Foogles

My front bumper is littered with cracks. At first it really bugged me but I've learnt to live with them. You cant see them until you get up close. If it passes the 6ft test then its not worth me spending hundreds I dont have fixing the paintwork.

Surely that would just add to the nations pothole problems?

Here are the ones you did for me

The one tip i would note is to sand them down as much as you can, the raise TSport logo is a pain to stick a decal on top of. And dont forget some clear lacquer on top before refitting.

Parking facing downhill in a Gen 7 will make the petrol gauge display that you've got less petrol than what you actually have so you probably have got plenty of petrol so I could possibly rule that out.

Thanks for the replies guys, looks like a cheap spray job will suffice

I recently purchased a set of springs & dampers for my Gen7 from a club member who was breaking his old car. The springs look a little worse for wear cosmetically, is it possible to give the springs a fresh lick of paint? Or will the paint just flake off with all the compressing a spring does over time? If it is possible what sort of paint would be recommended? Cheers Note - feel free to move this thread if it would be better suited to another forum, I wasn't sure quite where to put it.

Putting the cans into a bucket of boiling water for a few minutes before use is advised with Plastidip but I personally wouldn't do any spraying this time of year. I've put all of my painting plans on hold until after Easter at least...

I'm 31 and work for Lidl. I got my Gen 7 last year after 12 years of completely boring looking cars (early Micra, mid 90's Fiesta and a 98 Astra). 3 years ago we moved house and decided that we needed a second car to get the kids to school. At the time my wife was happy taking the Astra and I was pretty much certainly going to get an Alfa 147 and id have been happy with that as I liked how they look, especially compared to that big silver box on wheels that was the Vauxhall. 2 days before I went to buy one my wife decided that she didn't want the Astra and wanted the new car herself. I sulked for a bit, we ended up getting a Focus and agreed id swap my car next year. The Focus served as a good family car so I decided I didn't have to be quite so practical with my car choice as long as I wasn't getting a two seater. I looked at quite a few cars (including a Gen 6 now I think back) but then I discovered that Gen 7's could be bought for around £1500. My mind was made up then. I looked at FTO's briefly and then Alfa GT's but I quickly reverted back to the Gen 7. A year passed but we had decided to get married so I had to wait another year in the end but it was worth it

I love my Gen 7. I've had it nearly a year now and I love driving it and I love looking at it, especially as I've changed a few cosmetic things to make it my own on a very small budget. I did the wheels white for about £30. Painted the calipers orange for a fiver. Got some orange/white decals from Mook for under £20 to give the badges and wheel centre caps a fresh look to fit in with my theme. Painted the centre console orange for about a tenner and replaced the standard stereo with a Kenwood double din with the money I got from selling the stereo and cd changer. £50 on some HID's to make it look more modern and the same amount for a C-Scoop to make it look meaner. My one extravagant spend was on a GT gear knob at £45 but even with that I'm still under £250 overall and I feel like I've done well for my money in regards to making the car feel my own. And that brings me to the most mind blowing aspect of this car is that having bought it for just under a grand, I've added all these bits and stuck 4 new Rainsport 3 tyres on it and its only cost me a grand total of £1500. There are few cars, if any, that can match the looks, power and price of a Celica in my eyes.

Stick with the Celica. If you had to borrow money to buy it in the first place then I suspect you haven't the money to find/run something better/faster anyway. I had a similar budget to you when looking for mine and the Gen 7 for me is one of the best looking affordable cars out there, nothing else came close in that price range.

My wife calls my car 'scallop' because the white wheels/orange calipers combo reminds her of a scallop ...it's grown on me

The interior is important and its why as much as I love Gen 5's I'll sadly probably never have one because the interior design reminds me of my 1990 Micra. For most people I think it's very hard to go back to sitting in an older car when you've gotten used to something newer.

Not quite 6 months yet so no drastic changes so far as new tyres, paint for wheels, decals and new stereo have cost me over £400 so far. Jan 2014 June 2014

I got a GT knob last month and love it. Pricey though, its the only extravagant spend on my car since owning it

Not technically in the post but for my birthday - a nice selection of Inspired Automotive bits from the man himself There were a few cloths and a sample i wasn't expecting also so many thanks!

I'm hopefully doing my wheels on Monday weather permitting, it's been so moist in the air with all the fog for the past week or so that I've had to put it off. I'm hoping to get all 4 done in a day (with help from my father in law) but I'm not going to rush as the kids are off school so I can use the wife's car if need be. Will post pics when they're done

It's not too bad up here in the north east to be honest but my car still seems to be rocking Storm Brown at the moment

Thanks for the info, that's a big help On a side note, how much of this stuff would I need? How many mls of paint? How many sheets of wet & dry paper? Primer?

How long did it take would you say from starting to being able to put the wheels back on? I use my car for work so if its a time consuming job i might have to wait until my week off in April... Also, what did you use to fill the missing chunks and what's the process for doing so? My wheels are mostly fine but there is one that is a bit damaged.

Thanks I remember seeing these wheels when you did them last year and thinking that's how I want mine so I'm glad it was you who replied

Right, I'm looking to repaint my silver T Sport alloys white and basically would like some help in doing so. Has anyone done a step by step guide on here? If not, if someone could give me a plan of action it would be much appreciated! I'm guessing i would need to sand down the wheels first. What type of paper would I need? Then some sort of primer next? Anything special needed that's suited to alloy wheels? Then the white paint itself. What type of paint do I need? How many coats? I would prefer a shiny finish to a matt one but I don't know if that's possible? Any links to paint would be appreciated. As with most of my 'help me' threads on here please treat me as an idiot as my knowledge is slowly growing but still very small

Leather looks better though and doesn't look dated like cloth seats in all Celica's (well, all cars infact) do with their 80's/90's patterns of varying degrees of garishness. It's a style choice at the end of the day. I'm happy to deal with a cold/hot backside for a better interior just like some people are happy with inferior handling by putting 18/19" wheels on in wanting their car to look better. The alcantara Gen 7 GT seats provide the best of both worlds though and id have them in my car in a heartbeat if they weren't so expensive and hard to get hold of

4 x Rainsport 3 tyres. Cant wait to get them put on later in the week as I've had the car a few weeks now but the mishmash of tyres currently on it have held me back from really driving the car properly.