Kit or not?

As some of you may know I had a moment of madness last week and didn't put the coupe in gear properly after leaving the handbrake off, it rolled down the drive and bumped next doors car. I've been left with the bonnet and bumper needing some work. As the body shop is going to be painting the bonnet and bumper I thought now would be a good time to tart the coupe up but I can't decide what to do.

The options are;
Paint the black sills red (keeps origanal look )
PIU front and Zender sides (looks good BUT the paint on GRP is known to chip easy and maybe a little you know )
Zender all round. (Classy but done to death )

My initial thought was to get the sills painted. I've got a price for the bonnet to be fixed and resprayed, bumper fixed and resprayed, sills lightly smoothed and sprayed, B pillars and mirror hings brought back to life and the drivers door touched up all for £700. The price sounds fare to me. What do you guys think I should go for and does the quote sound o.k.?

personally i like the le kit, but i would say that ;-)

Have a look at MrC 's car, he has a sprint blue 20v turbo, he has painted all of the black sills and it looks really really nice. . . dont think many people have gone for that option and as you said it keeps the original look.

Zender all round is nice but again as you said . . .its been done to death

good luck and post up some pics when its all done ;-)

I like the LEs but I already have the LE leather and if I get the kit as well it will look like I'm trying to copy an LE.

I've seen MrC coupe and it looks great. The std front bumper has a great lip around the base but you cant really see it in black. Should have been colour coded from the start.

And there will be plenty of pictures.

good stuff i think painting the black sills if the best way forward! its gnna look great!

I think I'd go with the red sills if you're not keen on the LE idea.

Where did you get that quote from? I'm local and need a bit of bodywork doing at some point?

Looking forward to the pics

I've had the sills colour coded and now have the LE Skirts on. I definately would always recommend fitting a coupe with Skirts either Zender or LE otherwise they just do not look right with me and look like their riding high.

LE lips and Skirts, don;t wory about people thinking your trying to replicate an LE.

i agree with tonyd20vt its what you think of your car not what others think . i got my coop and the sills , front and rear bumpers were colour coded already by fiat but i still got the le kit to drop the side skirts the same hight as the front bumper , most people think its a plus but its not its a 20vturbo(6) . but i think it looks better colour code than with the black sills and will look lower to the ground

Why not a lighter bonnet from AutoDS?

Super light AutoDS Bonnet

how much is the lighter bonnet??

http://www.shop.autods.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=48

have a look ;-) you may even see something else on there that you like :o)

nice HIDS

think you should fit a kit while your at it for what it will cost.

prefer coops with kit

I have a speed red 20v na with turbo wheels and all the sills colour-coded red, when i bought the car it had the black sills and i always thought they looked a bit daft and could never understand why fiat didnt colour-code em all??? Anyway, i got all the sills sprayed red for £250 at a local bodyshop, they have done a fantastic job and it makes the car look soooooo much better :o) Personally, i'm not a fan of bodykits and think that the coop is such a nice shape as it is, there is no need for lips and side skirts etc but thats the beauty of opinion hehe. Just do what you fancy, it's your car after all, all i can say is that im very glad i did it and transforms the car for so little money. Hope this helps bud, tom

quote)never understand why fiat didnt colour-code em all???

thing is tom they did colour code them,then they painted them black after

I know they colour coded as before i got my rear bumper skirt sprayed red the black was coming away near the wheel arch and red was showing through, what i meant was why did they paint some models black, was it to mark out the top models i.e 6, plus, le from the lesser spec models, bit like all car manufacturers do?

http://s424.photobucket.com/albums/pp326...c1d6e2fefa2.jpg BEFORE



http://s424.photobucket.com/albums/pp326/tommy_coop2008/?action=view¤t=SPM_A0012.jpg
AFTER

Hope this helps mate

Ok so is there anyone that agrees with me that the black "original" look is better than the colour coded look?

I've had the pleasure of having 2 Speed red 16vts, one colour coded bottom and one black bottom and I must admit I kinda prefer the black bottom on my latest one. I think it has a lot to do with the black wheels though.

Here's a pic of my old Coupe:

http://www.drj-media.co.uk/random/oldcoupe.jpg

And my current:

http://www.rev-illusion.com/pics/coupe/didcar3.jpg

There's something about the black with the black wheels that works for me...

they both look quality mate!
i see what you mean tho about the black with the black wheels, i think its the black wheels, as you said - that makes it work.

When I got my 20VT[6], I got offered genuine Zender sideskirts by the previous owner who'd PX'd her. I bought them as they were a good price but wasn't sure about fitting them as I thought it looked OK "as is". I decided to test fit them and see how they looked and I'm so glad I did - they were bonded on less than 30 minutes later.

Chris, it's all down to personal taste. The Zender is very popular but you have a pink sorry red coop and I haven't saw too many with a full Zender kit.

Steve at AA does the genuine Zender kit for @ £400 btw.

Finally, alloys can obviously make a big difference to how a car looks - kitted or not.

Thanks for the pictures, very helpful.

I'm starting to think the Zender is what I really want. Also a good point about the wheels. I've always liked the Azev A which IMO wont look good on the coupe without some skirts.

Gunzi, the quote is from a company in Lavant (nr. Chichester). I've had a few paint jobs by him before and he's good. If you want his number let me know.

get some plus wheels . . .they complement the coupes lines perfectly ;-) shame they dont do them in 18"s

Kit.

Go on go for the kit.

Me.
It makes the car look sleeker and more delicate, it is original and the colour mismatch of some painted ones can look a bit Barry.
Runs for cover.......

KIT!!
Red coupes with either the LE or Zender kits look awesome IMO
Not that im biased or anything

[Del Boy voice on] You know it makes sense. [Del Boy voice off]

I don't think i've ever seen a coop that looks better with the black sills, the nicest coops ive seen are colour coded or have a subtle bodykit on them, the black just looks bizarre in my opinion and daft, so pleased with mine, amazing what a difference it makes to the looks for little money. Everyone has different tastes though i guess...Might fit sideskirts at some point to mine, to give it more depth at the sides, but i love it the way it is atm hehe. im sure it'll look cool whatever you do.

LE Kit is nice but i do like the PUI front bumper too!

Kit PIU

I've just ordered a new Zender kit from Fiat. Got it with a bit of discout, £300 all in! Now just need to save up and get it fitted and sprayed.

Bargain price Chris.

Oh and of course the classiest choice.

that is well good. i didn't relise the kit was that cheap

Ops! I've just been told off by the GF over the phone. She came home from uni and the girl across the road ran over and said she'd taken a delivery for me. My GF goes over there not knowing what it is, (I hadn't told her about it because I gave her a hard time last week for buying a new jumper, £26 for a jumper!!!!!!!!!!!! ) and it's taken over the neighbours hallway. Now it’s taken over our conservatory. So it looks like I'm going to have to take her shopping again this weekend.

It was £300 because they wanted rid of it. I think it retails at £450 normally.