There are so many little things that you can do to keep your ride looking clean. Some of them are cheaper and easy, and some of them are more expensive and time consuming. One thing I noticed this year especially while walking around shows was how clean and immaculate you can make your jambs and engine bay look by smoothing some seams and low spots out. What I am talking about is the lines were panels are welded to the body of the car, and indents and un-used holes in the doorjambs and engine bay. The seams on strut towers on cars can also be grinded down and smoothed over with some plastic and this takes little time and effort.
After seeing how clean it looked I decided to try it out on my trunk jamb. If you have ever seen the inside trunk jamb on a civic you will know that you can see were the quarters were spot-welded. I decided to give it a try and smoothed one side first to see what it looked like. I had to grind out the seam sealer that was put in from the factory so that the area was bare. Next I scuffed up the whole jamb with some 80grit sand paper. My next step was a nice coat of Duraglass, which I then sanded down with 80grit sand paper, and spread a thin layer plastic over top to smooth it out. After seeing the results I could tell how much it had actually cleaned up the trunk jamb because there was no quarter lines and spot-weld indents to be seen. It was just a smooth clean look. I finished off both sides and primed them both.
Other’s take it a step further not only smoothing body lines, and spot weld seams, but smoothing there firewalls, cab backs, bed fronts, and many other things. Getting anything more than a small panel seam would require more work than just grinding and smoothing, you would actually have to get into welding, and cutting metal to fit in gaps. This, in the end, makes for a much cleaner and smoother look and will get you a lot of points.
 My advice for you guys while your sitting there looking at your rides wondering what to do next is simple….keep things clean and smooth. Although most rides come from the factory with these body seams, and spot welds they only do this because most people wouldn’t even give them a second look and whether they smooth them or not people are still going to buy the car. But when you see these areas smoothed and clean looking it looks so much better than leaving them stock. Not only that but you are bringing the custom aspect of your ride that much further by doing something that most people wouldn’t even think to do. Take a minute and walk around your ride and see if there is anything that stands out and bothers you. Pop open your trunk or tailgate and take notice to the seam lines and spot welds. Prop up your hood and take a good look at your firewall. Now imagine how much better they would look nice and smooth with no lines. Good luck, and always remember, cleaner is always better.