jhuckstead
06-29-2013, 06:39 PM
But anyways here she is, lookin as good as she is gonna look for a while...
Ok, so not entirely true... I got to lookin at all those yellow and red running lights and signals and I just had to do something about it...
Sooo.... I decided to black perf vinyl every light on the car... and here is a little step by step of my process... This would be good practice for you if you ever decide to do some vinyl wrap on your car/dashboard as well. One advantage besides looking awesome, is that the UV laminate on the vinyl will actually protects the plastic from the sun. (Its kind of a big problem here in Florida, thank god for glass, flippy headlights on the NA!)
Here is everything you will need... Vinyl (UV Laminated), Alcohol, Glass Cleaner, Paper Towels, Q-Tips, Razor Blade, Scissors... and maybe Vinegar( if you discover, like I did, that the copper contacts in the light sockets are oxidized (corroded) and are dimm and/or loosing contact)
8099
***Make sure it's Laminated Vinyl, non laminated vinyl will be lucky to last a few weeks before the sun gets it. The lamination has UV protection***
First rinse off the light housing and your hands with warm soap and water, it is very important to keep everything as clean as possible to get the best adhesion. This will also give you some cushion for mistakes and you will be able to peel the vinyl off and try a few times if you start to mess up.
The next most important thing is to keep everything dry before you apply the vinyl. This is not like doing window tint, even a small amount of trapped moisture will not only keep the vinyl from sticking, when it gets hot, the moisture(and air for that matter) will expand and try to push the vinyl off of the surface. (Note: You can only use the soapy water trick with NONperforated vinyl on perfectly smooth surfaces like glass or polished metal. Perf vinyl is perforated on the sticky side and laminated on the outside so water gets trapped in the little holes.)
Depending on how much you care about preserving the look of the bare plastic you will have 2 options when it comes to cleaning and 2 options when it comes to the raised, imprinted letters.
Option 1 for cleaning, douse everything in rubbing alcohol. This will will make damn sure it sticks well and will dry it out well, but it could fog the plastic. The fogging will not be noticeable when it is covered, but if you decide you want to go back to stock or want to sell them, you may regret it.
Option 2 for cleaning, use glass cleaner on the visible surfaces and rubbing alcohol around the edges. This won't harm them, but is not quite as good for adhesion as option 1.
Option 1 for the raised letters, scrape and level them off with a razor blade. This is very difficult to do without scratching the hell out of them, but will give you the smoothest and best results. I went this route for my tail-lights since they were cracked and foggy anyway.
Option 2 for the raised letters, just vinyl over the top. It will be slightly visible when the job is finished and adds a little more time and finesse to the vinyl application. I did this for all the rest of my plastics because they were all in perfect shape and I just couldn't take a razor to "Japan", lol... I will show you how to deal with this...
Once you have everything clean, cut out a piece of Vinyl about 1/2 inch bigger than the side marker/signal itself. I would begin on the flattest plastics your working with first. The front turn signals and tail-lights have compound curves and can be a little tricky. Its something like wrapping a piece of paper around a baseball with out making any wrinkles or folds. Fortunately the vinyl stretches, but you will have to do that slowly and peel it up and lay it down several times (again, clean and dry is your friend here). Apply the Vinyl longways starting from one end, and then work you way to the other, making sure not to trap any air bubbles. You will need to press fairly hard where the letters are if you didnt scrape them off. I use my thumbs to lay it down, you may find it easier to use a credit card, but you should put a couple pieces of tape around the edge of the card so it doesnt scratch it UV laminate. Don't try to roll it around the edges yet! Just work on getting the outside visible surface as perfect as possible.
It should look like this...
8100
Now trim it leaving a 1/4 inch or so around the edges.
Now you want to start wrapping around the edges. The long flat side will be easy but you want to start on the round part by first trimming out 5 or so evenly spaced "tabs", and then fold over every other one like this...
8090
Then, finish off the rest of the corner tabs first and then move on to the long easy flat tabs. Press it tight around that edge. Small parts may not want to stay down yet, but its ok. You should have something like this...
8091
Now at this point those tabs will be pissing you off. Here is where most people pull out the heat gun. The only problem with that is window perf is well, perforated and its really easy to warp those nice even circles in to ovals or even scorch the vinyl with those hot ass guns. I prefer to use an oven. I just set it to 170 (Lowest setting on mine), stick it in there, and then when it reaches temp, I shut the oven off, then vent a little heat, shut the door and leave it in there for 5 min. 2 things will happen. First, the vinyl gets real stretchy, and second, all the air around the letters, or any air bubbles you made, blows up like a balloon... Like this...
80968092
Here is where your teenage years in front of the mirror are gonna finally pay you back. You want to pop these just like a zit. With your razor, make the tiniest hole you can imagine right in the middle of one of the clear circles in that bubble and then squeeze it from all directions till all the air is out. It is best to use and Xacto blade or needle, but all I had was an Olfa. Also when it starts to cool down, you will notice it will almost vacuum seal down to the raised letters.
80938094
Finished Pieces... Notice, I didn't cut out the circles for the mounting screws... Because its perf vinyl and not tint, they still act as a reflectors at direct angles, like when the sun or headlights are shining in them or when your close up and level with them. I like this because it should keep the cops happy and might keep you from getting backed into. My '07 Bimmer had every marker tinted out and I took a 5k hit from an old man to my rear quarter panel as he was backing out of his drive way... Luckily he just gave me his insurance info and didn't call the cops or I would have prolly been SOL...
8097
They fit very snug, the vinyl won't have a chance to peel back off the way it is pushed down by the mount. I wanted a cleaner that stock look, so I made a small horizontal slice in the screw holes. Then, I carefully threaded the screws in, and it does open the slit for a few minutes, but just like magic, it closes itself and the slit is almost invisible from more than a foot away.
Finished Job... :D
8098
Ok, so not entirely true... I got to lookin at all those yellow and red running lights and signals and I just had to do something about it...
Sooo.... I decided to black perf vinyl every light on the car... and here is a little step by step of my process... This would be good practice for you if you ever decide to do some vinyl wrap on your car/dashboard as well. One advantage besides looking awesome, is that the UV laminate on the vinyl will actually protects the plastic from the sun. (Its kind of a big problem here in Florida, thank god for glass, flippy headlights on the NA!)
Here is everything you will need... Vinyl (UV Laminated), Alcohol, Glass Cleaner, Paper Towels, Q-Tips, Razor Blade, Scissors... and maybe Vinegar( if you discover, like I did, that the copper contacts in the light sockets are oxidized (corroded) and are dimm and/or loosing contact)
8099
***Make sure it's Laminated Vinyl, non laminated vinyl will be lucky to last a few weeks before the sun gets it. The lamination has UV protection***
First rinse off the light housing and your hands with warm soap and water, it is very important to keep everything as clean as possible to get the best adhesion. This will also give you some cushion for mistakes and you will be able to peel the vinyl off and try a few times if you start to mess up.
The next most important thing is to keep everything dry before you apply the vinyl. This is not like doing window tint, even a small amount of trapped moisture will not only keep the vinyl from sticking, when it gets hot, the moisture(and air for that matter) will expand and try to push the vinyl off of the surface. (Note: You can only use the soapy water trick with NONperforated vinyl on perfectly smooth surfaces like glass or polished metal. Perf vinyl is perforated on the sticky side and laminated on the outside so water gets trapped in the little holes.)
Depending on how much you care about preserving the look of the bare plastic you will have 2 options when it comes to cleaning and 2 options when it comes to the raised, imprinted letters.
Option 1 for cleaning, douse everything in rubbing alcohol. This will will make damn sure it sticks well and will dry it out well, but it could fog the plastic. The fogging will not be noticeable when it is covered, but if you decide you want to go back to stock or want to sell them, you may regret it.
Option 2 for cleaning, use glass cleaner on the visible surfaces and rubbing alcohol around the edges. This won't harm them, but is not quite as good for adhesion as option 1.
Option 1 for the raised letters, scrape and level them off with a razor blade. This is very difficult to do without scratching the hell out of them, but will give you the smoothest and best results. I went this route for my tail-lights since they were cracked and foggy anyway.
Option 2 for the raised letters, just vinyl over the top. It will be slightly visible when the job is finished and adds a little more time and finesse to the vinyl application. I did this for all the rest of my plastics because they were all in perfect shape and I just couldn't take a razor to "Japan", lol... I will show you how to deal with this...
Once you have everything clean, cut out a piece of Vinyl about 1/2 inch bigger than the side marker/signal itself. I would begin on the flattest plastics your working with first. The front turn signals and tail-lights have compound curves and can be a little tricky. Its something like wrapping a piece of paper around a baseball with out making any wrinkles or folds. Fortunately the vinyl stretches, but you will have to do that slowly and peel it up and lay it down several times (again, clean and dry is your friend here). Apply the Vinyl longways starting from one end, and then work you way to the other, making sure not to trap any air bubbles. You will need to press fairly hard where the letters are if you didnt scrape them off. I use my thumbs to lay it down, you may find it easier to use a credit card, but you should put a couple pieces of tape around the edge of the card so it doesnt scratch it UV laminate. Don't try to roll it around the edges yet! Just work on getting the outside visible surface as perfect as possible.
It should look like this...
8100
Now trim it leaving a 1/4 inch or so around the edges.
Now you want to start wrapping around the edges. The long flat side will be easy but you want to start on the round part by first trimming out 5 or so evenly spaced "tabs", and then fold over every other one like this...
8090
Then, finish off the rest of the corner tabs first and then move on to the long easy flat tabs. Press it tight around that edge. Small parts may not want to stay down yet, but its ok. You should have something like this...
8091
Now at this point those tabs will be pissing you off. Here is where most people pull out the heat gun. The only problem with that is window perf is well, perforated and its really easy to warp those nice even circles in to ovals or even scorch the vinyl with those hot ass guns. I prefer to use an oven. I just set it to 170 (Lowest setting on mine), stick it in there, and then when it reaches temp, I shut the oven off, then vent a little heat, shut the door and leave it in there for 5 min. 2 things will happen. First, the vinyl gets real stretchy, and second, all the air around the letters, or any air bubbles you made, blows up like a balloon... Like this...
80968092
Here is where your teenage years in front of the mirror are gonna finally pay you back. You want to pop these just like a zit. With your razor, make the tiniest hole you can imagine right in the middle of one of the clear circles in that bubble and then squeeze it from all directions till all the air is out. It is best to use and Xacto blade or needle, but all I had was an Olfa. Also when it starts to cool down, you will notice it will almost vacuum seal down to the raised letters.
80938094
Finished Pieces... Notice, I didn't cut out the circles for the mounting screws... Because its perf vinyl and not tint, they still act as a reflectors at direct angles, like when the sun or headlights are shining in them or when your close up and level with them. I like this because it should keep the cops happy and might keep you from getting backed into. My '07 Bimmer had every marker tinted out and I took a 5k hit from an old man to my rear quarter panel as he was backing out of his drive way... Luckily he just gave me his insurance info and didn't call the cops or I would have prolly been SOL...
8097
They fit very snug, the vinyl won't have a chance to peel back off the way it is pushed down by the mount. I wanted a cleaner that stock look, so I made a small horizontal slice in the screw holes. Then, I carefully threaded the screws in, and it does open the slit for a few minutes, but just like magic, it closes itself and the slit is almost invisible from more than a foot away.
Finished Job... :D
8098