Cladding - The FINAL solution?

[rx7tt95]

They now have it available in aerosol cans so it should be much easier to apply.

[spaceCADETzoom]

whaleboy,

off topic...but I just started geeking out. I know there are a couple on this forum that are in the games industry, but Brothers In Arms is, to me, by far some of the most entertaining and enjoyable series in my long history of playing...wish Hell's Highway was out this month. I don't know if you interact with JOhn ANtal at all, but from the outside looking in, he's what "made" BIA. He seems to have had a role in taking BIA away from some mere FPS--the history lessons to the actual real squad maneuver that is still unmatched in anything in the interactive realm. I can't emphasize enough how much his "4 F's" are a breath of fresh air compared to run-and-gun arcade shooters--pretty much the only thing that I see that captures basic Battle Drill I-A: Squad Attack. He may not be in the games industry in the traditional sense (i.e. not a programmer or artist), but it's clear his voice is listened to somewhere over there. Real big fan of his even before his contributions to the medium. He wrote a lot of books (some were in an innovative series of tactical choose-your-own-adventure type books) that I liked. We shared a common profession--I am a current Cavalry officer.

To put in perspective, most of those WWII shooters had some military adviser, many on staff. Call of Duty: Big Red One, for example employed a retired LTC whose name I have heard from other (read: professional, non-game) channels. But it's clear his role didn't allow for inclusion of the historical "extra" files in their game, or the squad maneuver, etc. I love gearbox for setting to make something else. And allowing that input.

Just thought that was neat. And off topic. But if you had COL Antal's ear, if you'd let him know at least one tanker is still nerding out at his work (and kudos to his contributions to demystifying our profession to the lay gamer).

[rx7tt95]

Just bought four cans of this stuff along with a few cans of cleaner. Will report back when I've done the deed.

[Knigh7s]

Just bought four cans of this stuff along with a few cans of cleaner. Will report back when I've done the deed.

Thats awsome! Can't wait for the results... btw, what color did you choose?

[rx7tt95]

I went per their recommendations and purchased the dark gray. Oh, their customer service is awesome too. Shipped today and I should have it no later than Friday. They took the time to answer my questions in the order "comments" box, a first for me. I think they had it boxed up and ready to ship less than two hours after I made the purchase online.

More than likely, I will not pull every panel off. I'll probably do one or two panels a day (or weekend) until it's done.

I plan on doing the hood insert. I'd also like to do the rear spoiler and the rails but I have NO idea how to get those off. It doesn't look fun either.

Will be painting my windshield wipers too, possibly mirrors as well. All are showing their age thanks to the wonderful Florida sun.

Still have to install new shocks, HID lights, 12" subwoofer, new muffler...I'm selling the Evo and RX7 as I don't want to work on cars any longer. Yeah, that plan isn't working so well. Replaced all the tranny/differential fluids two weeks ago, stock airbox last week, four speakers and a new amp the week prior. I know, it's a sickness.

But, I look at it this way. She has 120K on her and needs a bit of TLC to get back into shape. I figure I'll drive it for at least two more years by which point it'll be close to 200K and worth as much as potting soil.

[MSHardeman]

If you have one of Tone's shop manuals look in there for how to get the roof rails off. I'm starting to get some paint bubbles under my passenger side rail and I looked into how to get them off so I could address the rust. You are absolutely right; they are NO fun to get off as you have to get the headliner out first to get to bolts that hold the rails on. If I'm going to go through that kind of trouble then I'm going to do some other stuff at the same time (dynomat) and probably lay the VX up for a few days.

If you don't have the shop manual you can download it from Tone.

Let us know how the cladding paint works (with pictures :bwgr.

[rx7tt95]

Man, I was afraid someone would chime in about how difficult it is to remove them! I think I'll leave them be for the time being as I'm not interested in pulling out the headliner at the moment. I'll look over the manual and see if I can at least get the wing off without tons of effort. I haven't really found a product (Back to Black or that Meguiar's exterior trim, which I use now) that works on the wing/mirrors.

As for the dynamat stuff, check out www.secondskinaudio.com/ I recently used their product on the entire interior of my RX7 and the stuff works wonders. It's also received great reviews and generally ranks higher than anything else out there. Good customer service too.

[rx7tt95]

The products arrived on Friday but I didn't get a chance to try them as I had a friend from out of town in. Might be a week or two depending on the weather. It's managed to rain every day here for the past three weeks. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing

[VehiGAZ]

As for the dynamat stuff, check out www.secondskinaudio.com/ I recently used their product on the entire interior of my RX7 and the stuff works wonders.

Which of their products did you use? There are a bunch of them...

[rx7tt95]

The Damplifier or Damplifier Pro. I used the Damplifier as it's easier to mold to complex surfaces.