NAKED!

[josh]

So I took off the bullbars. I decided that since the winter rock chip season is now over they deserved a repaint. What I haven't decided yet is whether or not to spray them with rhino liner instead.

Boy the poor Delica looks like it has been stripped of all personality and dignity. Naked. (Looks just like the lesser HiAce!)

Josh

[Adrock]

rhino lining or powder coat. i'd go rhino haha.

[BCDelica]

Take it your not going with white again? And do I have to add how disappointed I was when I opened up your post. A Hiace doesn't look that good. How where the bolts on that plastic front stuff, ours look rusty and ready to break?

[delicanuck]

Hi Josh,

My moose bars are rhinoed in black and my car is blue on white. The only deal with Rhino lining as that black is the only colour that won't fade but your car would look great with black bars. I think Yellow isn't too bad in vinyl because white fades to yellow and so yellow just fades but green and blue etc. start to look like gangrenous body fluids after a couple of years. I considered getting my bars done in white and just redoing them every couple of years but Steve the Rhino lining guy down here said I would have to take the old stuff off myself and, oh yeah, good luck with that. But if you like black, I'd get Rhino.

BTW, I also had all my steps Rhinoed, the trailer hitch and ... uhm... something else,... my fog lights! I did get all the fog light brackets powder coated but then didn't use them.



The other thing is that while your getting your bars coated, have them do the fender wells at the same time. Don't do the underside of the car, just the fender wells. If you are going to coat the underside of the car, wax it. Let me know if you want details.

[josh]

Well I have decided not to rhino line them... It seems as though the "In" thing is to turn them black... but I think that will wash them out on my van. So I am just going to do a quick spray paint with tremclad, of some colour or other. Then I will sit back, ponder and deliberate until fall when I will sand them down properly, and coat them with whatever colour seems to be the best decision.

Hmmm, maybe we should set up a sticky with a vote, and I'll paint them whatever is most popular (other than black!). We'll see.

Brett,

you will also have to give me more information about this wax thing. I remember you mentioning it at the Meet. Who does it exactly? What is it? How long will it take. And most importantly does it come with a wick so I can use it as an emergency candle if I find myself stranded in a winter snowbank?

A Hiace doesn't look that good. How where the bolts on that plastic front stuff, ours look rusty and ready to break?

Kev,

Most of the bolts holding on the plastic thing snapped, even though I WD40'd them a few times over the course of a couple days... of course the main ones holding the Bars on were fine though, no rust at all. Guess I have to drill out the bolts... such a hassle, maybe I should follow Adams lead and just zip tie them. :P :P

Josh

[delicanuck]

Hi Josh,

Steve Graffi at Rhino Linings in North Vancouver did my Rhino lining and the wax job. I vinyled all the things that were on the outside and would likely get beat up, the moose bars, steps, lamps and fender wells so they can take a lot of abuse and not show any damage at all. The rest of the car was sprayed with a gummy German made wax product. Wax was applied to all of the underbody that didn't get vinyled, the trailer hitch, the bolts that hold the bars and steps on, all that stuff. Also, the plugs were pulled out of all the body columns and wax was sprayed up into those as well using a long wand which I think, had a video camera built in. If a body column didn't have a plug, Steve cut a new hole and sprayed the column, then installed a new plug. The result is that the underside has a soft gummy texture that id totally waterproof.

My mechanic, Richard had a look at it a few months later and was pretty enthusiastic about the advantages of this wax treatment, as opposed to e.g. Ziebart which can render a car almost unserviceable. Richard also said that it was one of the best wax jobs he had seen. When I had the coating done, I had told Steve that I didn't want his best price, I wanted his best work. Because I had another car at the time, I dropped off my car and told Steve to not rush and to call me when it was done. He took a week because my car kept getting bumped by rush jobs. When I did finally get my car back, the bill was less than $1000.00. That's a lot but I'll probably save more than that in body work down the road.

I fall somewhere between Andy and Adam. I drive my car all over the place like Adam ( well almost ) but I keep it in pretty good shape, almost like Andy. Okay well I still haven't waxed it and I just found a rust spot and the carpets haven't been shampooed since the fall and .... well, you get my point.

Yeah so, Do you have a local RhinoLining guy? Does he do wax?. Do you have someone up there for powder coating? Nickel plating? Bead Blaster? All those services are all within 5 minutes' walking distance of each other in North Van. Might be worth coming down for a visit. You like kids?

[EnviroImports.com]

here is a nice after market front bumper just for our delica's,


my friend picked one up for me in Japan[/img]

[josh]

Yeah so, Do you have a local RhinoLining guy? Does he do wax?. Do you have someone up there for powder coating? Nickel plating? Bead Blaster? All those services are all within 5 minutes' walking distance of each other in North Van. Might be worth coming down for a visit. You like kids?

My wife grew up in vancouver, so we have family there. Maybe a trip is in order before fall! Thanks Brett for the info... I think i'll work on comming down before the snow flies. Have you looked into WVO yet? I have been sold on it ever since the meet.

Josh

[BCDelica]

One of the nicer aftermarket nudge bar there! The aftermarket once can be tacky looking monsters.

Do you have it already?

[Kuan]

Hi guys,

Does the rhinolining have texture or is it like paint? And the wax, how long does the wax last on the vehicle?

Some good ideas. Maybe we'll do ours in the fall. How does the was compare to the krown stuff??

Thanks for the info.

Kuan

[EnviroImports.com]

I dont have my front bumper yet, it will be inside the next one I bring in,Im keeping that bumper for my self. but if you want one I can get you one, but only used, new they are stupid money over there.... and for the rino lining, its a great product, BUT dont expect to get it to any kind of a shine,I bought a long wheel base zuki a couple years back and the people had rino lined the hood front bumper, grill, and one foot up the sides, as it was a tow behind vehicle for their motor home and they wanted to protect it from rocks and such, when I got tired of it and went to sell it, not one person would believe that it was rino lining, they all thought it was a crappy bondo job and were all "so whats that hiding?"
Personally I love the stuff, never get rust, and protected for ever, but that texture makes it look like your either briliant for doing it or trying to hide something.......

[collector]

If you want to use a product that offers awesome underbody rust protection, I recommend AD2000/AD3000. It's a spray on enviromentally friendly coating that bonds to and penetrates metal, and makes it damn near impervious to salt, water, etc. I applied it to my '88 Toyota 4x4 pickup's frame and underbody every 2 years (I owned it for over 8 years), and while the box rusted in the usual places, the frame was immaculate. It also is very good for conditioning rubber-the truck had over 260,000KM on it, but still had the original CV boots, bushings, etc. It's a bit messy to apply, but well worth it. They use this stuff to undercoat snowmobiles, so it is great for anti corrosion applications.

[Schwa]

back on topic:



I'm going with flat black anti-rust paint:



Gonna try painting the plastic cover too, but msk off the letters... Mine's faded to gray and I removed the top sticker so it looks funny with the black where the sticker was... plus I couldn't remove the 4 little pieces of plastic on the bars (screws would have had to be drilled out) so they got painted black too.

[EnviroImports.com]

I like some options when it comes to my add on toys, like bull bars




Just ordered these. I think they will go on my own van....Until my rolled steel winch bumper is finished...

[Kuan]

Schwa,

Instead of painting the plastic, try using a heat gun to slowly warm it, I read that it restores the colour. I read that on the UK forum and remember that some members there had good results with that. It should be more permanent than paint too.