Replacing my front fillers

[1quick6]

After much reading and research, well kind of, I have decided to go with the fiberglass front fillers made by Spoolfool. I was really impressed with the installation video on youtube and the fit/finish seem to be great from what I have seen. In comparing prices, I figured I'd have the same money in plastic fillers after I figure in having a body shop fuss with them to fit correctly. My car is garnet red metallic (paint code 076) and was repainted in 1998 with a base/clear. I am hoping to just take them to a local body shop and have them shoot the fillers in base/clear. I wanted to save money by doing the installation myself since this brand has the best shot at fitting easily. I haven't talked to any paint shops in town and was wondering if they will want me to bring in my car so they can match the paint with a high tech device of some sort. I am a little out of touch on this aspect of painting. My 17 year old paint looks as good as it did when new since the car is always garaged and cared for.

I don't think I will go wrong with choosing Spoolfool's fillers. My concern is getting the paint matched. GN owners sure have it easy in some aspects.

 

[DarthBuick]

I wouldn't worry about matching the paint. The body shop will need your car or maybe the old fillers to make sure. Just be sure to use a shop that has their own mixing station. A friend of mine owns a body shop and mixes his own toners because most paint codes have several variants. I use clear sprayout cards to see the color with the clear added.

 

[skidlid]

For the best match most would like the car there so they can maybe do a prophet reading of it (ppg name for a computer color reading) or spray out sheet to make sure the color will be close.

 

[1quick6]

Thanks for the replies. As you thought, I did go to a good paint shop down the street and they just told me to bring the old fillers in with the new once I get them off. They can match based on that because they have a mixing station. Stupid me didn't even think of that. They said they would have a couple of hours in matching and painting at around $200 total.

My other question is about the Spoolfool fillers I want. It doesn't look like they come pre-drilled to me from the pictures but the description on vendor sites say they are drilled already. Anyone know for sure?

 

[mikes86ttop]

The only way to get the best match is by blending all areas adjacent to the filler, that's with any color. Yes it's more work but its the way to do it. It doesn't matter who or what computer mixes the paint its never dead on. I've seen spoolfools fillers and they're awesome, I'd sell my fillers front and rear and put the $$$ towards his set...Mike

 

[highpsi87]

They come with mounting holes in them. I would recommend you test fit them before paint. Keep in mind every car is a different. We did spend a little time fitting them and I'm happy we did it before paint. These are the best fillers available in my opinion. You won't be disappointed in the quality.

 

[1quick6]

Cool. Thanks for the tips everyone.

 

[ttaowner]

I just installed his rear filler on 1 of my cars and you definately want to fit it first before painting. I drilled the holes out a little bigger and I bent some of the studs sticking out of the body to get things to line up better with the predrilled holes. They look great

 

[1quick6]

I will be sure and do that. I have to take the old ones off to take them to the shop so they can match the new ones so I will just take my time and pre-fit the new ones. I definitely don't want to screw up painted ones trying to get them to fit correctly.

 

[highpsi87]

FWIW, match the color to the car, not the old fillers.

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

All good info. I'd also like to point out that the color on the left side may not be exactly the same as the color on the right side due to one side seeing more UV or elements. Also, the rear fillers will be slightly different in color due to years of exhaust hitting them.

Happy spooling.
Mike Barnard