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I always disliked those grey trims we all have, the ones on each side of center console, on gear selector and the doors...in fact I hated them. Plus they took a beating over the years.
I saw the interior of a sports car a few years back that stuck to me. So I decided to do something to those grey trims inspired by that car...acura started the job, i'm going to finish it.
Here is the result
The build cost was 5$ for a 5m roll of carbon fiber like wrap, 5$ for a 5m roll of red trim/molding.
I also purchased a 15$ laptop/smartphone repair kit. Even though I started the job without it and could have finished without it also, It made the results considerably better...but i'm sure anybody can find perfectly fini alternatives at home. It also came with what seemed to be a scalpel, it was extremely sharp, even more than a traditional box cutter and helped a lot in trimming off the carbon wrap
The results, for a first timer, were quite satisfying. I had a heat gun that made the wrap application so much easier. If used properly, the wrap will just melt enough to completely surround and mold to the application area and the plastic tools were perfect to iron out the imperfections. The hard part was working with the red trim strip, The contact area was very thin and I found the strip to unstick from the curves. Again, the solution is applying enough hear to make the strip very flexible but keep its shape and integrity. Also being very careful to stick a small piece at a time, then press firmly, then apply more and put pressure again. It still had imperfections but I was able to reduce the visibility of them at the end with a little more heat and pressure. And for the stubborn areas the strip didnt adhere, nothing a little glue on a stick couldn't solve.
Bottom line is, buy 2 rolls of each. I had to use left over pieces of wrap to patch some areas I didnt have enough. It's almost invisible, but If you look carefully, or the light reflects a certain way, it becomes obvious.I ran out of the red trim and had to substitute with red trim tape, i have ordered more of that red strip, the tape looks cheap
i agree with justin i don't think it looks good with our interior (looks cheap), BUT you did a great job installing it, well done!
no matter what people say, all that matters is if you like it!
Originally Posted by guitarplayer16
Where's sezniko
is that the guy that did like every exterior line in the red trim?? i remember i saw his car and thought it was a joke..then realized it wasn't. he's probably the type of guy that's on the facebook 3G group (i refuse to be a part of that group)
P'Dik, you might be happier with one of those stick on trim kits to cover a huge portion of the interior. You can get them in various finishes, like silver, faux cf, faux wood grain, etc. and they cover a shit ton of our interiors.
The wrap looks ok, but the red looks like you're now driving a cavalier with painted air vents. If you do keep the wrap, I suggest you do the compartment doors behind the shifter as well, just to keep it all uniform.
is that the guy that did like every exterior line in the red trim?? i remember i saw his car and thought it was a joke..then realized it wasn't. he's probably the type of guy that's on the facebook 3G group (i refuse to be a part of that group)
Yup that's him, he was on the group
Originally Posted by quanaman
the answer to your question is that there are very few if any good $10 mods. You have to pay to play.
The CF wrap isn't bad, but that red looks gross.
I might be wrong, but I think he was asking us if his mod is the best 10$ mod, rather than asking us what 10$ mods are best
I personally think it takes away from the ambiance of the car. You would be better off going with brushed aluminum accents. The carbon fibre wrap looks absolutely excellent though!
Either way, it's your car and you're the one who drives it every day, not us. So if you like it, that's what matters (unless you plan on selling it, lol).
Thanks for the feedback. I Agree I might have went overboard with the trim. I saw it a little more subtle in my head. I really love the combination of red/black/white. It does feel cheap because the trip is a piece of crap to install, its uneven, not aligned. The good thing is it's a breeze to unstick. I might try to tone down the accent on that and as suggested add more wrap to the already carbon fibre glossy plastic.
And the car was a Ferrari Scuderia. I drove one for a week in Miami a few years back and it was basically the same type of accent, of course it wasn't trim but stitching, but it stuck in my head. I also saw a TL-S at an acura meeting and he had the same concept as I tried but the reseult came out much better.
I will buy more wrap, and rethink this. Thanks all
Good work! I'm a Carbon Fiber fanatic-I'm down with that. I'm a big fan of red trim. This might be a little much for my taste, but I'm not driving nor owning this TL.
Polish,
I like that you decided to try something new and see it through. A big part of this is to be able to stand back and be honest with yourself about whether or not it looks good enough to be in a (once) expensive luxury sport sedan.
Kudos on being pretty honest about it being overdone. Without being overly critical I will say that even in pictures, the way the carbon fiber wrap went down doesn't look smooth. Radio knobs, and some of the bends on the sides...near the seat warmers...I also had a terrible time with trying to get vinyl to conform to those complex bends. There are some other solutions (if you search) for the beat up side trim that can look much better.
P'Diddy, as rockstar mentioned above, and actually, as he did it himself, maybe painting those vertical trim pieces might be a good idea (amongst other pieces). I think his turned out pretty slick in glossy black. Then get someone to pin stripe the pieces for that more bad ass look!
Of course, if you want to go the baller route, there's a guy on AZ who builds a bunch of real carbon fibre trim pieces, such as the vertical trim, the horizontal silver trim across the dash, the shifter plate, etc. Buuuut, they're not cheap at all. I looked into it and I think he quoted me about $500 to get my interior done. And by "real CF pieces", I mean that he overlays real CF and clearcoats it, over the OEM interior parts. It looks really nice, I must admit.
Sometimes what seems like a good idea in our heads, doesn't necessarily pan out like that in reality. I've been there, as I'm sure many others on here have as well. Oh well, live and learn!
Shoot, how about those REAL CF pieces K1BSpec made...$1300 he wanted for them! He was the guy that made the CSL spoiler.
Also, here, in case you'd never stumbled on it:
https://acurazine.com/forums/problems-fixes-114/center-console-side-garnishes-$350-replace-i-have-your-fix-free-inside-837375/
Do you recall what other car you had seen this red trim in, you've piqued my curiosity...
The new 3-Series has red trim as an option, albeit higher quality of course. I used to really like it but I think it wouldn't age very well, and just date the car too much after a while.
Hmm i think if you put it in a small number of places it would be ok. Also the red is too saturated? I don't know, try different configurations.... it could work
11-24-2015, 05:23 AM
, then I saw they put it on a dyno 
. Weird thread that is.
