Vinyl Wrapping Interior Trim

[johnckhall]

My door bezel trim has a few minor worn spots that bug me. I’ve searched eBay for some that were perfect, but to no avail. I bought the pictured trim pieces over the weekend and had planned to sand, prep, and paint them as close to factory as possible. Then I suddenly had the idea, why not try to vinyl wrap them? I’m going to try the brushed gunmetal vinyl wrap to see how it looks. That little bit of wrap is cheap enough, so I could change it if I wanted. I’ll post progress as I go. I’ve never wrapped anything, but I have a heat gun and time on weekends so let’s do it.

PS: I’ll keep my original door bezels in case I ever want to put them back on.

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[GoToGuy]

I am going to look into " hydro dipping" , I've seen some great coatings, applied to various materials, and objects. And has good resistance to wear. I think it would good for odd shapes like your door panels, and other compound curve shapes. The prints and colors available are a lot of choices.

 

[johnckhall]

I am going to look into " hydro dipping" , I've seen some great coatings, applied to various materials, and objects. And has good resistance to wear. I think it would good for odd shapes like your door panels, and other compound curve shapes. The prints and colors available are a lot of choices.

That's true and I didn't even think of that option. I was trying to think of a DIY solution. I've certainly never hydro dipped anything but have watched videos of it being done. Plus, my room for error in vinyl wrapping is a whole lot greater.

 

[GoToGuy]

One thought was getting a cover material in and around and thru tight corners . For that area I thought the dipped hydrographics would adhere easier and more evenly.
However yours turns out , great, indifferent, sux. I would like to know what you learned.

 

[johnckhall]

eBay pics were a little deceiving. The trim wasn’t exactly as nice as I thought.

Step one : Cleaning, masking and spraying the interior black.

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[johnckhall]

I usually try to rush things because I tend to be impatient. I’ll let these dry for at least 24 hours before I unmask them and attempt to vinyl wrap.

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I did get the gunmetal brushed vinyl wrap. It appears to be close to the original color of the bezel. If I don’t like the brushed look I could always order matte gunmetal wrap and do it over. Cost of a 1x5 sheet of matte gunmetal wrap on Amazon is $8.99.

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[johnckhall]

Told you I was impatient! I WILL let this epoxy paint dry before I attempt to vinyl wrap. Maybe a few days or so.

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[johnckhall]

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Finished the passenger side with the eBay bezel. I think I like it a lot! So much that I think I’ll use my original bezels without painting the black part and wrap those instead. I’ll call this one practice.

 

[Jwill945]

Was just watching a guy on YouTube doing a custom door panel. This looks great! My door cards are ruined on all 4 doors so I was going to build new ones and wrap some portions. Did you add adhesive before applying the wrap?

 

[johnckhall]

Was just watching a guy on YouTube doing a custom door panel. This looks great! My door cards are ruined on all 4 doors so I was going to build new ones and wrap some portions. Did you add adhesive before applying the wrap?

No additional adhesive. I cleaned and prepped the surface with rubbing alcohol before starting. I used VViViD brand vinyl wrap from Amazon (it must be a 3M product as there was a 3M sticker on the roll). It's pretty tacky and is applied to a clean dry surface (there's a backing to be removed before applying). It can be removed and repositioned pretty easily. The hardest part was the rounded corner. A good heat gun is needed to stretch the vinyl and remove wrinkles. The result is not quite up to my standard, which is why I'm going to do it over with my original door bezel trim. I had to order a 3x5 piece of vinyl as it's cut from a 5' roll and the brushed pattern runs lengthwise on the roll. So, the bezel is over 1.5' and the next size to order on Amazon was 3' (in order to get the pattern to run horizontally). I have plenty of vinyl left to play with!

Here's a pic this AM in the daylight. Of course, I see all the imperfections that will annoy me until I redo it.

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