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Rabbit update.
I got tired of the boring, plain black interior with silver accent. It feels so... Germanic. And not good, like Mercedes-Benz, dignified luxury Germanic. Like, well, base-model Volkswagen Germanic. Utilitarian.
Started by removing the trim from the dashboard and doors. Only broke one clip, too.
Measured the pieces to figure out how much vinyl I would need.
I didn't want anything with too predictable a pattern in case I fucked up the alignment. So I went all Bentley and got some knotted wood.
First piece done versus the old silver.
Another shot.
This is what the process involved. I'll elaborate more later.
truth.
dumb overexposed shitty picture with my phone.
more overexposure
even the little bits are important
still overexposed
way better.
I'll get a better picture of it tomorrow but this is how it ended up.
Okay so I've been trying to watch my finances this year so far and not spend so much damn money on... everything. But I've been wanting to change out the damn trims in my car for a while. I decided to say fuck it and just do it. The reason why this is relevant is because once I figured out what size I needed, I started looking for 3M DINOC and then I saw some VViViD vinyl on eBay. I found VViViD's website and everything looked pretty legit so I went ahead and ordered some. For about 1/3 the price of the 3M stuff. $15.
The vinyl itself is actually very nice. It's thick and sturdy, more like a plastic sheet than your typical vinyl but I chalk that up to it being a printed graphic and not the single color vinyls I'm used to dealing with (decals, etc).
The adhesive has a pattern on it that allows air to escape so it doesn't form bubbles... that shit works. Fucking well, too.
The process was this. Lay trim down on sheet of vinyl. Cut out section. stick to front of trim. Go out to garage, heat a little section and fold/work it around the trim a little at a time while trying to avoid burning the fuck out of my fingers. Which happened a few times.
The corners were a bitch. I had to basically heat and stretch the vinyl over the corner and try to fold it over without getting creases. It was difficult but I got it done well enough that you won't see any of my fuck-ups unless you remove the trim.
Overall it was pretty arduous, took me a pretty solid 2-3 hours. Still, I am pleased with the vinyl I used and very pleased with how it came out. I can't wait to see how it holds up.
Also worth mentioning is that Wolfsburg edition Jettas came with woodgrain trim from the factory... These are hard to find aftermarket and several hundred dollars from VW, plus they didn't make any 2dr versions. I haven't seen another 2dr mk5 with woodgrain trim like this so it's a nice, quasi-OEM+ modification that I feel like I'm gonna be unlikely to see elsewhere.
I got tired of the boring, plain black interior with silver accent. It feels so... Germanic. And not good, like Mercedes-Benz, dignified luxury Germanic. Like, well, base-model Volkswagen Germanic. Utilitarian.
Started by removing the trim from the dashboard and doors. Only broke one clip, too.
Measured the pieces to figure out how much vinyl I would need.
I didn't want anything with too predictable a pattern in case I fucked up the alignment. So I went all Bentley and got some knotted wood.
First piece done versus the old silver.
Another shot.
This is what the process involved. I'll elaborate more later.
truth.
dumb overexposed shitty picture with my phone.
more overexposure
even the little bits are important
still overexposed
way better.
I'll get a better picture of it tomorrow but this is how it ended up.
Okay so I've been trying to watch my finances this year so far and not spend so much damn money on... everything. But I've been wanting to change out the damn trims in my car for a while. I decided to say fuck it and just do it. The reason why this is relevant is because once I figured out what size I needed, I started looking for 3M DINOC and then I saw some VViViD vinyl on eBay. I found VViViD's website and everything looked pretty legit so I went ahead and ordered some. For about 1/3 the price of the 3M stuff. $15.
The vinyl itself is actually very nice. It's thick and sturdy, more like a plastic sheet than your typical vinyl but I chalk that up to it being a printed graphic and not the single color vinyls I'm used to dealing with (decals, etc).
The adhesive has a pattern on it that allows air to escape so it doesn't form bubbles... that shit works. Fucking well, too.
The process was this. Lay trim down on sheet of vinyl. Cut out section. stick to front of trim. Go out to garage, heat a little section and fold/work it around the trim a little at a time while trying to avoid burning the fuck out of my fingers. Which happened a few times.
The corners were a bitch. I had to basically heat and stretch the vinyl over the corner and try to fold it over without getting creases. It was difficult but I got it done well enough that you won't see any of my fuck-ups unless you remove the trim.
Overall it was pretty arduous, took me a pretty solid 2-3 hours. Still, I am pleased with the vinyl I used and very pleased with how it came out. I can't wait to see how it holds up.
Also worth mentioning is that Wolfsburg edition Jettas came with woodgrain trim from the factory... These are hard to find aftermarket and several hundred dollars from VW, plus they didn't make any 2dr versions. I haven't seen another 2dr mk5 with woodgrain trim like this so it's a nice, quasi-OEM+ modification that I feel like I'm gonna be unlikely to see elsewhere.
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