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Punto (Mk2/2b) Meet my Punto Chirpy :)

Introduction

Alright guys! I've been lurking around on here for the last 12 months since I bought my motor and thought it was about time I started contributing!

I have shared Chirpy with my partner since we bought her but now she's moved on to the weird and wonderful world of Vauxhall which leaves her all to myself!

So I'll start by showing her off, meet Chirpy:)

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I have loads of ideas in my head of how I want to personalize my Punto. So far I'm thinking -

Buy a set of sporting alloys and paint matt black.
Paint calipers and drums, red possibly.
Remove door trims.
Remove chrome badges.
Buy a de badged grill.
Colour code wing mirrors, or Matt black.
Paint door handles to match mirrors.
Colour code bumper trims.
Tint windows, very unsure on this one!
Fit a sun strip, possibly black.
Fit xenon bulbs.

Plenty for me to get on with for now and any ideas/suggestions welcome!

Sutty :)

Ps the daft name wasn't my idea, it was my better halves, but has kind of stuck :p
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Bulb update!

Finally received my osram nightbreaker plus dipped light bulbs!!!!! Having fitted them I must say I'm slightly disappointed as the light is not as white as I'd expected. They look rather similar in their shade of yellow to the ones they replace although a lot brighter. Not sure if they now look silly next to my bright white led side lights. I'll post pics tomorrow! Anyone else found this or are mine just duff bulbs?

A word of advice for anyone fitting bulbs in their Punto that's not done it before, fit the drivers side ones first as there's more space to see what your doing and actually do it. Once your confident with how everything unplugs and clips in to place the passenger side becomes a whole lot less fiddly.

Cheers, Sutty :)
 
Just noticed today that one of my new led side lights has come apart whilst on the car and I now have a little bit of it rattling around in side the headlight unit! Pretty pissed off with them although I should expect it as they were only cheap. Not sure whether to write to the shop I bought them from and ask for a replacement as it only lasted a week and a half! Ahh well another fun job for weekend removing and realigning the head lamp!
 
Just noticed today that one of my new led side lights has come apart whilst on the car and I now have a little bit of it rattling around in side the headlight unit! Pretty pissed off with them although I should expect it as they were only cheap. Not sure whether to write to the shop I bought them from and ask for a replacement as it only lasted a week and a half! Ahh well another fun job for weekend removing and realigning the head lamp!

I've heard a lot of those LED bulbs failing. On my Stilo, I bought Philips Blue Vision side lights. They're about £4 a pair. Although they look blue, when they're on, they're not blue at all - just quite white.

I also got the Philips Xtreme vision headlight bulbs - I find them quite white, and they're meant to have a much longer life than the Osrams.

If you're not happy with the Osrams, I'd try the Philips as they're definitely better IMO.

Also, if you're trying to get rid of the "fried egg" look of your repeaters, you can buy "Crystal" bulbs, or clear repeaters. They have a slightly mirrored finish on the outside, and are much less orange. I went for Philips indicators, but I'm sure the Osram ones are similar.

I did all of this a while back... ended up spending about £80 on front bulbs! :eek:
(Dips + Main beam + H1 fogs + indicators + side lights, stilo has double in each)


The colour of your car looks great now, I wouldn't change it if it was me. Certainly not matt black! (n)

Halfords sell Anthracite / grey wheel trim spray paint - you could try refurbing your original fiat trims with it, might look good!
 
I've heard a lot of those LED bulbs failing. On my Stilo, I bought Philips Blue Vision side lights. They're about £4 a pair. Although they look blue, when they're on, they're not blue at all - just quite white.

I also got the Philips Xtreme vision headlight bulbs - I find them quite white, and they're meant to have a much longer life than the Osrams.

If you're not happy with the Osrams, I'd try the Philips as they're definitely better IMO.

Also, if you're trying to get rid of the "fried egg" look of your repeaters, you can buy "Crystal" bulbs, or clear repeaters. They have a slightly mirrored finish on the outside, and are much less orange. I went for Philips indicators, but I'm sure the Osram ones are similar.

I did all of this a while back... ended up spending about £80 on front bulbs! :eek:
(Dips + Main beam + H1 fogs + indicators + side lights, stilo has double in each)


The colour of your car looks great now, I wouldn't change it if it was me. Certainly not matt black! (n)

Halfords sell Anthracite / grey wheel trim spray paint - you could try refurbing your original fiat trims with it, might look good!

Cheers, I'll have a look at the Phillips side lights and other bulbs. I'm not overly impressed with the osrams and won't be upgrading my other lights with them.

As for the Matt black I fancy painting a few bits of trim in it such as wing mirrors and door handles. In my head it looks good with the dark blue body work but in reality I'm not sure. There's only one way to find out though and also if I'm not happy I'll just repaint them the body work colour. Really I just need to spend one full day on it and repair & paint both bumpers and boot lid and do all colour coding in one go! I'm defiantly going to refurb the trims too it's just colour I'm unsure of, but again once the hard work of preparing them is done its easy to change colour.

I'll have a look at the clear side light bulbs. I plan on just painting the plastic back bit black and leave the cover clear so a white bulb should look good!

Thanks for the interest and I like your car too, I've always fancied the stilo!!!
 
Small update on Chirpy :)

Not made much progress but have had a long think about what I'm actually going to do to my Punto! These are the things I'm defiantly going to do, hopefully before Christmas.

- repair and repaint front and rear bumpers. There's light damage on each corner that needs sorting out. Also while I'm doing this I'm going to colour code the trim on both bumpers and paint the lower grills on the front bumper gloss black.

- colour code wing mirrors and door handles.

- refurb factory wheel trims. I'm hoping there not beyond repair but if they are plan b is to buy a better condition second hand set. Not sure on colour but I'm thinking something dark.

- paint and refix both side repeaters. I'm painting the back plastic bit black and resealing the covers as they let moisture in. Might upgrade the bulbs as well to bright white ones!

Might buy a few little bits for her as well but we will see as I'm trying not to spend much on the run up to Christmas!

Sutty :)
 
Well she made it through another winter although not without problems. Had a few mechanical hiccups but nothing too major. Had a few run ins with gritters too!!! Not really done much to her over the last few months just the usual regular cleaning inside and out. Only mods I've made are removing the chrome active and punto from wings & tailgate and painted the side repeaters black. Also today I picked up a factory subwoofer.

A big shout out to oldhammer who kindly gave me the sub for free along with fitting advice too. A nice guy and great contributor to the forum who was a pleasure to meet!

Going to try and do some body work on Saturday, planning to at least repair and repaint the front and rear bumper, colour code bumper trim and gloss black lower front bumper fittings, colour code wing mirrors and door handles. Also if I have time/energy repaint the bonnet & tailgate and get wheels trims in primer.

I'm defiantly getting the urge back to do something nice with her seen as summers just around the corner.
 
Had a day off work so decided to have a major detailing day on Chirpy that I've been waiting months to do. Also I've finally got round to customising the Punto.

I repaired and repainted both bumpers, tail gate and near side rear quarter. Colour coded the bumper trim strips, door handles and wing mirrors. Painted the bonnet grill and 3 lower bumper grills gloss black. Lastly I painted the alloys gloss black and put 4 new tyres on them.

Firstly I gave the engine bay a much needed clean. It had built up 10 years of muck and looked rather unloved...
 

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