so.......few weeks ago cullen posted for sale B3 door sills with OEM Passat logo on them. i got craze. looked great but fitted only B4 unfortunately according to the pic - apparently the B3 and B4 doorframe is different......as is all the metal on these two cars. so... a friend of mine - vasillalov showed me a few DIYs for his Jetta MK4. WHY NOT? Culles's price wuz about sixty sum dollars...whell, my materials were:
1. pack of steel wool - $4 [lowes]
2. two pieces of alumium strips - $9 [lowes]
3. can of clear coat - $3 [walmart]
4. VR6 stickers - free [!]
5. 3M double sided tape - $3 [walmart]
6. patience and love 4 your car =)
-
total : less than twenty bucks!!!
first of all - measurements vary, you decide for yourself.
i went ahead with 25 inches front and 15 rear.
got the two aluminum pieces from lowes - 1/16 thick and an inch
and a half wide and cut them with metal scissors,
in lowes they had no metal cutting machine, wood only!!
i smoothed the edges and started brushing with the steel wool
for quite some time until i got the look i wanted. it is
exhausting a lil bit but i stopped occasionaly for a smoke, so...
then when i done that i just put the stickers.
i went to a sign shop the other day and the guy seemed pretty cool
and saw that i am full of enthusiasm so did not even charge me-
he said the total for four stickers that simple is about $3!
how nice, i could not believe and stop thanking him, he made my day.
he actually put in not more than 10 minutes - from creating the logo
to cutting the stickers. he used default font on his software,
believe me there is no much difference between the OEM VW font
which i have if someone needs it i can email it.
my only demand was to make them italic, i sort-a like it this way.
after i got sick of brushing i applied the logos
and started spraying with the clear coat. coat after coat after coat...
did like 7 or 8 times until i was satisfid. it did not affect
the nice brushed aluminum look but covered the surface well,
cuz aluminum is soft and could be scratched easily!
tell me about it - i had enough while brushing those with the wool!
then applied the 3M [best of all - they sell some DUCK $hit in
lowes - do NOT buy it, 3M is best] and was ready to go.
be careful not to overspray however because looks ugly with the
air bubbles on the surface! after that clean the plastic surface
on the bottom of the doorframe with rubbing alcohol,
i actually used my girlfriend's nail polish remover
works magic!
so, the sills on the B4 actually go on the metallic surface,
cuz as i said the body of it is different. mine on the B3 were
to be stuck on the plastic surface - and do not worry, the door
closes perfectly, as a matter of a fact it is not even close
to the sills. the total height of the whole thing is about 1 milimeter
for the aluminum + 1 milimeter for the 3M under it. do the math,
i am sorry but where i come from - Bulgaria, we do not use
inches and stuff, sorry =) be careful when u apply the ready sills
cuz the 3M is very strong adhesive - if u by mistake drop it
that will be PITA. btw i was looking for a black 3M but could
not find it and just bought white! so there are:
before:
and with the door sills installed:
P.S. u can put the VR6 logos wherever u want, i just
wanted in on the side not in the middle!
thanks for your time, i hope you like that =)
nay comments are welcome, whatever they r - i like what i did =)