I searched but only found one thread. I have an 05 silver xterra and I'm thinking about having the front bumper, mirrors, side molding, rear bumpers, and the wheels painted flat black. Has anyone else done this before or have any pictures of someone who has done it?

I love the xterra but I hate the plastic look.

Thanks,

Eddie

Well, after closer inspection maybe black is a bad idea since the step rails and mud flaps will then be a different shade then the rest of the black.

Maybe silver for the front and rear bumpers, plus the molding. Although then I have to worry about the paint not matching over time.

Eddie

This is from dragonplayboy at thenewx.org

I just know that in 2 or 3 more years the gray plastic is going to look poor after some UV exposure. Just look at any other car out there with similar plastic bumper covers or fender flares. You can tell the model year of non-sahara model jeep wranglers by the shade of their fender flares.

possibly a darker gray, but not gloss black would be the ticket for lighter X's like mine. Another thing...does anybody do the plastic chrome like the original frontier grills or is it a during the mold process only?

Has this been professionally done or is it a garage thing? How does the paint look up close? How smooth is it over the normal texture of the plastic?

Oh, is that a black xterra? Looks like that dark grey color, seems to be some color mismatch anyway. Looks pretty good though, I'd actually thought about doing this too for the same reasons mentioned above, assuming it looks near factory as I'm sure that would kill the resale if done poorly.

Im not sure what he used to do it, but i think he did it himself. But the process that he described he went through to do this mod was extensive so i think he knows what he is doing.

Oh and yes it is black. the pictures arent very clear so ill ask him to give better angles that are out in the sun.

Its more so the front bumper that drives me nuts. Waayyy too much plastic. Has anyone tried getting a frontier bumper to fit?

Eddie

I think the conversion to frontier chrome and headlamps would mean that you would need the fenders and hood from the truck as well. then you would still have sqaured off flares in the rear. anyways, check out this middle-eastern production last gen Xterra variant with the non north american sheetmetal and flares.
HERE

There were other photos of newer gen asian market X's too. basically they looked like fronty SUV's.

Pics look pretty good, but IMHO take away from the whole "ruggedness" of the truck. It looks "less xterra" all painted. I've got Night Armor for color and there is not much contrast between bumpers and the rest of the truck and at the same time I never worry about any stone chips, scratches or scuffs. You paint that stuu and suddenly you have to worry about everything that touches your bumpers... and forget about using those rear bumper steps!

Well I agree on the look! Its almost a pathfinder now. but the paint technique that he used (so he says) was verry good and before he put the bumper back on he bent the bumper almost in half without the paint being affected.