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3M Carbon Fiber DiNoc vinyl interior

11K views 36 replies 17 participants last post by  exhaust_freak 
#1 ·
Couldnt take the fake wood trim on my light interior so I thouhgt Id give the carbon fiber vinyl a try. I had only seen it on dark interior cars and it looked great, but was apprehensive as mine is the light interior with brown accents.

Before:



During:













I think it turned out pretty damn well. The vinyl was easy enough to work with, kind of a pain around some of the corners, but acceptable. I still have to do the shift knob and the steering wheel:cookoo: but everything else is done. LEt me know what you think, and if you have any questions.
 
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#7 ·
got the shifter finally! I was hung up getting the boot off. Turns out there are two slots on either side of the boot collar that fit into the knob. I juts took a small flat screwdriver and pried either side till they popped out. Then a small allen will fit in the torx set screw.

For those who dont feel comfortable wrapping vinyl, I took a bunch of pics for this one. This was the most challenging piece yet with its multiple curves. I feel if I did it in the vehicle it would have came out crappy. Grab a beer and here we go:

Once the knob is removed. YOu can see the location of the set screw and tabs for the boot.



The leather sides pry off easily with a flat head screwdriver





Then the wood grain section pops off the top



Clean the wood section well with rubbing alcohol and cut a generous piece of vinyl



pick an end to start. pushing with your thumb from the center towards the edges to push out wrinkles and bubbles. If you get bubbles, just pull it up and smooth it on again until theyre gone.



Now comes the heat gun. I just put the gun on the table edge and used both hands to manipulate the vinyl. Pull the vinyl over the corners and keep smoothing with your fingers until no bubbles and creases remain.



Luckily the leather side pieces cover most of the sides, so you can get away with wrinkles on the sides. Keep pulling the vinly until the visible parts have no creases. Trim the excess material as you go.





Reassebmble



Reinstall



whole process took me about 20 minutes. Add 5 minutes per beer.
 
#8 ·
Great work on this project. Looks like a professional (non beer drinking!) job...I have the cashmere interior too, but I'm not sure if the carbon fiber is a match with the tan. Oddly, this is the first car that I had where I like the wood look, as most of my other vehicles had the brushed aluminum, black, or carbon fiber look.

I'm looking forward to seeing the steering wheel when it is finished.

Just a thought...maybe cover the black mirror back plastic pieces on each door if you have some scraps. It might look good, if not easy to peel!
 
#16 ·
Just a tip for the steering wheel. Start off at the bottom lower most part and work your way up and around the top and back. The bottom part has the least amount of surface area. As you work your way up and around there will be more surface area. Heat and stretch to gain more material as you go up.... It is much easier to stretch and gain material, then to heat and shrink to avoid excess material, it causes creases.... After heating stretch and lay down vinyl in one motion, then press it down with your fingers or a squeegy... Work left and right, bottom to top, in 1/2 inch intervals. Dont go to far up on one side at a time becuase it will cause excess material.... Just my .02, been doing this a long time.
 
#22 ·
That is a tricky spot to wrap. If you can go with s slight overlap and preferably having that overlap on the underside of the wheel. With a blow dryer or heat gun, you should be able to get that seem almost unnoticeable. Good luck with it and make sure to post some pics of the end product!
 
#23 ·
SUCCESS!

After almost running my battery dead making sure I had music to listen to, it is done!





I put the seam in the rear lower section. With some heat and careful razoring, barely noticable.



The final interior! Hasta la vista woodgrain!



Advice to potential wrapper: As said before, start on the bottom inside with a big piece of vinyl. Heat and wrap upward. On my first try, i cut slits in the vinyl to help it stretch as I wrapped upward. DONT DO IT. As I wrapped, the vinyl stretched too much and it ripped where I cut and almost ruined the whole piece. I had cut a big enough piece to remove it, and reposition it, and start over. Without the slits, the vinyl stretched as it curved over the top, but didnt rip.
 
#27 ·
If the specs on 3M's website can be believed, this material should hold up great to both heat and cold. (They say they tested it in something like 30 degree F below zero temps. for a month and it was fine, and passed a one month test at a really high temperature too.) It's more the wear I'd be concerned with. On a piece like a steering wheel that is gripped constantly, I'm not sure how well it will hold up to wear? Of course, a lot of people won't grip the wheel up that high, but still ....
 
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