Ok, I just bought my fourth Saab, a 9-5 this time. Still have my 9-3SS, but I needed a manual tranny car again.
Anyways, I painted the grille like I did on my first 9-3, but this time I did a different custom job. I like the way the newer 9-5's and 9-3's look with the color match and a little bit of chrome, so I tried to duplicate the look. Not perfect, but good enough for now. Lemme know what you guys think.
Before
Prep and tape before primer and paint
And after primer, paint and clearcoat
I did this in 28 degree weather, so it's not the perfect, but in my opinion it looks better than before.
I also used my 5MP Droid instead of my 12MP Fuji, sorry bout the pics not being as good as they could be.
Hah, thanks, that's exactly the look I was going for
I plan on doing the 04 Aero facelift, but I'm dealing with health issues right now so I'll save that for later on when I'm physically and financially able to do it.
Appreciate the compliment.
This look really good. I've always liked the pre facelift cars better, they look meaner. With the chrome grill painted to match the car it does look like a cool hybrid between the two.
Thanks, I know what you mean. I like all of the 9-5's, but the only bumper/grille I would swap my first gen with is the 04-05 Aero. I've seen some really nice 1st gen 9-5's with black grilles, but I photoshopped it on my car and it didnt quite fit with the Frost Gray color. I like SaabNineThree's silver 9-5 with black grille. And I Love this one (don't know who owns it but it looks excellent):
Mine was just not as eye-catching as this, so that's why I went the route I did.
Whoops, I never even noticed that I did that til you said it. Gotta watch out next time when I scroll the page, haha. Thanks
And I saw your mesh grille. I really like that look, would've never thought of doing that.
I don't know.
I'm just not a fan of chrome on these older 9-5s.
It looks better than it did, but I don't know what I would do if my Saab was that color. I think black would actually look pretty good on there...
But if it matched your Saab's paint, I think that would look sick.
Or even a charcoal gray to match your trim?
But don't listen to my opinion, do whatever you think looks best. ;ol;
This is my 9-5 with a blacked grille. It looks pretty good I suppose.
I don't know.
I'm just not a fan of chrome on these older 9-5s.
It looks better than it did, but I don't know what I would do if my Saab was that color. I think black would actually look pretty good on there...
But if it matched your Saab's paint, I think that would look sick.
Or even a charcoal gray to match your trim?
But don't listen to my opinion, do whatever you think looks best. ;ol;
This is my 9-5 with a blacked grille. It looks pretty good I suppose.
Naw man, I listen to everybody's opinion, appreciate the input;ol;
Believe me, I know what you mean about not being a fan of the chrome. That's why I took alot of it away. That was way too much chrome on the front IMO. I didnt want to completely color match the chrome grille though, did that before on my 9-3. I thought it looked good, but just a little "plasticky":
I'm not much of a fan of the black grille either (not saying yours doesn't look good). I only really like it on a few different colors of the 9-5. I have a Polar White 9-3SS, and I did a complete white-out on it, bumper strips, door handles and everything. You can see it in my profile.
I think yours would look even better than it does now if you did that, including the grille. White is the ONLY color 9-5 that I would color match everything with, and that's because the black is such a huge contrast against the white. I did a quick "photoshop" on a white '04 9-5 Aero, and oh my goodness did it look good with everything completely white (except for the black lip on the rear Aero bumper where the exhaust tip comes out). Try it on a pic of yours, I'm sure it might make you think twice about getting it done yourself
Oh, and I had been contemplating doing the Charcoal Gray just like you mentioned...still thinking about buying a spare grille and trying that out...
The red aero is zach somethings car. I have a red aero as well and I painted my grille black, but it just didn't do much for me, made it look ricey. Zach's car for some reason looks good. I'm back to the standard chrome, eventually I wanna do the facelift. The bumper just looks nice.
Maybe it's the paint chipping everywhere on the bumper. :roll:
The red aero is zach somethings car. I have a red aero as well and I painted my grille black, but it just didn't do much for me, made it look ricey. Zach's car for some reason looks good. I'm back to the standard chrome, eventually I wanna do the facelift. The bumper just looks nice.
Maybe it's the paint chipping everywhere on the bumper. :roll:
Hah, thanks for the info on "Zach's" 9-5 Aero. And for the compliment;ol;
Ok, I'm loving the red. It is and always has been my favorite color. My girlfriend? Yep, you guessed it: She's a Redhead
As you can see in the post before this one, I had the same exact color 9-3. I LOVE that Imola Red.
Other than the paint chipping you mentioned (haha), there's only two things that I think make his car stand out more than yours.
1. Your Aero Lip is not there (I'm pretty sure you knew that though).
2. The red "SAAB" lettering on his grille. It gives it a sort of pop.
Other than that, I don't think there's much of a difference. That red 9-5 Aero wagon is Vicious
Ah, I can see what you mean by 'plasticky' on the paint & grille color matching.
But looking at your completely whited Saab, I have to say I'm impressed.
I would totally consider doing that to mine if I knew I had little chance of messing anything up, but unfortunately I am not so lucky :roll:
I would like to see more pictures of it, if you don't mind...
Thanks man. I think yours would look great with the white out look also.
And if you want to see more pics of my 9-3SS, you can check out my profile and look at the About Me section. My sig is the link to my Cardomain page.
I would post them here, but I don't wanna post too many 9-3 pics in the 9-5 section
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