Taught myself to vinyl wrap. This was my first try ever. This cost me a lot less to do. Also I think if you get a kit it is probably equally hard to put on yourself. I think I could probably improve a bit, but I liked this option over painting the rings:

 

Looks good.. I'm thinking about getting some vinyl and doing the side panel with the scuttles on it in black. I have the belt line, door handles, grille, and boot handle plasti-dipped but i'd like to vinyl them eventually. Are you going to do the grille surround and belt line?

 

it's cute. it reminds me of people who have been tricked and have the black rings around their eyes after using "trick" binoculars.

 

^Thanks guys. Yeah the grill surround is next. I ran out of Vinyl because I had to redo one of the headlights.

Also I have one more mod to add to the appearance that will compliment this addition.

 

OK finished my VINYL wrapping. I think this is all I will do. I was thinking of doing the belt line chrome, but I really like it as is. I now feel like I am a vinyl pro

 

So, what kind of vinyl - specifically, type and brand - did you get? Did you learn online or just by experimenting? Would love to hear the gory details if you're interested in sharing. The results, at least from the low-rez photos, look pretty great.

 

..was getting ready to ask those same questions.

..you gotta use a heat gun to mold around those edges..yes?

...any close up pics possible? any bubbles or wrinkles?

I would like to eventually pull off my plasti dip and do this.
thanks,
J

 

Looks really nice, this is what the front end of my PW will be looking like in a few weeks.

 

I have a good friend that does clear bra on a lot of really high end cars. He has done 2 Enzo's amongst other things. Anyway, I called him Friday on my way back from work and asked what he would charge me to do this for me? He said it was really easy to do and that I should just go to a sign shop and buy a roll of satin black vinyl.

-Vinyl is a generic brand from the local sign shop. Not a 3M or other name brand I recognized. I can call and ask to see exactly what they call it.

-No heat gun needed. The hardest part was tucking the edges. i need to play with that a bit more, mine definitely are not perfect, but aren't terrible. No wrinkles, bubbles, magic leprechauns etc.

-As for the amount of skill and time etc, I would say it will be different for everyone. I have worked with a lot of different media's in the past, so this was just a small curve, but I understand it pretty well already. I think if I were to do one more car (I will be doing my wife's black mini next week) I would feel confident enough to start doing vinyl work for locals out of our shop. I am pretty sure I could do tail lights and badges as well.

A roll of vinyl isn't too expensive though I don't know the exact brand of mine.

-My advice is to just buy a little vinyl and see if you can do it or not? I don't think it was hard compared to the amount of time it took me to do motor work on my car. Even the sway bar kills this for time taking. I think some people can do this easily, and it could be difficult for others.

-I also ran a small strip around some of the edges to really hide the chrome. I don't know if this technique will work with other colors, but the satin black completely hides the lines from layering the vinyl on top of itself.

OK any other questions? I will report on how well it lasts. It wasn't that expensive though so if I have to pull it off in 6 months and re do it, I won't be too bothered.

I will make a video maybe when I do the next one. I may make some really cheap kits I can sell you guys to do it. Basically just charge the cost of materials and shipping.

 

HELP!!

Tanuki,

I purchased a $50 roll of ORACAL vinyl which I am told is an excellent product. Tonight I attempted to wrap a headlight ring and failed terribly.

I tries using it dry and wet with a 50/50 alcohol water mix.

I made a donut about one inch wider than the headlight ring and made slices with a razor every inch to allow for wrapping due to the curves. I had wrinkle after wrinkle and I was told be careful not to pull too much and stretch the vinyl.

I have built RC Airplanes and i am not "hobby challenged".

I tried my head gun and iron to smooth the wrinkles but nothing helped. I ruined two large pieces of vinyl am frustrated.....any help..from anyone?

 

Mini15235,

How much of the vinyl do you have left?

In my opinion, the best thing you can do is start with a square/ rectangle rather than cutting the center out from the get go.

Start on the outside edge and press as you continue around the ring.

I have the wiper cleaners so what I did, was wrap till I was halfway around the wiper cleaner. Then I wrapped from the other side till I was about halfway around the wiper cleaner. At this point you should have pushed the bumps and wrinkles from both sides to one central and large wrinkle. Make a slit in that wrinkle and adjust the to points so that they line up. You result with a very small seam, but the line is so tiny there and the material is so thin, that you won't ever notice it. I will go take pics of mine now and post up.

Also I will be making some kits to do this and sell them for $35 bucks including the knife I like to use and vinyl to do both headlights.

My vinyl goes on dry and is pretty forgiving. BRB with pics.

 

OK, My buddy said the same thing after I called him. He suggested that I keep a square and stretch it across the ring like a drum. I also tried it a second time and used a little water and soap all over the entire piece of vinyl. As it dried over 30 minutes I was able to stretch it and get it to lay down much better! However it didnt look like it was painted on like the plastic-dip does. I was going for a no seam look like the pics on www.vinylstyles.com

He seems to do amazing work. Am I being too pickey trying for no seams and a paint like finish?

 

This was the first one I did. I actually overlapped it as you can see. I would suggest leaving maybe half that much material in overlap. Also remember that the camera is focused on that small area so it looks a lot bigger in that image than it really appears on the car. I would imagine with a blow dryer and much more patience, you could do the job without that slit, but like I said the pictures don't do it justice, you cant even tell unless you are looking for it.

 

Mine ended up with a seam at the bottom of the headlight ring, and it was much larger than that of the OP.

OP did a great job on the seam location.

I found that a folded piece of cardboard ripped off a cereal box helped me wrap the edges in the groove you can't really get your fingers into.

 

Thanks for the pics and detailed response. So are u saying that u never removed the rings from the car at all? I would assume that in order to wrap the edge around really well u would need to run ur finger along the backside. How have yours held up to washing and rain?...any lifting...thanks again.....i will give it another shot

 

Thanks for that write up and images!

Mine has been fine and I even pressure washed the car last week!

I have a couple of small spots that came up a tiny bit because they weren't trimmed well enough, but I just cut off the excess as I saw it. I get a lot of compliments on them everywhere I go.

I never took the rings off. Something you can do to help wrap the edges of the rings is make slits in them every so often to fold over easier. it is basically like a tab you create.

 

just got the hood and roof repainted and got these rings painted pw too! what u think?

 

XXLI,
Your paint job looks great!!
Especially the painted bonnet stripes. I see your sig file says you have an 2006 MINI, can I ask why you had the hood and roof repainted?

I would think the black roof would be bullet proof and that even if it looked crappy, you could have picked a cool roof graphic to cover it and possibly save money on a repaint job.

Did you have any trouble with the newly painted parts not matching up with the other body panels that have been weathered and sun faded for 5 years?

I'm just curious because I have never had to have body/paint work done to a vehicle.

 

Long story short, a carwash door came down on my car as i was entering it scratching it from end to end. The gas station co. paid for the repairs and for 88 bucks i had some rock chips fixed up and the rings painted. It was about 1850 for the hood and roof. I could not be happier with the end result. The stripes are actually just oem. Car was sent to Jimmy Buffits in Indy and they def do some great work! Cheers!