ahmed24

Yeap much cheaper than painting it and it's completely reversible unlike paint. If I went for ordinary gloss white it would have been about 70% cheaper than the pearls white was.


This is why i bought a good brand (Hexis) they've been in the industry for a long time. There are cheap chinese alternatives that damage from UV rays and begin to yellow. I guess I will have to wait and see how it goes It's been 2 weeks since i completed it and i've been on a 2k miles (not km) road-trip. Car got plastered with bugs and washed it all off very easily.


Yeap the new taillights are on the todo list. I would love to get the F-Sport rims but unfortunately they don't sell them here in the UK.

Definitely need some nice wheels, on the look out for some.

Obleezie

iTrader: (2)

looks great!

juvi22003

iTrader: (2)

Nicely done

xZhongChen

So Beautifully Done!

ahmed24

Thanks!

Here are some close-up pics of the front bumper and the second-hand LED headlamp showing panel gap between wing, headlamp and bumper are quite good. There is no gap whatsoever under the headlamp, it's as flush as it can get tucked underneath the headlamp. In the pic it might look like there is a gap but that's a shadow. I will try and take a better picture.

The second-hand headlamp could do with a slight headlamp polish, which I might do sometime soon.

Also, will try and take some pics of the LED's and possibly a video of the LED operation and post it soon.

smj

Great job!
You know what you are doing

ahmed24

Just an update....

It's almost a year since I wrapped the car. Wrap is still holding up very well and still looks like fresh paint. We've had a very wet year and everything has held up well.

I haven't had time to do any new mods. Got the new facelift taillights which I will install soon. will give car a wash and post some new pics soon.

In the meantime, for those interested in knowing how I disabled the AFS warning, pics are below. I opened up the instrument cluster. Took out the acrylic rod that transfers the light from the LED on the PCB to the back of the symbol section. I applied insulation tape at the tip of the acrylic rod and re-inserted it in. This way the bottom of the rod is blocked from allowing the light to travel up through the recess.

Here are some pics:

sm1ke

iTrader: (5)

Car looks great!! Good to hear that the wrap is holding up.

skramer92

nice job, thinking about wrapping my IS350. What did you use to clean and prepare the car before wrapping it?

FSportIS

iTrader: (13)

Very nice job, you get skills!!!

Now, how do you maintain the paint, I'm sorry, i mean the wrap. Do you wash, clay, polish, and wax on a regular basis treating it like paint?

If you have bird bombs sticking into the wrap which cause some stain, how do you remove it? How do you remove water spots, bugs ...on the wrap? Do you see any spider swirl marks or minor scratches then how do you buff them out?

sm1ke

iTrader: (5)

I believe you can still apply *water-based wax to the vinyl, that would help protect against bird droppings, water etching and bugs. Not 100% sure though..


*edited

NorCalIS

iTrader: (5)

Use rubbing alcohol and paper towels, thats after a wash and clay bar of course. Do not use any wax.


Basically the bottom line is silicone is your enemy. So you cannot use any cleaner or wax that has any silicone in it. The wrap will not spider or marr like paint will, as far as bird dropping just treat it like you would good paint and remove asap. To clean it personally I used chemical guys stuff, specifically they're meticulous matte detail products designed to help clean and protect matte wraps. They also offer gloss products as well.

ahmed24

*** UPDATE ***

Here are some recent photos taken of how the car is looking with the wrap on for almost 2 years now.








Please excuse all the road-kill bugs in the following photos

tqlla3k

iTrader: (1)

Looks awesome. Where did you get the pearl white wrap? A lot of the ones I see on ebay look yellowish to me

Osigina13

Very nice job on the wrap. That's a lot of patience and time invested DIY. Where did you order the wrap. 👍👍👍