Looks way better than the original. No offense to the original.
Looks way better than the original. No offense to the original.
2002 330Ci & 2020 Tacoma
I usually use the 3M 90 spray. I like the “web” spray pattern better than the 77’s “mist” spray and it holds MUCH better. It holds strong but still allows for some repositioning before becoming difficult. It’s also usually available at just about every hardware store.
Well, I think I will be buying some more vinyl soon... the passenger side has a piece that refuses to stick, I am not sure exactly why. I have removed it and re-glued it, but it just starts to peel off after a while. That coupled with the wrinkles on the drivers side, might just end up re-doing them (not thrilled about it to be honest).
The alternative is to remove the vinyl and make them match the finish that is on the sails, it's SEM texture paint with a black finish. My hesitation there is that I think the vinyl looks better on the pillars, the sails never had vinyl / material of any kind. But the pillars were wrapped in headliner type material, having them texture painted might stick out more than I would want.
I may temporarily remove the passengers one and try to glue it a 3rd time, but I can't figure out why this one piece refuses to stick. Possibly that I stretched it too much in that area, but I am not entirely sure.
I feel your pain Ian. I can't wrap or rap to save my life. I've tried multiple times with no luck. Multiple glues and vinyl types, it doesn't matter. It's an art for sure. My go to is paint or Flock.
It's definitely tricky, for a 1st time at wrapping something I can't complain too much. But, tossing out $60 of vinyl to re-wrap them and possibly have the same issues is not exactly appealing! Flock might be a good alternative, I have never done that before either, would likely need to spend a little more time sanding and smoothing the pods out some more, but I can handle that.
I used the 3m90 on my headliner years ago and it has not sagged at all. The thing most people do not know about contact cement is that you do not just spray it on and slap them together when it is wet. You want to put a good coating on both pieces and let it start to dry out. You want it to be tachy enough that when you touch it to your finger that it sticks more to the vinyl than your finger and at that point you can put the two pieces together.
I had been letting the contact cement get tacky before putting them together, maybe I did not leave it quite long enough. Will just be really careful with it this time to hopefully, hopefully, get it done.
Pulled the pillar out this morning and used some 3M 90 that I bought over the weekend, let it dry to the point that touching the adhesive left nothing on my hand, using some clothes pins to hold it. There is a spot on the bottom corner where it is not covered with vinyl, but I think that may have been part of the issue was I stretched it too far and so it was never getting a good hold. I can definitely see me redoing them (again) at some point in the future, but it's too damn humid to mess with it much right now.
I'm torn on the idea of flocking or trying vinyl again, the vinyl does look good, but it is also bloody hard to apply correctly.
Last edited by naiku; 07-03-2023 at 09:45 AM.
you may be able to reactivate the glue with steam
Interesting, so essentially use something like a steam cleaner to heat the glue back up and try to adhere back together again. Might be worth a shot.
3M 90 is not working on this one corner either, I had it sitting about 36 hours with clothes pins holding it together. Literally one day in the car and then yesterday while driving something looked off, checked just now and yep, that one corner is peeling off again. I'm not quite sure what I will do next, the way I see it I have 3 options:
1 - Say screw this, pull the vinyl and use SEM texture paint to make it match the sails.
2 - Say screw this, pull the vinyl and use flocking.
3 - Say screw this, pull the vinyl and see if I can find an upholstery shop to wrap them.
The frustrating piece with option 1 and 2, is that the vinyl looks good on the pillars where it is not peeling / wrinkled. I can't help but think either flock or texture paint will look out of place. The texture paint less so since at least it will match the sails, but may be a little too glossy and cause annoying reflections. Flock would alleviate that, but with nothing else in the car with flocking, might just stick out like a sore thumb.
At this point, unless the passenger one starts peeling badly (likely) I will just leave it until fall when temperatures have dropped and then try to figure something out.