Carbon Wrapped - Gear Shift Surround

As part of a recent effort to refresh and uplift the interior of the car, I decided to experiment with wrapping. I do like the OEM hex pattern trim, but I prefer carbon fibre.

The most abundant carbon vinyl is undoubtedly 3M's Di-Noc, which is available in droves on eBay. I wanted a matt finish on the carbon so chose 3M Di-Noc CA-421.

I bought a 300 x 300mm sheet from eBay for around £7, I probably could have got away with a smaller sheet but not having tried the process before, wanted to give myself a bit of slack.

When it arrived I was really pleased with the finish, the surface is textured and the different fibre weaves catch the light as you change it's orientation.

Not wanting to ruin the existing trim, I ordered a second hand one off eBay for just under £10 posted. It was in pretty rough shape but that didn't matter if it was going to be wrapped.

The new trim piece arrived allowing work to begin. Having done quite a lot of spraying on my Rover 25 I have learnt the hard way that surface preparation is key. Using some wet and dry I removed the original finish on the trim and took it back to plastic. This will also help in another way, obviously the vinyl has a thickness, so removing a few microns off the original part can only help when refitting.

I used a few grades of wet and dry, P400 and T489 to take the original finish off and P1200 to finish.

 

After sanding I washed the part in clean water and left it to dry out thoroughly.

Now ready for wrapping I got my kit together. I used a Stanley knife, scissors, Bosch heat gun and a microfibre for smoothing the vinyl out.

Before wrapping I cut the excess material off so it was easier to work with.

Tentatively I began wrapping, first just laying the flat surface areas on the vinyl, areas that didn't require heat for the vinyl to take their shape. Using the heat gun I started moulding the vinyl around the main A-surface features, moving on to the gear shifter aperture and the switchgear aperture.

Finally I wrapped the edges, I spent quite a lot of time getting them just right as they would be quite visible when fitted. All in all it took me around an hour to do the wrapping, including all the faffing around I did making sure the edges were as good as they could be. I expected it to be a little easier than it was, but then again I obsess over getting things perfect.

I'm very happy with the final product, and alongside the new gear gaiter and M-Tec gear knob it looks fantastic. To read more about the new gear knob and gaiters, take a look at this blog post - M-Tec Gear Knob and Leather Gaiters.