DIY vinyl wrapping

[Maui]

Hi guys,

I know this has been covered plenty, but I thought that I throw in my part too.
There's so much info on the internet BUT, funny enough it seems everyone that does a DIY wrap, doesn't always tell all...

The guys that do wrapping as a job, kudos to you oaks... it's not that easy as it looks. I almost gave up a couple of times, as I wanted it perfect.

The parts I've wrapped are the mirrors, front fender garnish and the roof.
This topic http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1047733

...the part that put me off ... "but very prone to you breaking stuff" so I opted to wrap the mirrors as they are. The down side of this is between the white section and the black plastic of the mirror is a fine line,so you can't wrap into it to hide all the white. There's a fine white line around, but you have to check closely to see it, so doesn't bother me

The fender garnish, now that's a bit of a mission to wrap. To remove it - post #16 in http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20243

Start from the front of the trim, 6 clips, gently pop it out (there is however a lot of double sided tape, so just keep pressure on it... it will come loose.) The trim consist of 2 pieces, the front and the back. They are also held together with lots of double sided tape. You don't have to remove the 2 sections from each other, they have nothing to do with the 86 emblem.

The emblem itself is only held with double sided tape, so take it off whatever method you choose. I have surgical blades that slide nicely behind it. There are to pins that keep it in position.

Back to the wrapping... The fender garnish has all the bad aspects of wrapping in my opinion. It's concave, it has a long slit, it has an elevated part, one with positive slant and the bottom a negative. To wrap it was a B!@TCH!!!

I tried all approaches, and ended up doing something that I didn't want to do. I cut a smalls strips, and wrapped around the elevated part, then traced a template, cut it out on a piece of vinyl that will cover the complete garnish, then lay it over and and completed it. All in all it came out nicely. Like I said, respect to the guys that do this for a living, they have some mad skills!

The roof went OK, had wifey to help. The key words - don't take shortcuts and have LOTS AND LOTS of patience! I only have a hair dryer and that was fine for me. The vinyl wrap we used was some cheap stuff brand R83/m so none of the bubble release technology etc. etc.

To do: front bumper wrap - small piece to make it look like fangs... and I have a boot spoiler on order that will also get the carbon treatment. The rest of the car is going to be wrapped it something else... BUT... you'll have to come back to see that

All in all, a couple of hours DIY, R166 bucks and I have achieved the look that I was after for my wifey's car.

[Ryan86]

looks really good well done

[Vladror]

very very nice...

[Moe]

Good job - thanks for sharing

[Rayme]

Great job! It's a big test of patience with a nice reward.

[sav]

Well done!

[slicktop]

I've heard the same thing about wrapping. Looks great, so thumbs up to that!

Hilarious pic of your SO avoiding the pic lmao

[Maui]

Thanks guys! Really appreciate your comments!

@ Slicktop - actually my wifey dodging the pic! Was taken this morning...

[Jacques Blom]

Look good think the key is to use a good and durable product when you do this.

[Maui]

Jacques - agreed! I'll see how well the cheap stuff vinyl holds up in the Namibian sun and heat.

BUT - the more expensive stuff definitely makes the wrapping side easier with the bubble release tech.

The latest quote I received yesterday ( for the rest of the car...something special ) is U$ 3000 .... yup that's 3 0 0 0 US dollars ... for a 1.52m x 30m roll

I'm not yet ready to fork out that amout for vinyl!!!