jlonn

Has anyone wrapped their TL grille? If so any tips?!

ej1serge

nothing much to it, all you need is a heat gun, a razor blade or a x-acto knife and some patience

ej1serge

only advice there is to give is to not cheap out on the material, the "premium" stuff is a lot easier to work with and will stick better than the cheap stuff

snguyenep3

Yes like everyone said don't cheap out on the product. Go with Oracle or 3m. I've worked with both and prefer Oracle. Biggest thing when wrapping your car is cleaning every part of your car especially cracks with isopropyl until their is no more dirt to ensure the vinyl sticks so that the vinyl doesn't peel off. You also wanna set aside 20 hours aside to wrap the entire car. Get a friend to give you a hand and it will be much easier doing the big pieces.

jlonn

Thank you guys for your advice! I am only going to wrap my grille, but I was curious if it was worth the 150$ I got quoted from a 3M certified place. Or is it easy enough to do myself and save the money...?

snguyenep3

depending on grooves etc.... Why don't you plastic dip it ?

jlonn

I had plastidip on my last car's grille and it peeled and bubbled like crazy even with like 7 or 8 coats on it.

d1sturb3d119

iTrader: (1)

$150?! ROFL. Buy the stuff yourself and its cheap and you can play around with it.

ej1serge

yeah fuck that, buy enough material to play around with and then when you get the hang of it the grill will be easy to wrap

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

I've had my front grill wrapped twice now.

The first time around I did it myself and it took like 2+ hours just to do the center bar. It was very frustrating and hard to contour it perfectly. You have to hold the grill in place while at the same time use both hands to pull, stretch and wrap the vinyl around the center grill. You have to have a blowdryer to heat up the vinyl so it gets very soft and easy to work with.

I had a nightmare and ended up kind of messing up and had a big air bubble but just left it anyways. It lasted for almost 2 years than one day I drove it through a car wash (never again) and the high pressure water ripped the vinyl because of the air bubble.

Second time around I sent it to AckTL05 so he could vinyl it for me and even he had a hard time. It came out a lot better than what I did the first time around but it's still no where near perfect. I just accepted it, no complaints here.

You might have better luck doing it yourself than I did.

jlonn

Thank you all for the info and advice, If I peel the vinyl back up after stretching it to fit, does it leave any residue behind on the grille? also does I need the 3M primer and sealant?

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

No the vinyl does not leave and residue if you make a mistake and decide to peel it up to re-do it.

And no you don't need primer or sealant.

DiamondJoeQuimby

iTrader: (2)

used 3M Scotchprint 1080 in matte black. Did not need primer since it is non-porous. Hit it with 800 grit sandpaper just to take off the road wear and give the adhesive something to stick on. Used a heat gun, razor blade and it was a total pain in the ass. The radii are REALLY tight in some spots. Eventually it peeled up in the corners. Pulled it, re-sanded, and plasti-dipped it. It has held up for 2 yrs that way.

AyFeltaTL

check it

jlonn

Did you wrap an aftermarket grille? or do you somehow just remove the center bar?

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

That's a aftermarket grill. I believe it's called a "C-Mod Grill".

Wrapping the top hood trim and lower "V" shaped trim is very simple and easy.

The center bar with the "A" emblem on it is the most difficult. I wouldn't be surprised if he got the C-Mod grill because he couldn't wrap his center bar perfectly in carbon fiber lol

AyFeltaTL

uhh actually thats not an aftermarket grill, i used a dremel and bondo hair to make it look like that, nothing aftermarket about it. Home made if you would..

AyFeltaTL

i didnt want to wrap the center bar because the center bar is trash

jlonn

I see. So, is it easier to wrap the grille while its still on the car or should I take the whole bumper off and then take the grille out?

AyFeltaTL

take the bumper off thats easier for me..

zune hd

IMG_0223[1] by schlabach80, on Flickr

Fat_Kid

Man, that looks good! Im wondering where you got the mesh, and how it was attached to the grille. Any info would be appreciated.