Very nice!!!

 

That's a very neat job.

I've seen them done all red with the letters picked our in contrast which is OTT to my eyes.

Graham

 

Well a pleasant few hours were spent tonight with the X type up in the air and wheels off.

The hubs were refinished in silver to look stock and he chose a nice red for the calipers. Thw wheels were cleaned inside n out at the same time and tyre dressing applied.

Have to say it suits the car!!

Thats her all done now, barring the rear bootlid plinth mod ( painted black to match body colour with JAGAUR drilled out and LED backlighting.

I think he's looking forward to getting her shined up for the meet on the 29th

 

The 29th is my birthday, which will remind me to check back in for progress and pics. Have you all fun at the meet!

 

Ok, so as posted earlier, hubs n calipers painted and today, rear number plate, which was a little squint, removed and replaced centre and level ( not in pics shown though )
The red looks great, but perhaps a 2nd coat required, this to be done in the next month or two

All mods now completed except rear bootlid plinth which is being drilled as we speak......another few hours of work on that though, then to be primed / painted and installed c/w led's that need to be installed........watch this sapce

 

Wow! Very tasteful and elegant mods! Simply stunning!

Thank you for the pics!!!

 

Did you take the brake pads out to paint the calipers? I was thinking of doing that for fun but I didn't know if I should remove the pads

 

Very interested in the rear trunk trim LED project. Let us know how it goes

 

Thank you TT......He absolutely loves his car, no matter some of the snide ( jealous ) remarks he gets.
Hopes to be in it for the next 3 years and then is talking about staying with the marque and going XF

Hi there, no, the brake pads were not removed.
Wheels off and cleaned inside n out thoroughly, then the hub part which can be seen ( which is usually dirty / rusty painted a stock silver colour )

The calipers painted slowly and carefully in RED

I'd say allow around 45 mins - 1 hour for each wheel for a really great clean looking finish.

As an aside, its a great opportuntiy to wash / clean the wheel well liners and then coat them in a tyre black type product to complete the clean look

Quote:

Originally Posted by liquidreality

Very interested in the rear trunk trim LED

Thanks, we bought a brand new bootlid plinth from here.... link
for much cheapness...

The leds were not expensive either & paint was around £18, so about £60 all in perhaps.

The JAGUAR has all been drilled out, awaiting arrival of paint & leds to complete.

I'll post once done of course.....

 

That would be cool to wire the word "Jaguar" up in red to the brake lights...... How'd you go about drilling out the letters? With a dremel? Sounds like a big project but will give it a cool unique look.

 

Using a drill and a very small drill bit we drilled out many holes being extra careful.

Then these are joined up and the space smoothed out with a dremel tool / sanding etc.

We're going to paint it to match the body colour ( so dechroming the rear ) then tap into the lights, using leds.

 

Thanks everyone for the great comments on my X type, glad others like what i have done .

So happy with all my mods and very excited about the boot plinth hopefully have it done within the next month and will get pics up as soon as its finished.

 

Ok so started again tonight......

After many hours of drilling and smoothing out the word J A G U A R I'm left with this in the basic unprimed / unpainted version.....

Bare unprimed / unpainted bootlid plinth



I gave it a little sand over with 800 grit to rough it up and give the primer a key, after 2 coats I was left with this


2 coats of primer....




Then over a few hours it was 3 coats of Black paint PEF Midnight to match the body colour and 2 coats of clear lacquer , which gave me this...

3 coats of paint and 2 coats of lacquer




Sorry for the crappy phone pics but you get the general idea.......

The end result should look something like this, except that the bootlid plinth will be body coloured and not chrome




I'm going with white LED's and am sure everything will be fine, however, depending on any issues I can easily revert them to red if required.

I have the leds all ready good to go......I will look at adding a small amount of waterproof clear silicone to waterproof them and then look to get it fitted and wired in to the lights.

 

I really would like to do that. Looks so right.

 

That's impressive work, looking real nice!!!

 

Thanks guys......

Now he's sweating the placement of the LED's.......too close to the letter and it will give out a blurry light effect, too far away and it will be a shadowy light effect.....lol

I'm sure we'll figure it out....

As stated the other conundrum is whether to go with a waterrproof clear silcone sealant to "fill" the letters to avoid water ingress, or try to find some other method......

Hope to have a final update in the near future and put this to bed...

 

You could try to find a hobby shop that sells thin sheets of clear lexan sheets for a backing. You could even tint it lightly so during the day it would blend in as if it were stock.

 

Well, unfortunately it will all be put on hold for now..

He's had a bump today on a hilly, windy narrow road and the car's a mess...........slight damage to front bumpler, front drivers wing, door mirror, drivers door, rear drivers side door, wheel arch and rear bumper, alloy and n/s/f alloy too.

A real mess and with the insurers.......

Not a good day!

 

That stinks, but as long as he walked away in one piece the rest can be fixed.

Good luck and hope you get it all sorted and back on the road in better than new condition very soon!

 

Just received notification of this thread update.

A real OWCH Jim.

I just hope that you can get things sorted with the insurance. If anyone can, you can.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.