Rear Facia Paint Question

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

Every Viper I have seen the horizontal slots (non-functional) in the rear facia are painted in black. If the Viper has stripes they do run thru these "slots."

This weekend - I went with some Vipers to a function and we noticed that on Brian's '97 blue and white stripe GTS these slots where painted blue and the stripes were painted thru the slots. All other Vipers the "slots" were black.

Is this normal for a '97? Is it just blue and white stripe Vipers? What year did they start painting the slots black and not the body color?

 

[Matt M PA]

I have never seen a Viper that did not have the black-out slots that you mention. If memory serves me, they are decals, not paint. Maybe this car missed this step when it was built?

 

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

Car is a bone stock '97 GTS. We thought this was unusual - no signs of any repaint.

 

[patgilm]

I have a 97 Blue/White and my slots are painted blue but the white stops and then continues after the slot (does not go through the slot). Also, does the white stripe on the 97's have a pearl/metallic on it or is it a flat white paint? Mine is flat but I seem to remember some being more metallic.

Pat
97 GTS

 

[Snakester]

I don't know about factory stock cars, but I've always thought that the rear fascia slots should be open, not fake.
So that's what I did with mine, and I think that it looks much better than stock.

-Dean.

 

[Snake Bitten]

One of our local boys has an '01 Yellow RT/10...his slots are silver...

 

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

Anyone with a '96 blue and white stripe want to chime in??

Dean - did you just cut the section out?? What did you use to make the cut? Do you have a closer pic?

Gerald - were the silver slots in the '01 yellow RT/10 like that from the factory?

 

[Snake Bitten]

Factory silver painted...this RT is brand new, bone stock...so I am positive the slots are factory painted...I almost accidentally got a pic of this area the other day...I am meeting this owner tommorrow afternoon for some ripping around, I can get a close-up pic and post another reply to this thread Saturday...I was behind him last night and made a point to look in this area due to this thread, and sure was rather suprised to see it silver painted...ALOT lighter silver, with a little metallic look than what it appears to be in the pic...looked pretty cool actually...

Excuse my ignorance, why would we want to cut this area out?

 

[jimandela]

My 2001 looks like the pic posted stock flat black paint.
could it be the owner added
this:
http://www.vipertrim.com/product_a.html

it is a rear lower bumper trim panels available in mirror or brush finish.
that would be my guess.

JIM

 

[Snake Bitten]

Jim,

From the angle of the pic, they look alot darker than they are. The owner of the Yellow RT hasn't added anything yet...this is the guy that won the Woodhouse RT and he just picked it up a couple of weeks ago, hasn't done anything to the car except drive it and change the oil...he already has 1,100 miles on it...I'd beat his a$$ if he put that gaudy crap on his new RT!!!

I will get a better pic tomorrow...I was very surprised how silver these slots were on his car...

 

[Snakester]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Dean - did you just cut the section out?? What did you use to make the cut? Do you have a closer pic?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry, I don't have any closer pics.

We just cut the sections out with a drill, hacksaw, and dremel tool (for finish detail).

It was easier than we thought, but we had the fascia off for repainting anyway.

It's not something that most people whould do because it deviates from factory stock.

But the idea of the design is that these would be open vents, and there is even aluminum reinforcement inside the fascia to support the rear bumper structure around the slots.

I think that it's cool that you can now see inside as it shows off the stainless steel exhaust from behind, and looks "right" with the bumper design.

-Dean.

 

[Snake Bitten]

UPON FURTHER REVIEW...

I put an eyeball on the rear facia of the Dopp's Yellow '01 RT today, and it is in fact, BLACK Decal like stuff in between the slots...in my headlights the other night, it looked way silver, but it is black like jimandela described, definitely not painted though...looks like the 3M Scotch Cal stuff...Is there any performance related advantages to cutting these slots out?

 

[jimandela]

snake bitten,
I would think it would help with the aerodynamics to have the slots open.

Snakester,
if you get good close up pics please post them.

JIM