Finest CAR ART S-Line Valence Group Purchase...

[MiracleWhips]

Just got my tracking # - will arrive late tomorrow since I'm across SF Bay from Alex.
Off to paint shop Fri AM.

+1

[SoCalS4Avant]

Don't know where I ordered relative to the rest of you...but here's hoping my tracking # comes soon.

[Greg Nelson]

Don't know where I ordered relative to the rest of you...but here's hoping my tracking # comes soon.

Think Alex meant when we paid - since some folks on GBs 'sign up'/order, then back off when time to pay.
Don't remember when I ordered, paid 12/21/12, yet didn't appear in my account until 12/24/12.
Guessing you'll be getting tracking by tomorrow.
Soon ..... it's been a long time
Cheers

[SoCalS4Avant]

Think Alex meant when we paid - since some folks on GBs 'sign up'/order, then back off when time to pay.
Don't remember when I ordered, paid 12/21/12, yet didn't appear in my account until 12/24/12.
Guessing you'll be getting tracking by tomorrow.
Soon ..... it's been a long time
Cheers

Funny you say that...I just looked mine up, and it doesn't show as being "complete" until 12.29. Guess I've got a ways to go down the "food chain" that is orders! LOL

All good. I still don't know where I'll get mine done anyway.

[TheHeiko]

Shipped and ETA April 5th by end of day! Who's going to be the first to get theirs???

I'm still undecided on what color combo to paint mine.

[nickawd7888]

If I order today when do you think I'll have it?

Thanks

[audipcanugo]

If I order today when do you think I'll have it?

Thanks

I'm gonna take a guess and say never. GB closed!

[Greg Nelson]

If I order today .........

Really, from where?

never. GB closed!

And closed 12/21/2012 - 3 1/2 months ago
Guess it was worth his trying.
Not only was he late to the prom, he forgot to buy her a corsage.

[MSteele]

Just got my tracking, will be here 4/11. I would love to know how much it would cost to have this thing wrapped in real carbon fiber. Has anyone every tried using vinyl wrap CF and then applied the clear? I wonder if it would work or bubble up. Guess I could do a test run on something small.

[Elote]

Got mine today, but still undecided on the valence color. I have Phantom Black with matte gunmetal wheels, so I want something a little darker than the stock platinum grey. Hoping to get some ideas off others once people start getting them painted and installed, but not sure I can wait that long now that it's in my hands!

Greg, I think you mentioned it somewhere in these pages, but what color are you going with? We have similar combinations, so I'm interested to see what route you are going.

[jlaudio]

Just got my tracking, will be here 4/11. I would love to know how much it would cost to have this thing wrapped in real carbon fiber. Has anyone every tried using vinyl wrap CF and then applied the clear? I wonder if it would work or bubble up. Guess I could do a test run on something small.

send it to matt@ocarbon

im sure it will be expensive but you know its quality work. it would be painful if you ever got rear ended though

[B G 8er]

Just received mine today. Opened the box to take a look. Mine is full of uneven lines and gouges. It may be workable but I have a feeling it is going to require allot of labor to make it look oem.

I was under the impression that these would be paint grade or at least near ready to paint.

I may be selling mine if anyone is interested.

[SoCalS4Avant]

Just received mine today. Opened the box to take a look. Mine is full of uneven lines and gouges. It may be workable but I have a feeling it is going to require allot of labor to make it look oem.

I was under the impression that these would be paint grade or at least near ready to paint.

I may be selling mine if anyone is interested.

Pics?

[audipcanugo]

Just received mine today. Opened the box to take a look. Mine is full of uneven lines and gouges. It may be workable but I have a feeling it is going to require allot of labor to make it look oem.

I was under the impression that these would be paint grade or at least near ready to paint.

I may be selling mine if anyone is interested.

Ouch.

[[email protected]]

Just received mine today. Opened the box to take a look. Mine is full of uneven lines and gouges. It may be workable but I have a feeling it is going to require allot of labor to make it look oem.

I was under the impression that these would be paint grade or at least near ready to paint.

I may be selling mine if anyone is interested.

Sorry to hear that you are disappointed. I went through every valence that arrived and I didn't see gouges or other major issues like you are describing. There is definitely some prep work to be prepared for painting. Even a factory primed item needs to be properly prepared before painting, nothing genuine would even come right out of the box and just have paint laid down on top of it and have it work out perfectly. I would think an hour of prep on these would make them ready for paint by a good autobody shop.

With that being said if you are really dissatisfied I can line up a buyer for you vs. shipping the valence back up since it's such a cumbersome item to ship. Just let me know and I will do what I can to help.

Cheers,

[LoveMyA4]

Just received mine today. Opened the box to take a look. Mine is full of uneven lines and gouges. It may be workable but I have a feeling it is going to require allot of labor to make it look oem.

I was under the impression that these would be paint grade or at least near ready to paint.

I may be selling mine if anyone is interested.

Was that the sound of mass disappointment I just heard? Talk about discouraging news. Seeing how Elote didn't express similar remarks, I'd like to think that most of the valences are in better condition. It would be appreciated if people could post pictures of their valences once you receive it.

[[email protected]]

I just pulled one out of a packed box at random:





The surface is completely smooth, even if the areas where work was done looks scuffed up. The whole valence needs to be prepped and primed before painting, just like any part. Also be sure when it is painted that the paint has flex agent in it or it could crack or not last over time.

The valences are made by taking a standard non S-Line valence, cutting out the center portion, then taking an S-Line valence and cutting out the same center portion and plastic welding that into the original standard valence. The areas that are filled and sanded are where the cut and plastic weld occurred. As shown in the beginning the valences when finished look like a stock part.



Hopefully everyone does understand the valences are not the prettiest looking thing out of the box. With proper prep, prime and paint these will look just as the units that Finest has finished. It really will come down to expectation and body items that are in the middle of the process of being fully finished very often look terrible and as if they will never look good. I absolutely despise body work because I don't have the patience or the ability to see what something will look once it's done. A good body shop will be able to get these looking great, just like the photo above and the photos of the cars that Finest has up with finished valences.

Cheers,

[zjia]

Was that the sound of mass disappointment I just heard? Talk about discouraging news. Seeing how Elote didn't express similar remarks, I'd like to think that most of the valences are in better condition. It would be appreciated if people could post pictures of their valences once you receive it.

+1

[Ajp428]

how much for a non-sline dual single outlet?

[LoveMyA4]

Alex, thanks for the pics and detailed explanation of the manufacturing process. I guess we'll just have to wait and see for ourselves.

[[email protected]]

Also another thought, if you really don't want to prep much or paint professionally Plastidip might work very well. Just avoid spraying into the cutout for the mesh to heavily making it hard to get the mesh trim in.

Cheers,

[MiracleWhips]

I just received my valence literally 5 minutes ago!

First I would like to thank Alex for making this happen, and being on top of things as demonstrated today.

The valence looks amazing, and not sure how these guys pulled this off.

I will however agree with some who were under the impression they would be receiving the product in a bit more "ready for paint" condition as stated in the beginning. The definition of prepped and ready for
paint may have a different meaning to some. (I thought these would be primed and ready for paint only as well) Since they will need a little more sanding and a coat or two of primer before they get the actual final
coats of paint, I don't see this as a big deal overall. These things have been on quite the journey, and potentially would have needed another coat of at least primer anyways by the time they reached us all.

So I say no big deal that they are not truly ready and prepped for paint. It will all turn out fine. I am just really excited to have this piece and able to proceed. Without Alex, we would not have this at all!!!

[jfo]

I agree with MiracleWhips. I too assumed they would have a coat of primer but also assumed it would need some final prep and additional priming given the nature of the journey and packaging. It's not a big deal to add priming to the process. I'm painting mine so will simply order a can of SEM Flexible primer along with the finish paint. A bit more work to be sure, but the end result will be the same.

[B G 8er]

Sorry, I didn't mean to stir the hornet's nest! I plan to have a body shop look at mine first before making any decisions or final conclusions. Yes, thank you Alex for getting us this far!

Often, most body shops won't even mess with this type of thing. They send out munched bumper covers to companies that specialize in working with these types of materials and generally, the results are better to purchase a new bumper cover. I will admit that I am more particular than most however, I believe many of us on Audizine are.

Miracle Whips, you have the Avant so with the dual exit on both sides, you do not have the right exit delete like with mine. If you look at their finished, single exit pictured above, on the actual right side exit delete area, you can really see the similar impression they just left in the well next to the curved ridge. For example, I believe this area should be flush.

Does anyone know what type of body filler that can be used on these? Bondo's great stuff however, I don't believe it is good for flexible surfaces. I am telling the truth that most of the lines on the valance that have been reworked are very unfinished and not straight.

At least mine is far from just a small amount of prep work and painting. It is going to need quite a bit of skillful finessing in order to make it look oem. Not saying it can't be done. Just wondering at what cost. Also, I am pretty sure that the SEM paints are made specifically for plastics and bumpers and have flex agent built in.


The lines are difficult to see in pictures. Here's that area I am referring to in the exit delete area. Notice the indentation and rugged curved line with gouge. This is an example of the prep work that will need to be done.



One good thing is since these will be mounted low, you won't really notice that much of the fine detail.

- Brad

[b4a41point8t]

Maybe since it was such large order they felt rushed and cut a few corners? Body work isn't exactly cheap. This mod looks like it will quickly balloon into original used s-line bumper. Hmmmmm. I have an option on the table to purchase one but I'm a bit fraid now. If anyone gets theirs mounted soon please post pics and any advice/cost information is greatly appreciated. Thanks again

[TheHeiko]

Just got mine but have not opened up the box yet. Fingers crossed....

[Greg Nelson]

I'd assumed the mesh was 'open' as it appears in first pic - mesh is actually a solid matte black piece (has OEM P/N).
This may/may not affect my original paint scheme (Monsoon Grey mesh, matte black valence body).
See similar distortions in adhesive finish on mine, although not as bad as yours appear to be - already working on it with #240 wet/dry sandpaper.

Maybe since it was such large order they felt rushed and cut a few corners?

Could be, at same time they were fabbing/delivering well finished and painted items to some Euro customers, and likely taking some long European vacations!
Why is the EuroZone in such a mess?

[Greg Nelson]

Just got mine but have not opened up the box yet. Fingers crossed....

TheHeiko - have you opened yet?

BTW didn't mention in earlier post, I'm overall satisfied with the valence. I think that the 'imperfections' noted here can be easily fixed with some work that I intend to do.
Unfortunately many of us thought it would be 'plug and play'. This is a custom build from a German supplier that Alex had many difficulties with, while they were at the same time supplying finished/painted parts to their Euro customers at a far higher price than what we paid.
Cheers

[evil eye]

Received a tracking number as well. Will post opinion of mine once I get it. However, unlike most of you, I couldn't get the S-Line style as I was told the quad tip wouldn't be possible after all. I went the next best route, IMO, and had them make me a quad S4 style valence.

[SoCalS4Avant]

Funny. Never received a tracking number, but it's here. I haven't opened it up yet...tomorrow.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[TheHeiko]

Here is my double-single Avant valence. Overall it looks pretty good. The method used to create these is very interesting and innovative. As Alex described previously, they take a S-Line valence, cut out the part for the honeycomb insert, cut a matching section out of a non-S-Line valence, plastic weld the S-Line piece into the section, and sand. You can see from the pic of the backside what I mean.

If I look carefully there are a couple of spots were there is a little roughness from the plastic weld and sanding. It's not terrible and a little work on it should fix it up. It definitely needs some cleaning up and primer. Much of the surface is rough sanded and it's pretty dusty. I had thought about buying a can of SEM paint to do mine but I'm thinking that by the time I buy SEM primer and finish paint, plus any supplies to further prep, I might as well have a body shop do it for me.

Sorry for the iPhone pics. No time to do much more right now.

[B G 8er]

Yours looks pretty good. I'd like to hear from someone else who purchased the single left side, dual exit. The dual, single exit on each side for the Avant looks way cleaner because the inset for the honeycomb is set in much further from each exhaust opening and you don't have the detail of the right side delete well where it has to meet the openings for the exhaust. Do check your lines though. Mine are all over the road map.

Just my luck I guess.

[brainpan]

Has anyone test fitted yet?

[SoCalS4Avant]

Brad, were you going to DIY on the finish, or take it to a shop?

Agree on the comments regarding the costs approaching S-line bumper. It shall be interesting to see how close this ends up coming to the price I was quoted for that.

[jlaudio]

while i am a tad disappointed that they are not paint ready i can also understand that its truly a hand made part and will need some additional work prior to paint
its definitely a DIY-able fix prior to paint

[MiracleWhips]

Agree on the comments regarding the costs approaching S-line bumper. It shall be interesting to see how close this ends up coming to the price I was quoted for that.

This.

Going full bumper conversion would also have it's own issues/concerns beyond just the cost. (making sure the color matches, potentially being without the car for a few days, worrying about it getting dinged and scratched at the shop, and what to do then with the stock bumper seems a little wasteful)

I sprayed a test section on mine yesterday with some pro grade automotive filler primer, but plastic was not listed on the label so it did not adhere. Literally could scrape it off with my fingernail. It was the only thing available at O'reilly or Home Depot. I just ordered a can of SEM High Build Surfacer Primer over the interwebs that works on everything and will obviously be compatible with the bumper coater I plan to use.

I too have quite a bit of smoothing that needs to be done. The main thing that needs the most attention is the horizontal seam where the two parts were joined together at the top. I have some pretty substantial creases that paint alone will not fill in. This is the only part of the fabrication quality that is bothering me since it does not create an even line all the way across. Some more blending/evening will need to be done here for sure. But before I do any more sanding, I want to spray the whole valence with the sandable filler primer so everything is highlighted in the same way. As is, with so many textures and colors of grey/black going on, it is hard to tell how everything will truly look once one consistent coat of a color is applied.

I won't know until I receive the new plastic filler primer, which may take a bit.

[Elote]

Yours looks pretty good. I'd like to hear from someone else who purchased the single left side, dual exit. The dual, single exit on each side for the Avant looks way cleaner because the inset for the honeycomb is set in much further from each exhaust opening and you don't have the detail of the right side delete well where it has to meet the openings for the exhaust. Do check your lines though. Mine are all over the road map.

Just my luck I guess.

Took a couple quick pictures. Links below

http://smu.gs/ZeQKUW

[jlaudio]

seems like this might be a good option if you want to DIY smoothing the edges: http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...beQH8HT14PGTgl

you can mix and apply it in very small batches and is epoxy based for easy sanding/shaping

[audipcanugo]

Took a couple quick pictures. Links below

http://smu.gs/ZeQKUW

Not to be negative but that would be unacceptable to me. I'd return it. You guys are looking at more work than you think here to get these perfectly smooth. To each their own I guess.

[Okan509]

wow that was expensive for the lack of refinement - I am disappointed