Question

Kinda want to do somthing with the appearance of my car.
I dont want stickers and a huge ass wing or anything like
that! Just dont know what I should do to it though. Any
suggestions?:confused:

Marc-OS's Top 4 Vehicle Appearance Improvements:

1. Paint job, get a good paint job and it'll look 10x better
2. Tint, always makes the car look better, gives a little extra privacy too
3. Lowering, gets rid of that wheel/fender gap, cleans the car up
4. Wheels, if selected right can really set the car off, and makes it look super pimp

Recommendation for paint: metal flake. I believe that is the stuff that makes your car literally sparkle, it looks awesome I've seen a blue Eclipse with that on it, sweet.

Or, if you really want to spend an extra couple thousand on paint, you could get chamelion paint. That stuff is super-sexy.:licker:

Cant paint it... its a saturn. They inject the paint into the moldings of the doors.

You could... but it would be extra expensive.

Like what kind of price range are we talking here?

For a really good job, you are probably going to pay at least $2,000, unless you know somebody.

My first and foremost suggestion is wheels; nothing changes and can improve the look of your car as inexpensively and as quickly as a nice set of wheels can. Wheel can make all the difference.

I'll go with weels too. They can make the car look really good plus with 225 and up ypu put a hole lot more rubber on the ground and more traction is always better.

-k-
Let me give you guys a little hint I DONT KNOW JACK! when it comes to
cars.:( So I dont know which brands are going to be better for me and whether or not Im getting the shaft as far as pricing goes! So I really need some help!!:apuke:

Really the best prices for wheel and tires are at tirerack.com. I think they even mount and balance the wheels if you buy tires with them. I think all you have to do is mount them on the car once you get them, I would make sure though, you might have to have the tires mounted and then have them balanced after you get them which will cost you about forty bucks extra.

Roll down to your local body shop, and they'll have a few suggestions for you. They'll quote you prices, give you pamphlets, the whole works. If it's rims you're interested in, just pick up an automotive magazine like HOTROD or something...in the back they show different kinds of rims and pricing for them.

If you have a saturn though, don't bother with rims. buy a new set of hub caps with some personality ie that stand out and look good to you.

Body shops, by the way, will be in the phone book.

Hope that helps. :cool:

Originally posted by student_anonymous


If you have a saturn though, don't bother with rims. buy a new set of hub caps with some personality ie that stand out and look good to you.

B

Why not bother with rims?:confused:

Hey Shawna, here are the links to basically all the Saturn pages... there is so much info here (maybe too much): Everything Saturn (http://www57.pair.com/lane/satlinks.htm)

Rims & tires are the quickest way to make your car look good. However, that can get pricey ($1,100 and up for good rims & tires).

You can even take the car to get the windows tinted. This looks better:
http://www.blacksheepracing.net/pictures/tim/strn-race.jpg

Since it's a Saturn, you can't do a lot of the things you could with other cars :/

For instance, removing trim, anything that overembellishes the car... Paint is a no go, so no nice paint jobs... this pretty much narrows it down to as the guys here have mentioned, wheels, tint and lowering.

You can often get a complete wheel/tire package, and that would probably be best for you. This is not the cheapest thing, and will cost $1000+...

Here are the wheels that will fit your car from the Tire rack...

http://www.tirerack.com/upgrade_garage/WheelSearch.jsp?&autoMake=Saturn&autoModel=SL&autoYear=2000

Lowering springs and tint should be done by professionals, but they should be cheaper than wheels.

These are Eibach, they're probably more than you need if you don't do any autocrossing or anything.

http://www.team-performance.com/ViewPartinfo.cfm?parttype=9233

These are more suited to a budget, and won't be any worse than Eibach springs for most driving.

http://www.streetbeatcustoms.com/satcoupsed90.html

http://www.xtremeracingconcepts.com/products/images/l_bodykit_lg.gif


Im thinking about this for my car....but Im not so sure. This is exactly what my car would look like minus the rims. I already have the windows tinted. Its not legal but oh well.....what am I gonna do cry about it....no. Anyways what do you think?

L Series Aero Kit
Kit includes front air dam, side skirts, and rear lower skirt. We offer them painted and unpainted. $880.00


More info about the kit.

If you like how it looks, that's what counts, you drive it, we don't ;)

My thoughts would be get it unpainted, and have a body shop paint and fit it, that way you can be sure it'll be properly painted, and the colours will match.

Other than that, 16/17" wheels, and a set of lowering springs... There you've got a nice different looking Saturn.

Do you have the Saturn "L" or is it the "SL"? That kit won't fit on both cars... the SL is the smaller 4-door and the L is the larger.

What are do you live in? There might be a good car customization shop or "body shop" in town that would be able to give you a price for the kit & installation. $800 seems high to me for the kit by itself... and installation will add (maybe) another $200-300 dollars.

if you do get your car painted make sure its a base/clear wet sand and buff. its one of the best paint job out there, stay away from enamel and other cheap 200 buck paint jobs that you see a lot of places advertising because they don't clean the car before they spray them in most cases and there generally sprayed with a cheaper paint. you get what you pay for. also when you get the body man to order paint make sure he orders enough to repaint a full car and a extra side of the car, in case it gets wrecked you will be glad that you have the extra paint, the shades will not be off, ive gone as far as writing down the psi that i spray cars with because a slight change in the psi of the sprayer will also change the shade of the paint slightly.

It's difficult to paint, since it's a saturn. Even if you do paint it, it's tricky because you have to have lot's of flex in the paint, or it can crack.

Anyhow, make sure it gets professionally fitted, and painted at a shop. There's nothing more ricey than badly fitted/badly painted body kits. Well, there are 3 foot aluminum wings, but that's a different story :p

I'm with Cbass on this. (it's frightening how often I agree with the guy, and he with me) Saturns are notorious in body shops for giving more grief than they're worth (to the shop, not the owner). Same goes for Fieros. Those dent resistant plastic body panels just don't take paint without ten tons of primer. Even then the stuff flakes off after a few years if the car gets used hard.

But don't use that as an excuse to NOT paint your body kit. A good body kit looks like it's part of the body and harmonizes with the car's shape. A great body kit also adds some sort of aerodynamic benefit, but we won't get into that.:angel:

Lol... the body kit will most likely be fiberglass, so painting it won't be that hard, just make sure the shop gets the paint right ;)

As far as the body kit goes Im only looking at that possibility cause my cars kinda pointy and I dont think I like this too much!

I've seen several saturn SL sedans customized the only ones that i thought looked good were the ones with tinted windows and maybe some 16s or 17s there isnt much you can do with that type of car...personally i would save up and get something else

Well when someone gives you a decent car completely paid off you try not to worry about getting another. So thats why Im trying to kinda do some stuff to, make it look a little better. But anyways, just wanted to thank you guys for all your help.

Thanks :D ;) :wave:

Kinda want to do somthing with the appearance of my car.
I dont want stickers and a huge ass wing or anything like
that! Just dont know what I should do to it though. Any
suggestions?:confused:



Lower the thing a little bit, maybe about 3 inches depending on the model, also a paint job or a graphic depending on the shape of the body should spruce things up.

Quit dredging-up threads that are older than 3 months old, please.