Sorry for the vague title, but I figured it'd be better to lump these together than open three threads. I'm looking to take care of a couple mostly cosmetic things.

1) Bowtie Emblem. My rear one doesn't look too hot. I think I'd like to paint it as mentioned in this thread . (thinking silver). I'll probably do the front too if that turns out well. I've never painted anything on a car before so I don't know what type of paint I should buy. Edit: the parents of a friend of mine own a printing business and they do vinyl stuff for the race teams here in town so that might be an option too.


2) Hubcaps. It's worse on the driver side, which gets more sun, but they all look pretty bad. I'd like to know if you guys think it's worth the hassle of repainting them or if I should just find replacements.


3) Headlights. My driver side headlight is a bit foggy. Hopefully you can see the difference between that and the passenger side from the pictures. From the threads I've read, people have very different views about applying cleaner, polishing, or sanding, etc. It's not that bad right now so I don't know if it necessarily needs the attention but I thought I'd bring it up. Also, most of the threads about this were kind of old. I'd like to know what methods have held up well over the last few years.



As always, any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

A. the bowtie is held on with double sided tape. Remoce with dental floss.

B. I took the hubcaps off and cleaned the 5 spoke steelies.

C. They sell headlight buffing kits.

 

a. Mine's loose enough I could just pull it off with my fingernail. I was wanting to know what kind of paint I should use.

b. Cleaning probably won't do much. The silver paint is completely worn off of the plastic in areas (my dad picked at it when it was his car which probably didn't help). I was wanting to know if I should paint it or replace it.

c. Thanks, I'll look for those. Do I need to go to AutoZone/O'Reilly or would somewhere like Walmart carry it?

 

You said "hubcaps" do you have alloy wheels? There are businesses that repair them.

Every place that sells auto part I've been in had the buffing kits. Most repair shops will do it; PepBoys, Goodyear, Firestone etc.

 

My mistake; I'm not too familiar with car terminology. What are they called when they're plastic?

 

hubcaps. You have nice looking 5 spoke steel wheels under them. Take the covers off, pile them in the garage, clean up the black steel wheels.

 

Oh, so I don't even need them?

 

Not unless you want them. The clearcoat usually peels off, you could take them to a body shop.

 

My back bow tie was painted with automotive spray paint

 

My plastic grille was spray painted with sandable primer and automotive red touch up paint