depending on what color you car is, i might have a much better solution than painting. my car is black, so it works out perfectly, but it might look good on other colors too. ok you need a bottle of black car polish ( i used turtle wax), some regular car wax, and if you really want it to shine, some armor all. first wash your car like you normally do, but pay special attention to making sure the side moldings are very clean. then take the black polish and liberally apply it to the side moldings, lip, and anything else thats that ugly gray plastic. put on a couple of coats of polish, applying and then buffing off like it says on the bottle. then apply a good coat or two of wax, and viola, you have very shiny black side mouldings. mine look almost like they were painted, but all i spent was a few bucks for some polish and a little bit of time. for a really nice shine, spray them up with a bit of armor all and they really shine, but the armor all doesnt last very long, especially after it rains. my polished side mouldings lasted the entire new england winter with no touch ups, no new polish or wax and it still looked great! hope this helps.