New guy needs help

[tudor VX]

I want to paint the hood and front fenders of my 1999 silver VX.I've heard the insert on the hood should be painted Matte Black.Is that correct and should they paint a clear coat on top of it? Flat,Semigloss,gloss? I want to keep it as close to factory as possible.
I am looking for the "Holy Grail". Does anyone have any info on getting a black/red front drivers seat? If not, my mechanic seems to think I could use the passenger seat instead?
Any info would be gratefully appreciated.

[44ficus44]

as far as i heard, keeping it low colored or flat was due to the glair, but mines black fully glossed and havent had a prob with it.

[tudor VX]

Thanks for the info.

[MSHardeman]

The hood insert is actually a gel coat over the fiberglass. There has been some debate as to what color it actually is, but it can be repainted. Some here have painted theirs, others have had theirs coated with bed liner, and still others have wrapped theirs with a vinyl wrap.

As for the seats, yes you can swap your seats side to side. I've done it. You will need to completely remove the seats from their bases and swap them over, but it's really not that difficult. The one thing that you DO lose is the ability to "flop" the passenger seat forward in one motion for rear seat access. I've gotten used to just tilting the passenger seat forward and then using the slide to move it all the way forward to allow someone to get in the back seat.

Seats come up for sale every now and then, and there are a few threads with the locations of some salvage yard VX's that you might be able to call and get the seats out of.

[tudor VX]

Once again thanks!

[ahdoman]

Hey Tudor - where are you in Los Angeles?

[tom4bren]

... keeping it low colored or flat was due to the glair...

Yes, the concept was to have the insert matte finish to cut down on glare. It's your VX though and you should do with it as you please. The carbon fiber wraps look awesome but I'm kinda partial to my LineX'd finish with a big V6 worked into the texture (pix are in my gallery).

The good thing about a wrap is that if you don't like it in a year or two, it can be removed and you're back to where you started. The LineX - it'll be much more difficult to remove. The good thing about LineX though is that it covers inperfections in your insert and can actually strengthen it to prevent the cracking that many of us have experienced.