Productive Day

[Keethos 842]

I've been a busy boy today, besides fixing my window switch rattle (well hopefully anyways) I also used the generously donated boot polystyrene tray, courtesy of Rich (Riceburner) from RRG Macclesfield as my dealer decided to throw mine away after installing the JBL system, to give the boot carpet more support so it's doesn't sag as much. This meant having to cut a big hole out of the middle of it which was a messy job but it works a treat.Not really an issue for those who order the JBL system now days as the kit now includes some foam pads that get stuck to the underside of the boot lining so they give support from the top of the sub itself.As well as this....I've been busy wrapping like a gangsta....well kinda :32 (18):I'm not the most arty guy in the world so my cutting/trimming skillz are a bit limited, but will give this another try on the spare key. And as I've had the inner door handle covers off....I got thinking:Though no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't get this one corner right.....maybe I over stretched it but I spend ages on this :mad:

[Lauren 2259]

Cool. Nice work! I've got to be honest, I'm not sure about the key wrap thing, but I'd need to see it for real I think. Any pics of those door handles refitted?

[rob275 1817]

Contemplating flocking some bits in my car as opposed to vinyl, looks good though. Shame about the wrinkles, i'm trying to work out where that corner would be? Is it visible when fitted?

[faith 237]

When I decided to wrap my handles, I lost the will to live after the first 1, hence I am currently driving around with one silver and one red. It took so long and I'm still not 100% happy with it.[ATTACH=CONFIG]n4735[/ATTACH]

[Keethos 842]

Well....I gave this wrapping malarkey a 2nd round and with regards to the fob, it faired better and worse, did a pretty good job around the buttons and the Toyota badge (though it does stick out a bit and doesn't want to stay down 100%) but my cutting skillz around the outside was equally as horrendous as before to the point where I removed a bit too much :32 (11):As for the door handle cover, I tried tackling the second one with no success, still couldn't do the same corner as before...to the point where I couldn't even get it anywhere as close as before, so I thought I'd experiment and trimmed a bit out to relieve some of the crumble zone.....didn't work out great to be honest, and you can actually see this bit if you look around the handle a bit but you can't really see it while your sat in the car......and you can see from one of the pics....there seemed to be a bit of wrinkling/bubbling along the top edge which occurred while I was asleep as I'm sure it wasn't there when I finished it.Hmmmmm.....what next....anyone know how to remove the silver bit on the steering wheel?

[rob275 1817]

Pops off i think?

[Keethos 842]

Found a guide here:http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35900&highlight=steering+wheelAnd a rather nice looking steering wheel too.....hmmmm.....very nice in deed......:32 (13):

[Lauren 2259]

Hmm, I'm not sure, look forward to seeing it in the flesh next Saturday though. :+:

[Mark-in-Stoke 488]

Keith, What do you think about just painting all the pieces instead of using the vinyl, would be much easier.

[Keethos 842]

Would be, but this was more of an experiment, so if I don't like it, I can just peal it off....though my painting skillz are pretty poor so I'm pretty sure that I'd mess it up some how.....never mind trying to paint a carbon fibre effect :32 (33):I might give this another try as I've still got some vinyl left, I've even gave the steering wheel trim a try but again, didn't turn out that great....but I think my issue is that I'm not using enough heat.....so will give this another try when I get hold of a proper heat gun rather than just a hair dryer....but even so.....the gap in the middle is going to be a problem as there's a fair bit of silver in there so not enough wrap to cover it....But I actually quite like the look of this so might make a better effort.....painting it could be an option but again I like the carbon fibre look to it too so I might try out the hydro dipping method as that seems a lot easier too.

[Kristov4 70]

Thought about hydro graphics?Ignore the snake skin I was just having some fun but to be honest I'm surprised how much its grown on me.carbon fibre works really well.

[rob275 1817]

That looks pretty funky to be fair, Keith you may aswell hydro the bits see what happens.

[Keethos 842]

Can you remove the hydro dip if you don't like it? Do you need to do anything to it after it's dipped like spraying on a gloss coat / lacquer? How do you remove the silver bits on the vents Kristov? Fancy another project :32 (17):

[Kristov4 70]

vent trim just pop off with a little pressure.The process involved keying the items, primer, base coat (i used white but probably should have used black as it would have hid the slight imperfections.) then applying the hydro graphics followed by a few coats of lacquer.As its a paint effect you could just rub down and repaint or apply a new hydro graphic pattern.Happy to have a play if you like but you would need to provide the film (unless you fancy snake skin )got mine herehttp://www.hydrographicswarehouse.co.uk

[Keethos 842]

Well, gave this wrapping malarkey another go but this time with a proper heat gun which gave me much better results.The key fob came out a lot better and this time, I used a not as sharp blade to cut it out as this meant I could score the corner multiple times to cut it accurately, where as using a mega sharp blade meant it easily gripped the wrap and could easily go off track and cut the wrap too short or too long! However, doesn't matter how good my wrapping gets, because the wrap doesn't get tucked away, the edges of the wrap will eventually peal up, dirt will get under it and it will start to flare out which is guna be a ballache.....means having to take it off again at some point :32 (3):Gave the steering wheel bit another go as last time it was pretty poor, especially around the hole in the centre....but even with a proper heat gun, the hole is way too deep and narrow that it would be impossible or extremely difficult to cover properly so I decided to just cover over it which still looks good!And then lastly I thought I'd give this dash piece a go which turned out pretty good......so I thought I'd do the bit around the head unit as well.....only to realise that my last piece of wrap is a tad too short :32 (39): So I'll have to order some more in!

[keelerad 256]

Be careful when wrapping the head unit surround to make sure you angle the wrap correctly.You might be better going for a 90 degree rotation on the wrap as it may be difficult to match the angle of the pattern exactly and might look better as a contrast rather than an almost but not exactly the sameAlec

[Keethos 842]

I got the angle about right without too much fuss.....but lining the lines up aren't spot on but then again, it doesn't look out of place at all (doesn't help that the lines are slightly different widths due to the stretching and pulling the wrap around), but this was a right ballache and I actually managed to really really mess up one of the corners and couldn't correct it and ended up ruining the wrap so had to rip it all off and start again......but again, with the same corner....I just could not get it wrapped without it wrinkling.....even with a proper heat gun....and you can see it from the drivers seat which is annoying :32 (39): I also messed up a lil on the inside which took me a while to wrap but it worked out in the end and you can't see it.I'm guna leave the silver bits around the gear stick etc as the buttons and stuff are silver and I won't even bother trying to wrap those, so I'm happy leaving the bits around the gear stick silver....but I might try wrapping the silver vent rings....then I think that's it wrap wise.....don't want to over do it now :32 (14):