...i was looking into possibly getting this for my car but i'm not a huge fan of the grey/black weather stripping on the top of the pieces. is there a way to color match these to the car? I would imagine painting them would do it but I have no idea how long that would hold up. I have a SW, and i think the line the stripping creates is way too thick... Is it possible to just remove them and install the pieces without it looking like crap? Or are they absolutely needed?

 

it won't hold up over time... paint no like to sticky to rubber.
but it'll stay on for awhile...

hmm.. i'd say they're kinda needed.

 

This has nothing to do with the tC, but it is relevant...

I used to have an Echo, and I thought it looked fugly so I had the side moldings painted to match the body. It looked much better afterwards. Anyway, the plastic moldings had these rubber weather strips at the top, around the wheel arches. I had them painted too - they started off as black rubber, but I had them painted white. Well, like Squall said, the paint stuck for a little while. When I washed the car, however, the paint on the rubber weather strips came right off with water (this was a couple of weeks after painting).

I included a picture below. You can see the curved black weather strips above the wheel arches. It kind of bugged me, but I had to live with it. Like I said, it was once white, but it turned black again when the paint washed off.

 

yeah i figured, bummer. Thanks for clearing it up for me though!

I'm stuck at the point where im not sure if i should keep my car the way it is, or add some kid of lip kit to it. I dont plan on doing any of this until the spring (im getting new wheels then too) but in the meantime, i'd like to try to decide on something, blah.

I'm about to purchase the black powdercoated figure grilles. and will probably do a few interior mods soon, maybe tint my tails.

 

if i were to purchase one of the oem kits from say, trdsparks...could i take it to a toyota dealership to have it put on? any idea on the cost of that?

or is it possible to do at home if i knew a few people with some experience?

 

It's pretty easy to install if you know how to use a Dremel. You will have to remove the front and rear bumper covers to install.

 

if you chose to take it to the dealer to install you should call around- since all dealers are privately owned businesses, pricing on install may vary-- or do it yourself for free =)