DIY rear bumper fake vent conversion

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Brian17Si

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Since this thread is for those who struggle with the fake vent black hole look, I'm wondering what you think of painting the black trim to match the factory color like in the Photoshopped image? This is for a hatchback. I saw a four door Si the other day and noticed it didn't have the odd black piece connecting the two vents. It made me think of painting the trim surrounding the vents and the connecting part. I received a quote of $400 to remove the bumper and parts to get a professional quality (not just taping off the parts and spraying). Thoughts?
Untitled-6.jpg


View attachment 170084
Hi D-kid thanks for posting and it’s all about resolving the struggle of the fake vent. Aesthetically, IMO without cutting but reducing the massive black surrounding could look cleaner and less distracting. First read below, but I say go for it but with a different auto-body shop. It should only be around $100 to spray trim and if you don’t like simply rebuy and sell painted. For around $100 it less stressful and more fun.

Since it’s all trim it all pops off! Don’t go to that auto-body shop they’re trying to rip you off! Don’t take the bumper off! Just pop the trimming off walk into multiple auto-body shops with trim. Ask them for a price to just spray this trim the same color as your car. It shouldn’t be anymore than $75 - $125 and then just pop back yourself. I’ve had my ENTIRE rear bumpers sanded resprayed (not just trim) with customization from $250-400.
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Nice job!!!

I was thinking of gluing red reflective coated glass fire pit beads into the grilles to make it look like they are part of the "propulsion system" Ă  la Star Wars. This is a quick Photoshop job, but they would most likely glow bright red when headlights were shined upon them. Don't know if I will take the time to do it. Any thoughts?

Honda-Back_End_Beads_Final.jpg
do it! and take pics!
 


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Damn you busted out the angle grinder for those vents?! Haha that SI plastic really is no joke!
Yes, it’s amazing because it’s extremely hard but with just a little flex. When cutting it’s harder to penetrate because it will melt or bend. So you have to bring the heat to make clean cuts.
 

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I just wanted to share my experiences using a box cutter. It seems pretty difficult at first because you don’t necessarily know exactly how to approach cutting but after a few tries, it gets easier. One tool that helped out tremendously that I don’t recall anyone mentioning was to use a blow dryer (on low setting in high heat) on the backside of the area you are cutting in order to heat up the plastic and make cutting from the front side easier. Also, I read somewhere recently that someone used an X-Acto knife and I thought to myself that might be a better tool to use for cutting in some instances, like corners, so maybe it’s good to have both. Best of luck to anyone who tries this.

Honda Civic 10th gen DIY rear bumper fake vent conversion 12DA2AA6-2C5F-4693-88A1-AC93E074790D


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY rear bumper fake vent conversion E6894187-347B-4263-8B54-5E91C30BB367


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY rear bumper fake vent conversion D723160C-3D4B-4DD7-8369-CC415B662E1A
 

D-kid

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Project complete, and I think successful. While it still looks like two black holes in the way of goofy, fake vents, at least the holes are smaller. Painting the "bridge" between the two
Since this thread is for those who struggle with the fake vent black hole look, I'm wondering what you think of painting the black trim to match the factory color like in the Photoshopped image? This is for a hatchback. I saw a four door Si the other day and noticed it didn't have the odd black piece connecting the two vents. It made me think of painting the trim surrounding the vents and the connecting part. I received a quote of $400 to remove the bumper and parts to get a professional quality (not just taping off the parts and spraying). Thoughts?
Untitled-6.jpg


View attachment 170084
Project complete, and I think successful. While it still looks like two black holes in the way of goofy, fake vents, at least the holes are smaller. Painting the "bridge" between the two "vents" also help clean up the look.

Honda Civic 10th gen DIY rear bumper fake vent conversion IMG_20190916_143928477


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY rear bumper fake vent conversion IMG_20190916_143920290


View attachment 178315

View attachment 178316
 

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Looks good. I'd like to see ya go one step further though and just paint ALL OF IT white. (minus the vertical reflectors of course)


Project complete, and I think successful. While it still looks like two black holes in the way of goofy, fake vents, at least the holes are smaller. Painting the "bridge" between the two

Project complete, and I think successful. While it still looks like two black holes in the way of goofy, fake vents, at least the holes are smaller. Painting the "bridge" between the two "vents" also help clean up the look.

IMG_20190916_143928477.jpeg


IMG_20190916_143920290.jpeg


View attachment 178315

View attachment 178316
 

D-kid

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I considered it, of course, but concluded it might turn out badly. That is, it does look like a vent, and vents are suppose to be black. Thanks!
 
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Brian17Si

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I just wanted to share my experiences using a box cutter. It seems pretty difficult at first because you don’t necessarily know exactly how to approach cutting but after a few tries, it gets easier. One tool that helped out tremendously that I don’t recall anyone mentioning was to use a blow dryer (on low setting in high heat) on the backside of the area you are cutting in order to heat up the plastic and make cutting from the front side easier. Also, I read somewhere recently that someone used an X-Acto knife and I thought to myself that might be a better tool to use for cutting in some instances, like corners, so maybe it’s good to have both. Best of luck to anyone who tries this.

12DA2AA6-2C5F-4693-88A1-AC93E074790D.jpeg


E6894187-347B-4263-8B54-5E91C30BB367.jpeg


D723160C-3D4B-4DD7-8369-CC415B662E1A.jpeg
Ridiculously clean. Excellent job especially using the box cutter and... Wow! The heat gun will definitely solve the issue. i’m now into vinyl wrapping and use a heat gun on everything it’s crazy. your front grill is looking better than any anything I’ve seen. I’ll promote your project to the front page.
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