Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics Wheels or Body

I did wheels first, and luckily it wasn't too long till i had it dropped, in the time it wasn't i was ridin high.

I did suspension first....then wheels.

Always do bodywork last,because it always has to be paintmatched,and in the time you install the kit,you might to oter stuff that might need painting too,plus,you pay for the cost of the kit,and then you pay for installation and then you pay for paint....yeah,it adds up fast.

Go for wheels. Don't get anything stupid though. I went from the stock 14" steelies on my car to 16" Contour SVT E1 rims. My car is not lowered yet,and it looks fine. It sits like a stck SVT. I'd say 16's are about as big as you need to go if you're not planning on lowering the car anytime soon. If you get 17+,they'll be big,and with low profile tires,you'll look like a 4x4. The Focus wheels are definetly hot,imo,go for them if you can get a hold of some.

But yeah,do your bodywork last. I molded the tail lights & plate frame on my trunk,and needed to repaint my trunk,but my car is getting repainted in the spring,so I wasn't going to spend $250 and have my trunk painted to match again,so I just rattle canned it flat black for the time being. Looks uber ghetto. Perfect lesson of why not to do bodywork when you're not gonna paint the car right after,because your car looks like a stupid riced up car with an owner who can't afford to paint it.

Wheels are always classy. Add wheels to a stock car and it totally changes the look of the car.

or you could just wait tell you have the money to paint it... its not like it deteriorates while sitting in your room. Its what im doing, i hate the Stock 95 SE rear so im swapping it for a SVT one, I found a shop that matches the paint exactly so it all looks clean (they did my front 1/4 when some retard backed into me)I can see where your coming from if you were going to re-paint the whole car, but i dont think thats an option for most people.

If it were me,which in my case,the paint on my car is pretty f00ked at the moment. It was repainted in '99 after a minor accident,and the paint is flaking off on the hood and front bumper,and then there are scratches and small dents all over the place. Typical abuse for a 10 year old car though. However,with the paint in that condition,if I were to put a kit on the car,why would I just paint the kit and let the rest of the car look like crap? I would install the kit,and then paint the whole car so it looks beautiful and flawless when it comes out of the shop. Alot of the time too,you'll see kits on a car that are painted the same colour,but they're darker,due to the rest of the car being naturally faded from the elements. I was going to properly paint (not the rattle can 2 tone job) my car this year,but I have to drive the car through this winter,so I said why spend $3000 on a wicked paint job when it'll just get ruined over the winter? I'm doing the rest of my body and paint work in the spring. Hopefully I can track down an SVT rear bumper by then. My dual exhaust looks kinda goofy poking out the back of a stock '95 bumper,lol.

Your paint is bad after that long? Mine is Pretine, and like i said, i found a shop that re-apinted to match the body color, they did an excellent job (the car isnt darker or anything) But then again my car has been garage kept and waxed often.

Check out Diversifed Products for the best price on those rims you want. They also have other FSVT rims too Sorry but I don't know their website off hand, but I'm sure you'll find it BTW, they are mail-order only and located in Plymouth Michigan. As far as tires go, I'd go with BFG KDW2's, period!!!