Okay, so I posted a few days ago that I just picked up a used Scion that's really growing on me, especially now that the de-rice project has begun. The owner I got it from took excellent care of the car and paint....but he didn't want to deal with peeling the 4 year old baked on graphics, and now after doing this project I don't blame him a bit.
Removing the graphics took me 3 days of hell!! I did one side everyday after work. So checkout the pics and tell me what you think so far!

This is how I received my little box:



And the project began:
First I began by heating up the old graphics. With most stickers, if you are lucky...this is the only step that is needed. But almost 5 year old baked on graphics are damn near part of the paint.


Next I took a professional pinstripe removal wheel to the graphics (Not fun at all)




Almost there....and by this time my hands were pretty beat up from holding that damn thing for so long and grinding into the paint while being careful not to damage anything!!!


This is the mess you'll be left with: Years of hardened wax outline residue.....glue and a bunch of eraser smearing that have now dulled the top layer of clear.


Now you have to wash the car and spend a TON of time scrubbing and going to work with a clay bar!!


Now comes the fun part. Polish the paint back to life with a good thick compound, then wax to protect the new shiny finish. Almost there.......

 

...no pics...

 

copy the img tag and post that

 

well i decided to not be lazy and copy and paste all the pics into a seperate window and man that looked like a pain in the a$$, taking off graphics by hand sucks esp having to use all of the tools you did

 

And here are some pics I took today with the new 16x8 501's!! Looking a lot better I think. All the guys at the tire shop gathered around after they installed the rims and were really digging the rims....especially the gunmetal with BCP color scheme.

I guess next is tint, changing out the stock deck, replacing the red steering wheel and pedals, etc etc. I have a long way to go with her....but I think she's coming along pretty well!!

BTW - Can anyone tell me from the pics if that is a stock exhaust and stock height? I want to lower the car just a tad bit more...but don't want to rub at all. My tires are already rubbing on the back inside fender when I have the wheel at full lock!! I guess that's what I get for going with a 50 series to give myself a more comfy ride!

 

much better! i know how hard it is to take of graphics. i had some on my car for about 2 or 3 years and that crap took me 3 days to completely take off.

 

damn that's a lot of work, but it came out really well.

and damn dude you got some serious rides!

 

Haha, thanks. Yeah I like to go through cars...the ones in my sig have been mostly my project fun/favorite cars. But I've been through TONS.

What do you guys think about adding a CF wing, CF kenstyle front lip and CF rear trunk lid handle? Think it'll look nice or too much CF and played out?
Plus I don't' want to do too much as it seems like these cars already get a lot of attention.
Almost every other thread on here is about someone having something messed up happen to their box. Just today I went to dinner, and when I came back someone had smudged a happy face on the back clean window??? WTF I know it's nothing big...but I've never had someone touch any of my other cars, or do anything to them while they are parked??

 

looks a whole lot better.

it does look like stock ride height, and yes that is the stock exhaust.

and WOW you DO and have HAD some cars that I can only dream of having.

 

I say add the lip but only because I need to in the near future. My botom lip is scraped and because I have a black xb, a carbon lip would save me from having to get it painted to match. :D

Plus they look good.

 

looks 10x better.
gotta love the 501s
im not a fan of CF, its not a race car.

 

good job on the graphics removal

the rims look great

 

Looks much better, toss a set of DF210s on there and you're good to go!

 

Yeah I guess that's true. But I think it looks okay on a black car since it won't stand out too much, and it saves on painting costs! ;)
Plus on most cars the CF isn't even shown...on my Z the fenders and floors are all CF but, nothing is showing...it's all painted from the factory.

BTW - I saw your pics in the other thread, and damn your box looks good....but after all that rubbing drama you went through, I don't know if I want to deal with lowering this car now! Plus I'm not sure about the whole shimming the rear tires...that's gotta be brutal on tire wear no?

 

much better without the fast & furious graphics

 

 

You should be okay on just springs.

 

You did a great job! The hard work paid off.

One Ton Garage (and a few other manufactures) make really nice spacers and camber shims for the rear wheels. There is toe correction built in to minimize wear. I have been running them for almost two years with no problems.

The only problem I am having is the wheel rubbing against the little lip on the inside of the wheel well when going over bumps.

 

The box looks much better with out the graphics.

 

car looks good as is I like the color and the rims nice choice.