Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

I need your help. I am seriously thinking about wrapping the silver console trim pieces (the long ones that flank the center console, radio, and HVAC stack) with some Scotchprint 1080 Wrap. I wrapped a small section in some matte black I had laying around and it covered it pretty well, but I would like to go with a finish similar to stock.

I have created a poll in an attempt to gather your opinion. I want to stay away from carbon fiber finishes, and I'm not too keen on the Gloss finishes (but I included those in the poll anyway). A link to the finishes offered by 3M is provided below.

3M™ Scotchprint® Wrap Film Series 1080

My interior is camel, with the standard black and silver accents. It also has the wood trim in the center console and on the doors, but this is in the process of being covered with matte black (pics of progress below). Since I have everything apart, I thought this would be a good time to cover those silver center trim pieces.

If I cover these, then it means I would have to cover all the other silver trim in the car (dash and doors). Has anyone wrapped the pieces on the dash before? How easy or hard is it to pull those off? Any ideas on how to put those circles on that appear next to the vent controls? Suggestions are welcome.

Thank you!!!

Original wood covered doors - uninstalled from center console...


Wrapped doors - uninstalled from center console...


Wrapped Doors installed back into console (1)...


Wrapped Doors installed back into console (2)...

SharksBreath

iTrader: (33)

voted.

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

Bump!

I know there are only but a handful of votes right now, but I found the current tally of two votes for the gloss black metallic to be rather interesting. The more I think about it, this would probably yield a nice, subtle effect - it would contrast ever so slightly with the matte black finishes in the car. I would think this would be a nice departure from the standard silver trim in the car.

I need more of your [valued] opinions - please vote!!!

Thanks

Mugen Dom

I think the brushed steel or CF would look really nice for the middle and aluminum on the metal parts that are normally that color

jon2000

Although you mentioned you are staying away from CF, here's a pic of my 2008 Type S with the radio surrounds done in Scotchprint 1080 CF for reference.

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

^ Thanks for taking the time to post a picture. I do like the gray in the CF, but I think I am still going to refrain from going the CF route.

Thanks to everyone who has voted so far... keep 'em coming. Still no strong favorite at this time.

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

Bump!

I thought there would have been more votes on this subject.

Still interested in your opinions.

Thanks!!!

jblessing

That looks great. How long have you had it on? How durable has it been?

In general, how long should this stuff last before it gets scratched up or starts peeling up from the edges?

Ho9984

Your work looks amazing. You should do a video or a diy to show us tips and tricks on applying the wrap. Would love to do this, but just a little scared.

Ho9984

For the wood trim on the doors, how do you remove the trim off the door panel? I've searched and i couldn't find instructions on removing just that piece of wood trim.

Mugen Dom

Take panel off, theyre screwed in from the back

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

^ This.

I haven't gotten to that point yet (taking the panels off - I removed the passenger panel a couple of months ago, so I feel comfortable removing it). I have removed the slim silver trim on the dash - the ones just below the dash air vents.

On the left side (driver's), the whole air vent has to come out. The little trim piece is actually mounted to the bottom of the air vent assembly by what looks to be melted-on push pins. With the driver's door open, you can get your fingers under the edge of the air vent assembly and gently pry the thing out of the dash. There are some long metal "hooks" on the left side of the vent (looking at the vent from the seat) that need to be pushed in to get the vent completely out of the dash. I used a flat bladed screw driver for this.

The long, slender silver trim strip on the right side (passenger's) is simply held in with plastic (but relatively sturdy) clips. With the passenger's door open, simply pry up on the edge of the silver piece and the outer most clip should pop free. Gently slide your fingers (or a small screw driver with a cloth underneath it) along the bottom of the strip towards the center of the car - it should pop out without much effort (be careful not to bend it too much - while it is plastic underneath, the silver trim actually looks to be a thin metal and could kink).

I will try and post some pictures later today or tomorrow. I am notoriously bad at doing step-by-step instructions with pictures, but I'll give it a try.

I'm still up in the air on what finish/color to wrap these pieces in - keep the votes coming.

Mugen Dom

I replaced the PS panel yesterday 5 min job...SUPER easy

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

So I took some time this morning and went to a local shop that does vehicle wraps. While they don't sell small quantities of vinyl, they did have sample swatches so I could get an actual look at the finishes. After much deliberation, I think I am going to go with the Brushed Metal - Titanium wrap for the trim pieces. It provides a nice contrast to the matte black, and is just a bit darker than the stock trim color. The brushed metal finish looks good too. I looked at the Gloss - Black Metallic and it just didn't look that great next to the matte black. I'll continue to try and post pictures to this thread as I go.

Thanks to all of those that voted.

jon2000

Thanks. I've had this on since this past July. It's very durable and fairly thick. The stock pieces without the wrap scratch very easily.

Mugen Dom

I want to do this to the metal pieces too, BUT Im torn which way to go...please post up pics of the finished product or even in process. I think the brushed would go best with the sills being brushed already.

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

Quick update...

As I stated earlier, I decided to go with the Brushed Metal - Titanium finish. My roll came in last week (around 12/28) and I have been slowly wrapping the trim. Matte black wrap has been applied to the door trim pieces (no more wood) and I have applied the Titanium to the center console pieces (what a PITA it is to wrap those things). I have wrapped the driver's front door silver strip with the Titanium as well, but still need to knock out the holes for the seat memory buttons. I have been taking pictures as I go - as soon as it is complete, I will post here.

BTW... I replaced my wood shift knob with the black leather wrapped knob - the center stack looks really sharp now - very happy with the results.

jon2000

You've been busy! It's going to look so much better than faux wood trim. So true about those center pieces being a major PITA. I think the front grille was even harder to wrap!

beyond 1000

For me I will be going for the Carbon Fibre. Looks nice. I may just start with the HVAC console silver trim and decide from there if I go any further.

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

I have finally gotten around to posting some of the pics I have taken over the last several weeks. Progress has been slow, but it is coming along.

Up first is the center doors / shift plate reinstalled into the center stack, complete with the new shift knob (this was also a great time to get all the crud cleaned out of the area in, under, and around the shift rod)...





Next are a couple of pics of the driver's side air vent. The whole thing has to be removed if you want to wrap the silver trim off of the car (which is what I wanted to do). BTW... I have yet to do this. The second pic shows how silver trim piece is permanently attached to the air vent assembly by way of "melted" pins.





The following pics are of the driver's side door panel. I included them simply to show how the upper trim piece is attached (for removal)...

Here is the back side of the panel. I tried to circle the screws that hold the trim piece in place with red circles. Some of the screws are underneath the white padding - they are easily accessible by gently lifting the white padding back just a bit...


This shows the back side of the panel with the trim piece removed. The trim piece also includes the door handle assembly, and on the driver side, it also includes the driver memory setting assembly...


Here is the front side of the same door panel. I knew I was going to have the trim pieces off for awhile, so I reattached the door handle assembly to the door panel, and reinstalled to door panel onto the door (I did this on all of the doors). When any of the wiring harnesses are unplugged from the door panel switches, it causes the whole door lock/window operation to not work...


Finally, here is the removed door trim piece. The door handle assembly is still attached, but I have removed the driver memory setting assembly...


The above door trim piece now wrapped. This is the front half and the driver memory setting assembly is reattached...


The back half of the door trim piece...


Here is the center console passenger side trim piece. What a PITA to wrap!!! This pic doesn't do justice to what the Brushed Metal - Titanium wrap looks like...


I have reinstalled both of the center console trim pieces back into the car, and it really looks good. Every time I have had time to take a pic, it has been either dark or overcast outside. As soon as a I get a chance, I'll get some pics posted.

So I still need to wrap three more door trim pieces (passenger front, and driver and passenger rear) and the trim strips on the dash (below the driver air vent and above the glove box). Slowly but surely it's coming along.

jblessing

That looks awesome. Really looking forward to seeing the Brushed Metal in place.

So the matte black looks really close to the plastic surrounding it in the pictures (by the shifter/center doors), but how does it look in person? Does it look stock? Does it feel the same as the surrounding plastic, or can you tell it's different?

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

The Matte Black vinyl looks slightly different than the black plastic used in the majority of the center stack (around the radio, for example). That (stock) black plastic has a somewhat rough feel to it. The vinyl most closely resembles the stock plastic around the center air vents near the top of the dash and around the clock. I think it looks great in person, and I'm pretty picky when it comes to matching modifications against the stock look. I like it WAY better than that faux wood stuff.

Here are some more pictures. The first is the completed center stack WITH the newly wrapped silver trim pieces (didn't realize it was a bit blurry ). The only reason I wrapped these parts was because they were (commonly) nicked up from the seat belt hitting them. The vinyl covered this perfectly. Because I wanted to wrap these, it was only natural to wrap the matching silver trim pieces in the rest of the car.



Here is a picture of a close up the wrapped trim, to show the brushed metal look of the titanium wrap (hopefully you can see it)...



And here is the driver's side door panel all put back together...



Overall, I am very, very happy with the results. The Brushed Metal Titanium really looks good (this color is very close to the stock silver color - maybe a tad darker - could be the texture difference as well).

ArthurL

iTrader: (4)

This looks great! I was planning on doing the brushed aluminum as well. Thanks for the write up!

perilousp

Wow I was thinking carbon fiber, but with those pictures I really do like what you have done with the matte black and Brushed Metal Titanium. Looks great! Guess that's where my money will get sunk into next...

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

I like CF, but I think it doesn't look quite close enough to stock for me, so I went with matte black and stayed with a variation of "silver" for the trim pieces. I actually never intended to wrap the silver trim pieces, but after I saw how the matte black looked on the console doors and shift plate, I couldn't justify NOT wrapping the silver trim pieces as well.

Just to give you an idea of the cost for the vinyl...

I bought the matte black wrap from metrorestyling via their Amazon store front (because I had a gift card to Amazon). It was a 24" wide by 60" long roll (found ). It cost me $34.05 with shipping. I still have a good amount left - I'm actually thinking about using it to wrap my son's Pinewood Derby car.

I bought the brushed metal - titanium directly from Metro Restyling. It was a 24" wide by 36" long roll, with the "brush grain pattern" running the length (36"). It can be found here. The cost with expedited shipping was $49.99 (it may be a bit cheaper now).

I already had the necessary "tools": hair dryer, Exacto knife with plenty of new blades, and varying straight edges (rulers).

The one thing I felt that I did not have enough of was: time and daylight. I did a lot of the covering at night while watching various college bowl games.

I still have to wrap the silver trim that goes on the dash and the silver trim strip on the rear doors. Hopefully I'll get to that sometime this week.

I was a bit hesitant to do this just because I didn't want to invest money in the vinyl, and invest time in taking the car apart only to eff things up and have it look like crap. But I am glad I did. I am really happy with how it turned out, and the vinyl is pretty easy to work with (heat is your friend). So I think an investment of $84 and some time has yielded a pretty good ROI so far.

mille_3

Looks good. One question though. What's with the dimple on top of the door trim? I just picked up an '06 TL yesterday and it has the same dimple in the same spot?

rossv1

I'm pretty sure its from resting your elbow up there.

NavS

That looks unbelievably good on that door trim, I never thought I'd like a tan interior. Usually cause automakers choose ugly ass tan and don't offset it with another color and make wood grain accents.

Your car looks

EFItech

iTrader: (5)

That actually looks really good

UA6~RBP

Looking good! I really like the matte black with the silver trim. Very OEM-esque.

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I am hoping it will kick me in the ass to get the rest of the trim pieces done (four more to go). Things have been very busy lately, and I can't seem to put aside the time to finish it up. Soon I hope.

rossv1 is exactly right - after I received mille_3's post, I consciously looked to see where my elbow rests on the door - exactly where the dimple is. It is a common position for me to hold the steering wheel in my left hand at 9 o'clock and rest my elbow on the door; my right hand is almost always on the shift knob, even though I have an automatic (oh how I miss manual's - sometimes ).

KJ TL-S

iTrader: (9)

This is the best I've seen a tan interior look, well done

JS2k

That's awesome. I've been wondering what I should do with my center console trim. Previous owner scratched it up probably pulling his seat belt in place.

What are you doing about the long pieces? Do you have seams anywhere?

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

When you refer to the "long pieces" I assume you are talking about the silver "strips" that flank the radio/storage bins/shifter/cup holder area, right (see first pic in post 22)? If so, then no, there are no seams anywhere. I bought a 36" long roll (24" wide) of the Brushed Metal - Titanium - the "brush strokes" run the length of the roll, so I cut roughly 30" long by about 4" wide strips out of the roll for these pieces.

It's a bit weird covering these things because of the bend - if you start out placing the vinyl at one end and simply stick it as you move to the other end, you'll wind up with the vinyl coming off at an angle at the other end. You could simply cut the strips wider to account for this, but then the brush strokes would not run parallel to the strips themselves. You have to apply heat at the bend and stretch the stuff so that it remains parallel to the strip as you progress from the end you started on to the end where you will finish. Fortunately, this stuff is very pliable when heat is applied.

Progress Update: None.

Frosty The Snowman

This looks sooo good. I wanted to paint mine black but i wasn't sure how it would look. Thanks for convincing me to!

04WDP6spd

Wet sanded my trim with 400 grit today, and finished off with a Scotch Brite pad, and got the brushed aluminium look for free.

Pennstater

iTrader: (2)

I finished up the remaining interior pieces a few days ago. Here are the remaining pics...









As I have mentioned before, I am very happy with the results - way better than the wood grain plastic, and the trim pieces look great in the brushed titanium. One thing I am much more careful about these days is swinging the seat belt buckle into place - I actually cup the thing in my right hand, so if anything does hit the trim, it's my knuckles. All I need now are some new floor mats (black preferably) and a good carpet cleaning.

@04WDP6spd - nice job - looks good. Nice to have another option on changing the look of the silver trim pieces. Did you do all of the trim pieces this way?

GKinColo08TL

Nice job PSer...I'm one of those too, a Penn Stater that is, '76.

EvilJoker

awesome!