ThermonMer

For those that have vinyled the roof themselves, or watched an installer vinyl their roof:

How did you/him negotiate around the shark fin antenna?

It seems that i should either:

A. Pre-cut a sliver for the shark fin and use the fin as a starting point to lay down the material. Peel back the adhesive in an outwards motion starting at the fin. (I feel that this could lead to so uneven stretching in the material over the course of the roof)

OR

B. Pretend there is no shark fin. Start laying down the material at the rear and work my way towards the front of the car. Figure out how to work around the shark fin when i get there. This could be haphazard...


Also, is it better to leave the sunroof open during all of this, as to avoid the bulges of the moonroof perimeter seal?

Thanks.

ISThree

iTrader: (2)

remove the shark fin first then apply the vinyl?

ThermonMer

ok, how do i go about removing the headliner to get to the antenna? n/m got it. apparently you yank off the dome light and reach backwards.

jbounnoi

iTrader: (7)

^ you reach backwards take off the giant bolt, and theres squeeze on both sides and it'll help if theres a second person to pull from the outside

shiny250

iTrader: (4)

yeah keep the moonroof open as well. goodluck!

ShadowISF

iTrader: (10)

^^^I thought you will have to remove the headliner before removing the sharkfin antenna. I didn't know you can just yank the light off...but that's good to know!

Anyway,when I got my roof wrapped, they measured the base of the sharkfin antenna and pre-cut the vinyl to the base of the sharkfin before they put the wrap on.

IS3003o3

iTrader: (5)

no need to remove the headliner. i did this couple weeks ago with my 1st attempt at wrapping the roof. you just have to remove the rear dome light assembly and once that's out there's an exposed bolt about 3 inches back that holds the antenna down.

ThermonMer

check on the sharkfin.

lastly - could i vinyl over the side rails with the same main piece of vinyl?? or should i vinyl them separately?

IS3003o3

iTrader: (5)

^^ i was thinking about this too. i might just not wrap the side rails at all, but i have extra vinyl to work with just in case i do haha

ShadowISF

iTrader: (10)

I wouldn't wrap the rails at all. It OEM color on them looks good with a wrapped roof. But if you decide to wrap it, then do it seperately.

KGeezzy

cool info! i want to wrap mine to but was scared about the head liner. thanks for the info guys and good luck with your project!

ThermonMer

alright, well i spent $100 on film. took off the shark fin and precut the vinyl for it. took off the roof rails and precut the vinyl for that. then when it came time to do the roof, it was a disaster. do NOT attempt to do this by yourself - its not happening. you need at least two people. i did the rear corner, but the film started bunching up, since i didnt have other ppl to stretch out the vinyl. the heat gun and professional vinyl squiggie wasnt enough to compensate for the lack of hands. 95 and humid - the adhesive was basically washed away by forearm sweat. i ended up trashing the vinyl.

4 hours, and $100 down the drain. at least i could say i tried.

however, i did debage the rear, plug, and paint the holes. as well as plastidip the rear reflectors. at least im satisfied on that front.

relaxfoo

iTrader: (1)

damn that sux...how did you take the roof rails off w/o breaking them?