see how it looks.

i'm also looking at grills on ebay - at first i couldn't decide between a regular horizontal billet (looks nice and clean but a bit overplayed) or street scene (like the uniqueness but not in love with it), but as of right now i think i want vertical billets - upper and lower - something you dont see that often but somewhat like the stock lincolns, which i think have always looked classy... heres a link to what i've been watching on ebay, i just cant commit to such a big purchase yet - may wait till after the head and tail lights are finished to my liking.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car...c0.m245&_trkparms=72:1171|65:12|39:1|240:1318

i'm also interested in doing some led conversions - i'll probably start with the puddle lamps since those look very easy to do and will make a big difference - might go with red to make it pop - since i Know i wont be changing the paint color anytime soon!
I also thought of painting the stock rims to match the body color - i've seen a few of you guys paint them black - but has anyone painted them body color??? my dad said he has seen red rims and said they looked like $*!+, but he also thinks i should keep the rig stock and worry about making my payments instead of mods - but I beg to differ!
and while speaking of paint, I might go crazy and paint some of the plastic dash pieces some sort of glossy, maybe sparkly, black since i hate the look of the silver designed carbon fiber stock dash pieces.

wow that was long! lol
but really, I would like any opinions I can get on any of these prospective mods - especially on my crazy idea of painting the rims... and I'll certainly consider any recommendations you guys have! just keep in mind that I'm not planning on any major purchases like buying rims, or doing any lifting or lowering. I just want a clean looking, somewhat street x... Thanks gang!

~ Rachel
PS i'll take and upload some pics tomorrow!
 



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welcome
 






Welcome to this forum! There are many things that you could do if you have the time, money, tools, parts, place to work, and the knowledge. Which part of Long Island do you live in?

well I have lots of free time after work (I'm home by 4pm every day), my dad has practically every tool imaginable besides stuff to do body work/professional paint jobs since he is a mechanic (plus he can always bring it in for me) - and I can get OEM parts at cost if not free, we've got a garage and huge driveway... but its that money thing that may lead to some wishful thinking for me- I could, but wouldn't want to spend more than a few hundred on any one mod - the boy and I are trying to save up for a house!
oh and about that car knowledge part - I am definitely a bit lacking in that department, but the men in my life certainly make up for it! lol I just have to ask them how to do something and I'm sure to get a speech on it - although i will say I do know more about cars than any other girl I know since I've always been surrounded by it...

BTW I live in the town of huntington - north shore about 20 min into suffolk... but my boy is from bk so we are there often
 






pics of my x

stock:
2654_598467833658_15720525_37278434_2618053_n.jpg


2654_598467823678_15720525_37278432_7782662_n.jpg


2654_598467828668_15720525_37278433_2261106_n.jpg


2654_598467838648_15720525_37278435_6947438_n.jpg


2654_598467843638_15720525_37278436_541510_n.jpg
 






tinted tails

I spray tinted my tails today... too bad it started drizzling while they were drying, so you can see some spots if you examine them up close but from afar they are ok... was going to wait till tomorrow to do the clear coat(s) but now I may just wait for a nice sunny day and redo them totally. I did like 2-3 coats and I'm suprised they aren't as dark as I thought they would be but it still looks much better than the bright red they were, as seen in the above pics...
2654_598467848628_15720525_37278437_6975042_n.jpg


2654_598467858608_15720525_37278438_3853385_n.jpg
 






nice x u got there big red u got aim or yahoo messanger so we can chat.
 






no yahoo messenger, and haven't been on aim in like 5 yrs... sorry!
 






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