# Strut brace - silver or black?



## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

I've got to remove the strutbrace in a week or so for repainting as there are a few scuffs on it that I'm not happy with, but I can't decide whether to do it in the same silver/aluminium colour it is now, or in matt black to match the K&N and battery cover? (plus the wiper motor cover at the top of the picture would also be done to match)

Redo it as it is now:-










or Matt black:-










I just can't decide, although am favouring the matt black.

Cheers :thumb:


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## Ultra (Feb 25, 2006)

matt black blends in well and looks spot on


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Thanks dennis, just what I thought :thumb:

I'm not doing it until the middle of next week, so by then should have a decent number of votes and opinions.


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## S-X-I (Sep 6, 2006)

Matt balck for me, the silver stands out too much.


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

I would say the black as well...

(well I did vote that way!)

:thumb:


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## jamest (Apr 8, 2008)

Black for me too.


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## Sam08ST (Oct 27, 2007)

Matt Black :thumb:


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Satin black


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## Needs a clean (May 24, 2008)

Matt black. :thumb::thumb::thumb:


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## caledonia (Sep 13, 2008)

Matt black also.

Helps it blend in more and more subtle.

Gordon


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Looks like I'm doing it black then :lol:

Glad you all think the same as me, as I wanted to go with the black 

Cheers for the input fellas, much appreciated :thumb:


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## Ultra (Feb 25, 2006)

getting ready for the summer shows, by any chance


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

dennis said:


> getting ready for the summer shows, by any chance


Sort of yes, but only in a casual way - the days of the serious competitions are long gone (been there, done that sort of thing ).

The trouble is cars are almost exclusively all restored nowadays, which means they have areas on the car that are finished off to a level that's way in excess of how Ford ever did. So as my car's completely original in so far as panels and paintwork etc. (and I'm proud of that fact and prefer it to be original in this respect). These days I probably couldn't compete with cars that are 'fresh out of the spray booth' if you know what I mean, even though mine is still as mint today as when it was new.


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## .Martin (May 2, 2007)

If it was mine I'd go red! Since it's you, go black!


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## Dixondmn (Oct 12, 2007)

I'd go silver purely because it DOES stand out. just my tuppence though.... that is one impressive engine bay


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## fezzy89 (Jan 24, 2009)

matt black mate.. much more suibtle and looks much better


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## spitfire (Feb 10, 2007)

Just to be different -Silver- I like shiney bits


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## jikay (Mar 8, 2009)

Black looks good. That engine bay looks amazing


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## Padawan scrub (Feb 21, 2009)

Silver for me, it shows the shape of the strut brace better. That is one hell of an engine bay, respect for the hard work gone into that.:thumb:


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## Lloydy (Jan 13, 2009)

I voted silver as it stands out more and shows that you have the strut brace there, the black does look hard as nails though


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Thanks again for the new replies and comments :thumb:

It's just that the rear strut brace is black, so it does kind of tie them together in a way, and I've been gradually 'toning' down the engine bay a bit recently so it's not as 'in your face'. Just my changing taste as I get older I suppose :lol:


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Pit Viper said:


> Thanks again for the new replies and comments :thumb:
> 
> It's just that the rear strut brace is black, so it does kind of tie them together in a way, and I've been gradually 'toning' down the engine bay a bit recently so it's not as 'in your face'. Just my changing taste as I get older I suppose :lol:


Front and rear braces... do you think they make a difference??

I have to say, I had F & R on my Satria, Impreza and on the FTO at the moment, and I think the change is quite dramatic...

I also had one one the front of the E34 and have one on the front of the E36

Can't get one for the XKR though... boooo!!

:thumb:


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## TinyD (Feb 18, 2009)

personally i would go the same colour as the cam cover for the contrast as everything else is black or silver already and would look abit bland if it was black.


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## noop (Jan 5, 2007)

Half and half in black and red, to match the cam cover


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## JBR09 (Mar 10, 2009)

Chrome it up init?!

 hehe. Matt Black for me, nice a subtle. Silver was a bit too in yer face, took over how nice the rest of that bay looks!


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

The Cueball said:


> Front and rear braces... do you think they make a difference??
> 
> I have to say, I had F & R on my Satria, Impreza and on the FTO at the moment, and I think the change is quite dramatic...
> 
> ...


Rear one probably doesn't do a whole lot in my car tbh. apart from maintaining the rear wheels' geometry under hard cornering and preventing a bit of 'flex' between the rear strut top mounts, although it's not really noticable on the road if I'm being honest. 
But with having the race buckets and no rear seats etc. it's on show all the time and not hidden in the boot so looks nice . I've stopped short of fitting a rear roll cage, (and as I'm too scared to track it, it's not necessary :lol but the rear seemed a bit 'empty' and it just breaks the space up. I had this done long before BMW copied me with the same set up in the Mini Cooper S works GP  :lol:

Front one, on the other hand definitely _is_ noticable in how it's sharpened the steering response and just made the front end feel a lot 'tighter'.

Both of them came in bright yellow from OMP btw so would have looked awful left in their factory finish :lol:


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

Got me thinking of doin mine now.... Dunno if to give it a fresh coat of red, or black... Think I may go red with black on the struts just to be different


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## Hotwheels (Dec 6, 2008)

Say i would have it chrome platted so it would Dazzzllee everyone who looked at it lol.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Hotwheels said:


> Say i would have it chrome platted so it would Dazzzllee everyone who looked at it lol.


I'm going the 'other' way though, Barry :lol: You should have seen the bay about 4/5 years ago when I was doing concours with it - it was wall to wall chrome/polished ally/SS. My tastes have changed since then and so almost all of that stuff has gone now, but thanks for the suggestion .

I'll be spraying it matt black early next week, so many thanks for all who voted and posted :thumb: :thumb:


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## Chris424 (Dec 5, 2007)

Matt black!

Makes the engine stand out :thumb:

EDIT: oops! didnt read the above! sorry.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Repainted matt black, fixing bolts polished and refitted to car in my lunch break today  I think it looks better now and I'm glad I did it :thumb:



















And it more closely matches the rear strut brace now being black, although this one's gloss.










Once again thanks for the votes and opinions at the start of the thread :thumb:


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## mathyou78 (Mar 12, 2007)

Looks brilliant - you made the right choice :thumb:


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## springbok (Jun 9, 2008)

I voted silver but now that I see the finished product I think you made the right choice. Respect!


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## Greg.w (Apr 21, 2009)

looks really good

car is imaculate!!!!engine bay looks class

got a pic of the car?lol


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Greg.w said:


> looks really good
> 
> car is imaculate!!!!engine bay looks class
> 
> got a pic of the car?lol


Thanks very much, mate :thumb: (and everyone else )

Yes, have a look here:- http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=105698


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## Needs a clean (May 24, 2008)

Good choice P.V. Looks amazing. :thumb::thumb::thumb:


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