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Headlight grey perimeter vinyl overlay - not just eyebrow - interest?

35K views 175 replies 55 participants last post by  OneFast V 
#1 · (Edited)
I have been working on this for a bit recently. My lights are suffering from the common cracking, rashing, and scratching that most people's grey surrounds also suffer from. For me the eyebrows will not be enough and to me they look out of place. I have also heavily wet sanded my headlights to try to improve the situation. My defects are too deep into the plastic. So I created a vinyl overlay kit to fit all the way around the perimeter of the headlights.

I put them on today as a trial. It was not easy but not hard, best of all not permanent. I have a few minor bubbles I had to gingerly pop with the finest point from an exacto.

OK

It is a 6yr vinyl because it is stiffer and not "stretchy". I chose this for a reason. If you have ever put in vinyl, it can stretch as you work it on. This is less stretchy. It you pull to much, by the time you get to a bent it will be long. I ran into this once on each headlight and simply lapped and trimmed with an extremly sharp modeling exatco knife. This created only a minorly visible seam. For my first proto, it aint bad.

It will have 1 seam because our lights are a 3D geometry. Had to split somewhere to have a pattern lay flat for a 2D vinyl cutout. I made this seam at the bottom inboard in teh most inconspicuous place. If you take your time, really take your time, it could be done neater that mine, but it is miles better than before. It is not perfect but looks better than the mess my headlights have become.



Now the fun part. If there is interest, I will become a vendor and offer these to the forum for V and regular CTS. Unfortunately I do not have exact pricing as even though it is not much vinyl it does generate a lot of waste (I had to have the patterns nested to save more space). Depending on how many have interest the price may be between $35-40.

If you have interest reply to this and I'll take preliminary count. If there is interest I will pay to be a vendor and take orders via the site and paypal.

I currently have these setup for black and a closely matched gray to the headlights. Sorry no color matching to car colors (unless serious interest, but that will take time and $ to match) plus I need paint chips of the cars.

I will try to get some daylight pics tomorrow

What do you think? :confused:
 

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#2 ·
very clean look from these indoor photos.. the first thing that pops into my head is that the rubber seam between the headlight lens and body will determine how this looks. in my experience with vinyl looks cheap because of this rubber.. if the rubber was covered by the design i think it would look better..:pop2: for more pics
 
#6 ·
I took some flash pics in garage. the seal stands out but my not in sunlight, flash in garage on black car over eggagerates the seal. The vinyl would umtimately have trouble if it wrapped the seal - maybe... again i'll take outdoor pics today.

Those look great actually!

Gotta question though... any chance you can make some that cover the whole top part of the assembly (the three sided curved piece on top) in black vinyl creating an eyelid in a way? I think itd look even better!
good thought! i missed that opportunity.:banghead:... I could have another modeled. Just have to cover another setup fee... But could be better in the long run. Do more prefer the eyebrow or just the perimeter? guess it depends on the person. I do not have a gray on my car the test headlight does but is at the shop - so no photos of it till next week. Could use it to develop a version with eyebrow and offer choice

more choices more gooder right?

keep thoughts and comments coming... good or otherwise.
 
#3 ·
I'd definitely buy a set of these. I've got a little bit of scratching going on. The black looks far better than grey on the raven V's too.
 
#5 ·
My lights are fine (my dealer was good to me and replaced them under warranty shortly after I bought my V), but I wanted to pop in and say good work. Looks good.
 
#8 ·
I like the eyebrow look myself. I think this would look great with it and it would also help cover the sun damage most CTS's suffer from.
 
#10 ·
like i said....
that is a great price for paint !!!
 
#13 ·
Here are 2 daylight pics... I agree that the eyelid integration is a MUST. I'm still trying to realize how I left that our of the formula?:confused:? I will get with the vinyl guy Tuesday or Wednesday, get a new pair, install, and replace the pics.

new pics after wash in sunlight:

so far I have 3 interests
 

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#14 ·
just some shape ideas for the eyelids... i designed these and cut them by hand while on the car....getting the white diamond vynal was the hardest part.

maybe incorporate this type of eyelid with your perimeter design, i originally was going to do what you did but it just looked like too much work, also i like the aggressive look these eyelids give to the front end.


 
#16 ·
from me.. in a week or so. will post price after I get batch made. will be handled via paypal.. stay tuned. i want to incorporate the full eyelid as well like others have suggested.
 
#21 ·
Looks good!
 
#25 ·
i could not get the guy today. I will try again tomorrow. do you want the perimeter as is or with the full eyebrow? I want him to rework with the full eyebrow because it seems more popular. black or gray?
 
#29 ·
Any updates?
 
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