Archive for the ‘Automotive’ Category

Airplane Dash Re-Finished Using 3M DI-NOC Carbon Fiber Vinyl

One of our customers has a personal airplane with an outdated instrument panel.  He decided to upgrade the panel by cutting a new backing out .063 aluminum, which housed the new Synthetic Vision EFIS instruments.  He then covered the panel with 3M’s carbon fiber DI-NOC vinyl from Carbon Fiber Film for a modern/carbon fiber look on the cheap.  Here’s the outcome:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nThe out come looks great, and helped give an overhauled look to the interior that better matched the high-tech instruments.  This is a great example of bringing up-to-date something like a airplane or boat dash with a simple and inexpensive installation.

Ferrari F40 Blacked Out With 3M Carbon Fiber DI-NOC Vinyl

It’s not everyday you see a Ferrari F40 roaming the streets.  You’ll almost definitely never see one wrapped in 3M’s carbon fiber vinyl though!  One owner has done just that, love it or hate it, we think it looks pretty stealthy:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe blacked out headlights, taillights and wheels really help complete the look for this car.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nHere’s the F40 playing with some friends, the contrast looks great!\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[Source: Mike Boldt Photography via JONSIBAL]

Romeo Ferraris Supercharged Corvette Gets Fully DI-NOC Wrapped

Italian tuning house Romeo Ferraris has completed their latest project.  They took a Z06 Corvette and supercharged it, giving the bad boy 667 horsepower and 607 lb-ft of torque.  Among the other modifications, they gave the car a completely carbon fiber look by wrapping it in 3M carbon fiber DI-NOC vinyl:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nLets face it, the wrap makes the car look straight-up mean, especially with the gunmetal wheels:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAlthough they wrapped the entire exterior, it looks like they left the interior alone.  Take a look at a few more pictures:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nFor those interested in wrapping an entire car, we found that it tends to be about 200-250 sq/ft of material depending on the vehicle.  Of course, you’ll want to do you own measurements to be sure.

Catamaran Boat Gets a Carbon Fiber DI-NOC Dash

One of our customers recently sent in a few pictures of his install where he brought the dash of his 34-foot Avantage Catamaran boat back to life.  Here’s what it looked like before:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nPretty nasty!  Mainly the big rust stain on the left, but there’s an easy fix for that!  3M’s carbon fiber DI-NOC vinyl of course!  Once all of the gauges and steering wheel were pulled off, the dash was wrapped:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nLooks a million times better if you ask us…and it only gets better.  Lets get those missing elements installed back on the dash:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThis looks fantastic, especially with the real carbon fiber panel to match.  Here’s the final install…it’s a bit hard to tell but white panel under the visor is actually a strip of the CA-419 white carbon fiber DI-NOC vinyl…it’s a very nice attention to detail/design addition if you ask us:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThere you have it!  An easy way to get your boat dash looking brand new (even better than new actually) without spending a ton of money.  Here’s a few tips that our customer provided as feedback:\r\n

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  1. Always work from the center out.
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  3. When installing on a rounded surface, heat and pull and with both hands, and down.
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  5. Put down a guide line of masking tape to cut straight lines.
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  7. Break off the tip of an Xacto razor blade and it will cut straight lines much better.
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  9. I put down a thin black line of pinstripe tape to give it more of a finished edge.
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American Racings Custom Wheels Gets DI-NOC’d For SEMA

Our good friends over at Street Concepts have just put the finishing touches for the American Racings Custom Wheels Camaro that will be in the Nitto booth at Sema 2010 in November.  They used a mixture of a matte look along with the CA-420 graphite carbon fiber DI-NOC vinyl…the results are outstanding:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nOur favorite automotive use with the vinyl is using it as an accent material, Street Concepts did just that with this car.  They did small touches like just the cowl on the hood or just the vents…even doing a sponsor logo in the material:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe interior of the car uses real carbon fiber pieces, giving it an extra nice touch:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThis Camaro isn’t all looks though.  The LS3 V8 has been supercharged by Edelbrock, giving it 600hp.  It sits on 22″ American Racing wheels, has an H&R coilover suspension, and stops with massive 16″ front/14″ rear Brembo brakes.\r\n\r\nIf you’re heading to SEMA this year, be sure to check out the car in the Nitto booth.

One Customer Goes DI-NOC Wild

Sean, one of our customers, has gone wild with his recently acquired 3M carbon fiber DI-NOC vinyl.  He wrapped all the gadgets he had including his Xbox 360, two Blackberries, his iPhone, his lighter, and his keys:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nSean was very creative in the installations, this is a good way to show all of the little things that can be wrapped without using too much material.

Customer Gives His Camry A White Carbon Fiber Hood

One of our customers was one of the very first in the country that we’ve seen to use 3M’s carbon fiber vinyl in white.  He wrapped the hood on his Toyota Camry:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAs you can see, the pattern is almost barely visible, but it’s there.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nOur customer best described this as:\r\n

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  1. Standing 15-20 ft away it looks like a matte white
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  3. 5-10 ft away you start to see a pattern
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  5. When you’re close, you want to touch it, and yes, you can feel the carbon fiber pattern
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\r\nNote that in some of the shots the camera makes it look off-white, but in actuality it is white.\r\n\r\nAlso please keep in mind that white is one of the colors that does not have the same guaranteed durability testing from 3M that the darker colors have.  While we haven’t seen issues, the material may not lost as long in outdoor environments.  If your car is mostly garage kept or a show car, we don’t expect many issues.\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nFor more pics, check out the gallery.

Customer Wraps His Entire Lexus IS350 In 3M DI-NOC

We’ve been waiting to see it, and finally a customer has wrapped an entire car with 3M’s carbon fiber DI-NOC vinyl.  Vince took his Lexus IS350 and gave it the complete treatment:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nVince ended up using about 240 sq/ft of vinyl to wrap the entire car.  He thought the hardest part was doing the rear bumper, and his main advice is to just take your time.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nYou can see all of the pictures in our gallery.\r\n\r\n

Mercedes CLK63 AMG Black Series Goes DI-NOC

JS Design Factory is on a roll.  They just sent in pictures of their latest install on a red Mercedes Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series.  For those that don’t know much about this car, it’s a 506 horsepower beast that does 0-60 in just 4.1 seconds.\r\n\r\nJS Design Factory had one come into their shop for the DI-NOC treatment.  They installed 3M’s carbon fiber DI-NOC on the hood, roof, grille, center dash, and doors. The overall package came out great, we like how the red/carbon offset each other nicely.\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nFor more pics, check out our gallery.\r\n\r\n

Top Half of A BMW M6 With 3M Carbon Fiber DI-NOC

JS Design Factory, the same guys that did the Bentley Continental GT interior, are at it again.  This time around they’ve done up a BMW M6 convertible with DI-NOC, covering up the upper half of the car:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAs you may know, the coupe version of the M6 has a real carbon fiber roof, so this is a nice way to take place of that for the convertible.  Check out more pics in our gallery.\r\n\r\n