Well I ended up painting the vents although I would have liked to lose them altogether. Duplicolor didn't have an exact match for the Vermillion Red but the end result is pretty close. What do you guys think?


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c28/sickwithit721/IMG00021.jpg


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c28/sickwithit721/IMG00022.jpg

Looks good to me. Although I'm a big fan of the chrome myself. Mine is black so I don't think the vents would be as noticeable as yours.

they look a lot better when they match the car. My 08 doesn't have the side vents I wouldn't think the vents would to diffcult to remove.

they look a lot better when they match the car. My 08 doesn't have the side vents I wouldn't think the vents would to diffcult to remove.

You're lucky, I wish mine didn't come with them. Believe it or not they were pretty difficult to remove. There is a gasket that goes around the whole vent and seals to the car as well as four clips that clip into holes in the body. I ended up snapping all of the clips to get the thing off. I would have left the vents off if there weren't five noticeable holes in the fender, it boggles my mind why Ford did this.

Looks really good........

Damn dude that looks awesome! Nice work. Don't understand why Ford put those there myself. [8]

Looks much better painted. I actually don't think it looks bad at all with the vent painted.
Color match looks pretty good also. I can't really tell much of a difference.
Your 08 looks good with the colormatched mirrors and door handles. Lots of potential.

that would be the first mod i would do to the '08 focus if i had one...that and paint the headlights/taillights (the chrome parts)...looks good, and i didnt know ford still did vermillion red, i thought they stopped in like '03, but w/e, it's the best looking red that ford has (boy is this a fight starting statement)

Paint match looks a lot better than the chrome. The chrome just seems out of place.

i like it! looks way better to me

Absolutely the right thing to do!

Looks a lot better. Good work

I like it, Good Job [thumb]

Thanks for all the comments everyone! I'm happy with how it came out. I just hope the paint holds up for me.

Kudos, it looks very nice. I can kinda notice it doesnt match, but the difference is so small it doesnt even matter. I bet it looks amazing in person. Did you remove the chrome before painting, or just go ahead and paint over the chrome? There was a thread on here a while ago about painting the chrome lip around the grill on an 05-07, and the guy who did it used a blow torch to remove the chrome. He just moved it along the part and the chrome just peeled back.

Kudos, it looks very nice. I can kinda notice it doesnt match, but the difference is so small it doesnt even matter. I bet it looks amazing in person. Did you remove the chrome before painting, or just go ahead and paint over the chrome? There was a thread on here a while ago about painting the chrome lip around the grill on an 05-07, and the guy who did it used a blow torch to remove the chrome. He just moved it along the part and the chrome just peeled back.

Thanks, yeah up close you can tell but from a distance it isn't noticeable. I just roughed up the chrome with sandpaper before I applied the primer. I stumbled on that thread today actually and the only problem I see with that is that the black part of the vent is on top of the chrome so you would probably have to be careful where you use the torch. If you were repainting the black as well then I think that might work great.

Did you clearcoat the job before putting it on? It looks like only base coat. That might help with the colormatching as well.

Good job though.

Did you clearcoat the job before putting it on? It looks like only base coat. That might help with the colormatching as well.

Good job though.

Yeah I used a primer, top coat, and clear coat. The top coat alone didn't match very well but the clear coat helped that. It's no where near as glossy as the car itself but it's not dull either. Thanks.

HUGE improvement - Ford should do exactly that for '09.

EDIT: Oops! Duh - that strategically placed tree made me think you had the SEDAN. Obviously, Ford already solved the problem for the '09 coupe...

[cool] Yeah that is the balls man makes your 08 really look good , wish Id got an 08 now. just had a Brain Fart It may look cool to Black the focus script.

Thanks again for all the comments guys.

[cool] Yeah that is the balls man makes your 08 really look good , wish Id got an 08 now. just had a Brain Fart It may look cool to Black the focus script.

I was actually thinking about it before I put them on but I figured it might not look right so I just left it.

That's amazing. Awesome job

hell yeah it looks alot better!

well atleast IMO.......i hate chrome

While it isn't a perfect match, it looks damn good. MUCH better IMO than that shitty chrome ford decided to put on. Nice work.

good man . they look great. i cant stand that ford is in a pimp the rides faze. the cars look like sh-t when they put 1 peice of chrome on the car and leave the rest of it painted. the 08;s are starting to change my mind as long as you can loose the chrome.

It's no where near as glossy as the car itself but it's not dull either. Thanks.
more clear will fix that. my hatch strip didn't even begin to shine until i emptied a whole can of clear on it. now it's shinier than the car.

i like chrome,,but i never liked that chrome vent,,looks much nicer painted (the vent )

looks a lot better than it was, but something looks wrong, maybe if it was painted black??

Looks good.....I bought an S just for the lack of the chrome side vents.

more clear will fix that. my hatch strip didn't even begin to shine until i emptied a whole can of clear on it. now it's shinier than the car.

Thanks for the tip, I thought after a few coats it wouldn't get any better so I just stopped after about three or four coats. Next time I'll buy more clear and put a bunch of coats.

looks better

Hey guys my daughter owns a 2008 Focus and her's didn't come with the chrome fender vents. Do you guys know a cheap place to get them?

Thanks

Hey guys my daughter owns a 2008 Focus and her's didn't come with the chrome fender vents. Do you guys know a cheap place to get them?

Thanks


if it DIDNT come with them then it would be pretty much a pain to do... from what i hear there are like 3 holes for mounting tabs... so youd essentially have to drill into perfectly good fenders... unless you find some without mounting tabs...

personally i like the 08's without the chrome... but hunt around maybe you can find some cheap