While Chad was installing the Sparco, Jason, Robbie and I tackled the passenger side vinyl. The weather cooperated and we were able to knock it out in less than an hour. Only thing left to vinyl rape is the rear hatch.

Petey supervised as usual.

In case you missed the beginning of this pain-in-the-ass procedure:
AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 5
AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 4
AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 3
AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 2
AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 1

Got around to wrapping the rear quarter of the car yesterday. It went surprisingly well since I had the help of a neighbor. 4 hands are better than 2. However, that’s all the vinyl I had left. So Im placing another order which will probably come in sometime mid next week.

Oh yea….. I went “Tony Stewart” on a front lip I bought from Home Depot. I have all intentions of getting aero parts in the future, but Ive seen this lip on other 86’s and kinda liked it. My car on the other hand…. not so much. The cheap plastic just doesn’t bend or flow right with the existing bumper so I’ll probably take it off soon. Thankfully I only used 3M tape just in case I didn’t like it. Hell… I might leave it on there just to piss people. Who knows…. I’ll sleep on it. Either way, its fun to experiment.

AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 1
AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 2
AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 3

My desire to wrap the Corolla has been rekindled. Thanks to the boys at CultureGarage. Take a look at the RS4 below.

Believe it or not, that beast is wrapped in vinyl and although mine will never look that good, it has given me SOME hope. Soooooooo…….. I finished wrapping the driver door this weekend. It was surprisingly easy. I thought for sure the door handle was going to screw me up, but I was able to get around it pretty nicely.

AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 1
AE86 Vinyl Wrap: Part 2

The next phase in the AE86 vinyl wrap came in the region of the driver side passenger. I was also able to tackle half of the roof. More info and pics after the jump….

I have to admit, the driver side fender looks like hell. I thought that partiuclar panel was going to be one of the easiest but turned out to be very challenging. Perhaps it was my lack of vinyl skill or the fact that I didn’t have a heat gun or hair dryer to stretch the vinyl. Regardless…. I don’t like it, but Im not going to redo it. It is a track car after all.  Very few people will be looking at it up close.  On the other hand…. I have access to a hair dryer now, so the passenger fender (and everything else) should be a lot easier (*fingers crossed*).

To be honest, I almost through in the towel on this. I keep asking myself why I don’t just take it up to MAACO and get one of their $200 paint jobs. It would be a hell of lot easier, less frustrating, but would cost twice as much as the vinyl wrap. At this point, Im not sure if Im going to continue to wrap it. I might do the driver door and see where Im at from there. Anyway… here’s some pics of the fender and hood.

As I mentioned the other day, the Corolla was going under the knife this past weekend. Well, the “big secret” is that we have decided to vinyl wrap the car. Take a look…..

The decision to vinyl wrap the car wasn’t an easy one. The current, fading primer paint just isn’t cutting it anymore. So for weeks I thought about painting it. And although I still plan to paint (or have painted) in the future, wrapping the car was our best option at this time. The cost between the two DIY processes are identical (about $50-$100) but with paint comes other obstacles. First and foremost, we didn’t have a suitable place to paint the car. We live in an apartment complex with lots of neighbors and lots of neighbor’s cars. Over spray from our car to the others could have proved costly. I did, however, have the option to drive the car to either my parents’ house or Atlanta; both are 3hrs away.  On top of the commute itself, we would have to knock the job out in one weekend which was an unwanted pressure. Instead, I dropped $30 (shipped) on a 24″x40′ roll of matte black vinyl and took my time without pissing off the neighbors or traveling to the ends of the earth. And to be honest, I think the vinyl is turning out better than paint anyway; for now. That may change as I move to the other, more difficult, panels.

In general, it was pretty easy and I’m pleased with the way its turning out.  There is not doubt the remaining panels will be harder and much more frustrating. So we’ll see how it goes.  In the mean time, here are some pics from Sunday’s Hood install.

Rubba Dub Dub… Corolla in the tub.
Take note of the red paint showing through the primer. This alone was enough motivation.

Measuring length.

Using a hinge method to apply

To keep the vinyl level and straight I used this yard stick. Very useful when applying large sections of vinyl and don’t have an extra set of hands

First section done, but with lots of wrinkles.

The cause of the wrinkles; Washers

I hate wrinkles in vinyl. Bubbles aren’t too bad cause you can pop them and they are gone. Wrinkles on the hand are much harder, if not impossible, to get rid of. So When I moved to the driver side section, I removed the washer with much better results

No wrinkles

I then went back to the passenger side section and pulled up the vinyl I put down originally. A lot of the primer came up with it.

Much better

Finished off the hood with a small section near the fender

You would think that the 3 sections would have created creases or seams, but I was very surprised at how well they blend in; from a distance anyway.

More pics of the finished hood

Be sure to subscribe so you can watch the progress of this project as it unfolds. Its going to be interested to say the least.