I FINALLY got the Explorer back from the paint shop. Turns out the owner has gone from being a solo shop to hiring a few employees and is suffering from growing pains. Running a business is so much easier before hiring employees. Overall it turned out great despite the rocky start and long wait. There are a few things he'll fix after I bring it back...QC lessons learned.
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I think it looks SOOO much better without an the "chrome" everywhere. Roof rack should be coming off soon and wheels and tires will be replaced after the axles and rear subframe are replaced. Hope this will happen within the next week or two.
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I really like how the grill turned out. This also highlights the need for the headlight/auxillary light tinting. Need to watch a few videos and get it done!
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I really love how the emblem turned out! The velocity blue really pops!
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Added a few more accents in velocity blue as well.
Went to my brothers house and used his lift to install the Thermal R&D mid pipes and exhaust, Steeda rear sway bar and aFe CAI this afternoon.
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I always thought these things had a lot of cargo room...
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I really like how the bigger, black tips look. And the exhaust sound? Even without the down pipes, it sounds amazing! I've heard a lot of sound clips and even heard others say they didn't do it justice. I now know what they were taking about! Now I need to get into ForScan and disable the FENG...
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I had the aFe CAI painted to match FenFab's Aztec Blue. I think it turned out really nicely. Adds a bit of visual interest over the black plastic.
I've got the Steeda strut tower brace in black. I'm trying to decide if I should a) powder coat it to match, b) sell it and get the Steeda blue, OR, c) sell it and wait for the aFe strut tower brace and then powder coat it in Aztec Blue to match instead...
I think all that's left before starting on the ZFG tune is to get the SPD down pipes installed.