3M Dinoc Matte Carbon Dash Wrap

[jadewbj]

I love my GT86. It looks fantastic, handles like a go-cart and gets great MPG. One of the little things I do not like about the car is the cheap fake carbon fiber look they put on the dash and window switches. To fix this I wrapped it in less cheap fake carbon fiber. The 3M Dinoc matte carbon fiber is a great looking product, it looks almost real. Compare that to the not so carbon fiber looking carbon fiber that Toyota put on their and it is night and day.



Last night I popped off the radio surround and the panel to the right of it and got to work. All that was needed was the left over 3M Dinoc matte carbon fiber I had left over from Project VIP, my heat gun, a vinyl squeegee, a razor blade and some patience.



I did the large panel first. It was pretty easy to do since the 3M stretches so easily. If you mess up you can just pull it up, hit it with some heat and re stretch it. There were no real issues with this panel, a novice could handle it easily.

You need to make sure that you are aware of the direction of the weave. I went as far as to lay the large panel down and then put the radio next to it just like it would be in the car. I then laid the vinyl over the radio and aligned the weaves. This way when it is in the car the weaves line up perfectly.



The radio surround takes a little more skill but I think a novice could handle it also. The hardest parts are the corners that are closest to the steering wheel. This took a lot of patience, heating, pulling and re stretching. You have to trim these corners close making it tough to pull and stretch. Even after I got it as best as I could I still needed to heat it a little in the car and smooth one particularly tough wrinkle out.


I haven’t done the ac control surround or window switches yet. I plan on leaving the AC surround in the car and just cutting the vinyl close to size, heating and trimming carefully. I will pop the window switches out to do those, they look easy to get out.



I think it came out great and is a big improvement over the factory finish.

[BRAWL]

Looks good mate. Good work

[jazztennor]

Nice work but i think i will wait until the real thing comes out.. But really good work man

[jadewbj]

Originally Posted by jazztennor

Nice work but i think i will wait until the real thing comes out.. But really good work man

Nice thing about this is it is cheap and easily reversible.

[soulstice]

great craftsmanship. can out great!

[encity5]

Just did this too! (my first time working with vinyl)

I was going to try the HVAC as well, i was just skeptical because of the texture thats already there. If you try it first, let us know how it goes!

Looks good!

but with glossy, can't really tell the difference as i never had matte before.
Glossy CF Wrap (CA-421GN)







a not so good comparison pic before / after: (wasnt expecting to try show a comparison pic so these are two pics that i could find to best represent)

[diirk]

That looks really good. You both did fantastic. I was also considering doing something similar. then I started thinking about a gloss red. So...I haven't done anything.

[SubieNate]

I'd be curious to see how these parts would look wrapped in microfiber to give a more upscale European look.

[russv]

Outstanding!

[feedbag]

How exactly are you guys keeping the weave lined up so perfectly?

[jadewbj]

Originally Posted by feedbag

How exactly are you guys keeping the weave lined up so perfectly?

I did the fisrt panel then laid it down and put the second panel next to it and lined them up. I took the backing off hovered over the 2 panels and then dropped it.

[ft86Fan]

How do you guys get the panels off? Do you just pop them off? No screws or anything? Thanks.

[jadewbj]

Yeah, just pop them off. I pulled the radio one off first starting at the bottom right hand corner. After that i pulled the other one off.

[Shagaliscious]

Wow, that looks so much better. I think I will have to do this now.