Vinal tape on aluminum....

[juggernaut201]

ok so ive searched on the fourms and ive seen that people have done the vinyl option with making the little aluminum parts black .... how is it holding up now that time has gone by and any new pics?

[p1nk50ck]

glassnpowder98 has had it on his car for a while, hopefully he'll chime in.

(by the way, it's spelled "vinyl" in case you need to do a search)

[Elohite]

I was quoted $200 by a shop to do the aluminum window trim in black...
he said the high cost because the curves and break lines are very unique and would require extra time to do properly...

[juggernaut201]

with the vinyl ( thx btw) lol

[p1nk50ck]

200 bucks isn't that bad. you can always just peel it off when you decide to sell the car, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying the titanium kit.

[juggernaut201]

hell id pay sum1 200 2 do it perfessionally and not have 2 worry about messin n e thing up lol

[Glassnpowder98]

Hey there. I've had the vinyl on since last May or June. The vinyl has held up really well. It shrank in a few places (I think from the sun) but I was able to just put some more on top to cover it up. It hadn't faded, so the colors matched up fine. $200 is a pretty good deal considering it took me about 6 hours to do all the trim. However, I didn't have any experience doing anything like that, so now I could probably do it a little quicker... If you have any other questions, let me know.

[E.K.23]

I did it myself with vinyl from pepboys, looks good

[B7A4Sport]

I was quoted $200 by a shop to do the aluminum window trim in black...
he said the high cost because the curves and break lines are very unique and would require extra time to do properly...

Yea, $200 is actually kinda scary-cheap; scary as in I'd be worried about the quality.

There was a post some months back from a vendor about pre-cut vinyl kits specifically for B7 A4 owners who wanted to black out non-Ti window trim. I belive the total was $700 + shipping.

Elohite, I'd go for it if the quality is there; if you do, I'm also in the Bay and would love to get this done for that price if the work is clean.

[darin1274]

what stuff from pep boys did you get, pinstriping material? any pics

[nnnick]

I did this for my last car, it was a black TSX. I bought a 15' x 36' roll of Avery outdoor/sign vinyl and followed this thread: http://www.tsxclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26883

The nice thing about the 15" wide roll of tape is that you go over the curves seamlessly and then use an exacto knife to trim it down. There is a lot of wasted but it came out nice, IMO. It did take a LONG time to do and it wasn't perfect, but once you get the hang of it you can always go back and redo parts. I paid ~$30 shipped for the vinyl, so at that price what do you have to lose?

[stil]

id say go to a shop that supplies the graphic industry and buy from there (they would know what is the best vinyl for outdoor)
this should work on the grill as well?????
if so, im going to get me afew kilometers and give it a try
the vinyl stockist here in south africa sells the vinyl for about R50 ($5) per meter
and they are one of the biggest suppliers around locally

[praudi]

here in the states where can i get it from pep boys? where thanks

[E.K.23]

I got their blackout tape, big roll about 1-2inches wide

I did my window trim, grille trim, and that trim in the back under the trunk

[E.K.23]

what stuff from pep boys did you get, pinstriping material? any pics

[KOU]

^ did you wrap the whole grille in the vinyl or just the chrome part around it?

[E.K.23]

^ did you wrap the whole grille in the vinyl or just the chrome part around it?

just the chrome

[juggernaut201]

no b.s. bro u did a great job came out sickkk i hope mine comes out goo like that ... im just waiting for it to warm up a bit

[stil]

i dont think we get vinyl tape in sa but can get sheets of vinyl
im going to go buy me some this week and do my grill too
wrt the grill, was is one complete piece or did you do it in afew pieces
looks really awesome

[p1nk50ck]

hey, that looks great. i also got a roll of the 3m black vinyl tape, but i haven't had the time to install it.

can you post pictures of some of the rear window corners, or maybe the bottom corners of the front grille? i'm wondering how you went about getting at those areas, since i'm worried about it bunching up, or creating some unsightly lines. i might just get a few feet of the big rolls to handle the tight corners (rear passenger door) and use the tape for everything else.

[E.K.23]

^The corners in the back window and bottom of the grille were a pain, i had to overlap the vinyl. if you heat it up it'll be nicer.

[E.K.23]

i dont think we get vinyl tape in sa but can get sheets of vinyl
im going to go buy me some this week and do my grill too
wrt the grill, was is one complete piece or did you do it in afew pieces
looks really awesome

i did it with about 5 pieces