OEM PANDA measurements

[APO6]

Can any of you PANDA rockers do me a big favor and measure the widths of the black portions of your paint? fender arches, larger black portion at the lower portion of the door, smaller black portion at the middle of the door, and also the colored space between.) I've looked on google and stuff but couldn't find any measurements :\ it seems that a lot of people eye ball it but I really want the measurements as close to OEM as possible. Thanks!

[APO6]

anyone?

[Red]

You're here in the US? Or?

It sounds like you are asking about the Japanese market "panda" paint jobs. In the US, black trim is referred to as "black trim" never "two tone". Two-tone means two shades/tones of blue, two shades/tones of red, etc. Black trim, aka "rallye" or "sport" trim, is never called "two tone" on the US market. The base Corollas and SR-5s had lots of paint options here, the GT-S didn't. (It could have been worse, like Henry Ford's ModelT it could have been built in "any color you like as long as it is black".)

And the "panda" paint jobs never were sold here, either. A lot of the cars painted that way, have just been painted "by eye" to the owner's preference, since they are just custom paint jobs here.

[LongGrain]

and there are not two bars of black on jdm "panda" paint jobs, there are just two colors, and the lower (black) part is divided by the body side molding being painted the same color as the top of the car.

See what I mean? The whole bottom of the car is black, that white stripe is just the body side molding.

General rule, is you make your line right under the body contour line, then you follow it up around the fender arches (just below the actual fender arch body line actually)



if you take away the side moldings it just looks like this.

[carbd7age]

Looks like the line is level with the tops of the bumpers, easy enough.

[jdm86gtz]

From the deepest part of the contour line come down 30mm to the colour change. The top of the molding is a further 55mm down.
This is from my kouki Trueno, which I confirmed from a few others when I got it repainted.
Zenki may differ a bit as the moldings are a different size.
On the arches there is approx 8-9mm of the top colour on the arch.

Here's a few pictures from when mine was painted

[APO6]

thank you for the information/replies everyone.
I am aware that there are moldings on panda cars but unfortunately my car did not come with any and I haven't been able to find a set for sale yet. I'm currently thinking of ways to paint the scheme without them, though I'm not completely sure how I would go about doing it and how would look without the moldings.
IF someone or someone you know has an unwanted set of body moldings, please email me: ESHK@hawaii.rr.com.
It would make my life much easier.
thanks again
APO6

[Red]

No body side moldings? What model was your car? Or does that mean a PO replaced the doors and fenders and didn't put the moldings on afterwards?

There should be third-party molding suppliers who can give you a product that's "good enough". Any body shop supplier should have some catalogues or samples from them.

[MisterJerk]

Alot of people remove them. Shaved mouldings look cool, unfortunately the downside is your doors will get beat up by soccer moms.

I took mine off since I was missing the passenger door moulding. I have since bought another set and will be putting them back on after I fixx all the dents and dings on my doors. You can find them, just be patient.

[carbd7age]

I sent you an email. I have a set of kouki strips on my hatch. I like the look without, and no door dings since my car stays broken in the garage.

[Red]

"and no door dings since"
I'm thinking, next time around, all black car with big silver spikes like a junkyard dog collar.
Coupla nice rows of 6" chromed spikes, instead of side moldings? <WEG>

[MisterJerk]

"and no door dings since"
I'm thinking, next time around, all black car with big silver spikes like a junkyard dog collar.
Coupla nice rows of 6" chromed spikes, instead of side moldings? <WEG>

I was thinking more "Slayer" style. A belt line of rusty nails in random sizes, welded to the sheet metal.

[LongGrain]

you can do it without side moldings, it just looks really stupid.

[APO6]

yes, the previous owner removed them and repainted the car for the "clean look".
LongGrain: I'll take your word for it lol.
thank you carbd7age, you've made my life much easier.

[carbd7age]

No problem. I don't want em, you need em, everybody wins.

[APO6]

rebumping this post with another question. for those who have done this paint job themselves, how did you tape off the fenders to be perfectly round?

[Red]

Offhand I think the green masking tape is the super-flexible one, you could check with a 3M supplier on that. Traditionally the curves are all done by hand, you get a roll of tape, settle in and practice.

Non-traditionally, you could use the computer, or ask a vinyl cutter to work on it. Print out a matching curve on self-adhesive frisket paper, after making a few curves on plain paper, cutting and seeing how they fit. Depending on how smooth that curve is and your computer skills...it might be a half hour or two hour job, but should give you a perfect mask. (In which case, hold the files and start a side business selling them copies.<G>)

Even with a plain letter-sized printer you should be able to make the curve and tile it across two pieces of paper.

(Frisket paper, fyi, is sold in rolls in hobby stores. Used to make stencils and the like that can be stuck on, from lightweight vinyl and similar materials for one-time use. Heavier vinyl for re-use.)

If you have a real light touch, you could also hold frisket paper up to the wheel curve and cut it in place with a fresh x-acto blade. A real light touch means you can cut the top layer of the paper without going through the backing or into the paint, but if you do that before the new paint job, you'd be safe either way.

I'd try to computer first, see if you luck out and the curve is a simple match.