Ok, so I had a little time this evening once the little boy went to sleep so I decided to try my hand at vinyl wrapping the centre console fascias. This is the first time I've ever tried anything like this, took me about an hour altogether.
I took the gearknob surround plastic out of the car very easily, it literally just pops out. Popped out the clips holding the gaiter leather in place and it was free to come out the car...
I bought some 4D carbon effect wrap a little while ago on eBay, kept putting this off but I watched a few videos on YouTube on how to do this... it's actually quite simple. I cut the wrap to size probably a good few inches larger than I actually needed to give me some wiggle room.
I started off by removing the protective film on the front of the wrap, removed the backing paper and carefully followed the main contour of the plastic. Once it was in place I started gently heating it with a heat gun, on a low setting so I didn't overheat/damage the wrap or plastic. It only needed about a second or so and you can start to see it taking shape, using the squeegee supplied I dragged the bubbles out whilst it was still warm.
Continued heating it for a second, stretching it around the plastic and squeegeeing the bubbles out. Once the wrap cools, it semi hardens and feels like it's almost vacuum formed.
Once enough was around the edges and smoothed out as much as I could I trimmed it, I figured once the plastic was back in place it would hold the wrap in position on the underneaths so I wasn't really too fussed about it. I cut a big 'X' into the void spaces for the gearknob and the ashtray and did the same as before.
Using a sharp stanley knife I 'traced' the outline of the plastic to trim off the excess wrap. Put the ashtray back in and admired my handiwork!
The only thing that is bothering me is one corner I never managed to get the bubbles out no matter how many times I heated and squeegee'd. It's not massively noticeable but I know it's there so it bugs me.
And back in the car...
Mush better now! I'll finish the other ones tomorrow...
I didn't fancy trying to wrap the ashtray cover as it has too many moving parts so I may just spray it Gloss Black so it doesn't stand out too much.
Thanks for looking!
