Before I got ahead with painting my engine covers what do you think of the plan?

[Smitty2A4]

I have been having a hard time deciding what color to paint some of the covers in my engine bay, I have a Ming Blue exterior and I was going to use a metallic blue, but I was afraid that it might look a little ricey, and blend in with my car too much. So I decided to try a cherry red metallic on a cover that I really don't care about too much. It comes though a bit light and magenta like in the picture, but in real life it is darker. Below is a picture, plus what I plan to do to the rest of the peaces, I don't want to over do the red, so I plan on only doing two other covers in that color, then the other two in gloss black/carbon fiber and blacking out my caps as well, and of course cleaning the bay up nice! Let me know what you think, and any advice for painting around the rings/3.0 badge? I think I heard that they can be peeled off and stuck back on, is that true?

[IceMole]

use black plasti-dip...not a fan of the red

[dirtybrd]

Just clean your motor and apply some sort of dressing and it'll look much better. I've never seen a spray painted cover that looked good.

[PRY4SNO]

Just clean your motor and apply some sort of dressing and it'll look much better. I've never seen a spray painted cover that looked good.

x2

Or, match them with Ming blue... IMO it's not ricey.

If you want it to look good and proper you should rough up the plastic first and prime it so the paint looks smooth.

Whatever you do though, don't go overboard. That's rice.

[dirtybrd]

If there painted in a base coat clear, they'll look fine, but rattle can FTL.

[pyro]

Just clean your motor and apply some sort of dressing and it'll look much better. I've never seen a spray painted cover that looked good.

/thread

[sandspeed]

Sorry man, but that cherry red looks way more rice than Ming Blue covers ever could. Unless you have a theme of red and blue going on your whole car, it makes no sense and will just look cheap and tacky.

[Maverick]

either clean the bay or paint them black.
or if you are really into this, do Carbon Fiber overlay.

[B6Lovin]

degrease your whole engine bay, spray it down with a dressing, and get a legit ming blue paint job on the covers

[absolutegtr]

Clean and dress

[boy412]

I've got a Ming Blue A4 too and was thinking of something similar...like painting the intake manifold Ming Blue, the valve cover black, and getting some CF covers for the driver's side bits.

Loose the red...that doesn't look good at all!

[AudiA4Turbo22]

^^he has kits comin for ming blue pic one up! i like the red though!

[EBG 18T]

run it naked with no covers and show that 3.0L for what it is.

[B6Lovin]

lots of shiny pipes and a giant snail + a cleaned up/simplified engine bay will look better than any engine covers you could ever buy or make

[Smitty2A4]

Ok so after looking/thinking about it some more and getting more options I have decided I don't like it and no it is not just because of you guys! But you make good points it does not go with anything else on the car, I just figured you cannot go wrong with red in an engine bay, but cherry red looks a bit odd.

So I have decided to try the Blue Metallic stuff I have, I really like the way it came out on my computer case, it is def a bit lighter than Ming Blue, but still dark, no where near the lightness of a "normal" shade of blue. For the part I already painted red I sanded it down a lot, I did not get all the red off but in some spots it was all gone, I then primed it with white primer, and I also primed the 3.0 belt cover white, they are drying now, once they are dry I will sand them and put on the final coat hopefully tomorrow. Then post some more pictures...

[doublezero30]

you can dooo itt! smitty its a no go on the red from me too. lets see those ming blue. plastidip on the caps for sure. you can see how sick it looks on mine next time i see you.

[1BadA4]

if There Painted In A Base Coat Clear, They'll Look Fine, But Rattle Can Ftl.

X2

[Smitty2A4]

Ok so here is what I have now, they are still in the process if being painted, this is just the first coat, they will be darker when I am done, but I just placed them over the engine to get an idea...





I am liking it much more than the red, at least it goes with the car, and also matches the other blue caps in the engine.