[Crown]

Hey, I currently have an 06 5 Door ZX5 SES Focus. Its black, all stock. I'm looking to put a little money/effort into it to make it look a little unique. Here are pictures of it from today, glares a bit bad because I just washed my car/it was sunny but you'll get the idea. Any tips/ideas would be appreciated .

 

[loudfocus01]

I'd suggest painting the grill surround black and getting black housing headlights.
Get a good suspension drop, and a nice set of 17" wheels.
Nice looking car to start with.

 

[Crown]

Yeah I wanna drop it, but its not really practical with where I live (up north edmonton area in alberta) there is constant road work so it would just turn into me wrecking my front bumper. And yeah I wanna do my headlights black, now just to build up the nerve to pull them apart, haha. Thanks

 

[Focorec]

I just got mine lowered 1.5" this summer with 17's. I'll let you know how it works out this winter with the horrible roads here in Nova Scotia. The NS government don't have the same money like Alberta. I think you should be alright. I've seen cars around here with more than 1.5" drop and they seem to make out ok. Just slow down. The drop really makes the foci look nice.

 

[Crown]

Alright, that'd be great. I know the drop makes them look alot sleeker, and more sporty (i guess would be the term, haha). And yeah I'll look into it... out of curiousity how much did the drop/17's cost you?

 

[Focorec]

I still have the stock bodykit so I'm hoping there will be no scrappage problem. I shopped around for the tires and wheels. I bought the tires used from a fellow FF member and wheels from Tirerack and the Saleen suspension kit from Massive Speed. Total cost me almost 1500. I had a shop put in the suspension kit so that cost me money there. It does make a big difference in looks not to mention the superb handling around the twisties [thumb]

 

[Crown]

Haha alright not to expensive then, and yeah I'd more than likely get a shop put in the suspension, I'm not mechanical in any way shape or form... haha. Only other think I've really looked at is tinting my back lights (black), not sure if its a good idea though because the red tails are such a distinct part of the back end, I dunno if solid black would look good.

 

[Focorec]

I personally like the red tails. I agree that its a distinct look to the focus. I need to get my windows tinted like yours. That will be one of my many money sucking projects. Have you thought about geting black projectors instead of painting your headlights?

 

[Crown]

Yeah, I kind of feel the same way, I've see the tint on white cars that look amazing. Tinting my side markers might hide them without moving them, while keeping them functional/legal haha. And for the black projectors, you're talking headlights with the halogen rings + fog lights in them?

And for the window tint, it wasn't to expensive over here, ~$250 for my back 5 windows dark as they would do it. It kind of sucks that cops around here actually care about tinted front windows, my driver/passenger side up front look really open compared to the rest of the car, but all in all the tint makes a black car look very sleek.

 

[Sn4ckM4st3r]

Black it out no questions asked. Want pics? let me know i did it for a while

 

[Crown]

Black which out? Tail Lights? And I would love pictures, haha. Any tips for painting the surround on the grill?

 

[Sn4ckM4st3r]

There is a how to for painting the surround i think. If not you can heat up the chrome and it will peel off or sand it to hell and make it smooth and prime and paint.

As for the tails ANYTHING black lol

I did this for an eyebrow look into it as it helps make the front more aggresive.

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166911

Other wise here are some blacked out shots to give you an idea of the car outside of a different headlight setup.

Paint the stock wheels too lol

and my rear end
This is before i did the third brake lamp

 

[trailbikerider]

You could debadge it, and It would make the rear look oh so clean.

 

[Crown]

The shot of the tailend, pitch black lights with the clear reverse looks amazing, I'm definetly going to start hunting for niteshade... should I do my orange side markers as well? Yeah, never actually really thought about debadging it, does it make a big difference?

 

[zx360]

De-badging makes a WORLD of difference!!!!! and tint the side markers or go on e-bay and find some "clear corners" and you can cling tint those thats what i did....

 

[trailbikerider]

The shot of the tailend, pitch black lights with the clear reverse looks amazing, I'm definetly going to start hunting for niteshade... should I do my orange side markers as well? Yeah, never actually really thought about debadging it, does it make a big difference?

Heck yeah. It makes it look so clean. Plus it looks better on a hatch than it does on a sedan.

 

[FocusedEnergy]

If you have an O'reiley's in your area, Niteshade can be had at 10 bucks a can.

 

[Crown]

Yeah, haha never heard of O'reiley's... up here in Canada haha.

 

[Crown]

So, so far I'm looking at:
- Painting my chrome trim around my grill.
- Painting/Aqquiring black headlights
- Tinting my taillights and side markers
- Debadging

Anything else I am overlooking that are fairly minor additions (cost/effort/skill haha wise)?

As for lowering it, and getting 17's I think I'm gonna wait till next summer and do that then. Sucks waiting but I don't have the money now, haha plus saving for an italy trip so...

 

[Sn4ckM4st3r]

Yes debadge. And Do the sidemarkers. If your going nite shade the tails do it to the side markers. Mixing styles of tint will yield different looks about them.